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I just finished guitar #3 and it turned out well. I can see many improvements in quality over the first two. On this guitar I tried to focus on playability rather than looks. I spent a lot of time tuning in the neck and fingerboard. It plays great, but to be honest rattles just a little with a capo on, I can get it to stop by adjusting the capo position in relation to the fret. I was thinking this could be due to either a crappy capo, or my action is too low. I tried to replicate another guitar I have (Martin with a plecked neck) for all the string measurements. I think I have it dialed in, it has low action but doesn’t buzz or rattle at all with the same capo on in any position so ?

This is what I did as far as process goes. Is this correct?
After the body was bound and the neck fit up using the O’Brien jig ( bolt on ) I bolted the neck on and used a doubled up 3/4” ( 1-1/2”) MDF sanding beam to get the neck blank perfectly flat while maintaining correct neck angle geometry. After attaching the fingerboard I also radiused it with a long radius aluminum sanding block (18”) I bought from Philadelphia luthier tools. Then I made sure it was level using a flat aluminum sanding beam. After assuring every thing was perfectly level and correctly angle towards the bridge, I fretted the neck. Then I used the sanding beam to level the frets, crowned,polished, checked again with fret rocker, installed strings, adjusted truss rod ( very little was needed), adjusted string height at nut using files, adjusted height at 12 fret by sanding bottom of saddle.

Please feel free to criticize or comment. I really wanna learn how to achieve the best playing guitars I can build.

Could be many things from a bad string to a loose truss rod inside the neck. Its is hard to tell
with out having in t in hand.

as a pricess note; most people have there own way of doing things. for me
I always like to carve the neck after the guitar is unfinished and is strung up and playing.
I carve a little when it dead flat until I get the proper relief, if its still too thick, tighten the rod up 1/4 and
remove some more. Works well for me.
I allow allow the unfinished guitar to sit for a few weeks, sometimes months, strung up
giving it a play occasionally, before and after, carving the neck in small increments.
It is possible for the wood to change shape over the course of the assembly.
to prevent this I do not finish the guitar to play it with the uncarved neck for several weeks or even months
if possible. I think that the parts will unify better. Just my thoughts.
Good luck getting rid of the rattle. Check your machines too.

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You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you're got music. -Sid Vicious

Gstring, I’m on git number 23 over the past twenty years. It is strictly a fun hobby for me. I can build what I consider a very nice pretty guitar that sounds better with every one I build. But nothing has taken me longer to learn than fret work and buzzes! And still learning. Just a couple weeks ago I read a thread here where Trevor G was talking about his fret installs and fretwork and he mentioned that the 3 and 4 strings need a little more arch in the saddle . I had just finished nbr 23 and had buzzing up around the 10th fret and higher on d and g. I had already pulled my hair out on leveling frets and didn’t know what else to do. Then I looked at my saddle. Dead flat. Replaced the saddle with a better arched one and buzzing gone. Stick with it and check relief, level, saddle height and arch.

Glen

My daughter has a repair shop and she puts a slightly sharper curve on the saddle than on the fretboard - i.e. a 16" radius fretboard might get a 15 or 14" radius on the saddle. I have done this on the 8 I have built and this is one problem I have not had yet.

Ed

No criticism here, but I notice you’ve said nothing about neck relief. I frequently get clients’ guitars here with complaints like this. It very frequently is a matter of the neck being too straight. In any event, going through the proper sequence of setup is still necessary after careful levelling of frets. While some necks after levelling conveniently bend about the right amount under the tension, this is certainly not always the case.
Don’t try to learn guitar setup from YouTube — you’ll never identify the good info with all of the crap. There should be some good threads on this forum if you use the search function. There are a good number of competent Luthiers here who have posted on the subject, but posts by Hesh will generally have excruciating detail.


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You might try Frank Ford's site, Frets.com.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

you never mentioned what your neck relief was
if your neck is dead flat with the strings on at tension that may be your problem.
there should be about .004 to .006 neck relief at the 6th with a straight edge at tension on fret 1 and 12

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Yes I have neck relief measuring .005 +. That’s what I meant by saying adjusted truss rod. Sorry I guess it wasn’t really clear. The rattle isn’t really bad and can be completely iliminated by moving the capo slightly. It doesn’t rattle or buzz at all without a capo.

Well, if it does not buzz at all without the capo, then I would say it's probably the capo.

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Pat

One of the best things you can do is find a local guy that does lots of setups, repair work, et cetera. Get a second opinion. Don't take that as gospel, but as another perspective first hand.

Why not try another capo? Or make sure the capo is as snug to the fret as the player's fingers ought to be...

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Peter Havriluk