Official Luthiers Forum!

I own an Ibanez RG421 since 2015. It was setup terribly from the store I bought it in (India). The last 3-4 years I've been setting it up myself and I'm quite happy with the results - I get away with about 0.2mm relief (measured at 9th with capo on 1st and fretting the 24th) and 1.5-1.6mm action on the 24th fret, despite a fairly heavy pick attack (I play a lot of metal). I do all these measurements with a set of feeler gauges. You can hear a bit of buzz but it disappears for the most part thru an amp.

Due to the pandemic I had to leave my guitar in my college dorm room (with the strings loose) which happens to have rather extreme, dry weather for about 1.5 years. When I got it back and restrung it it buzzed quite a bit, but I thought that was natural with all the months of low tension. My neck looked pretty straight too, compared to the usual bow.

I've now gradually increased the relief to 0.4mm and the action to about 2mm (similar measurement methods) with lesser buzz overall, but still significantly more than what I used to face before with lesser action. I've been taking care to make small changes and giving it time to set. What can I do to get it back to the previous setup?

I've noticed that most of the buzz is in the earlier frets (1-3) and on the 9th. But this isn't for all the strings, so I'm not sure what to conclude. Some of the frets do look pretty worn out. I checked the frets with a credit card and found a teeny bit of rocking over the 10th (which might explain buzz over the 9th) and lesser over the 2nd fret. Is it time for a refretting? I think that might end up more expensive than my guitar itself.

Sounds like a fret leveling, crowning and polishing would take care of the issues.

When you run your fingers on the sides of the frets/neck are the fret ends noticeable and sharp? It's clearly dried out and dorm rooms are notorious for this. We have 50,000 students all around us in that we are just off the campus of Michigan and their stuff always has what we call "fret sprout" from being dried out.

I agree a fret dress which is what Barry said would get you where you want to go.

The ends of the frets themselves aren't noticeable or sharp, but the roots are noticeable if you run your finger across the side of the neck. I don't remember if it was like that before.

Ig I'll have to consider if it's worth getting a fret dress for this guitar, or if I'll have to learn to live with. Thanks a lot, guys.

An Ibanez RG is worth it.

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This is the kind of issue that an experienced luthier will likely diagnose quickly and resolve with a detailed setup. Your problems may be traced to storing the guitar for several months without string tension — this should never be done without also loosening the truss rod, as the neck will likely move significantly.

At this point, having relief of 0.4 mm is excessive and will no doubt cause buzzing against upper frets when playing in the middle, even with a 2.0mm action. It doesn’t explain the buzzing you describe on some strings on frets 1-3.

I would really recommend finding a reputable luthier to start with a careful setup. If a fret level/dress are required, the luthier can verify that with the guitar on the bench.


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That's the issue, I'm not aware of any good luthiers in my city (Mumbai). Mostly negative experiences from what I've heard. Will have to start looking out then.