Sunday, January 26, 2014

Ibanez RG7321: Work done

I've been working on this Ibanez RG7321 (belongs to my colleague, Mr. Wong) since the first week of January. The problem- awful fret buzz at the 3rd & 4th frets. The first thing to check for such an issue is the neck bow; an over-bowing might cause eliptical buzz so the neck was re-straightened but the buzzing persisted. A fret check revealed uneven frets at the problem spot so the frets were knocked in & redressed accordingly. Buzzing was here to stay.

I re-looked at the neck bow, returning it to its initial condition (it sported a little relief) bit by bit, letting the neck rest overnight so as not to cause unnecessary stress but the buzzing was still there. I nearly submitted to defeat until one night, while playing it, I felt the action was uneven. How could I have overlooked that? It's a fundamental check to begin with- buzzing is almost always caused by action issues both at the saddles end & the neck relief. Everything else should be rectified later after these two conditions are dealt with. More issues- saddle action screws were badly corroded which no amount of lubricant could cure. They were stuck in the holes & the ultimate solution here would be replacement. So those problematic saddles were trashed, action looked into & the RG7321 is back to acceptable playing conditions once more.

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