greeegouar
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Buzzing lavta
Hello everyone, and first of all, thanks for the forum, i'd learned a lot just by reading it randomly.
I'm french and i bought a lavta from a famous instrument maker in Istanbul something like six months ago.
The instrument is really great, amazingly beautiful, it has a strong, deep and yet very precise voice.
The only problem i have with it is that it buzzes a lot, really a lot.
First i was thinking it was because of the difference of air humidity (i'm living in a moist area) but since some weeks the first fret of the bass
string D is unplayble and the other from the same fret barely are.
Do you think this could be fix by raising the nut?
The other thing is that when i checked very carefully the instrument the other day, i realized the fingerboard of my lavta was in two pieces as it is
shown in the pictures. I have friends who played it too and none had seen it before.
And everyone told me that the sound is really good except that buzz.
Do you think that it can be one other of reason of that constant buzzing?
If so, what could i do now?
Thanks a lot by advance for your answers, i hope you could help me a bit.
Grégoire.
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adamgood
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Gregoire, the first things I would check:
1. is the fret above the fret that buzzes loose or coming untied a bit? are any coming untied?
2. is the neck straight? hold the instrument up to your eye, looking down toward the headstock from the bridge. does it look arched at all?
3. do other frets up the neck buzz? or only the first fret?
4. do all of the frets look like they are the same gauge string or are any of them thinner than the others? That could be used to compensate for
changes in the action.
But you may have a clue in that the fingerboard is made up of two separate pieces...may just be a little uneven. You might have someone near you who
does repairs on lutes, how about bring it on over?
Good luck!
Adam
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francis
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A quel (s) niveau(x) cela frise-t-il, et sur quelles cordes?
Souvent le milieu du manche se creuse un peu et c'est parfois suffisant pour que les frettes ne puissent plus jouer leur rôle. J'ai eu ce cas sur un
laouto crétois et j'ai été obligé de relever un peu les cordes au niveau du chevalet.
La touche en deux parties ne doit pas poser de problème, ce n'est pas elle qui fait la rigidité.
(english: Which part of the neck is affected by the buzzing, and on which strings. Necks sometimes curved a littlr in their middle and the frettes
can't be efficient there. I had this problem on a cretan laouto, I put strings a little higher on the bridge and now it's better.
I don't think that the two parts fingerboards is a problem with the buzz)
Francis
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greeegouar
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First of all, thanks a lot for your answers.
As was saying Oudistcamp a sound recording could help... Be kind please, i'm a beginner 
So here there are, the first one is a chromatic scale played on the 4 strings starting with the open notes:
Voir le Fichier : 010_130606_1901.WAV
The second one is the 4 strings played on the first fret, then on the sixth, then on the eleventh and finally on the sixteenth:
Voir le Fichier : 011_130606_1902.WAV
As you can hear Adam, not only the first fret is buzzing. The neck seems to be straight, and the frets are not coming untied.
I think the gauge for all the frets is the same
By the way, Oudistcamp i think that the frets that you saw showing some fraying/wearing in the pictures are due to the reflection of the dust.
My camera was in macro mode. But it has bad resolution, it's not a good one.
Francis, i don't know where you are located in France but do you know someone who made oud or luth repairs near Lyon or further? I can drive a while
if it's worth it.
I was also wondering why the instrument maker had used two pieces of wood for the fingerboard, is it common? Some kind of mistake?
Thanks a lot again.
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francis
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Tu peux passer voir chez Pick&Boch à Lyon, peut-être pourront-ils t'aider.
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adamgood
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That's some buzz for sure! More questions for clues:
1. On my uds, higher humidity = lower strings. On dry days the strings pull up, action comes up. How humid is your location? What's the average
humidity there? If the average is significantly higher than Istanbul then that's at least one culprit. How is the dip in the soundboard? Have you
noticed it's gone down?
2. Did you ever change the strings? Yourself?
By the sound of it, the strings need to come up at the bridge. I do this every time after changing strings, it's a way to give them a bit of boost in
height and give them a consistent look and tuning, but it's a bit hard to explain in words...hmm I'll try to explain. Do you see how the loops at the
bridge pull the string that is threaded through upward? See if you can give the loop even more of an upward boost by pulling it up and maybe toward
the bridge. It will pull the string higher and I'm sure you'll notice less buzz though maybe not disappearing completely...see what happens.
Also, we hear the buzzing at the first fret but which fret up the neck is actually doing the buzz when you fret there?
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greeegouar
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The average of my town is something like 75% a year.
I guess it's quite close the Istanbul one.
I didn't noticed that the soundboard had moved at all.
I had changed the strings and i tried your technique, it's true that i gained strength but the buzz is definitively here. Thank you for the advice
anyway. It's good to know it.
I'm not sure exactly which fret is doing the buzzing when i play on the first fret but looking carefuly, it might be the second or the third one.
I sent a mail to the instrument maker. I answered me that he could do something for me obviously but he wants me to send the instrument by postal
service. That's very kind from him but i really don't think that it would be a good idea.
The lavta could be broke during the trip and the shipping will certainly be as important or more than a nut repair from someone nearby.
Do you think that if i raise the nut, things will go better?
Thank you Francis for the link, i know the shop but i was more searching for a luth maker for example.
And Adam what do you think about this two parts' fingerboard?
Thanks.
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