The ESP Guitar Company

well.. the best thing to do is to exchange the guitar for a working one (because it is actually a mistake from the shop so if u have a warranty they should replace it) or to go see a luthier.

BTW... didnt you actually test it before u buy it?

whats the big deal? if you cant hear it through an amp than i dont see a problem.
on my 250nt the first fret buzzes, and you can actually hear it through
an amp, but I still need to get it set up, so i dont know.

yeah trading it in would be stupid with the quilt you have.
and have you changed the stock strings? because sometimes, it can make a big difference.

I bought a LTD EC200QM and had fret buzz all over. I adjusted the truss rod first. Make sure that you have a little bow. Concave that is....(I had slight back bow.)After adjusting the Truss Rod most all the buzzing went away but I still had a little in the all strings from the 7th-10th frets. I messed with the action which really should not be touched until the neck is set right. I was able to get rid of the buzz in the 7th-10th frets but the action was way to high. So I broke down and took it to a local luither cost me $80.00 he set it up and it is like silk now. No buzz at all and a nice low action. He said that he tweeked the truss rod, leveled the frets and set the action and adjusted the nut. (and I play thicker strings. stock was .10-.46 I like .10-.52)
Now the guitar is a pleasure to play.

My 2 cents!

theDogger

80 seems a little high... especially for a hard tail. I'd pay ~40-50 for a good tuneup on a hard tail... cleaning, truss rod, frets, action, new strings, go through the electronics, etc. Setup is SOOOO key... after getting a pro setup it feels like you are cheating or something.

fret leveling isn't that simple to do yourself, especialy if you don't have the tools.
i'd let a pro do it.

a setup on the other hand is... reversible :)

btw, did anyone here manage to do a successful fretjob?
any advice?
(i know we have luthiers on the board)
i don't have any tools... a radius sandingblock whould help a lot.

Well I had my setup done the other day. Leveled the frets, adjusted the neck and put a set or DR strings(11-50). And I still have fret buzz. He told me that the neck is no good. It kinda has a wave to it. Like when u look at the bow profile, it comes up high near the 3rd fret. Nothing I can do to it except major work that would cost almost as much as the guitar itself and to make matters worse, the work I had done has voided my warranty. And now I am stuck with a useless guitar! I called ESP and left messages last Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and never got a call back. So I called Friday when I got my guitar back from the luither to tell them that after I sunk another 100 bucks into it, it still sucks. I told them no one is returning my calls and they gave me a number of the the boss of the head warranty guy and he hasn't called me back either! I'm really disappointed:(

Sorry to hear this bro, i would thought the level and truss would sort this out. Good luck with getting in contact with ESP, you should be able to return it under your warranty though. Why doesnt the dealer do this?

I've just done a fret level, crown and polish on a Vintage SG copy (Vintage is the guitar make). I was given it as it had a broken neck below the first 2 frets. Glued it back together, did the frets and now it plays great.
If you don't know what you're doing then don't do fret work. You need special tools and if you mess it up then you need to do a refret.
A lot of guitars I come across buzz around the first few frets when you fret at the first fret. It seems that the first fret on the low E string is always the first to wear down.

It's strange that a luthier seems to think that a neck is "no good". You can sort out most necks to make them play half decently.

Rik