action n stuff

[skulleader]

I was playing a 40 year old yamaha acoustic that was passed down to me by my mother until i had enough money to get a electric + amp n stuff. Well i ended up with a fender squire affinity strat pack. I like it but im guessing its not to good as there is a back ground "buzz" when im not playing anything. I guess u could say its a hum/buzzing sound. I read in some reviews that the single coils are cheap but people kept saying they got rid of the buzz by changing the action i.e lowering it or makng it higher. As i am new to electrics i dont know what action is and i am wondering number1 how to lower it or raise it to get rid of buzz. Then again i may have read the reviews all wrong :) Also it better not be anything drastic like pulling my guitar apart cos im to scared to do that at the moment :D

[55'gibby]

firstly, if the buzz is when your not playing it's not the action. it's electronic, somethings to check
1) are your patch cable in good shape and well grounded
2) are both jack (guitar and amp ends) in good shape and well grounded
3) are you using any effects?
4) is the electricity going to your amp grounded

after this point you may have to open the bonnet of you guitar

[The Fury]

The way you describe it, I would say the buzzing is nothing to do with the action. The "action" refers to the distance between the strings and the frets, usually the distance from the12th fret to the string is taken as the mesurment.

The humming sound is a feature of single coil pickups (some people like it, some don't). The humming will be louder if it is near an elctrical source (T.V, desktop lamps etc...) but only when they are switched on.

As for raising/lowering the action, you adjust the bridge saddles usually with a small allen key, buzzing occurs if the action is too low. It buzzes because the string is vibrating, when plucked, and hitting the frets. However, since I think your buzzing is nothing to do with the action, I would not change anything.

Like I said, it's just how single coils are. There is something called sheilding, which is just some foil on the underside of the pickgaurd (the big piece of plastic underneath the strings), but your guitar probably has this already, most of them do. So there's nothing much you can do about it.

I hope that helps. But like 'gibby siad, it might be a grounding problem rather than the natural single coil hum.

[BadHorsie01]

these guys are correct.
If you want a comprehensive explanation of what "action" is, and how to adjust it, go to this site.
http://www.braille.uwo.ca/~charles/bg101.html#string
I use it all the time.
( I wouldn't try adjusting the truss rod if you are inexperienced)
:cool: