Having a little heartburn with my 814 V class cedar top

[Guitar Cowboy]

So, I am struggling a bit with the tone  I am getting from my cedar topped guitar, lately. It has developed what I would describe as a string buzzing sonic quality across multiple strings. I have Elixir lights on it as spec’d by Taylor and I have recently changed from a prime tone pick to a Tortex , which has helped a bit , but has not quite given me what I want to hear. I thought cedar would normally give a warmer tone , but what I am hearing is very metallic and unnatural. I understand that cedar can be over driven with aggressive strumming, but I don’t think that is what is going on here. I have thought about changing to a warmer sounding string, but I am wondering if I should be looking to some other solution. The strings are not new , nor would I say they are due for a change. Could it be something else like a loose nut ( never heard of that)? Any ideas on where to go/what to try would be appreciated. Thanks

[Earl]

The first thing I would try is tuning these strings either up or down a half-step and see if the change in overall tension helps.  That won't hurt your guitar.  Some of my guitars have really bloomed tonally when wearing heavier strings but tuned down accordingly.  Several wear medium gauge strings all the time and some are tuned down to Eb for tension comparable to light gauge in E-e.  Also try damping the string length above the nut with a pipe cleaner or something similar.

After that you get into serious trouble shooting, like using a fret rocker looking for frets that have popped up and are making some strings buzz, truss rod buzzes, etc.  It can be a challenge to track that sort of problem down.  Good luck!

[Frettingflyer]

My 812ce 12fret had a buzz when new, and it was most prevalent when playing a D note. After failing to figure it out I went to my local Platinum Taylor tech and he found the ES2 board was actually buzzing. Board replaced, years of awesome guitar since. These things can be so hard to find though, best of luck troubleshooting.

[SDTaylorman]

There's PLENTY of "loose nuts" out there. Many of them play guitar too! In all seriousness if you believe it's the nut try a capo on 2 and see if that resolves the issue. If it does then yeah, probably "the other" nut at the top of the guitar. 

[Edward]

It has developed what I would describe as a string buzzing sonic quality across multiple strings....

Check your neck relief first!

This sounds like buzzing across the frets, over multiple strings, which is likely due to the neck changing due to weather/humidity changes.  Check that you have some neck relief first; and if too little, try 1/4 turn looser and see if that helps.  If it does not, then take it to a good tech who knows Taylors and see what he thinks.

Edward

[asguitar1]

I had a similar problem with one of my guitars.  Then a wise old repairman in Tucson AZ diagnosed the problem as a couple of loose frets.  The frets were reset and glued back into place and that guitar is now one of my favorites.

[Guitar Cowboy]

Thank you all for your replies. I will take a look into your suggestions and hope that I can uncover the source of the problem. I’ll let you know what I find.  Thanks.

[DenverSteve]

Sounds like a full tune up is in order.  I've never had a guitar suffer from one and almost all get better.  I had a G/B string buzzing and spoke with Taylor (it was a new 717e). They told me to take it to a Taylor-tech and have it looked at.  They did a tune up and neck reset to adjust the angle and proper set the strings.  It's sublime now.  Try a tune up/set up.