Originally Posted by: aschlemanEven when the guitar is unplugged, you shouldn't hear much "buzzing" unless you're REALLY strumming on it.

You really have to be careful as to what you define as "buzz". It would be easy to dismiss my Strat as a poor playing guitar because unplugged, it "buzzes". However, none of that translates into a "buzzing" sound when amplified. The guitar sounds great plugged in. Seems obvious, but it IS an electric guitar. Judge the sound/tone either through an amp, or pre-amp with the kind of sound you're going to use it with. What's interpreted as a little string buzz acoustically may not be present when you actually plug the guitar in. The reverse is also true. I recently extensively tested a Gibson Les Paul Traditional.. this was a brand new, $2300 instrument. It sounded great acoustically, but plugged in, produced an unwanted harmonic over-tone on a couple of frets. What was almost unnoticeable acoustically was very prominent when plugged in with some gain/overdrive added, and believe me, it sounded horrible!

I had a Peavey Falcon (before I bought my Strat) which buzzed, and was noticeable through my amp. It also had a couple of dead-spots where the note would not sustain. I took it to a guitar repair shop, and they sold me on a complete over-haul, including dressing all the frets. It cost me $150 which was a lot at the time, and the guitar sounded exactly the same when I got it back.

Moral of the story, check that any "buzzing" you hear acoustically is really affecting the sound of the guitar plugged in. Strats & Telecasters for example tend to sound "buzzy" when played acoustically, but that's really just a part of their character.