[realmusicians] Re: Guitar buzz.
- From: Chris Belle <cb1963@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: realmusicians@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:25:14 -0600
yes, yes, and no all at the same time 'grin'.
See, that guitar hasn't been played in a while and it might be settling a bit.
Also, sometimes fretts need to be filed.
when you have a low action, this is a common problem, you give up
some ease of playing to be able to avoid frett buzzing easily, and
lighter strings are more likely to buzz.
Also new strings before they're stretched out will do that sometimes,
and round wounds and flat wounds act differently too.
I stretch hell out of my strings, bending them hard when I put on a
set, sounds like a dying cat around here, but this insures I'm not
having to fiddle with it all the time while they stretch slowly out.
Well, that guitar probably isn't the top dog, and sloppy machine
heads are a sign of a guitar that corners were cut in, but I have
bought inexpensive guitars and outfitted them with new machine heads
and a new nut, and they played like champs.
YOu can bet your new taylor will have first class machine heads.
I like grover heads myself.
That's why i put on an inexpensive alvarez I liked that came with
junky machine heads.
Part of the fun of being a guitar player is the incessant tinkering, right?
Well, your problems are probably part of all three, cheap guitar, low
action, and maybe a frett filing will solve it, sometimes a guitar
needs a couple trips to the luthier to get it just right, even the
expensive girls 'grin'.
and yes, something inside the guitar could indeed be resonating
causing a buzz, guitars that don't have pick-ups or junk inside them
actually sound better recorded, that's why my old toc sounds so
sweet, nothing to interfere with the sound inside the guitar.
they can minimize this with miniature electronics, but still, when
you have stuff glued and screwed to the guitar, it's another part of
the equation you have to consider.
Yeh, you have to tune those things more than once a week 'grin',
usually even with locking machine heads, with as much as i bent and
such even on my custom stratt, once a set does it.
See, strings stretch as you play them, and even if your machine heads
are rock solid, temprature changes, humidity changes, the amount of
thick smoke in the air, the cheap perfume on the bar-maid, and the
tilt of the planet and moon and stars can modify a guitar's tuning.
It's just a hunk of wood and metal and glue after all.
YOu know how hard it is to keep a piano in perfect tune, and your not
touching the strings, even, but if your bending, and depositing oils
and sweat, etc on strings, for guys like me who exude copious amounts
of sweat and oil elixir coated strings were invented 'grin'.
they're like putting condoms on strings, some say they're not as
bright, but they last a lot longer than regular strings.
I can wear out a set of strings in a few hours of playing, no kidding.
they literally rust while I'm playing them.
so, welcome to the real world of guitar 'grin'.
You'll get to where you can hear a string slightly out of tune and
just tweak it and do it on the fly, and remember, sometimes tuning to
the piano because of stretch tuning and such, you have to compromise,
like if you tune a fifth perfectly then your thirds might be sharp,
so guitar tuning once you get past electronic tuners is all about
compromise and give and take 'grin'.
You think g;uitars are a pain in the butt, try tuning a twelve string
or a mandolin.
What's the joke about mandolin players, they spend half the time
tuning, and the other half playing out of tune?
I must admit my little honer mandolin is sweet as honey, she stays in
tune well.
I used her for the first time on a track recently and she records like a dream.
Sweet and clear, and so very pleasing to the ears.
At 08:44 AM 12/21/2011, you wrote:
Be it that I'm a newbie virtuoso on the guitar I've been getting a
healthy dose of buzz. But I expected that. But now, I seem to be
getting a lot more, especially on the low E string. I even get it
when plucking the string open. It has to be a pretty hard pluck, but
I can't get the same out of any other string other than a little
tiny bit on the D string. And that requires a real yank. Yet popping
the open E doesn't cause it.
I don't know if this has anything to do with the setup that was just
done because this guitar was impossible to play prior to that. But
the tech did say to bring it back if I had any problems or just
wanted the string height adjusted.
The strange thing about it, at least to me, is that it happens even
when I pluck the string open. So I can't blame my weak left hand on
that. And it's amazing how difficult it is to track down sound, even
on an instrument this small. When I'm playing I'd swear it's coming
off of the saddle. Yet if I put my ear down to it there seems to be
part of it in the saddle, part up in the nut, but most of it seems
to be coming right out of the sound hole as if something inside the
body is resonating. This guitar does have a pickup. So there are
some wires floating around in there.
Now this morning I decided to try and track it down some more. I had
to tune it the day after the setup. I expected that. And I was able
to tune it very quick and easy with my piano. Then I had to do the
same again a couple days later. Probably normal, I thought. But this
morning I decided to stretch that low E string to see if it solved
the problem. So I tuned it up about a step, let it stretch for a few
minutes, then loosened it quite a bit and let it relax for a while.
Then when I went to tune the whole thing to my piano I had a heck of
a time getting the low strings, E, A, and D, in tune. I finally
tuned from the high E up to the low E and that seemed to get me
closer. But still I had to really battle with the low strings
compared to the tunings I've done, even before it was setup and
grossly out of tune. It only took a few minutes then.
And now, finally, the open string buzzing is gone. So is this
normal, a problem with the setup, or just a flimsy guitar? The
tuning keys do feel a bit sloppy to me, as if the slightest little
bump would move them, which I assume is not the norm.
I'd appreciate any thoughts, words of wisdom, and experience on this
aspect of the guitar.
Tom
For all your audio production needs and technology training, visit us at
www.affordablestudioservices.com
or contact
Chris Belle
cb1963@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
or
Stephie Belle
stephieb1961@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
for customized web design
Other related posts:
