phil54914 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Hi everyone, I have a SG special I bought a couple months ago. I love the guitar, especially the sustain it has. I noticed this when I first had the guitar but really noticed it after I changed the strings today. When I play the 12th fret on the G string, the note dies off pretty quickly. Any other note I play on the guitar sustains noticeably longer. Why does that one note die off so fast? Is it a setup issue or just how my guitar is? It's not that big of a deal to me, I was just wondering. I know a little about guitars but nowhere near enough to know what the story is. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesape Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 It's either a setup or fret levelling issue. If it's new, it's under warranty, so take it back to the dealer for the repair. It should be a quick and free fix. Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skipclone 1 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Ya, `dead spots` are not an uncommon malady but if you bought it new that sucks... Same old surprises, brand new cliches- Skipsounds on Soundclick: www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandid=602491 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 If you changed to different gauges when you changed the strings- any of 'em- that may change the amount of tension pulling on the neck, thus changing the neck's "relief" (slight bowing under string tension, some is good for clearence of the vibrating strings over the frets) and the "action" (the overall height of the strings above the frets, generally set at the bridge, but also affected by the neck-relief). When you changed the strings, you may have unintentionally changed the height of the bridge and/or tailpiece, too, especially if you took all the strings off at once. The bridge and tail are held in place by the tension of the strings, and even if the aren't noticeably moved or dropped out of position, their threaded adjustment parts can be bumped into turning when they're loose, and raising or lowering the action on one or both sides. You may even have gotten the string caught along the side of its respective saddle, instead of on top of it, in its saddle's notch. I've done this now and then if I string in a hurry! (Everybody has.) Maybe- probably not, but maybe- that string is touching a pickup-polepiece (one of the screws in the pickups aligned beneath each string); as you play further and further up the neck, the string is brought lower and lower and thus closer and closer to the pickups and their adjustable polepieces. Fret that string at the 12th and successively higher frets, and visually inspect the whole path from the fret you're at to the bridge-saddle, and look for any place that the string touches or buzzes against. Hope this helps; let us know how things work out for you here; keep us posted! Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil54914 Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 Thanks for the help guys. I'll probably end up taking it to the music store I got it at. To reply to Caevan, that 12th fret is the only dead spot, all the other notes sound good. And I used the same string gauge as the old ones. I didn't know that about how the tailpiece can lose it's height if you take all the strings off at once, which I've never done, but now I know, and of course, knowing is half the battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Thorne Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Take it back; ya buy a dang Gibson SG you should be able to expect it's going to stay set up and in good condition for a little longer than a couple of months, fer cryin' out loud. They charge enough for 'em. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 Overall, the fact that this became more noticable after you changed the strings seems to indicate that it's something with the hardware or the strings themselves. But, maybe you just didn't notice it before for some reason, and maybe there's either a low or a high fret involved there. If that's NOT it- O.K., humor me here: What are you playing it through? Is it a tube amp? If so, try it unplugged (guitar, no amp), and then through a few other amps, to see if the 3rd/"G-String" still seems to have a dead-spot at the 12th-fret. If it doesn't, and sounds notably better through another amp, and/or un-plugged... Try a "Matched Phase-Inverter" in the phase-inverter/driver socket of said presumed tube-amp; ask Myles Rose (on the "Feel free to ask Myles"-thread, above on the main 'page here) about whether or not an MPI will make a difference in your specific make and model of amp (and be VERY specific), and, if so, what he'd recommend for an MPI. I have found that a tube used for the driver/phase-inverter function, that happens to have fairly dissimilar triodes (12AX7 and 12AT7 types, etc. are "dual triode" tubes, kinda like two tubes in one, internally) can and will very often yeild "dead-spot" like effects, since it will produce phase cancelations and reinforcements that can strongly affect the strength and weakness of output performance at given note's frequency. I've replaced just such a tube with a designated, gauranteed MPI, and perceived "dead-spots" on my guitars dissappeared. It's PROBABLY NOT that, but it's a possibility.I still think it'll turn out to be a hardware or set-up issue... Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do? ~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~ _ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil54914 Posted February 24, 2006 Author Share Posted February 24, 2006 I got a 15 watt Marshall I play through. I'm pretty sure it's a solid state amp. I'm pretty sure it's not the amp cause my Strat (I kinda like that guitar better by the way) doesn't have any dead spots. I did as you suggested with trying the fret unplugged and there still is a dead spot. Since a couple of you thought it might be a fret problem, I tried sliding a card under the strings while I fret the strings and the G string appears to be slighlty closer to the 13th fret (although that could've been my imagination too. So perhaps it is a fret issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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