EmptinesOf Youth Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 k, my guitar sounds great through an amp, no flaws, but when i play it acoustic i notice the top three strings rattle. Like i said, through an amp you dont hear this, but its starting to get on my nevers during late night practice. Any suggestions on how to fix this? Is it the strings, or can i just adjust something on the bridge? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demarc Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 What gauge of strings do you use? How low is your action? How agressive is your pick attack? Did your guitar just experience a climate change(humid/dry or hot/cold)? Would you consider a heavier guage? Also, a quick and cheap first test is running through one string from open to highest fret. Look for uniformity of rattle or lack of. Hope this helps Check out some handcrafted guitars: http://home.mindspring.com/~grus/guitars.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted December 14, 2003 Share Posted December 14, 2003 Yeah, everything Hermey said; you may (or may not) need to adjust your neck's truss-rod for proper relief. (Do a few searches here on this Forum for "Relief", "Truss Rod", "Set Up", and "Action".) On the other hand, if everything in your set-up is fine, maybe you should take advantage of this and practice mastering picking-hand dynamics unplugged. A somewhat lighter, more dynamically sensitive touch will help. Then when you really need it, when you really mean it, lay into those suckers hard and let that rattle and brrrranggngngngnn'n' outta-tune blaring be a part of the sound! (That reminds me, I really need to practice more myself!) I have a fairly low-to-medium action and medium relief on the guitar that I sometimes play slide on; if I practice slide on it unplugged, that low-string rattle is MUCH more prominent. Both my picking-hand and my slide'n'fretting-hand come into play here. Practicing getting a good clear rattle-free sound unplugged makes my plugged-in playing a LOT better! I'm not saying you should practice slide, but I am saying that, once you have checked and adjusted your set-up as needed, work on getting a good tone unplugged; it'll benefit your playing all around. 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...
EmptinesOf Youth Posted December 15, 2003 Author Share Posted December 15, 2003 Originally posted by Hermey: What gauge of strings do you use? How low is your action? How agressive is your pick attack? Did your guitar just experience a climate change(humid/dry or hot/cold)? Would you consider a heavier guage? Also, a quick and cheap first test is running through one string from open to highest fret. Look for uniformity of rattle or lack of. Hope this helpsk, the strings are factory so im not entirely sure, but they seem to be something in the middle, not heavys not lights...action, ive never really been sure of what that meant.. , i am pretty aggressive tho, and yea id say theres been a pretty significant temp change, cause i ordered it and so they had to ship it and all, i dont know about heavier strings, i could try it tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demarc Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 You say the strings are factory. How long have you had the guitar? You might be due for a string change anyways. If you play that aggressively you might want to consider moving up one in strings. Thicker strings will be harder to fret and chord, though. By the temp change, I was thinking more along the lines if you left the guitar in the trunk of your car overnight, out in the freezing cold weather, then brought it into a warm house. In a case like that it might tahe a few hours to settle in. Hope this helps Check out some handcrafted guitars: http://home.mindspring.com/~grus/guitars.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caevan O’Shite Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 You recently bought this guitar new in a store, right? http://www.ibanez.com/guitars/models/SZ520QMGAB.jpg Take it back to the store for a proper set-up, it doesn't sound like they did a proper set-up job on it for you. Buy a new set of strings or two and have that be part of the set-up deal. Talk to them about how you play and how you want the guitar to feel and sound; and be sure to SHOW them what you're talkin'bout, Willis! 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...
Guitarzan Posted December 15, 2003 Share Posted December 15, 2003 here is tons of info, from action to pickup heights. nice informative site. http://www.kinman.com/html/toneWorkshop/perfectGuitar.htm http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=193274 rock it, i will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
george costanza Posted December 17, 2003 Share Posted December 17, 2003 I wonder, since you only notice this when playing unamplified, if you may just be hitting the strings too hard in an effort to make them heard...? I notice that this effect is noticed on the upper (less-acoustically-loud/lighter gauge/thinner) strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmptinesOf Youth Posted December 17, 2003 Author Share Posted December 17, 2003 k, well in response to ceavan, i went to the stor e after school on monday, the place was so packed, i couldnt even find anyone to talk to so ill have to go again sometime. SO instead of waiting for them i fiddled around with the bridge and raised the stop bar, this got rid of the rattle (which i think is just the top strings bouncing against the first frets bar) but it also took away from the sound. So i think im just playing too hard, im also going to go to a lighter gauge string. thanks for all the help tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demarc Posted December 17, 2003 Share Posted December 17, 2003 If your natural instinct is pick aggressively, I would think you might want to try a heavier gauge of strings. That way you won't have to fight the force and try to play with less force. If you are more comfortable playing hard, so be it, be yourself. Just my two cents Check out some handcrafted guitars: http://home.mindspring.com/~grus/guitars.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmptinesOf Youth Posted December 17, 2003 Author Share Posted December 17, 2003 i think thats definately worth a try, once a get an extra 10 bucks im gonna do..thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demarc Posted December 17, 2003 Share Posted December 17, 2003 Yeah that way you lower your "stop bar" a little. I am assuming you mean the bridge? I have heard the term stop bar, but I am guessing it is the bridge on a Les Paul type setup. As opposed to the "bridge on a strat atyle guitar. Sorry if I have the term wrong, I was raised in the sticks, and didn't get out much. Check out some handcrafted guitars: http://home.mindspring.com/~grus/guitars.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmptinesOf Youth Posted December 17, 2003 Author Share Posted December 17, 2003 instead of like a tremelo, its raised up above the body, byt two screws on the sides. if turn the scrwes, it raises the bar the strings are resting on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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