Guitar Sound = Garbage

  • Thread starter Thread starter MrStitch
  • Start date Start date
K, I've changed my strings over. Using Dean Markley's, Jimi Hendrix strings.... been using them the past couple of times and so far I'm not so sure they're any better than the Blue Steel.

I've got a cruddy practice amp at home, so I can't really tell the effect it's had. However, the B string is definitely staying in tune much better than before. The G string go's out of tune just a bit, but I'm chalking that up to 'new strings that are being stretched out'.

With the crappy amp, it sounds as though the B string isn't as 'wobbly' as before, but the G string is showing the same signs. I won't know for absolute certain until I get it to practice and plug into my main amp. Either way.... it does sound like there is still something there.

Oh, and I tuned it using my Korg GA-30 Tuner, both open and on the 12 fret. There was just a touch difference at both positions, but seemed to be completely manageable.

So.... now what?
 
muttley600 said:
Lower the pickups, change the strings and report back. There is a definite order to troubleshooting setup problems. The first thing is you cannot do it with worn out strings.

When you report back let us know if the intonation is sharp or flat, tell us how high the action is and if each note plays cleanly with out buzzing. Until we have at least that much to go on everyone is speculating. It does sound like you have two problems. One is the pickup hight and is fixed easily. The other is the intonation, you need to get new strings on there and give us more details before we can help. New strings may well fix it.
Click to expand...

I agree with this...
Before I learned "when in doubt slap on a new set of strings!"
I have racked my brain over tuning and intonation problems and spent hours adjusting saddles, worrying about my guitar being dammaged, Wondering what could be causing intonation problems, ect...
Only to change the strings and make everything all better again.

Changing the strings should be #1 on the list ALWAYS in my opinion.
 
MrStitch said:
Oh, and I tuned it using my Korg GA-30 Tuner, both open and on the 12 fret. There was just a touch difference at both positions, but seemed to be completely manageable.

So.... now what?
Click to expand...

That "touch of difference" on a "pocket tuner" can show up as a big difference on a strobe tuner. Even slight variations can set up some weird resonances, and those slight differences add up, if each string is off a little it adds up and makes the whole guitar way off.
 
But no matter how well the strings are tuned, it still shouldn't make that weird wobbly sound when hitting a note high up on the fret board.... should it? Really wouldn't think so....

Also, what is a strobe tuner?
 
MrStitch said:
But no matter how well the strings are tuned, it still shouldn't make that weird wobbly sound when hitting a note high up on the fret board.... should it? Really wouldn't think so....

Also, what is a strobe tuner?
Click to expand...
Have you lowered the pickup's??

You don't need a strobe tuner.
 
You hadn't mentioned anything special about the single coil that I have.... so I didn't do anything to that part yet.

Do you strongly suspect that this will solve the problem?

And what are the pro's and con's of lowering/raising the pickups?
 
Ok sorry, something seems to have got lost on the way. When people were talking about the pickup magnets effecting the sound they are talking about the magnets pulling on the string and how they effect the vibration. That can give you a weird "wobbly" sound. The neck pickup is usually the culprit because is able to move the string easier than the bridge pickup. To test if this is your problem you need to lower the pickup and see if your problem goes away. You can do this by adjusting the pickup hight adjustment screws normally mounted at the side of the pickups. count the turns you move them down by and then you can get them back up by the same amount if you need to or work out where the optimum position is.
 
Ok.. Sorry about that. I was going in order of the thread responses.... hahahha

You: What kind of neck pickup do you have?
Me: Single Coil.
You:........ (no response)

Anyways, I understand what to do, but can't really do anything till I get to practice, but will keep this thread bookmarked.

Until then - Are there any pros/cons to lowering/raising the pickups?? Affect the tone? (although, that wouldn't matter as I have a cruddy solid state)

Affect the sustain?

I also noticed that my strings don't look like they're directly over top the 'dots' on the pickups... funny... as long as I've been playing and I never noticed that before. They're stock pickups, so I can't imagine it being any other way.

Are other guitars normally like this?
 
Yeh sorry time doesn't allow me to answer all threads and I sometimes miss stuff.

Lowering the pickup will effect tone. But in this case I suspect it will improve it. ;)

What your looking for as in most things in life it's a compromise between the sweet spot and the best spot.

Lower it too far and you loose dynamic and sustain as well as volume raise it too much and it will choke and effect the free vibration of your string. What you want is the spot in the middle. Lowering it a good way will tell you if that is your problem. You can always bring it back up.
 
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