Guitar Problem

[famous beagle]

Hey Y'all, I've got a guitar issue I was hoping someone might be able to help with.

On my Strat, when I play a harmonic on the low E string (it's most noticable at the 12th fret, but it's there on the 7th and 5th as well), I can hear slight beats, as if the string is out of tune with itself or something. Consequently, when I fret notes on that string, I hear the same thing. This gets worse the further up the neck I go. Also, I get some fret buzz on this string and don't really get it on the other ones at all.

I used to think it was a neck issue, but when I noticed that it was doing it with open-string harmonics, it made me rethink that. It's been this way with several different sets of strings, so I know it's not a bad string or something.

Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks

 

[cannabis]

do you get the beats with the other strings muted?

 

[ggunn]

Hey Y'all, I've got a guitar issue I was hoping someone might be able to help with.

On my Strat, when I play a harmonic on the low E string (it's most noticable at the 12th fret, but it's there on the 7th and 5th as well), I can hear slight beats, as if the string is out of tune with itself or something. Consequently, when I fret notes on that string, I hear the same thing. This gets worse the further up the neck I go. Also, I get some fret buzz on this string and don't really get it on the other ones at all.

I used to think it was a neck issue, but when I noticed that it was doing it with open-string harmonics, it made me rethink that. It's been this way with several different sets of strings, so I know it's not a bad string or something.

Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks

Sounds like "stratitis" to me. Your pickups are too close to the strings, I'll wager.

 

[famous beagle]

do you get the beats with the other strings muted?

yep. It's the same either way.

 

[famous beagle]

Sounds like "stratitis" to me. Your pickups are too close to the strings, I'll wager.

Hmm... well they certainly don't seem too close. But I'll lower them when I get home and see if that takes care of it.

Thanks

 

[RandyW]

The better the picks "powerful anico magnets" and the lighter the gauge string the lower they need to be.
In other words if you want to use Texas Specials for a SRV sound you also need to use his heavy 13's or your strings will sound out of tune.

Not sure what you mean my slight beats, is the intonation setup on it?
What model strat or what picksups if after market.
Some folks with Texas Specials and 9/10s have the almost level with the pickguard.

 

[famous beagle]

It looks as though it was "Stratitis."

I lowered them (they're almost level with the pickguard now) and that pretty much took care of it.

The strings are 9s, and I'm not sure what the pickups are. I had bought a set of American standards off ebay, and two of them (the neck and bridge) weren't working. (I have a stacked bucker in the bridge.) I thought it was my wiring job that was the problem, so I let a tech do it, and he told me that those two pickups were dead. He said he had two others he could throw in there, which would be better than nothing.

I think they're cheap because they sound like crap. I just ordered some Dimarzio Area '58s for the neck and middle positions though, so hopefully I'll have a decent-sounding, in-tune guitar again soon.

 

[Light]

None of us are going to be able to diagnose it over the internet. Bring it in to a good repair shop. If you are having buzzing, it might be a bad string, or your pickups could be too close, or your guitar could have a more serious problem. Worn frets will often cause the kinds of problems you are talking about, but until you get your guitar looked at by someone who knows what they are doing, you will never know for sure.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[ez_willis]

None of us are going to be able to diagnose it over the internet. Bring it in to a good repair shop.

Naw, just push the overdrive a little harder. You'll never hear it.

 

[andydeedpoll]

Naw, just push the overdrive a little harder. You'll never hear it.

works on bad playing, being out of tune, and shit singers too.

Andy.

 

[famous beagle]

It was Stratitis. I lowered the pickups and that took care of it.

Thanks for all the suggestions y'all.

 

[Dumby]

Hey Y'all, I've got a guitar issue I was hoping someone might be able to help with.

On my Strat, when I play a harmonic on the low E string (it's most noticable at the 12th fret, but it's there on the 7th and 5th as well), I can hear slight beats, as if the string is out of tune with itself or something. Consequently, when I fret notes on that string, I hear the same thing. This gets worse the further up the neck I go. Also, I get some fret buzz on this string and don't really get it on the other ones at all.

I used to think it was a neck issue, but when I noticed that it was doing it with open-string harmonics, it made me rethink that. It's been this way with several different sets of strings, so I know it's not a bad string or something.

Any ideas what this could be?

Thanks

The distance from the nut to the 12th fret has to be perfectly equal to the distance between the 12th fret and the bridge, including the elevation of the action. That may be why you're in tune with the 5th fret and not th 12th.

 

[famous beagle]

The distance from the nut to the 12th fret has to be perfectly equal to the distance between the 12th fret and the bridge, including the elevation of the action. That may be why you're in tune with the 5th fret and not th 12th.

While I appreciate the input, what you mentioned has to do with intonation and strobe tuning. This isn't the problem I was having. Thanks for responding, but as I mentioned in my post just above, I discovered the problem and it's fixed now.

Thanks

 

[Light]

The distance from the nut to the 12th fret has to be perfectly equal to the distance between the 12th fret and the bridge, including the elevation of the action. That may be why you're in tune with the 5th fret and not th 12th.

Um, wrong. Completely wrong.


The distance from the twelfth fret to the bridge is a bit longer than the distance from the nut to the twelfth fret. The exact distance is best set with a strobe tuner, and though the action is part of the equation, so also is the diameter of the strings core, the tension of the string, and to a lesser extent the windings on the string. Maybe you just phrased that badly, but the way you have it there a typical acoustic would have as much as 3/32 of compensation on the high E (usually too much), and as much as 4/32 on the low E (far to little). On most acoustics, the intonation is damn close to perfect with 1/16th on the high E and 3/16th on the low E (with some deviations from the straight line, particulatly for the B string). On an electric, you set it with a strobe tuner, but the amounts of compensation will be a bit less (usually) due to the lighter strings.

More to the point, as has already been pointed out, that's not the problem he was having.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi