Dull sounding low E string

[rickoshea]

you can measure the relief at the first fret without capoing at the second - you should have a value of about 0.022" between the first fret and the low E. Theres a good article on nut adjustment (and indeed setup) here :

 

http://thbecker.net/guitar_playing/guitars_and_setup/setup_page_06.html

[LaurentB]

 

Yes. As an experiment, loosen the string enough to slide a tiny piece of tin foil into the slot. You may have to add a couple of them but it will raise the string VS that first fret. Then, tune up and try again.

 

 

I just tried that, with the tin foil. It seems to make a slight difference in sound, but not really much. The tone gets a bit more punch and treble to it, it seems. But not much, really.

[daklander]

Well, there has to be room at the first fret.

Read this article by Bryan Kimsey. It's quite in depth but will help you determine if it's a 1st fret clearance issue.

[LaurentB]

 

Well, there has to be room at the first fret. Read this article by Bryan Kimsey . It's quite in depth but will help you determine if it's a 1st fret clearance issue.

 

 

Ok, thanks! At least I can use that on the Stewart-MacDonald guitar I'm building as well.

[daklander]

From the article.

 

 

While this is a lot of work initially, after you do 100 or so, you'll quickly see that an action of, say, .105" will work well with a nut height of .022", and an action of .085" works with a nut height of .016", and so on.

 

[larry50]

Some guitars are just like that. If all of the other strings sound good, not much you can do.

[Denis Volga]

An old post from 2009 ..LaurentB;n1326786 Hello,On my Crafter GAE-30, most strings sound reasonably clear and well, and so does the low E-string as long as it isn't fretted. When fretted, it loses much treble and sustain. It does that also when the string is new. Since it is something especially steelstring guitars sometimes seem to suffer from, I wonder if anyone has an idea how this is caused? Would it be the structure of the neck, or maybe sooner the body that causes it, maybe the bracing of the top?...

 

 

Just joined this site for a reason (quotation above).

 

The situation.

 

A brand new Crafter HD24/NT i bought just to play when i am at my mom's place (far away) so i don't have to carry any one of my expensive guitars over the ocean. The guitar is decent, bright sounding (reminds me a bit of Taylor, it's not a Taylor, of course), very easy to play, very light and quite inexpensive (140$ with soft case).

 

Then i have ordered Graph Tusq nut and saddle to replace cheap plastic ones on it. Then i have sended a bit braces (the middles, kind of trying to make them scalloped , it was hard on this one and i didn't want to mess too much with it cause it's just a temporary guitar. Also, (have to mention because for a second i thought it might play a role in a problem but then dismissed it), me and my son "beautified it" with some shapes (sun, shapes) of self-adhesive glitter on the head-stock and the lower big part of the body.

 

The problem.

 

After installing new nut and saddle the lower strings just lost their tremble sounding very dull, like they are strung on a piece of 2x4. The first two strings are fine, other strings - horrible.

I have sended the saddle a bit too much and had to increase the action. I had checked the braces inside thinking that maybe some braces got loose from my stupid sending - no, at least i couldn't detect it.

Also i rechecked the evenness of the new saddle - no problem (anyways, the problem is there even with the old saddle and nut, and there were no problems with this guitar apart form a nit high action and boring looks).

The pins on 5th and 6th strings were kind of loose, i fixed that by putting another ones - no effect.

Then i put the old nut and saddle to see if it's due to new parts - no effect.

Then i rechecked the braces again - atleast i couldn't find anything wrong with them.

Did i increase the action too much? But it is ok (even not as low as i would like) and the first two strings sound good. I am lost here now.

 

What could go wrong? Soon i have to take it for the trip, it doesn't play and i feel bad that with my interference (most likely) i spoiled the guitar and lost time and money.

 

Any suggestions, thoughts, "maybe's" and instructions will be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you!

[DeepEnd]

First, welcome aboard. Second, this would probably receive a better response if you had started a new thread. Third, if you loosened and retightened the strings a bunch of times while you were doing your mods, they may be fairly dead. Clearly, you loosened them sufficiently to remove the bridge pins and reach through the soundhole to sand the braces, which means they were completely slack. Have you tried new strings? If so, it's not apparent from your post. Fourth, you mentioned raising the action after lowering the saddle too much. How did you raise it? With a shim? By adjusting the truss rod? If you used the truss rod, that was a mistake. If you used a shim, what was it made of? Does it run the full length of the saddle? Some materials are not conducive to transmitting vibration. Let us know what you've done so far and consider starting a new thread.