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weird ringing overtones with open string hammer ons


RoboPimp

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hi folks,

 

the title pretty much explains the problem. I have a new acoustic and it's pretty good so far but I'm noticing these weird high pitched overtones when I do a hammer on an open string. I swear it's almost coming from behind the fretted note towards the nut. I recently put bronze strings on, could these be the problem or at least emphasizing these noises. I noticed that some of my other guitars will make the same types of noises but I really have to "hammer" my hammer ons and the overtones aren't nearly as prominent as they are on my new acoustic. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

thanx

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Make sure that the ball ends of your strings are seated properly against the bridge plate.

 

 

the string balls (heheh) seem to be seated firmly, but the pins themselves will not go all the way flush against the bridge, there's about 3/16ths of the pins sticking out.

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Back to your earlier observation about the string seeming to ring behind the hammered note. I'm assuming if you just fret that note you don't hear it. I'm going to guess a couple of things

 

1) when you hammer on you push the string all the way to the fretboard between two frets and it becomes fretted on both sides. Since it is already ringing, the short side towards the nut continues to ring, effectively fretted at that "back" fret. You might try shifting the point where you hammer to be closer to the regular fret.

 

2) if not all the way fretted, it still could be vibrating and buzz against that "back" fret. Might happen if your nut was really low.

 

3) something toward the nut end of the guitar is loose and rattling - the act of hammering causes it to vibrate. Tuner bushing or washer, loose truss rod cover or nut, all kinds of potential rattly things up there.

 

just guessing....

 

btw - often the pins do not go all the way down unless the holes have been carefully reamed to fit them.

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thanks for the suggestions. I'll check it over more closely and go from there.

 

 

Try this just to make sure your nut slots are correct. Fret each string at 2, 3, 4, etc and just tap the string behind right over the fret (ie fret 2, tap 1). You should hear a little "ping" and feel about the same amount of movement for each string - in other words you should have a couple of thousands clearance at each fret. Too much will make it hard to play, too little may cause the buzzing you are hearing. I can give you some exact measurements but I don't have them on this PC and will be away from the other one until monday.

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