What the hell is this sound my guitar is making?? Help!

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turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

What the hell is this sound my guita...

Hey guys - so truth be told it's not a current guitar of mine that's a problem, but an old guitar I sold to a student. But I see and hear the guitar and student weekly, so I want to get it fixes.

Here's the deal:

The sound seems to be coming from the neck area. Possibly the headstock.

It seems to happen when I play certain notes - particularly the low mid register. Like on the A string and certain D string notes.

The sound is very hard to discribe. It's sounds a little like a creaky metal door if you brought the sound up 10 octaves or something. Almost a rattling sound. And it coexists with the note I'm playing. It rings for a good 2 seconds and dies away with the note.

When it happens, I can squeeze the headstock with my hand, grabbing the sides where the tuning plates are, and it solves the problem... for about 10 seconds.

It's a Rafael Romero blanca that I spent about $2g's on, purchased in the US. However, another student has a Childs size Hohner that probably cost $100, and it has the same situation.

Strangely, the problem seems to come and go on both of these guitars, with mo apparent relationship to temperature or humidity (although there may be one and I haven't noticed).

Has anyone ever had this problem? And if so, how do you fix it?

Thank!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 3:50:40

JasonMcGuire

Posts: 1141
Joined: Apr. 10 2007

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to turnermoran)

perhaps its the screw for the part of the tuner that you grab with your thumb. I had a guitar that made that noise and it was solved by tightening the little screw that holds the fake mother of pearl part onto the post. Cheap tuners are the issue...... most likely.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 4:37:00

Ramon Amira

Posts: 1025
Joined: Oct. 14 2009
From: New York City

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to turnermoran)

It's the ghost of Manolo de Huelva trying to tell you something.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 4:49:36

turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

[Deleted]

Post has been moved to the Recycle Bin at Nov. 9 2010 8:00:06

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 7:59:43

turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to JasonMcGuire)

@Jason - that's what I thought, but I changed the tuners and it still made the noise.

It almost sounds like a truss rod vibrating sympathetically..but it has no truss rod.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 8:02:48

JasonMcGuire

Posts: 1141
Joined: Apr. 10 2007

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to turnermoran)

quote:

but I changed the tuners and it still made the noise.

Then its the ghost of Manolo de Huelva. Call Spiro.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Bikhiyal
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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 8:10:55

edguerin

Posts: 1589
Joined: Dec. 24 2007
From: Siegburg, Alemania

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to turnermoran)

Are you sure there's no loose end of a string touching anywhere?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 11:09:13

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to turnermoran)

Tracking down a buzz can be really tricky.
I had a guitar that was buzzing very annoyingly in the way you described exactly, only when the low E string was fretted at the 3rd fret or my capo was on the third.
After about an hour we figured out that the back part of the string, BEHIND my fretting finger was hitting the first or second fret because the nut slot was filed low. The string was just barely off the fret back there, enough to rattle. Also the guitar had a strong resonance at G that was bringing it out. So hold down the notes that are making a problem and press the string down behind your finger and see if it is very close to a fret. If that's the case you can file the frets but making a new nut might be easier... Good luck .

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 12:12:20

turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

@detersa1 - thanks! this totally sounds like it could be the culprit. Come to think of it, the most offending pitches that make the sound are G# on the 6th string, and a little bit of the low G.

I'll investigate further.
Fingers crossed. Thanks again for the good idea.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 17:27:34

turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to edguerin)

@edguerin - tried that to no avail.

thx

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 17:29:07

srshea

Posts: 833
Joined: Oct. 29 2006
From: Olympia, WA in the Great Pacific Northwest

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to turnermoran)

Hmn. My guitar, which is also Rafael Romero blanca (a 120), developed a mysterious and out of the blue buzzing sound last summer that sounds eerily similar to what you describe (though it seemed to be coming from the interior of the guitar, not the neck, in my case…). It was a really harsh, almost metallic sounding death rattle that, like the problem you’re describing, would sound with a played note and then fade quickly. It did this with fretted and open notes on all or most strings.

I took it to Eugene Clark, who’s been building and repairing for ever, and he poked and prodded it but couldn’t find the cause of the rattle. I left it with him for a couple of days and when I picked it up the rattle was gone, though he said he had not been able to actually find anything wrong with the guitar.

Took it home, and a day or two later the rattle came back. I slackened the strings and tried to mimic what I had seen Clark doing. I felt around and carefully but firmly pressed down on all the braces and such. Tuned it back up and it’s been fine ever since.

I have no idea what was causing the rattle. I have no idea if anything that was done to the guitar actually “fixed” the problem or if it just went away on its own. There was some atypically extreme fluctuation in humidity at that time but how that may or may not have factored into things remains a mystery.

I can’t imagine that any of this actually helps you, but it’s interesting that two guitars from the same builder have been making a hard to diagnose mystery noise...

I dunno. Maybe you could trying poking around on the inside, see if maybe something has come loose where the neck joins the body. Wish I had more help to offer.

Good luck!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 19:50:11

turnermoran

Posts: 391
Joined: Feb. 6 2010

RE: What the hell is this sound my g... (in reply to srshea)

@srshea - that's crazy. That seems to describe my problem to a tee. On account of the R.Romero 120 and my model allegedly both being products of the Valencia building scene (instead of being hand built by Romero himself), I wonder if other people with guitars from that area experienced anything similar.

Of course, maybe I'm off the mark with respect to your particular guitar and where it's from, but I hear this a lot of guitars in the $1500 - 2500 range, despite claims to the contrary from the maker.

Nevertheless, the seeming randomness of your fixes and problems reoccuring is similar to mine.

The mystery continues. I'll try and get up in the bracing if Deteresa1's solution bears no fruit.

thanks!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 9 2010 20:18:57