Hard To Explain Question But...

[MichiganBoySB]

Seems that the rubbing of my right hand and fingers is louder than the actual sound I'm playing. Know what I mean? I understand that its part of the sound but it seems to clutter whats going on. I painstakingly made sure my guitar was shielded, grounded etc... in the attempt to have it less noisy. Bought lower output pickups as well in the attempt to cure it. Guess what I'm asking is... is there a way to reduce the hand rubbage the pickup picks up, probably not. Tonight I'll try shielding around the pickups to see what happens. Oh and my pole pieces aren't exactly aligned over each string... would that be to blame? Maybe there's a friction free glove I could wear or dip my hand in grease lol.

Hi and thanks,

Ken

[wickerwolf]

What brand and gauge strings have you got on the guitar?

[MichiganBoySB]

What brand and gauge strings have you got on the guitar?

Got Zakk Wylde .010-.060's in there ... think Boomer makes them.

[Thoughtless 7]

Damn, i play a seven string and i don't even use a 0.60 o_O

[GregP]

I suspect wiring/electronics. I'd have to hear sound clips, though.

C'mon... record the sound of your funky fingers!

[wickerwolf]

As a last resort you could use wax on the strings. Use a candle and rub it up and down the full length of your strings (Only the 6th, 5th, & 4th/ E,A & D) a few times then blow the lose crap of and play. This helps yoru strings last longer aswell.

Edited March 26, 2007 by wickerwolf

[Liko]

You may have the pickups wired out-of-phase. Check the wirings at the switch and the volume pot and make sure you didn't reverse the leads on one pickup. The fact you say that the string noise is louder then the tonal output of the guitar makes me highly suspect that's the case if you were serious. Also, if you're playing with compression/sustain, that obviously increases fainter sounds like string noise.

[spazzyone]

As a last resort you could use wax on the strings. Use a candle and rub it up and down the full length of your strings a few times then blow the lose crap of and play. This helps yoru strings last longer aswell.

thats a horrible thing to do to your strings

not to mention the fingerboard if its unfinished

[wickerwolf]

As a last resort you could use wax on the strings. Use a candle and rub it up and down the full length of your strings a few times then blow the lose crap of and play. This helps yoru strings last longer aswell.

thats a horrible thing to do to your strings

not to mention the fingerboard if its unfinished

Thats opinion, every player will tell you differently ive worked with proplayers who wont play on any strings unless theve had this done. Whilst i dont bother doing it myself i have played on a few peoples guitars were its been a benifit, stoping alot of the finger noise and depending on the brand and gauge of strings it can make them last longer (filling the tiny gaps in between the winds on the covered strings stops finger grease and crap from getting in there and corroding them!) But then at the same time it means down sides such as no pinch harmonics, etc.

Others swear by a product called Fingerease. which is basically a spray pack like an aerosol can and you spray it on your strings. It reduces the friction between your fingers and the strings. It also helps protect the strings so they don’t rust out as quickly as they normally would.

The only thing i do is to wipe the strings and neck after i play with a lint free cloth

So this really is opinion on which works best for you.

Edited March 26, 2007 by wickerwolf

[curtisa]

I've never heard of the electronics causing what you describe. I'm thinking it's more likely to do with physical factors - the guage of your strings, the age of the strings, how dry your fingertips are when you play.

Large guage strings under high tension will nearly always squeak more than smaller guage strings tuned to the same pitch. I use 9-42, or 9-52 on my 7-string, and with a fresh set on the guitars I never have any problems with squeaks. If I leave the strings long enough and let them get really old and crusty, the unwound 1st, 2nd and 3rd strings have a real tendancy to squeak, but only because of the increased amount of gunk on them causing friction that makes a squeaking noise when I rub my hands on the strings.

Conversely, I string my acoustic with 10-52's, and the low strings tend to squeak a lot more than the low strings on my electrics. I would think this is due to the higher tension and larger guage - the diameter of the wire used on the wound strings is a lot larger, meaning that the "ridges" along the length of the string are more pronounced, giving you more opportunity to cause a squeak. Kinda like a violin bow rubbing a against a string - the more friction, the louder the noise.

I second Spazzy's comment - I wouldn't use candle wax on strings, I don't like what it would do to the wood in your fretboard. There used to be a product made by GHS that was like a special polishing compound to "lube" your strings, but I can't remember what it was called.

How sweaty your fretting hand gets while you play may have an impact too.

Do you have the same problem with a fresh set of strings? How about if you try it on a guitar with lighter guage strings?

You can get flatwound and roundwound strings aswell, but these have a big impact on tone - they tend to sound a lot more rounder and duller, but they don't suffer from the squeaks as much.

[spazzyone]

Thats opinion

But a very smart one

Ive worked with proplayers who wont play on any strings unless theve had this done

They can afford the gear to waste (though in my 26yrs in and around guitars i don't recall one pro doing this. But i could be wrong

depending on the brand and gauge of strings it can make them last longer (filling the tiny gaps in between the winds on the covered strings stops finger grease and crap from getting in there and corroding them!)

they may help strings last longer just suck their tone sooner (alas a dead string)

the wax is no more than crud itself not to mention it will act as a crud catcher

But then at the same time it means down sides such as no pinch harmonics, etc

which means dead toneless strings

dude I'm not trying to cut you down its that its just bad advice especially to kids that dont have money to buy strings or replace their guitars when the fingerboard gets all crammed with wax that won't come out. and sucks the tone right of of their pride and joys

as for the cleaner i have not seen it in a while but i dont go out to the stores either

but home depot carries Blitz metal cleaner and thats all the string cleaner is

Edited March 27, 2007 by spazzyone

[marksound]

Fingerease will help cut finger noise but it will also crud up the fretboard. Spray it on a cloth and wipe it on the strings.

[Flickerstick]

Hi guys , i'm having a slight problem with one of my strats,

i converted it from regular s-s-s to a single humbucker and single volume pot, it looks beautiful, the thing is i hear a lot of stringing while playing, the guitar sounds great, let me see if i can explain it better.. i don't hear the string noise coming from the amp, i just hear them a lot myself while stringing, louder than before thats for sure.

I wonder, could it have anything to do with the new pickguard material? its achrilic so i though it shoul be ok, and its a bit ticker than the other so if anything it should isolate better, or maybe the space left under it, where the other pu's used to be.... maybe an echo related problem...i dunno

Can anyone help?

Best regards

[Masina]

Try fiddling around with your tone pot, you might find that it goes away. But I expect you've tried that.

[Geo]

I don't see how "too much string noise" could be a problem with the electronics. You only hear string noise because your fingers rub on the strings. This makes the strings vibrate just like when you pluck them, only with mixed up freqencies, etc. So the pickup(s) can't distinguish between music and string noise--it's all a vibrating magnet to the pickup, and a vibrating magnet means voltage induced in the pickup...

Personally, I like string noise (especially pick noise w/distortion). I don't see any way of avoiding it... you have to fret the strings right? And you can't just stay on one fret for the whole song!

[black_labb]

maybe the frequency that the rubbing of the fingers on the strings is the same frequency as the peak on the frequency vs. output graph of the pickup(s) that you have. sorry if thats comfusing but i cant think of any better ways to explain it.

[billm90]

I am just curious here.

if you try to sing/talk into the pick up does it come out pretty clear?

I would check phase, cause that can cause some pretty strange effects. I had a humbucker start sounding like the attack on an acustic from phase changes.

As for the other stuff.

candle wax on strings sounds like something a jazz player would do. shoving wax in the strings would kill sustain. but you know what, I will go home and try it out.

I have used finger ease spray, there is also some applicater that allows you to brush it on. it is like a big roll of cloth you push in. all that crap made the finger board feel slippery. not my thing.

To me it sounds like your pickup has gone into more like a mic's sound field. picking up ambient noise VS the guitar vibration.