MichiganBoySB

I like to play very loud and my bridge pickup begins to vibrate then hum. I need to then dampen it with my finger then all is good. Anyway I decided to electrical tape my pickup in place and it improved the sound quite a bit, was wondering if you knew of a better way to keep my pickup from vibrating. Let me ask this ... should it vibrate at all? You see I hear other sounds while I'm playing so I'm trying to improve its clarity and tonal focus. Came here to see if you guys would know. Thanks for any help.

ttyl,

Ken

Angled in which direction? Are they angled downward with respect to the fretboard surface? Or angled toward the tuning post as you look down on top of the nut?

The former is normal. The latter....I have never seen such a thing on a nut, only straight slots that follow the path of the string, but with a normal downward "break angle" to the slot.

With 3x3 tuners I'll open up the slot on a little the tuner side so that the string doesn't bind, but never would I angle the entire slot so it is not straight compared to the string path.

Ok cool you understand. Yea I took a closer look at it at lunch and its just the 3rd and 4th string he has angled toward the tuners as you look from a top view. I figured it isn't normal after listening to this luthier talk about trying to reduce as many pinch points as possible and to me this seemed like a pinch point.

Alright any tips on nut files to buy or alternatives?

Thx,

Ken

that`s how it`s supposed to be.

don`t worry.

Ok you understand that I'm NOT talking about how they angle downward but from side to side right? Just curious, I might've not been clear. Ken

I think I read how feeler gauges could be used as an alternative or should I just buy a whole kit from Stewart Mac? Plz tell me what kind I should buy.

Thanks,

Ken

Hi I took my ephiphone LP into a close-by guitar shop to do a setup and install a new nut. Well noticed how the nut slots of the 5th,4th,3rd and 2nd string angle toward the tuners. I'm not a luthier and am just curious if this is fine or not. Thanks.

Ken

I think we went through most of this with another guitar of his (the Ed Roman Quicksilver).

Buckethead's Les Paul was custom-made for him by Gibson. It's not a typical Les Paul (has 24 frets for one thing) and from the photos it looks like the fretboard just barely clears the top of the body. So they must have recessed the TOM to make that work. And that's what brings the strings close to the pickup.

So you'll have to do some pretty extensive mods to your guitar to achieve the same.

Yes so far I feel I haven't landed that guitar that does it for me. But as you gain experience in what exactly you're looking for in a guitar then future purchases will be more rewarding... hope anways. But seems to me a guitar like his would play and sound so much better for me (strings close to the body that is). You know of any such brands of guitar that lean toward this? Probably Ibanez huh?

Thankyou,

Ken

I have an Ephiphone LP and noticed on my favorite artist's guitar just how low his bridge pup is with the strings almost touching. Now I know I have the relief right and when I bring my strings the lowest without buzzing its still so much higher than his guitar. Its almost like my neck has so much of an angle that its impossible to get it any lower. So do people tend to take their neck off and shim it where the guitar is straighter? Hope someone can help with this.

Ken

I second everything Setch is pointing out.

In reading your first post, I am a little confused. Is your whole question about trying to get the strings closer to the body and in doing so closer to the bridge pickup? If your goal is to get the strings closer to the pickup, raise the pickup, don't mess with the neck angle. The neck angle is set to accomodate the height of the bridge and still be able to achieve reasonably low action with the bridge lowered all the way.

Peace,Rich

Yes Rich this is what I'm trying to achieve,

See, I'm sorry I'm confusing you guys. Its partly because whenever I explain just who my favorite guitar-artist is... people don't take me seriously. He's Buckethead and I watch him play his guitar alot . Now forget about me "trying to be buckethead" etc... I just feel that my guitar should behave like his. And when I viewed his Les Paul up close I noticed how close his strings are to his bridge pickup with it not raised high at all. This is what brought me to you guys. I also noticed how my strings on the upper frets (12 and up) don't sound as loud as the rest. I adjust my relief to be about .007 on the 7th fret.

Another complaint I have is how unclear each string tone is. Off the top of my head that about sums up my major malfunction... but am extending my listening powers to anything you suggest.

Thanks a bunch,

Ken

Ok you got me Mescabug, sure sounds overkill with what I'm trying to solve. I do know how to set up and intonate a guitar and have it play well etc... but its this tone I'm getting out of my guitars that annoys me. I've changed out pups, strings, pots, all new wiring, amps, cabs, speakers, cables, worked with my voltage, grounded my home, and had it sheilded. I've been playing for quite a few years now and know what a good tone is so I figure its not a thing where I just can't play guitar and my fingers suck lol.

Guitars with a neck angle usually have a little higher action. USUALLY, I said. Not all the time. Tune-o-matic bridges like you have on your Epiphone, needs a neck angle. I've played 3000$ Les Paul with a bad action, due to a bad neck angle.. And I've played 300$ Epiphone with a good action.

Your problem is probably not the neck angle, but the bridge height. You can adjust it with a flat screwdriver. Lower it a little bit, until you get a good action without fret buzz.

Flattening the neck will be worst. If you can't get a low action even after adjusting the bridge, it's because you don't have enough neck angle to compensate for the bridge height. In that case, you can use a shim under the neck heel. Never remove wood on either the neck or body until you are 100% sure of what you're doing.

Read that post. Neck angle is carefully explained;

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=14036

Yea thats what I meant... shimming the neck so it doesn't have as much of an angle, but how do I remove a glued on neck without breaking it?

I have an Ephiphone LP and noticed on my favorite artist's guitar just how low his bridge pup is with the strings almost touching. Now I know I have the relief right and when I bring my strings the lowest without buzzing its still so much higher than his guitar. Its almost like my neck has so much of an angle that its impossible to get it any lower. So do people tend to take their neck off and shim it where the guitar is straighter? Hope someone can help with this.

Ken

FWIW, I've heard of using old mouse mats cut to shape for that.

Brian.

AH! Brian D. that's it... it was foam! Thanks man. Last night I electrical taped that bridge pickup to see if it sounded better. It did but looked like crap. Thanks for reminding me.

Ken

Hi ... I play loud and in doing so my bridge pickup goes into this vibration which creates this bassy hum. I then dampen the pickup with my finger and it goes away. So I heard from this one luthier that he puts something underneath the pickups to stop this but forget just what kind of material he uses. Anyone know about this? Any suggestions would be great!

Ken

I offered to help my friend out with his son's guitar but am having difficulty with intonating the bridge. Here are some pics of the rusty old thing...

The problem I'm having is after I set the height of the saddles then its difficult to turn the intonation screw because the height set screws sort of prevent it from moving. Hope someone can help me in here.

Thx,

Ken

sounds like you need to read a bit about compensation as well. The thicker strings need to be slightly longer than the 24 3/4" scale. The treble (thin string) is pretty much bang on 24 3/4" from the nut but the bass side is angled back around 1/8".

Briefly, compensation allows for the fact you are pressing strings against a fretboard, therefore bending them slightly making them sharp. making the string slightly longer compensates for this

It sounds like your bridge is in the proper place because it needs to be about 1/8" further back than the treble side.

DO you know how to set intonation? Compare the 12th fret note and 12th fret harmonic. You will probably find that the note is sharper than the harmonic and the saddle needs to be moved back (away from nut) untill they match. If the harmonic is sharper than the note then the saddle needs moving forward (towards the nut). You need to get them to match

Thanks guys,

I probably had it wrong where I thought you set the low E string saddle 24 3/4. So it seems actually its where the bridge high E string side mounting screw gets placed. I'll check tonight this dimension but its probably correct and I should get a new set of strings and intonate. I know how to intonate, got a peterson strobe etc... but I can't seem to solve this lack of sustain I got in the upper register frets. I tried low output p/u's, high output p/u's, thicker strings, new nut etc....

Ken

btw here's a pic of my rocking system! http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q131/Cr...KensPics050.jpg

If a GIbson flying V's scale length is 24 3/4... is that from the nut to the low E string saddle (thick string)? Or let me ask you this... how do I go about ensuring my bridge is mounted in the right spot? Cuz noticed last night how my low E string saddle has to be all the way forward for it to be 24 3/4, which means my bridge is sitting too far back about an 1/8 or so. Could someone give me a procedure or refer me to a tutorial?

Thanks,

Ken

Ever have a guitar that played nice when chording, power chords (anything with two or more notes being playing simultaneously) but just sounded dead with single notes? I wonder if this is what they mean by "dead spots"?

Ken

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

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

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

I kind of like the tone, but it feels like it's missing a little oomph somewhere. And there is a lot of buzz when you aren't playing, is the bridge grounded? Oh yeah, try and play over a rhythm / drum track, those always make the coolest videos!

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I hear ya on the buzzing noise when I'm not playing... the little wire ought to be grounded. Thats one of the things that just pisses the hell out of me is extraneous noise! That was the whole purpose of ordering away for copper and sheilding the thing and yet I still get buzz! I could be this amp too, I have a Mesa Boogie Dual rectifier I haven't plugged into yet so I'll see whats up with that.

Ken

Nice looking V! Have you tried 500k ohm pots? That should brighten up the tone. A capacitor may help too.

He already has 1meg pots. 500k would darken the tone. What pickups do you have in there? How is the tone unplugged compared to your other guitars that your happy with? Is it darker? brighter? the same? IMO if this is the only guitar you play through that amp (very nice btw) just turn up the treble control a bit on the amp. If your trying to match it to other guitars than I would suggest changing strings, making a bone nut, and changing the capacitor on the tone control. If all that fails your pretty much stuck with a pickup change. Get something nice and bright.

Also may I ask what is the output of the pickups on your other guitars? If this guitar has higher output pickups than your used to your going to get a much darker tone and there is nothing you can do but get lower output pickups.

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Yea my volume is 1meg with blender pot and TBX pot. These Kent Armstrongs are in there now (pickups). They were put in there by this one repair guy at a music store... not even sure the output of them. I do have another guitar but it's currently with a luthier in Seattle Washington (can't wait to get it back, I hope). Today I've worked with it trying to get it to play faster and feel better. The .060 E string is kinda huge. The one thing that troubles me is how after shielding the entire thing with copper; it still seems the same (static noise that is). The more treble I add brings in more noise. At this point I basically have to wait till I get my other guitar and see if this luthier is as good as they say he is. Cuz so far I haven't gotten closure on this guitar playing business and it just keeps costing me a fortune. O well I'll keep you informed.

Ken

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Did some more work on this V ... here is a little video for ya

http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q131/Cr...tarVpics028.flv

Nice looking V! Have you tried 500k ohm pots? That should brighten up the tone. A capacitor may help too.

He already has 1meg pots. 500k would darken the tone. What pickups do you have in there? How is the tone unplugged compared to your other guitars that your happy with? Is it darker? brighter? the same? IMO if this is the only guitar you play through that amp (very nice btw) just turn up the treble control a bit on the amp. If your trying to match it to other guitars than I would suggest changing strings, making a bone nut, and changing the capacitor on the tone control. If all that fails your pretty much stuck with a pickup change. Get something nice and bright.

Also may I ask what is the output of the pickups on your other guitars? If this guitar has higher output pickups than your used to your going to get a much darker tone and there is nothing you can do but get lower output pickups.

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Yea my volume is 1meg with blender pot and TBX pot. These Kent Armstrongs are in there now (pickups). They were put in there by this one repair guy at a music store... not even sure the output of them. I do have another guitar but it's currently with a luthier in Seattle Washington (can't wait to get it back, I hope). Today I've worked with it trying to get it to play faster and feel better. The .060 E string is kinda huge. The one thing that troubles me is how after shielding the entire thing with copper; it still seems the same (static noise that is). The more treble I add brings in more noise. At this point I basically have to wait till I get my other guitar and see if this luthier is as good as they say he is. Cuz so far I haven't gotten closure on this guitar playing business and it just keeps costing me a fortune. O well I'll keep you informed.

Ken

Guitars are funny animals you know that? There are so many variables as to what can make a guitar sound like crap. I'm happy with how the finish turned out. I thought that after putting in a 1meg volume pot that I'd get more treble out of it but I dont. I still have the tone pot maxed all the time, prolly should get a fender or something if this is what i'm always struggling with. Or try out a .01 thingy on the tone pot... what you think?

Ken

O gawd the Ed Roman thing! That guitar is currently in Seattle getting completely overhauled by Mark Arnquist. This V just may be my tune-down-a-1/2-step guitar. The lighter strings aren't what I'm concerned with really, its mainly the beefiness you get out of the open EAD strings that i'm after. For example have a listen to buckethead in this video when he's simply hitting open strings and using his vibrato. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb-RQyr_olM

Its in the very beginning. To me my strings when played open sound so boring and lack beauty. But guess I'll know in a week. Oh as far as pickups go I've changed them out so many times lol. First what I needed was a higher output pickup (X2N)... then what it possibly could be is its overkill so I'd go with a medium output etc.... Thats bout it I'll let you know how it goes thanks.

Ken

I'd have to say my rig is pretty good I'm done screwing with it. I've been down the tube, speaker,pedal mod and cable route and feel confident that its as good as it gets. But the one thing I've pretty much concluded is it all comes down to your guitar. Whether

it is properly wired, dressed frets, wood, shielded, pickups and all that. I just feel that a properly setup guitar makes all the difference in the world. Hope i'm right! Here's a pic of some of my gear http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q131/Cr...KensPics006.jpg

Ken

I'm trying to decide on what gauge to go with for my Gibson V http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q131/Cr...tarVpics013.jpg

Its time for me to hand it over to this luthier I know for a complete set up which includes a new nut. When I mentioned to him that I wanted Zakk Wylde's .060 strings put on there he warned me that it may harm the neck. Anyway I kinda have this idea that I'd like a heavier E,A and D string so when struck by themselves or together they are heavier and more powerful... know what I mean? I can't say I'm a detuner kinda guy and am almost afraid to tell him to set it up at Eb cuz I know I'll prolly have to tune it up to learn some songs. Guess this is all I got for you right now, just could use some help deciding what key to have it set up at and whether or not thicker gauge strings are more suitable for the heavier chugging rock. Thanks for your assistance

Ken