String rattle/buzz/vibration/thing?

I will try to explain this as best I can. And perhaps tomorrow I can record the problem I am talking about. I've taken my PRS 22 CE Maptle Top guitar to a couple of local shops, and the guys did not understand the problem. One guy just said, "The guitar is just an imperfect instrument. I don't know what to tell you." Now, it can be imperfect, fine, but this problem kills me all the time. And I seem to hear it on any guitar with any distortion.

It mainly happens on my 6th and 3rd strings, the E and G strings. You can play them on clean really loud, and things appear just fine. But, if you listen very, very, very close, you might hear something awry. Then again, maybe not. Not enough of anything to make a difference to people or even recording.

Put on any kind of distortion, and everything changes. It starts especially at around the 10th fret and continues until AT LEAST the 17th fret (those are the worst spots).

When I play a note crisp and clear, just to let it sustain and ring out, I get this ungodly noise from it. It sounds like the string is grinding against itself. You know if you bend a note on the G-string up to the same pitch on a note on the B-string, and if the notes are not exactly lining up, it can sound severly nasty, especially with distortion. Sometimes this is what it sounds like. Except that I'm playing one note by itself. It just sounds and vibrates, sort of. The string isn't hitting the fret board in any way as I can tell, so I'm sure it's not about that.

It's hard to describe. I've gone online to see if people can help, but I don't find any topics about this. I think maybe I'm being picky, but it pisses me off.

I listen to Stevie Ray Vaughn's Little Wing and I hear it. I listen to Pearl Jam's Yellow Ledbetter and I hear it. I listen to the intro of one of those famous Yo La Tango songs and I hear it. It's just awful and it ruins my perception of guitar.

Do I need to upload a sound fall with a comparison of what's happening with distortion on/off, and at different location on the 6th and 3rd strings? I will do it if this helps.

Thanks guys. You are my only hope, haha.

Just a quick deal.

Another way of describing this is that the note sounds out of tune with itself.

I'm NOT talking about having difficulty making the G-string sound correct with distortion for open chords. I've read about that everywhere. That is not the problem at all. It's when I pluck a single, solitary note around the 12th or 14th fret on the 3rd and 6th strings. The strings grind and provide an awful racket.

Like the note is out of tune with itself, which seems logically impossible.

Hello Zenosparadox, welcome to the forum

This is a complex problem.... I wish I'd know what to respond to it, but I honestly don't since I have never encountered this before


Let's hope there are members here who did encounter the same and can advise you about it

Hey frustrated are ya. It sounds like the neck could be in need of leveling crowning and dressing. When you bend the strings do the frets sound scratchy? I know they buzz...thats most likely a siutuation where you need to set the truss rod / action. But I sell brand new guitar necks for a living. The very first thing I do is level crown and dress the frets. I always like a really smooth super high polish on my frets they just play so much nicer.....it's like having dessert after a lobster dinner.

This problem can be solved. A guitar no matter who made it how much you paid and how great it looks is always a compromise. You want super low action / you get some buzz when you hit the strings hard it's just the eleptical movement of the strings. I have found that from time to time DR Red Devils can reduce some of the buzz and do seem to vibrate less than other strings because of the coating they have.

If the neck is a bolt on which I do not believe any PRS guitars are you could send it to me for evaluation or even a photograph would be helpful and a good close up of the frets too. I would say if you can find a fret rocker or a close to three inch piece of flat metal stock / rock evert three frets if the straightedge does not rock your good as far as uneven frets. if it does rock then toy have a high / low fret.

Another thing I have found with some guitars is that the truss rod has little to no tension on it what so ever. Depress the Low E string at the F position first fret and depress the Low E string at the last fret. Now look at the 8th fret...is there a huge gap? Normal is close to the thickness of a piece of paper if the string is resting against the fret loosen a quarter turn let it set overnite and re-check. If the gap is quite large tighten 1/4 turn let set over nite and repeat.

If you are confused or unsure how to do an of this contact me. My speciality is Stratocasters but they all are the same PRS Gibosn etc.... they all need to be tweeked to the players preference.
Sorry for any mis-spellings I dont have the time to check anymore...

Ceghardtails, welcome to the forum. Boy, am I glad you joined That is valuable info you put up here. Thank you very, very much!

I have a custom shop strat,the g-string sounds the pitts,only when using the neck pick up at 4-10 on the dial tone at the 12 fret is worst at 0-2 dial tone it is ok all other pick ups its o.k.this happens when adding distortion.I took it to the dealer they hear it,new strats on their wall does it, his buddies strat does this,I had my guitar set up at a fender warrany depot,no luck,I will try a third wound sting next or take up bass.

Hi James, Years ago that is all you could get wound thirds I still prefer them but they are hard to come by. The company that made them were called "RotoSound"

I have included a few who provide a wound third as follows.

http://www.rotosound.com/us_listings.html

http://www.rotosound.com/rotos.html 3 sets with wound "G"

http://www.pyramidstrings.com/st-guitar1.html

http://www.voxshowroom.com/northcoast/strings/ pyrstrings.html


Hope this is of help....If you dont get success try altering the position of the pole under the "G" string.

Regards Fenderphil

James wrote:

I have a custom shop strat,the g-string sounds the pitts,only when using the neck pick up at 4-10 on the dial tone at the 12 fret is worst at 0-2 dial tone it is ok all other pick ups its o.k.this happens when adding distortion.I took it to the dealer they hear it,new strats on their wall does it, his buddies strat does this,I had my guitar set up at a fender warrany depot,no luck,I will try a third wound sting next or take up bass.

James, it's hard to tell if you're talking about string buzz, tone, or some kind of distortion. For distortion or tone, try lowering or raising the pickup... if you have staggered poles then raise it high at the highE and much lower at the lowE (neck p/u) This will keep your G pole more even with the E&B and keep the wound strings from saturating the pickup. The G string is the most difficult string to work with for a few reasons...and staggered poles were meant to overcome the softness of a wound G and while OK for lead work they overemphasize the unwound G for chording.
For buzz...well that's a longer answer