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  • From: "Never call me Phil" <philipayers AT yahoo.com>
  • To: ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: Tech Geek Post: Misbehaving Guitar
  • Date: 27 Mar 2007 12:05:14 -0700



sounds like static electricity.

On Mar 24, 1:08 pm, g... AT ibiblio.org (grady) wrote:
> Some questions:
>
> 1) does it act more or less the same regardless of which pickup you're
> switched to?
>
> 2) how does the position of your right hand w/r/t the bridge change when
> you're playing chords with the pick vs single notes or fingerpicking?
>
> 3) What exactly does this circuit look like (I haven't had a guitar open
> in 22+ years, and that one was a real POS anyway)? Specifically, if you
> took it DI through a transformer DI with a ground lift, could you cut
> this ground wire entirely & still get signal, so as to confirm/deny that
> the wire is the issue? Or could you readily reconfigure the circuit so
> as to make that happen? I'm asking because you honestly don't know for
> sure that it isn't one of the pickups, or something funky in one of the
> pots. It seems mechanical, but . . .
>
> These are all by way of trying to isolate the problem, vs. suggestions
> for an actual permanent fix, but you gotta do one before you can do the
> other.
>
>
>
> Chris Rossi wrote:
> > This is a cry for help. Dry, technical talk follows. This is for
> > people who know something about working on guitars.
>
> > So, this has been perplexing me for some time. What would make a guitar
> > do this?
>
> >http://spacelabstudio.com/badguitar.mp3
>
> > This is a new Korean made strat-like guitar from a well respected
> > manufacturer.
>
> > When I received the guitar I immediately wanted to restring with heavier
> > gauge strings: .011s. This required adding a third spring to the bridge
> > to compensate the increased tension. Inexplicably, the ground wire had
> > been soldered at the factory to the hook on the back plate where this
> > spring should go so I was immediately required to resolder the ground
> > wire to a new spot on the backplate. I did not notice this problem
> > before this modification, but I played the guitar so little before this
> > that it could have escaped my attention.
>
> > I initially attributed this problem to a cold solder joint with the
> > ground wire and I ended up resoldering the ground wire a total of 5 or
> > so times, the last time using the biggest soldering gun that Radio Shack
> > sells after having sanded off part of the chrome plating on the back
> > plate so I could solder it to the exposed bare copper. None of this had
> > any impact on this problem.
>
> > I sent the guitar to the manufacturer, who agreed to make a warranty
> > repair despite my "modification." They claimed to not be able to
> > reproduce the problem and sent it back to me having done basically
> > nothing for the month or so they had it.
>
> > I obviously can neither sell nor return this guitar at this point. I
> > like the guitar a lot except for this problem.
>
> > This problem seems to happen only when using a flatpick and mainly when
> > played percussively. It is more likely to happen with chords than with
> > single notes. It never happens when fingerpicking and never happens when
> > the guitar is not being played.
>
> > The crackling sound itself is seemingly delayed from the event that
> > triggers it. In the audio sample you can hear me playing off of it
> > rhythmically.
>
> > I own three electric guitars, one an American made model from the same
> > manufacturer as this one. No other electric guitar I own has this
> > problem. This problem is reproduceable playing through any amp, with any
> > cable, taking it di, whatever. All attempts to isolate the problem to
> > something other than the guitar have failed. It is the guitar.
>
> > Occasionally the guitar doesn't do this at all, or the crackling is
> > quiet enough to tolerate. Many days, like today, unfortunately, it is
> > quite loud and persistent.
>
> > I have no idea what would cause this problem or how to fix it.
>
> > This is driving me nuts!
>
> > If anybody has experienced something like this before and has some idea
> > what the cause could be, please help! I might have to drown this guitar
> > in the bathtub if I can't get it to behave!
>
> > Thank you,
> > Chris
> > -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> >http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
>
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill
> --http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene






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