funny G string sound

[djsaysauce]

when i play the 10th fret on the g string I hear a funny sound similar to a buzz i suppose or extra vibration sounds from the string. it's especially evident when i slowly slide from the 8th fret g string to the 10th fret g string or if i hammer onto the 10th fret g string. and also this happens when i'm on the neck humbucker pickup using distortion or overdrive - i wouldn't say it's evident on the neck humbucker on single coil mode.

i have tried height adjustments to the neck pickup, i tried raising the bridge string saddles slightly. i tried turning down the gain on my effects distortion and overdrive (i use a tc electronic nova system direct to input on front of amp), i tried lowering the input gain level on the nova system.

i guess i could try a string change but this has already happened with roto sound and daddario strings.

is it my fingers!?

help

[djsaysauce]

Ok, I think I've sorted it by adjusting the compressor setting on my nova system - reduced the drive from 10 to 8. Plus I lowered the distortion level a couple of notches.

just to add that I don't think it's the pedal (nova system) as I can hear the sound when plugging straight into the adisband set to distortion. Perhaps the dimarzio paf pro neck pu doesn't like a lot of distortion.

[Ben]

Do you notice this unplugged? 

Also, have you lowered the pickup, so the magnets are not effecting (pull) on the string?

[djsaysauce]

Unplugged it sounds fine to me. I have just changed all the strings and replaced with curt mangans. I must say I am very impressed. For one thing they sound and feel (kept same gauge as factory *) different from other brands I have tried. Also, the strange sound has gone. Either I needed a string change or its the brand guitar string. Note: I think the guitar was * with vigier s own brand strings which I thought were great, too. 

[Ben]

That is good to know...also good that the problem has gone. Happy rockin'!!! 

[djsaysauce]

Here we gain again. After some further playing plugged in and unplugged I noticed the funny sound again. after further investigations, I tried to really listen to the guitar unplugged in the quiet of the late evening and it was the trem bar locking ring that screws in the bar to the bridge. I found that if I tightened it finger tight, I got the funny warbling vibration sound seemingly from the g string but also from the bridge/bar. If I loosened the screw ring thing a 1/2 turn or so the annoying sound disappeared. It just means the bar now dangles totally  loose which liked out mind anyway. End of chapter...

[djsaysauce]

This sound, quite a few on the internet have described it a a warbling, microphonics etc, has struck again over the past few weeks. After various tinkering with pickup height, action, trem screw lock thingy, saddles, string brand, trem claw springs, effects and amp eq settings I think I have narrowed it down to the likely suspect: the position of the extension lead sockets (5 or 6 sockets with a single on off switch). I placed these on the floor behind my amp to connect the amp, effects pedal, my pc and pc speakers. I moved it to the side of the amp the warbling seemed to have disappeared. I'll test this further.

[djsaysauce]

 

Maybe to do with the amp settings (Mesa Express):

"... Mesa cautions against using too much reverb in high gain and treble settings or you can have microphone problems. " Source: http://www.epinions.com/review/Mesa_Boogie_Express_5_25_Combo/content_341539786372?sb=1

Will have to investigate further.

 

[djsaysauce]

I don't reckon it's the amp. tried the guitar through a solid state practice amp and could hear the warble but not as much as through the tube amp.

ive reset the guitar to as close to factory set up: action at 12th fret, trem pulls back about 1 1/2 steps. Ive tweaked the saddles so they sit level as you look down the string toward the bridge and discovered theres a knack to adjusting the saddles to accomplish this. ive adjusted the height of the bridge posts to approx. Original height - ensuring I loosened the 2 small screws in front on the bridge posts first.

ive experimented with various pickup heights and a have settled on them being a lot lower than factory setup. But there was still a degree of warbling. I changed pick from 1mm to .88mm. Don't know for sure if this had any impact.

finally decided to change string brand but same string gauge as factory *. Now using dean Markley nickel steel which seems to have worked. The last couple of sets of curt mangans must have been dodgy. I've also got ghs boomers and dr strings to try out.

all I can figure from this is that its maybe my fingers, dodgy batch of strings and possibly too much tinkering.

[djsaysauce]

Everyday a new discovery... It's the saddle screws. They need to be just tight enough - finger tight with the allen wrench wasn't enough so added about a 1/4 turn extra seemed to work.

[djsaysauce]

I really dont know if its the saddle screws now as warbling has reappeared. I have noticed that when i play the g string at 7th or 9th fret, especially if i slide down 9th to 7th or hammer on/off on those two frets on g then there is some kind of sympathetic resonance going on noticeably on one of the other strings, cant remember for sure, poss. A string. Also experience a similar phenomenon sliding from b string 10th fret down to 8th or 7th fret resonates some other string quite significantly, poss. d string, cant remember just now. If i make sure i dampen those strings in particular, the warbling disappears. I have been aware that its good practice to mute unwanted notes e.g. Certain chords, but i wonder if that also means muting unwanted resonance.

[djsaysauce]

After further ongoing experimentations, i believe the issue has been the middle single coil pick up height relative to the neck and bridge humbucker height having read a post on the suhr guitars website which recommended setting the middle pup 2mm lower than the humbuckers. I've adjusted the middle pick,up to about 5mm lower than the  humbuckers which works for me.