Check Out That Rattle Or Buzz With A Guitar Problems System

Sometimes your guitar will start playing different. It may not be a major problem but something is not quite right with it. Perhaps it has a small buzz or rattle. You know something does not feel right but the problem is so small it is hard to figure out just what the problem is. You need a system to try to figure out what your guitar problems may be.

Almost any major problem should be taken to a professional guitar repairman. They have the tools and the knowledge to fix problems that most people would have a hard time doing at home. You can often find small guitar problems by starting at one end and working your way to the other. This article will look at a few parts of the guitar and how they may give you problems.

Start at your tuning keys and check to make sure they are tight. If the screws are loose or missing the tuning keys may move slightly and cause you to have problems keeping your guitar in tune. Make sure they are turn smoothly and are not too tight or too loose. You may want to replace your tuners with a better set if you are having any problems keeping your guitar in tune.

You may want to turn your attention to the nut at the top of your fingerboard next. Take a look and see if the strings are sitting in the groves. They should all be about the same height and there should not be any part of the nut broken off. Sometimes a string may shift slightly out of the nut and cause a buzz or rattle when you play.

Take a look at the fingerboard and frets next. The fingerboard should not show any severe signs of wear or uneven spots. There may be some normal wear in this area but you should be fine here as long as you do not spot any extreme wear.

The frets are another story as they will wear and cause you all kinds of playing problems. Look for any uneven wear or sharp edges. A fret job is really a job for a guitar repair professional and is not something the average player will want to take on.

Take a look at the bridge and see if everything looks all right. You want to check for gaps between the top of the guitar and the bottom of the bridge. Make sure you do not see any cracks in the wood and the saddle is sitting in the bridge straight. Once again if you need the bridge worked on it is usually best to leave this to a pro.

By taking a look at the different parts of your guitar you may just find your guitar problems. If everything looks fine but you still have that buzz or rattle take your guitar into someone you trust to give it a better look.


For more information on different types of guitars try visiting http://www.your-guitar.com where you will find tips, advice and resources about topics such as how to read guitar tab.

Fix Yer Guitar Tutorials - Adjusting the Electric Guitar Pickups

What you'll need for this session:

Screwdriver for height adjustment

Does your guitar make tones that you really didn’t ask for? Dual “out of tune” tones? Mushy tones? Weak outputs? Hmmm… sounds like your pickups need to be at the right height. Not to worry, in most cases, we can fix that.

First off a quick “how duz it work” explanation. Most Electric guitar pickups are nothing more than a magnet with very thin lacquer coated copper wire wrapped thousands of times around it. The two ends of the coil go to a potentiometer with lets more or less voltage pass through. The magnet which has a field of electrons “floating around it in a field, they get “excited” when the steel string is plucked, going back and forth, and the electrons move through the coil of wire at a certain speed (frequency!). After they go past the potentiometer, and to the amplifier, the frequency of the electrons, the voltage, creates the sound. Your high school science teacher helped you to become a rock and roller! Depending on the location of the string to the pickup, is your sound.

Weak output or mushy sound. Most of the time this means the pickup is just plain too low. Using your screwdriver, tighten the screws located next to outside edge of your pickup. If you have two screws on one side, adjust each one accordingly so that the pickup is parallel to the strings. Rule of thumb is about ¼ “ from the strings.

Dual “out of tune” tones. Jimi Hendrix used this quite a bit. This was the sound on his strat with stock single coil pickups because the pickup was too high and created a false harmonic so to speak. Almost like having the string pressed down at the pickup. Again it has to do with the physics of how a pickup works. The magnetic field creates this false note. Instead it adds the extra tone… usually not in tune with the plucked note. Don’t get me wrong, Jimi did great no bones about it. However, that may not be the sound you are looking for. So, lower the pickup or pickups on your instrument until it doesn’t have that sound. One note to strat players, in order to get the right pickup height, you may need to adjust the neck angle using a thin shim under the end of the neck in the cavity. If you aren’t well versed in how this is done, talk to your repairman. We do talk about this in our classes that we teach.

Anyway, this should help on the tone of your guitar.
THINK IT!
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To learn about the ROCK n' ROLL GUITAR BUILDING SCHOOL and what you'll learn, click on this link:

http://www.leefairstudio.com/Guitar_Building_Classes_Build_Custom_Guitar_Guitar_Making_Course.html

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How To Repair Your Guitar

There is no doubt about it - the best way to have repairs made to your guitar is to take it to a professional guitar repairer. This is because most repairs necessary are way beyond the know-how of an amateur and if you try to fiddle around with it yourself you are likely to do even more damage. Of course, if you take good care of your guitar it should not really need any repairs carrying out. One frequent mistake that people make with their guitars is to leave them in the car. When it's boiling outside, the temperature within the vehicle is far too hot to leave the guitar there as the adhesive on it will break down and it will literally fall to pieces.

If it is really necessary for you to have your guitar with you when you travel, you should pack it in a hard case surrounded by lots of padding in particular around the neck of the guitar. If you are traveling on an airplane, you should secure it further in a well padded box.

There are, however, some minor adjustments which are easy for the amateur to make, for example, the adjustment of the intonation of your electric guitar. This will be necessary if you have recently altered the thickness of your strings or the action, which is the distance between the strings and the fret board. Many guitarists do this twice a year as a matter of course.

It is quite simple maneuver to do by moving the bridge saddle (that's the bit of metal on the bridge of the guitar which the strings rest on) either backwards or forwards. To move the bridge saddle, the screw which holds it in place needs adjusting and it is useful to have an Allen key to use for this operation. Other than that, the only tool you will need is a small screwdriver. The bridge saddle only needs to be moved very slightly so take care when you are turning the screw.

When you carry out the adjustment you need to make sure each string sounds the same when played in the open position as it does on the 12th fret. If you are not confident in your own sense of hearing to get this just right, you should use an electric guitar tuner. Every time you make an adjustment, you will need to turn the string back to E again before you can check the intonation.

From time to time on an electric guitar the truss rod will also need adjusting. Don't attempt to do this yourself unless you are absolutely certain you are capable - it really is best to take it to a professional. The truss rod is a piece of steel running down the neck of your guitar and making an adjustment to it will relieve a convex or concave bow in the neck of the guitar. Be warned - if this is not done properly your guitar may suffer permanent and irreparable damage.
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development.

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