MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

[chromeknive]

I may or may not have guitar OCD. But the facts are :

-Jackson Rhodes, Tune-o-Matic bridge, 24 frets

-Had my frets leveled

-Tried different kinds of strings

-Tried raising the action

-My neck is not bowed

-Changed my bridge from a China-made to a Korean-made (noticed an improvement in tone)

-My nut is plastic and has a "spacer" to correct a problem.



And the problem is :

The "G" string, and only the "G" string, sounds choked, has a poor and buzzy attack characteristic and has noticeably diminished sustain and "singing" quality as compared to the other strings.

The rest of the guitar sounds fantastic and singing. This dead string is the only thing holding back the guitar. I also notice that I have difficulty fretting notes on this string as well, especially from frets 10 and up.


Could my frets be too low and need a refret? Could it be that my neck has a hump?


Any help at all would be greatly appreciated because I'm really really frustrated now.

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

Try a pickup height change,maybe adjust a bit lower.[magnetic pull on the strings]
Does it happen with every G string you use?

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

Probably nut issues.

 

[GuitarGuy503]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

Probably nut issues.

Thats my thought as well....

 

[chromeknive]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

yeah guys, ive lowered my pickups to the point of significantly less gain. still no cigar.

hm, if its a nut issue though, how come it affects fretted notes? isnt the nut only supposed to influence the tone of open strings? there isnt any buzz on open notes... the luthier i went to said it cant be the nut... it was the luthier that suggested i try different strings.

yeah, every G string i use yields the same result. however, lighter gauges tend to lessen the problem. (i use 12's...and with a set of 10's, the problem was reduced but still present)

thanks for the replies.

 

[uOpt]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

To narrow down what the problem is, put the G string into the A strings' place and tune it to G.

If it still sounds bad, you have some kind of resonance issue that that frequency is killed.

If the G string sounds good in a different place, you have nut or bridge screwed up.

BTW, I also noticed a huge improvement when I put a Japanese tone-o-mess on my Chinese LP copy.

 

[suislidE03]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

Get rid of it? Which model are we speaking of? It does sound like a resonance problem, but odd that you state its the whole string.

 

[Pierre]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

It's nut issue only if the problem is during open strings. If you fret the note and it persists, the nut is out of the equation.

It could be the saddle but you said you changed the bridge... If it were a high fret other strings would most likely be affected too. I'm a bit stumped. Indeed try lowering the pickup or the G string polepieces..?

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: MYSTERY DEAD STRING ... desperate ... HELP!

You may have the string height adjustment at the bridge off. I used the Stew Mac radius gauges to set the saddle height adjustment to the follow the radius of my fingerboard (12") and it made a huge difference in the playability of that guitar. That guitar had a similar problem with a funky string. Your bridge's radius may be a bit too flat, causing the note to fret out.

Bill