Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

[Cenulab]

Re: Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

Bubba,

Everything has a frequency that it wants to resonate to. The tremolo springs in my Strat vibrate sympathetically when I play a B flat; used to bother me, but I learned to like it! I'll just have to write some more songs in B flat to take advantage of the enhanced sustain...

Likewise, I noticed when recording my amp through a mic that I would get a weird oscillation when bending a certain note. Long story short, my amp likes to resonate to the note "A", and when bending through that note the temporary dischordance would generate some strange overtones. Once I accepted this, I found that I really like the effect; it's like a chorus that only kicks in on that one note. And if I play an A up at the 17th fret, a sympathetic resonance is created two octaves below- how cool is that?! It's just the laws of physics doing their thing.

I would definitely look into the Stratitis symptoms, but if all fails just find a way to live with- and maybe even like your guitar's quirks.

Good luck!

-Cen

 

[bubbahotep2k3]

Re: Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

yeah I'll guess I'll have to learn to live with it but its the primary cause the nodes? or the magnetic strength of the pickups or what?

If it knew all the causes I could pick away at it....

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

Out of curiosity if its strat-itis then how come the 59 doesnt affect the high e and b but does affect the high G?

Strat-itis by its nature will have the greatest effect on the strings with the least tension. Unless you're using like an .020 or more for your G-string, it will have a good deal less tension on it than the B or high E, thereby giving it less resistance to the magnetic field. You should also notice this effect on the low E and A because they have less tension on them too, especially if you're a typical +/-.009-.046 guage user.

Also the vintage rails is very weak in magnetic strength than the DD and 59, no?

If it has a ceramic magnet, it shouldn't be weak at all, unless Seymour has found a way to "age" ceramic magnets too -- can't comment on that only to say that he has never mentioned it to my knowledge. Maybe he has. But the only way to be sure is to just try dropping the Vintage Rails as low as you can set it (as in, below the pickguard) and see if the Strat-itis goes away.

In any event, re-read my post where I point out that the POSITION of the pickup (and therefore magnet) is even more important than the strength of the magnet. As I said, typically it's the neck pickup that is the culprit for Strat-itis because it is the closest to the middle of the string where it is easier to pull on it. As an illustration, try bending the string at the 12th fret -- pretty easy, huh? Now try bending the string at the 1st fret. Not exactly easy is it?

Your DD pickup at the bridge is as close to one end of the string as the 1st fret is to the other end, and therefore its magnetic field meets the same level of resistance your finger does trying to bend the string at the 1st fret. Which is to say that the DD's contribution to Strat-itis is, even with a ceramic magnet in it, for all practical purposes, zero.

The middle pickup, as its name suggests, is going to be somewhere in between in its contribution to Strat-itis. Being farther away from the end of the string, its going to have more leverage than the bridge pu, but not as much as the neck pu.

Try the same thing I suggested above for your 59 neck pu -- lower it as far as it can go without the mounting bolts popping loose, and see if the Strat-itis goes away. With humbucker pickups, the magnet is much farther away from the strings than on rod magnet single coils (typical Strat pickups) so Strat-itis is rare with a standard humbucker.

But there's an outside chance that maybe you have an over-strength Alnico 5 in there. Maybe somebody accidentally hit the "reverse" switch on Seymour's "Dun-Ager" device and made the magnet stronger instead of weaker -- or his supplier left a batch in the magnetizer a little too long. I'm just spitballing over here.

Bottom line, if only lowering your 59 to a ridiculously low (impractical for playing) height is the only way to make the Strat-itis go away, then get another Alnico 5 magnet and replace it. But before you put the new magnet in, try comparing the its strength to that of the old one -- see how much stuff it can hold without it falling off. Or put them on your refrigerator and see which one is harder to pull off. If you find the original Alnico 5 is noticeably stronger than the new one, put the new one in the pickup and the problem should be solved. If they're about the same, then the 59 pickup isn't the problem at all.

***

The one big upside about problems like these is that you learn a LOT about guitars in the process of solving them, and the longer it takes, the more you learn. Even if you end up chucking this guitar and getting a new one, you'll have a lot more tech experience and savvy then if the guitar worked perfectly.

Thanks for your encouragement.

Happy to help.

 

[WICKED LESTER]

Re: Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

Has anybody else here had problems with string oscillation -- and does anyone have some tips to fix it?

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM

String oscillation is sometimes mistaken as "string buzzing" but it is more similar to a vibratto or tremolo effect in sound. That is, if you hit a note, say 15th freet high E string, its sound will "WAVER" going up and down almost like a sine wave. I took one of my guitars to a reputable repair guy and he told me that it is often very difficult to eliminate. He said you can get it if you pickups are too high (I guess the magnetism of the pickup pulls the vibrating string down) or even if you pickups are too low. He also mentioned some other factors.

EVIDENCE ITS NOT BUZZING (IN MY CASE)

In my case with the guitar un-plugged I can fret every note on every string without buzzing. This is mostly due to the fact that my action is somewhat high (7/64ths at the 17th fret on both the low E and high E strings).

MY GUITAR

My guitar is an Ibanez RG 570 DX with 3 seymour duncan pickups: (1) a 59 in the neck, (2) a Vintage rails in the middle, and (3) a Duncan Distortion TB-6 in the bridge. The guitar intonation is correct, and I use light strings 9-42.

** THE MYSTERY **

The great mystery for me is that the string oscillation will go away if I switch pickups with my 5-way switch.

For example, With the 59 neck pickup the high E and B strings have no oscillation, but the G string sounds bad.

However, with the Distortion in the bridge the G string sounds perfect but some notes on the high E string oscillate!

When the 59 and vintage rails are combined in the 4th position (no coil splitting) there is no string oscillation on the high strings at all (high g, b, e).

WHAT I HAVE TRIED....

Switching my strings to 10s (10-46) seem to lessen the problem -- but I do not want to play with 10s.

Raising the action and lowering the pickups works sometimes -- but never in such a way that all the pickups are free of oscillation

ANY IDEAS?

I really appreciate any help or ideas to address this problem.
Also misery loves company so any similar stories, if nothing else, are also appreciated. Maybe I should just accept this?

Sincerely,
Bubba

DAMN YOU GOT SOME GREAT EARS

 

[bubbahotep2k3]

Re: Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone on this forum -- all of you guys are great and have really helped amplify (no pun intended) my knowledge of guitar related stuff.

I will try over the next few days and weeks to see what I can do to fix the problem.

I will let you guys know what (if anything) works.

Take care,
Rob aka "bubba"

 

[Cenulab]

Re: Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

By the way, Rob;

I've also experienced "stratitis" due to magnetic string-pull, and it's definitely worth trying to pinpoint.

Again, good luck.

-Cen

 

[bubbahotep2k3]

Re: Pickups and String Oscillation - DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

Well I have found out that my down-tuning (every string a whole step down) really makes the problem worse...

Right now I have found a happy medium with the pickup heights such that the strat-itis is lessened but the tone is still good.