weird harmonic

T

TheJangus

New member
So I got a MIM Strat for Christmas. I noticed something weird recently. If I strum the strings, then mute them with my pickhand and release quickly I get a weird bell like harmonic coming from the G string. I tried changing strings, and lowering the pups, but I'm not quite sure what would cause this. It only happens with the G-string. Any ideas?
 
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Re: weird harmonic

Dunno. I'm going to set the intonation tonight and see if that helps. It still had the stock fender 9's on it last night when I really started to notice this weird harmonic. So I changed to a set of boomer 10's and adjusted the bridge float, but it was still making the harmonic. Also it maybe interesting to note the harmonic occurs regardless of where I mute it. Whether at the bridge, over the mid or over the neck pups.
 
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the only other thing I can think of is stray noises that sometimes come from the trem springs, but it should be fairly easy to pinpoint the location of the source
 
Re: weird harmonic

Well I'll give the intonation a go and perhaps muck with the strings a bit. Thanks for the help Curly. Appreciate it. I'll post how it goes.
 
Re: weird harmonic

My Strats' trem springs all ring in a rather obnoxious manner, but I've never paid much attention to them. I just always associated it with the fact that they're Strats!
 
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Sounds to me that it's purely physical. Unless it's making a ringing while the string is muted, it sounds like you're perhaps causing the harmonic on the open string with your right hand (?) ....
 
Re: weird harmonic

I've had the trem string issue happen, and managed to get rid of it by making small adjustments to the trem claw screws until it went away
 
Re: weird harmonic

Would that affect just the g-string? If I mute the g-string with my fret hand, strum the strings, mute with my pickhand and quickly release, while keeping the g-string muted, I get no harmonic. All the strings are silent. Strum all open strings, mute with my pickhand and quickly release I get the harmonic on the g-string. It doesn't seem like it would be the springs. I also adjusted the bridge float by tightening the trem claw a bit and I still get the harmonic. So far I'm hoping it's just the intonation. If not I might try to make a clip of it to post.
 
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also when i say mute with my pick hand, I just touch the strings with the edge of my palm and then remove it.

I'd be surprised if it was technique, since I've never noticed this on my 80's Fernandes strat. Maybe I just never noticed it. I'll try that again tonight too to be sure.
 
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Re: weird harmonic

You're just creating an errant harmonic with your right hand muting technique. Thats all. Just work on changing your muting technique and you'll be fine.
 
Re: weird harmonic

What would be proper muting techinque?

What's weird is my technique doesn't produce this harmonic on my other guitars.
 
Re: weird harmonic

TheJangus said:
What would be proper muting techinque?

What's weird is my technique doesn't produce this harmonic on my other guitars.
Click to expand...

1. The proper muting technique is the one that works best for you and doesn't create harmonics. :smoker: Try some different hand positions and see what works best.

2. I'm not surprised. Different guitars (even with the same scale length) tend to have widely varying harmonic and resonance properties from one another. Even another Identical MIM strat may not do it. In my experience those things are often just a quirk of that individual axe. If you try it on other identical or similar guitars, though, then it's you. I use to have your same problem with Les Pauls on the low E and A strings and all it took was just repositioning my hand a little bit.
 
Re: weird harmonic

I'll give it a go! Thanks for the tip. I also read of someone on the FDP who had a very similar sounding problem. Said it was the saddle. Replaced them with graphtechs and it went away. I might try that too. I don't mind dropping a few bucks if it lets me keep my comfy way of muting and is a good upgrade anyway.
 
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