The Steel Guitar Forum

Just setting up my ETS after a few flights- from sub zero temps to Tenessee- and I'm getting a consistent trem effect (no buzzing) from the first two strings- I thought it was a problem with the session 400's trem, but its definitely the guitar. I'm slowly isolating moving parts underneath- has anyone else experienced this? My thought is something loosened in transit...any tips?

Asa

No one?

It is not clear what you are describing...understandable since you cannot explin the origin of what you are hearing.

Are you actually gettinng an unintended tremelo effect on the signal output or are you hearing undercarriage vibrations phasing in and out in intensity?

If it is the former it may be a cold solder joint sensitive to vibration or some kind of intermittant connection.

If it is the latter...it may be pull rod vibrations and just reach you hand underneath while plucking until you find the guilty rod group.

It sounds like you might be having an issue similar to what I have noticed lately on my guitar. I don't actually hear it through the amp but, with the volume down completely, I can hear a sort of warble-ish overtone coming from the guitar when playing the 2nd and 3rd strings (haven't noticed it on the 1st string). Is that what you mean by trem effect?

Sadly, I don't have any great suggestions for you since I haven't figured out the cause or the cure.

How's the roller nut?
How old are the strings?

Thanks for the replies. We can probably move this to the humor section...after an obsessive few hours of trouble shooting, I realized it was the ceiling fan moving air rhythmically. Coming from nova Scotia to nashville, I'm not too familiar with fan use this time of year-whoops.

We will add that to the troubleshooting guide.

No ceiling fan in my music room. Must be a loose cranial cog in my case.

Asa Brosius wrote:Thanks for the replies. We can probably move this to the humor section...after an obsessive few hours of trouble shooting, I realized it was the ceiling fan moving air rhythmically. Coming from nova Scotia to nashville, I'm not too familiar with fan use this time of year-whoops.

That's pretty funny. I've thought there was something wrong with my amp before when it turned out to be some outside source like a fan. Worst was on 6 string and there was some kind of wierd clicking -- turned out to be what happens when a mechanical watch gets too close to pickups.

I had a weird continuous sound like a cricket chirping coming from my guitar amp. I tried to get rid of it for weeks--tried different cables, changed tubes, plugged the amp into a different outlet, unplugged the neon sign behind the stage, nothing helped...It was my cell phone in my right front pocket in proximity to the pickup.

As I discovered living in Phoenix, overhead fans will make almost any musical instrument sound intolerably bad.

I have had this problem.
Found it to be coming from Geo L cable---straight plug.
Apparently the screw was into the center cable.
I cut and put plug back on.
Problem went away.

Darrell

Btw, Asa is a very good player. I was lucky to get to hear him play with JP Harris And The Tough Choices (Bakersfield Country) near my hometown. I wish I could play as well as he does!