Bell-like overtones/noise after lowering action

C

CardiDanger

Member
My guitar has EVO medium-jumbo frets, completely fresh strings (changed this morning), and I just set the action to 3/64th on the plain strings and 1/16th on the wound strings. When I palm mute on the low E and chug, I now hear this sort of feedback that's almost as if I had clinked on a metallic bell with a metallic hammer. My chugs are now lost under this sea of extra noise, like a very metallic reverb.

I tried tying a rubber band around one of the springs to stop it from vibrating, but that did nothing. The problem attenuates a lot if I raise the action again. The overtones are there acoustically as well.

Any ideas of what this could be? Should I try those noiseless springs?

This is a Kiesel Aries, if that's important at all.
 
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CardiDanger said:
My guitar has EVO medium-jumbo frets, completely fresh strings (changed this morning), and I just set the action to 3/64th on the plain strings and 1/16th on the wound strings. When I palm mute on the low E and chug, I now hear this sort of feedback that's almost as if I had clinked on a metallic bell with a metallic hammer. My chugs are now lost under this sea of extra noise, like a very metallic reverb.

I tried tying a rubber band around one of the springs to stop it from vibrating, but that did nothing. The problem attenuates a lot if I raise the action again.

Any ideas of what this could be? Should I try those noiseless springs?

This is a Kiesel Aries, if that's important at all.
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Hey there

Did you check the wah pedal?
That is my first guess

Cheers 🍻
 
CardiDanger said:
What would I check for?
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Sorry for beeing to quick writing a response.
It could well be that your whammy pedal is on?

Been there -> done that. It cost me a lot of trouble at the time searching and restoring what I had changed in the meantime, when all I had to do is lower the pedal to the zero position.
 
CardiDanger said:
The problem attenuates a lot if I raise the action again. The overtones are there acoustically as well.
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It sounds like your action is too low. Lowering the strings is one part of lowering the action. The neck relief has to be right, and frets have to be level, and the fact that it goes away when you raise the action fits with the problem being in the setup. It’s not the modeler or electronics.

A little buzz is ok if it doesn’t ruin the sustain. When we play, the volume from the speaker masks what we hear from the strings. If you hear it through the speakers then it is something to fix.
 
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I found the issue. If I put a tonnnnn of pressure with my palm when palm muting, I get this horrible horrible noise. When playing normally, I am putting enough pressure to get some of that, which is giving me the metallic sound I mentioned. This doesn't happen with any of my other guitars, no matter how much pressure I use when muting.

I wonder if this means the neck relief is off?
 
Try damping the strings at the headstock behind the nut. The strings might be vibrating between the tuning pegs and the nut. Piece of foam or a sock tied around, just to rule it out.
 
CardiDanger said:
I found the issue. If I put a tonnnnn of pressure with my palm when palm muting, I get this horrible horrible noise. When playing normally, I am putting enough pressure to get some of that, which is giving me the metallic sound I mentioned. This doesn't happen with any of my other guitars, no matter how much pressure I use when muting.

I wonder if this means the neck relief is off?
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When you put a tonnnnn of pressure on the strings with your palm, you’re lowering the action even more. Your problem is fret buzz, and that makes it worse. You might also be driving your strings into your pickups.
 
Floating trem? Are you pushing on it with the heel of your hand and causing the strings to be slightly lower >>> buzz city. Just a thought
 
Solved! Via the age old method of sock tied behind the nut. There's still some reverb/echo left but I also ordered those noiseless springs.

Thanks for the suggestions. I must say, this forum is insanely responsive - I got my first few answers really quick, and got a total of 14. In other forums I got 0. This is a great community.
 
The change I made was to what Kiesel support told me they use as their default string height: 3/64ths for the wound strings and 1/16th for the plain ones. My wound strings were previously at 1/16ths.

I suspect I still need to adjust my truss rod, but glad that I had a trivial solution at hand, even it's only temporary.
 
CardiDanger said:
The change I made was to what Kiesel support told me they use as their default string height: 3/64ths for the wound strings and 1/16th for the plain ones.
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They set their wound strings lower than the plain strings?
 
CardiDanger said:
Solved! Via the age old method of sock tied behind the nut.
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I am wondering if this is related to the strings. I ask this because i have played many years on Elixir 10-48 strings and changed a few weeks ago to NYXL 10-48 and last week i suddenly noticed this sound, both unplugged and even plugged... after a while i found out it was them ringing behind the nut.
Do some strings (depending on brand) make more noise behind the nut than others? I restring regulary and never noticed it before with the Elixirs. But it might be coincidence, and once you hear it, you keep hearing it... ;)
 
CardiDanger said:
Solved! Via the age old method of sock tied behind the nut. There's still some reverb/echo left but I also ordered those noiseless springs.

Thanks for the suggestions. I must say, this forum is insanely responsive - I got my first few answers really quick, and got a total of 14. In other forums I got 0. This is a great community.
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Great that you found the source. Interesting that the sound from behind the nut is dominating the signal to the pickups. Are you playing at low volume and possibly hearing the behind-the-nut sound acoustically and not through the fractal?
 
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