Dead spot compensation using multiband comp block

vector

vector

Member
I've owned roughly 50+ guitars in my life. Blah blah blah all of them sound/feel different yada yada yada. We all love our guitars for different reasons. I also take pride in knowing all the dead spots on all of my guitars. For example I have a BFR Majesty with a dead spot on the 14th fret G string and a Custom 24 with a dead spot 11th fret B string. Some of them worse than others. Fast forward to the covid 19 lockdown and I started messing with the multiband comp block. I found a setting that sort of lessened the dead spot on my JP15 by accident. The JP15 had a dead spot on the B string 17th fret and I had a multiband comp block with a 334Hz crossover, -16db, and a 3.00 ratio. When the block is engaged the dead spot seems to be less apparent. Like around 80% gone. I quickly saved the block and picked up another guitar to see if it would carry over. Unfortunately it did not. Tweak as I may it only works with my JP15. Anyone else experience this stuff?
 
No amp can compensate for a dead spot. Either a good luthier, or move on.

But it is good information that you've provided.

(I will note that if you have one small dead spot in one string, and one fret, on an otherwise pristine guitar...your standards may be a touch high.)
 
electronpirate said:
No amp can compensate for a dead spot. Either a good luthier, or move on.

But it is good information that you've provided.

(I will note that if you have one small dead spot in one string, and one fret, on an otherwise pristine guitar...your standards may be a touch high.)
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I really don't mind dead spots on my guitars. It's kinda the nature of the beast. I do try to buy guitars with only one or two dead spots.

I just found it strange that all these years of playing real amps and pedals it was Fractal Audio that "fixed" a dead spot. I use "fixed" loosely in this context. Might just be random happenstance or a hidden feature in Cygnus lol.
 
steadystate said:
My solution was to switch to multi-layer necks (5-piece) with neck through body construction. I've never had one with a significant dead spot.
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Interesting insight. I have a 3 piece neck on a Ibanez Prestige and it has the least apparent dead spot out of all my guitars. That guitar actually has a bunch of sweet spots. Like some notes ring and sustain a lot longer than most.
 
I had several bad experiences with dead notes . There is no signal processing (EQ, compressor, booster, etc) that can repair a dead note. It is caused by the guitar body absorbing the vibrational energy at certain frequency, forcing the string to suddenly stop vibrating without a natural decay

My solution when I have to use these notes to sustain naturally is to place a small speaker against the guitar body

1) A Bluetooth speaker placed between the guitar and me while I am sitting
20210702_175526-jpg.85597

2) Using a small vibration driver.
More info here: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/gary-moore-long-sustain-with-fm3.175392/post-2133769
20210817_212814-jpg.87272
 
Piing said:
I had several bad experiences with dead notes . There is no signal processing (EQ, compressor, booster, etc) that can repair a dead note. It is caused by the guitar body absorbing the vibrational energy at certain frequency, forcing the string to suddenly stop vibrating without a natural decay

My solution when I have to use these notes to sustain naturally is to place a small speaker against the guitar body

1) A Bluetooth speaker placed between the guitar and me while I am sitting
20210702_175526-jpg.85597

2) Using a small vibration driver.
More info here: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/threads/gary-moore-long-sustain-with-fm3.175392/post-2133769
20210817_212814-jpg.87272
Click to expand...
I saw a video ages ago where I guy made a sustainer by taking the speaker plate (?) out of those little piezo buzzers and putting them under the strings like pickups. You take the guitar signal to a little box that drives the buzzers which makes the strings vibrate . Pretty cool but I never got around to making it and now I can’t find the video.
 
You can tune these dead spots some.
Replace one or more tremolo springs with a harder/softer one, so you have to screw the claw more out/in of the body to keep the trem in the same height as before and that changes the tone a bit. Often these little changes also make the dead spot shift or go away.
At least with high class instruments it's worth a try. I wouldn'd expect that a Music Man has a bad construction or a bad choice of woods, so it could be the setup.
 
lp59 said:
Play louder! But not with headphone! 😉🤣
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Volume doesn't resurrect a zombie note 🧟‍♂️:D Instead of vibrating with the string, the guitar body absorbs the vibration of the string atone specific frequency


666was999 said:
You can tune these dead spots some.
Replace one or more tremolo springs with a harder/softer one, so you have to screw the claw more out/in of the body to keep the trem in the same height as before and that changes the tone a bit. Often these little changes also make the dead spot shift or go away.
At least with high class instruments it's worth a try. I wouldn'd expect that a Music Man has a bad construction or a bad choice of woods, so it could be the setup.
Click to expand...

I've tried all that and more. It doesn't work with a real dead note. It is not the setup, and it can happen at high class instruments. I am really sick of stories of dead notes at expensive instruments.

Here is one of the stories I had with a beautiful J-Custom: https://www.jemsite.com/threads/j-c...s-the-custom-worth-1-000.145370/#post-1386865

And I currently have another story with a fuc'in Suhr
 
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Dead spots is when a neck and body have dissonant resonance together in certain areas . It helps to alter the mass somewhere to try and get this to move but that is not always possible. It may help a bit but rarely completely fixes it. EQ is only a mask.
 
Playing with the guitar body against a wooden door or table normally works

That is also a test to know if your issue is bad setup or dead note, because that won't solve the problem of a bad setup (e.g.: a high fret).
 
Hi @vector

You could try to use the multi band comp by increasing the volume of the fundamental frequency of the dead note, over a narrow range. Heaps of problems with that approach but it may work. Another possibility is a parametric or even graphic eq, but, again you’ll be messing with other things as well.
Good luck! If you find a solution, let us all know.
Thanks
Pauly


vector said:
I've owned roughly 50+ guitars in my life. Blah blah blah all of them sound/feel different yada yada yada. We all love our guitars for different reasons. I also take pride in knowing all the dead spots on all of my guitars. For example I have a BFR Majesty with a dead spot on the 14th fret G string and a Custom 24 with a dead spot 11th fret B string. Some of them worse than others. Fast forward to the covid 19 lockdown and I started messing with the multiband comp block. I found a setting that sort of lessened the dead spot on my JP15 by accident. The JP15 had a dead spot on the B string 17th fret and I had a multiband comp block with a 334Hz crossover, -16db, and a 3.00 ratio. When the block is engaged the dead spot seems to be less apparent. Like around 80% gone. I quickly saved the block and picked up another guitar to see if it would carry over. Unfortunately it did not. Tweak as I may it only works with my JP15. Anyone else experience this stuff?
Click to expand...
 
Piing said:
Playing with the guitar body against a wooden door or table normally works

That is also a test to know if your issue is bad setup or dead note, because that won't solve the problem of a bad setup (e.g.: a high fret).
Click to expand...
You can tell a setup issues is different just by the lack of physical interference in the note with a dead spot.
 
pauly said:
Hi @vector

You could try to use the multi band comp by increasing the volume of the fundamental frequency of the dead note, over a narrow range. Heaps of problems with that approach but it may work. Another possibility is a parametric or even graphic eq, but, again you’ll be messing with other things as well.
Good luck! If you find a solution, let us all know.
Thanks
Pauly
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Just sell the guitar and buy one that actually works.
 
I'm just wondering how a dead spot coming from the wood is on a note up that high and with a small bandwith.

Can you rule out the metal parts and the trem system? How is the resonance when you take the trem bar all off? Have you tried to block the trem?
What is the angle of the trem ground plate and how is the string touching the saddle? Did you try it a little steeper or flatter? How are the screws in each saddle, is each saddle standing on booth screws and not hanging on it's neighbor? These smalls things, you know...
 
666was999 said:
I'm just wondering how a dead spot coming from the wood is on a note up that high and with a small bandwith.

Can you rule out the metal parts and the trem system? How is the resonance when you take the trem bar all off? Have you tried to block the trem?
What is the angle of the trem ground plate and how is the string touching the saddle? Did you try it a little steeper or flatter? How are the screws in each saddle, is each saddle standing on booth screws and not hanging on it's neighbor? These smalls things, you know...
Click to expand...

The dead note described here (the guitar body absorbing the vibrational energy of the strings at certain frequency) is not related to these things. It happens with the same note at all strings (less accentuated at the lower strings, due to their higher mass)
 
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666was999 said:
I'm just wondering how a dead spot coming from the wood is on a note up that high and with a small bandwith.

Can you rule out the metal parts and the trem system? How is the resonance when you take the trem bar all off? Have you tried to block the trem?
What is the angle of the trem ground plate and how is the string touching the saddle? Did you try it a little steeper or flatter? How are the screws in each saddle, is each saddle standing on booth screws and not hanging on it's neighbor? These smalls things, you know...
Click to expand...
All these things affect it but when the note rings true the wood is the thing that is with you or against you.
 
Na, ok. If it's the same note everywhere, say 17th fret on b string and 5th fret on e string, well, that's the wood, ok.

A guitar that is bad on an A? Sell it on...
 
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