Fretted notes "wobble"/Leslie Effect

CraigP

Inspired
Guitar is an '88, made in America, Fender HSS "Strat" with Kahler Spyder trem.
Interesting new thing here for me with this guitar, the fretted notes on strings 1-3 at frets 12 and above started to have a wobble sound almost similar to a Leslie effect. I changed out the strings and it did not improve, may even be worse since I went from 10s to 9s. I don't find anything that shifted or has been damaged.

Tomorrow, I am going to adjust the neck relief if it is needed and do a complete setup. I don't have any fret rub above the fretted notes and believe the frets are level. I checked for any hardware resonance with the springs, trem, etc and did not find any issues.

Just curious to see if anyone else here has had a similar issue and what the fix may be or what to look for. Again, I am going to go through and do a setup on it in detail tomorrow.

Thanks

Update

Issue has been corrected. Today, I did the following adjustments to the guitar and the wobble is gone.
-Adjusted neck; it had almost zero relief so I loosened truss rod approx 1/4 turn.
-Raised string height on 1-3 by approx 1/64"
-Set intonation (only A and low E were off, fretted note at 12th was sharp)
-Checked all hardware for snug and proper fit.
Tuned it, locked nut, retuned it and no more issues.
I suspect it is now as close to perfect as it has even been or will be.

Thanks again for all the input. Seems like a little of everything you all advised me was what it needed. Very subtle changes but they made a big difference to my ears.
 
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Sounds like frets are hitting the strings as they ring.
I thought so too earlier but there seems to be no interference when I eyeballed it with these tired eyes. Definitely something I will measure and look at closely when I go over it. The notes still sustain and there is no drastic drop off in volume so I initially dismissed that as a potential issue. Now it's back on my list.

Thanks for the input!!
 
No, the wobble is there on the last fret, I did check that.

PUP height is good on all three. If anything, they could probably be raised a little as I backed them down the last time I went through the guitar a couple or three years ago.
 
Not sure our eyes can see something vibrating that fast.
LOL no, I meant there appears to be ample string clearance from the frets. These old eyes certainly aren't seeing anything like string oscillation above or hitting the frets LOL:leftmagnify:
 
On paper it sounds like magnetic pull of the pickups messing with the string vibration. But you think pickup height hasn't changed, and doesn't look too close, so dunno. Maybe record it and post that so we can hear it?
 
Other things to try:
Mute strings on headstock
Muted strings between fretted note and headstock
Muffle term springs
Make sure there is no oscillating fan or electronics in room - or change room

Also, can you hear the warble unplugged?
 
Other things to try:
Mute strings on headstock
Muted strings between fretted note and headstock
Muffle term springs
Make sure there is no oscillating fan or electronics in room - or change room

Also, can you hear the warble unplugged?
Good input. First thing I did was damped the springs and trem block to negate any vibrations. LOL the ceiling fan was off. That one drove me nuts when I first started playing with a buddy. Had a fan at the practice room that reflected back a Leslie effect. I couldn't figure out why I didn't have that issue at home so I eventually gave up on it. A couple of years later, a guy told me about weird stuff that fans and fluorescent lamps, etc would do to an electric guitar signal and sound :)
 
Does it do it only when your pluck the string, if you pluck it only once and let it ring out? Is it a trem spring warble
 
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