New Suhr has "dead" notes :(

unix-guy

unix-guy

Master of RTFM
So I was playing my lovely new Suhr Modern the other night and could not figure out why I was having trouble playing a certain melody with a sustaining F# note on the G string.

The next night I again noticed the F# (and F) on the G string had significantly less sustain.

I opened a support case with them and here is what I said:

Hi, I have a new Suhr guitar that I purchased a couple weeks ago. I am really loving it overall but I noticed a strange issue last night: the notes F and F# on the G string 10th and 11th fret have very little sustain. Elsewhere on the guitar on any string including the same pitches the notes sustain quite long. The F# is the worst offender... As an experiment, I tuned the string up to A from G. Then the "dead" notes followed the tuning change and became G and G#. Similarly, tuning the string lower also followed the same pattern. The strings are .009-.042 set that I installed a couple days after it arrived. They have maybe 6-8 hours of play time and my strings tend to last for a while. The serial number is xxxxxx and spec number is xxxxxx. What should I try next? Playing anything that requires those notes has almost no sustain (almost as if there was a noise gate on, which there is not) even with adding drive.
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They've responded and asked me to return the guitar to factory 10-46 strings and setup back to factory specs and see if the problem persists, which I will do.

However, other than changing the strings and intonation, I've really not adjusted anything else or had a need to.

Based on the info I provided above have any of you experienced something like this before?

I thought initially there was a dead spot on the neck but seeing as tuning down or up causes the dead notes to follow l don't think that's it.

My next step before doing what they asked will be to just replace the G string with a new string. My hope is that this one is just flawed in some way.

If putting the 10s on "fixes" the problem then I'm not sure where that leaves me as I much prefer 9s...

EDIT:

Contrary to what I sent Suhr, I've confirmed that the dead notes are F# and F on the G string regardless of the pitch I tune the G string. I will be sharing this info with them.
 
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toneseeker911 said:
Is it a floating trem ? You do need to adjust the trem springs and the neck relief if you are changing string gauge.
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Yes, Gotoh Floyd Rose. As mentioned there was no need to further adjust the guitar (other than adjusting the trem springs, of course). The change from 10s to 9s was minimal. The action and relief are almost identical afterwards.
 
If I am understanding correctly and the dead notes are always located on the 10th and 11th fret, you probably have a high 12th fret that is choking off the note. A check with a small straightedge that will span 3 frets is the easy way to check as the straightedge will rock if there is a high fret. Alternately, as it is a Floyd, you could try to raise the bridge slightly and see if that helps, or increase the neck relief a touch w/ the truss rod.

Going from 10s to 9s will cause the neck to straighten slightly, lowering the action a small amount and this can cause issues with any frets that are off even by a little bit.
 
Manny Kuhn said:
If I am understanding correctly and the dead notes are always located on the 10th and 11th fret, you probably have a high 12th fret that is choking off the note. A check with a small straightedge that will span 3 frets is the easy way to check as the straightedge will rock if there is a high fret. Alternately, as it is a Floyd, you could try to raise the bridge slightly and see if that helps, or increase the neck relief a touch w/ the truss rod.

Going from 10s to 9s will cause the neck to straighten slightly, lowering the action a small amount and this can cause issues with any frets that are off even by a little bit.
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Actually, now I need to recheck... Because I think I wrote the wrong thing in my email to Suhr

I think that when I tuned the string up or down the SAME NOTES were dead but obviously now on different frets.

I will check again and post the results as troubleshooting requires having correct information! ;)

Stay tuned (no pun intended!).
 
If the action was really low with the 10’s, And you have one or more dead fret(s),
a little neck relief is needed for sure. I usually use this as a minimum relief between a notched straight edge and the fretboard:

.010” 0.25mm clearance @ 7th fret min.

The only other possible issue is a fret that wasn’t properly pressed, which I highly doubt on a Suhr.
 
My Modern with a Gotoh 510 tremolo had a dead spot on the G string 12th fret. I play several cover songs where I need to sustain that note so it was very noticeable.

Fret height was my first guess so I checked. No issues there. I tried changing string gauge, pickups, pickup height, neck relief, neck screws (moved and tightened). I even swapped to a titanium trem block.

i also noticed that the same note was slightly deadened on other strings so I figured it is a resonance issue.

I contacted Suhr and sent the Modern back to them twice. Second time they swapped my mahogany neck for roasted maple neck. This may
Have slightly improved the dead G but I think this just shifted the dead note from G to F#.

If you search online you’ll find other Modern owners reporting the issue.
 
rickboot said:
My Modern with a Gotoh 510 tremolo had a dead spot on the G string 12th fret. I play several cover songs where I need to sustain that note so it was very noticeable.

Fret height was my first guess so I checked. No issues there. I tried changing string gauge, pickups, pickup height, neck relief, neck screws (moved and tightened). I even swapped to a titanium trem block.

i also noticed that the same note was slightly deadened on other strings so I figured it is a resonance issue.

I contacted Suhr and sent the Modern back to them twice. Second time they swapped my mahogany neck for roasted maple neck. This may
Have slightly improved the dead G but I think this just shifted the dead note from G to F#.

If you search online you’ll find other Modern owners reporting the issue.
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Woa! That doesn’t sound good. Is it a neck heel issue?
 
rickboot said:
My Modern with a Gotoh 510 tremolo had a dead spot on the G string 12th fret. I play several cover songs where I need to sustain that note so it was very noticeable.

Fret height was my first guess so I checked. No issues there. I tried changing string gauge, pickups, pickup height, neck relief, neck screws (moved and tightened). I even swapped to a titanium trem block.

i also noticed that the same note was slightly deadened on other strings so I figured it is a resonance issue.

I contacted Suhr and sent the Modern back to them twice. Second time they swapped my mahogany neck for roasted maple neck. This may
Have slightly improved the dead G but I think this just shifted the dead note from G to F#.

If you search online you’ll find other Modern owners reporting the issue.
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Interesting that it is roughly around the same note. Definitely sounds like a resonance issue. Maybe a truss rod vibrating? I can't think of much else that would be that specific and consistent.
 
PincoTech said:
If the action was really low with the 10’s, And you have one or more dead fret(s),
a little neck relief is needed for sure. I usually use this as a minimum relief between a notched straight edge and the fretboard:

.010” 0.25mm clearance @ 7th fret min.

The only other possible issue is a fret that wasn’t properly pressed, which I highly doubt on a Suhr.
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Suhr factory spec is .005" at the 7th fret.
 
I have never had the privilege of playing a Suhr but I’ve definitely had a similar issue with a tele that I used to own (note the “used” to). I noticed it when playing an A on the 10th fret of the b string. It just died out very quickly. I tried various brands of strings, various gauges, leveling the frets around the area, I just could never get it how I liked it. I bought a warmoth neck to put on it and still had no luck. No matter how I tuned it or where the note was played, it was always the same result.

After much research I came upon the resonance issues as discussed in the above posts. It bothered me so much I ended up buying a new body from warmoth to go with the neck and just stripped all of the electronics out of the fender.

Unfortunately you don’t have those types of options with the Suhr. Hopefully they can offer some guidance and help resolve the issue. It’s such a shame that such a wonderful instrument can have an issue like that. If you’re anything like me, I’m sure it’s causing you much unrest.

If I had to put money on it, I would say it’s a resonant issue. I love guitars, I really do. Sometimes their imperfections drive me crazy though.
 
rickboot said:
My Modern with a Gotoh 510 tremolo had a dead spot on the G string 12th fret. I play several cover songs where I need to sustain that note so it was very noticeable.

Fret height was my first guess so I checked. No issues there. I tried changing string gauge, pickups, pickup height, neck relief, neck screws (moved and tightened). I even swapped to a titanium trem block.

i also noticed that the same note was slightly deadened on other strings so I figured it is a resonance issue.

I contacted Suhr and sent the Modern back to them twice. Second time they swapped my mahogany neck for roasted maple neck. This may
Have slightly improved the dead G but I think this just shifted the dead note from G to F#.

If you search online you’ll find other Modern owners reporting the issue.
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Interesting and also a bit disheartening. I play a LOT in the C#min pentatonic "box"..

I thought it might be a note thing, too, but playing the same F# on the B string or other strings sustains as expected.

This is a roasted maple neck, just FYI.
 
I had the reverse problem on a guitar I previously owned. Even time I would play G4 anywhere on the neck, it would take off and zizz into a G5. I returned it.
 
Ok, so I just confirmed my earlier information was wrong.

The dead notes remain F# and to a lesser degree F regardless of the fret... But only on the G string.
 
unix-guy said:
Ok, so I just confirmed my earlier information was wrong.

The dead notes remain F# and to a lesser degree F regardless of the fret... But only on the G string.
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On mine, the deadening on non-G strings is subtle. If I change the tuning of the G string, the problem follows the F#.
 
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