High E "Pinging"

[Justin Crouse]

Hi all,

Help me out here. All of a sudden, my high E stringing sounds like it's on a sitar. I changed strings, but that didn't help. It loaded the nut with graphite, still no help. sounds like it's coming from the saddle.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance,
JC

[musicalmartin]

Sounds like it is fretting out .Check by depressing the string at the offending spot and see if it clears the next fret .If it doesnt I usually just file the offending fret down a tad or check the amount of relief in the neck ,or both .You can also raise the strings a tad at the bridge .

[mellecaster]

Might help if we knew the model of Guitar ?

[Justin Crouse]

hmm interesting. visually it's not touching any fret. i'll check closer when i get home.

any other thoughts if that's not it?

[Justin Crouse]

sorry i didn't include that mellecaster. it's a mongrel parts tele. the 3 saddles are compensated brass.

[jrfrond]

You may have developed a small burr on the saddle at the string contact point. I've seen this on brass saddles before. Use a bit of 600 sandpaper at the string contact point on the saddle, and use a Teflon lubricant like Super Lube at these points to minimize the friction that causes these burrs in the first place.

[Justin Crouse]

hmmm now that sounds promising. i didn't think that if you had a burr or slot on the saddle, it would act the same as the slot in the nut. that's my next avenue. it definitely sounds like it's coming from the saddle.

[teleftcaster]

Break angle may need to be increased.

[dlaroe]

I had a notch develop on my high E saddle, sounded similar to what you describe.
I needed a quick fix so I swapped high and low E saddle (6-way bridge) and the larger .046" string was not effected much by the small .010" notch. I still haven't fixed it properly (like mentioned above), maybe next string change.

-Dale