G string warble

[kurtmanifest1]

Hi, can anybody please help me with this....
I get a warble on the open g string of my AV52 (like if there was a ceiling fan on, something like that)...it happens only when distortion is on.
My other two teles don´t have that, but they have a lot less sustain on that string.
Any ideas please? it´s driving me crazy
Anybody experienced this?

 

[Mad Kiwi]

Nut cut wrong?

Intonation?

Is it when you play other strings or just the g by itself?

 

[kurtmanifest1]

G itself, I don´t know if warbling is the right word, maybe it´s a weird overtone, but since I put a piece of cloth to stop the harmonics on the g and d string I´m not sure....what I notice is that on my mexican tele this same sound appears when I pluck the string, and then as the sound decays it kinda goes away, but the PV52 has a lot more sustain on that note, maybe it has to do with the fact that it´s a bone nut, I don´t know

 

[Mr. Lumbergh]

If it was a Strat, I'd say you're suffering from Stratitis...
What is the stagger like on the pickup poles, if any; does the G sit higher than the others?

 

[kurtmanifest1]

not really, the distance is even, the pickup height is ok too, the stagger is even with the other as well

 

[dsutton24]

Mad Kiwi is probably on the right track. An open single string acting strangely usually is caused by a bad nut slot, trouble with a saddle, break angle, or a bad string. Make sure the saddle is firmly resting on both set screws and making good contact with the bridge plate. Also, pluck the string and make it make the noise, and while it's still ringing mute the other five strings. If the noise remains it's probably not a resonance.

You could also try a wound G string. The plain G always sounds 'plunky' to me.

 

[kurtmanifest1]

I´ve tried that, it´s not a resonance, I even pressed the g string behind the nut and its still there, the saddles are very well adjusted and lie perfectly on the plate

 

[kurtmanifest1]

oh...one thing....If I use a capo and play that string open, let´s say I put the capo on the 2nd fret...that ringing or warbling is there as well

 

[dsutton24]

Pressing the G behind the nut doesn't rule out a miscut nut. If the slot is dead level, or tilted toward the 1st fret side it will sitar like crazy no matter how much break angle you have behind the nut.

 

[dsutton24]

oh...one thing....If I use a capo and play that string open, let´s say I put the capo on the 2nd fret...that ringing or warbling is there as well

Okay, that helps. It's a bad string or something happening at the saddle.

 

[kurtmanifest1]

it happened with every set of strings that I used, I must´ve change them 10 times this year

 

[dsutton24]

Okay, what about all the other things we've suggested?

 

[kurtmanifest1]

If I pluck the string really gently it doesn´t seem to appear, and it´s more noticiable on the bridge pickup, the more trebely the sound the more it shows, the things that you suggested I believe I tried them all

 

[dsutton24]

Okay, good luck then.

 

[Count]

TRy slipping a pice of paper between the string and the saddle then tune up and see if the sound is still there. If it has disapeared then there is something wrong with the saddle, slot too big, loose screws, spring vibrating etc. If it is still present then it might be a pickup problem but being a trebly sound and happening worse closer to the saddle that's where I'd look first.

 

[Blue Bill]

Yeah, I would bet it's the saddle. Check to see that both saddle height adjustment screws have about even pressure on them. If one screw is just barely touching the bridge, the whole saddle can buzz and vibrate. Also, try cleaning any possible spurs or burrs off the saddle, where it contacts the string, with super-fine emery cloth, 400 grit or higher.

You also might try messing around with the intonation screw tensioning spring. If it is off-kilter, it may be buzzing or somehow resonant.

 

[Mr. Lumbergh]

If it's still doing it when he has a capo on, how is the nut responsible? I'm genuinely curious.

 

[kurtmanifest1]

Thank you all for the responses, maybe it has to do with the tonal caracteristics of the guitar itself, in the two other teles that I own, MIM standard (vintage bridge) and american special, the sound of the open g string tends to decrease more abruptly, and maybe I am used to that since I played them more often than my AV52. I would have to hear another dsitorted g string on an AV52 to be sure, but thank you all

 

[Antigua Tele]

Try raising the saddle, and checking the straightness of the neck. The G string is the loosest of the unwound strings, and so it flops around the most, and it can be colliding with the fret board right after to pluck it, somewhere long the length to disrupt a node and cause the warble. If it collides near the lower frets, you get that usual sitar-like buzz, but if it impacts more towards the center, you get warble.

They say to fix stratitus you're supposed to lower the pickup, or that it's the pull of the magnet that's causing the warble, but every time I've had the problem I've discovered that the string was either too low to the fret board, or the string/saddle was misaligned, or both, causing the string to hit the fret board right after being plucked, causing a warble. I don't think I've ever actually observed magnetic attraction causing this, and I've got the pickups dang close to the strings.

 

[goonie]

The G string is the loosest of the unwound strings, and so it flops around the most.

This.

I've come to accept that little warble on the G string. All guitars with an unwound G do it, more or less. If it bugs you, consider a wound G, or a 0.020in unwound.