Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: thiro59 Jan 15 2012, 10:00 AM

Friends
I have a problem with my brandnew American Deluxe HSS Strat (manufactured in 2011).
She has a maple neck with a silky finish.
When I have to grip firmly e.g. When bending 1 1/2 steps the movement of the bending
And supporting fingers on the fretboard as well as my thumb on the edge / backside of the
neck produce crunchy wooden noises. Has nothing to do with frets or strings, the varnish
seems to block the friction between fingers and neck.
I already tried a product 'fast fret' but it didnt help too much...

Does anybody know about this?
Is it because the guitar is brandnew and the noise will dissappear by time?
Or does anybody know some remedies to get the finish of the neck more slippy?

Thanks Roland

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jan 15 2012, 01:28 PM

Is it like a short clicking/popping noise, repeated once, two or three times when bending?

I think the problem might be in the string tree, where the friction between the string three and string occurs once you bend. It's a common thing on these guitars, and won't affect your tone or wood or anything. Put your ear close to the string tree, to locate the noise.



One solution is to buy another string tree, but possibly better solution is to smooth out the lower surface of the tree (the one that makes contact with the string). I did this on my strat, and it solves the problem for couple of months (then it's the same procedure again, because the friction makes small indents that grow larger in time on that side of the string tree)

Posted by: thiro59 Jan 15 2012, 02:57 PM

Thanks for replying Ivan but this is not the problem. There is no string tree on this LSR roller nut head.
The noise comes from the tips of my fingers / back of my thumb when rubbing over the surface of the
Neck surface.
When I apply this Fast Fret (contains white spirit) lubricant it dissapears for a while but comes back soon.

Maybe do I grip too hard and apply too much pressure??

Anyway I do not have this effect at all on my 40 years old japanese LP with uncoated rosewood fretboard
and higloss lacquered neck backside...

Roland

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jan 15 2012, 03:31 PM

Hmm, that feels odd I'm not sure exactly what type of noise is that, is the wood making that noise itself, or your thumb that is moving across it?

Posted by: JaxN4 Jan 15 2012, 03:48 PM

hmmm really not sure, it's very hard to tell without a demo or hearing it. But if it is brand new and their is a problem.... take it back, or get a tech to look at it

Posted by: thiro59 Jan 15 2012, 04:02 PM

QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Jan 15 2012, 03:31 PM)

Hmm, that feels odd I'm not sure exactly what type of noise is that, is the wood making that noise itself, or your thumb that is moving across it?

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jan 15 2012, 04:10 PM

If you find a way to record such a noise so we can hear it, it would be very good. Otherwise it's difficult for me to know exactly what it is. I get some noise from moving the thumb, but that doesn't sound like crunchy wooden noises. Perhaps it would be indeed best to take it to luthier.

Posted by: thiro59 Jan 15 2012, 04:39 PM

QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Jan 15 2012, 04:10 PM)

 Noise.m4a ( 43.84K ) : 49

Posted by: JaxN4 Jan 15 2012, 04:42 PM

Dude sounds your in a rocking chair!

So, this noise is you thumb on the back of the neck, just pivoting around?

Posted by: thiro59 Jan 15 2012, 04:45 PM

QUOTE (JaxN4 @ Jan 15 2012, 04:42 PM)