My intro and a gripe.

[Aaronp]

Hello all. I'm Aaron and I live in Maryland. 

I bought an Sg standard '61 this past January and it's a beautiful guitar. It couldn't be prettier. But, I've had a problem since I bought it with a pinching or deadening of the G,B and E strings. I bought it from AMS which I don't think has anything to do with it.

Anyway, my first attempt to deal with this is to get a Gibson virtual tech to try and give me some help. He thought perhaps it was neck relief related so under his guidance we tried some adjustments to no avail.

Feeling dejected , back in the case it went. The way I felt it was just gonna become a case queen.

So a week or so ago I wanted to try playing it and of course the deadening or pinching was still there. So feeling dejected again, back in the case it went until I had the time and money to bring it to my usual tech. He's a Fender trained warranty and service tech and has taken care of my guitars for a few years now. I've brought all of my guitars to him, fenders, gibsons, epiphones and all of my other guitars. Don't want to bore you too much.

Anyway after his inspection he first noticed that the fretboard was dry as a bone and there was some fret bloom. After his work, oiling, adjusting the neck relief, strings, action,intonation etc. He said it was done.

Well after I got it back the problem was still there though not as bad as it was. I thought he was hard of hearing and perhaps he had lost feeling in his hands. The man is well known and has been playing since the 60s. He tuned it with a scope and I don't think he payed attention to what he was doing. Or he couldn't fix it and said nothing. I got back in touch with him and he said he did what he could.

I was under the impression that these guitars were Plek'd from the factory? 

I don't know which way to go now. It's too late to return or exchange it.

Does anyone have any ideas? Does Gibson monitor this forum?

Are there any known problems with these that anyone knows? 

I can live with some of the string deadening but I'd like to get some sustain and better string sound. This happens all the way up the neck from the open strings. It makes me think its maybe the nut but I don't want to just start blindly throwing parts at a 2K guitar that should have been right.

Help me please

Dejected in Maryland 

 

[Aaronp]

I must apologize for my previous rant. I couldn't see the forest through the trees my head has been spinning over this guitar. For a while there I had let it go. But whatever draw it was that got me going I had to start all over. That's what brought me to take it to my tech

Now, he's getting a little old, older than me and I'm 64 so he's starting to forget some things. For instance I brought him a strat 2 weeks ago to hook up a microswitch to connect my neck pickup to a gibson 490t humbucker that I put in the bridge. Well he forget to put in all the screws on the the scratch plate, leaving 2 of them halfway in.

So, I also posted my problem on the everythingsg.com forum last night and this evening I had a couple replies. Two of which were to detune the 3 strings and raise the bridge 1/2 a turn and retune. Well to my surprise the deadening of the strings wasn't as bad. So I repeated the procedure and it was gone. WhooHoo! After all this time and the thought and headaches.....something that simple. 

So I just want to apologize again because after returning I proceeded to rock out for the next 90 minutes and ya know, that beautiful SG was everything I thought it would be and more.

Thanks for letting me vent and hopefully I haven't bored you too much.

If you're ever on the fence about spending the money on a Gibson go ahead and pull the trigger because they won't let you down.

Thanks again

Aaron

 

[kidblast]

Hey Aaron,   Welcome to the Forum.

These setup things can be frustrating,  we get it.  it really is a series of trial and error.

Glad it seems to be sorted.

But moving forward from here, a few things to take note..

If you are hearing a choked sound, or something like what a "sitar" would sound like, - aka: a metalic ringing/buzz sound when open strings are hit, that is a clear sign that those slots are cut a bit too deep for those strings, and the string is vibrating against the first fret.

If the notes choke out when you play fretted nots on the first few frets, that's a clear sign of back bow.  A 1/4 to a 1/2 turn  to loosen the truss rod will often times help. you usually don't need to do more than 3/4 of a turn on a truss rod,  to make a big difference.  but the process is small increments, (1/4 turns) and recheck as you go.

if notes are choking out in random places along the neck especially with bends, that's usually a sign of a high fret.

Good luck with the SG, those 61s are nice.

Edited August 8, 2022 by kidblast

[Aaronp]

Thanks kidblast I really appreciate the welcome and the tips. I've always taken my guitars to someone who knows more than I do. I think that's why this adventure really blew me away.

I guess it's time after 40+ years to take a few courses and learn more about what I've spent so much time with.

👍👍

[kidblast]

On 8/9/2022 at 8:31 PM, Aaronp said:

Thanks kidblast I really appreciate the welcome and the tips. I've always taken my guitars to someone who knows more than I do. I think that's why this adventure really blew me away.

I guess it's time after 40+ years to take a few courses and learn more about what I've spent so much time with.

👍👍

if you have a good, trusted tech who makes himself available without a 3/4 week turn around,  keep him on the Christmas card list..   he's GOLD.

but yea,, there is no substitute for being able to handle the 85% of matters yourself.  

[NighthawkChris]

@Aaronp

Another big item to look at is the break angles at the bridge and nut.  If you can move the tailpiece down to increase this break as they say, it should help with this sort of thing.  Also, make sure that near the nut, you have maximized this too - which I have also found to be a factor in this - where the strings are wound on the tuning machine to go lower as you add tension.  I lower the tailpiece as low as it will go until the strings start hitting the bridge.  Some players don't care if the strings touch the back of the bridge...  I do, and I don't have strings touching the back of my bridges on my LPs.  But if the string does touch the back of the bridge, that is the most (best) angle you can get anyhow.  Truss rods get rid of buzzes just like raising/lowering the action.  It won't get rid of that sitar sounding stuff like @kidblast mentioned or the deadened sounding notes.  There's a reason that those tailpieces are adjustable... 

[Pinch]

It's New Gibson Syndrome. It turns the most rock solid of us into paranoid wrecks. 

Well, not Steve, he just buys a couple spares. 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Pinch