Hummingbird

[jgomes21]

Hi guys!

My name is Juan Gomes and I'm from Madeira-Portugal.

I just bought a Gibson Hummingbird and because I liked the Ernie Ball Slinky Acoustic Medium Light .011-.052 strings (i used in a Takamine EG10C) I replaced the originals. The problem is that the "e" and "d" string is "buzzing". At first I thought it was because of the gauge, so i change for .012-.054, but it was the same. Can anyone tell what's the problem? Should I try medium gauge , like .013 - .056?

Cheers,

Juan

[Taylor Player]

Hi Juan and welcome to the Gibson Forum. Great group of guitar lovers here and I am sure someone can help you more than me but I would suggest all you likely need is a truss rod adjustment due to the changing of strings. When I adjust a truss, I never go more than 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn and then it is important to give the guitar a day or so to adjust to the new tension.

 

Another thing I know about new Gibson acoustics is they often need some additional work done on the nut to make playing and fretting the first position chords nicely. Since the guitar is new, can you take it to the shop where you got it and have a tech take a look at the truss rod tension and the nut slots?

 

Hopefully KSDaddy or one of the competent techy people can come in and give you further advice soon.

 

Congratulations on a great new guitar. H-birds are lovely, especially once you have the action adjusted and the truss correct.

[MisterGibs]

Hi Juan,

 

Congratulations for the H-bird!

lately I catch myself dreaming about having a H-bird at home...

A black one!

G A S is what we call that desire here in that forum.

(Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

 

Please - post some pictures of your new Gibson guitar - usually we do it here.

 

Why don't you put some 12-54 strings?

[rar]

...Should I try medium gauge ' date=' like .013 - .056?[/quote']

 

Buzz diagnosis can a tricky business -- see Frank Ford's Big Buzz List page for a list of possible causes.

 

While a new Hummingbird ships with light (.012-.053) gauge strings, your guitar may have been set up for medium gauge strings. Anyway, your buzzing may be caused by insufficient neck relief -- either due to the string change or the neck deciding to straighten out a little for some other reason -- so measuring that and adjusting the truss rod, if required, is the first step. (See Frets.com or some other source on the Web if you don't know how to do this.) If heavier gauge strings will fix the problem, so will a truss rod adjustment (assuming it's not completely loosened already).

 

The next thing to check is whether the top has flattened out some due to low humidity. Just lay a straightedge across the top just below the bridge and make sure that there's around a 0.1" gap between the straightedge and the top on both sides. A little more is fine, less is not good. If the top is too flat, you need to humidify the guitar ASAP: long term low humidity can cause serious structural damage. (It can take weeks, even months, for a dried-out guitar to be adequately rehumidified, so be patient.)

 

Once you've confirmed that the geometry of the guitar is okay, you can start to check the other causes of buzzing.

 

Good luck!

 

-- Bob

 

P.S. Oops! I omitted my standard Truss Rod Adjustment Lecture: Just because a buzz can be eliminated by adjusting the truss rod doesn't mean that the truss rod should be adjusted. Adjust the truss rod to get the neck relief right. If the buzz is caused by something other than inadequate neck relief -- sunken top, low saddle, uneven frets, whatever -- you should fix the actual problem rather than masking it with a truss rod adjustment.

[BigKahune]

Welcome.

 

And congrats on your new Hummingbird. :)

 

Going from regular strings to slinky is a drop in tension, which might be less than the original strings, even with an increase in the gauge of the slinkies. You seem to be new to neck/action adjustments, so I recommend you have a shop/luthier evaluate the situation and set it up with the strings you're going to be using.

[jgomes21]

Thanks for all your answers!

It's true that i'm new to neck/action adjustments. The problem is that where I live we only have one instrument store and i bouht my Hummingbir on internet. Wneh you say "from regular strings to slinky is a drop in tension" sorry but what you mean? What's the difference?

Cheers,

Juan

[meanstreak]

Thanks for all your answers!

It's true that i'm new to neck/action adjustments. The problem is that where I live we only have one instrument store and i bouht my Hummingbir on internet. Wneh you say "from regular strings to slinky is a drop in tension" sorry but what you mean? What's the difference?

Cheers' date='

Juan[/quote']

 

 

Tension means how hard the strings pull on the headstock. They are very strong and can make the neck bend forward in some cases, but weaker strings can relax the tension and make the neck bend back slightly, all depending on the truss rod (a steel bar running through the neck) adjustment. The Slinky strings do not pull on the headstock as much as regular strings do meaning they could be flopping around a tiny bit, causing the buzzing sound.

 

If I were you, I'd take your guitar to a good luthier, or guitar technician, and get what is called a set-up. It will play and sound as good as a million Euros! Being that you are on the island of Madeira I know you won't go to the mainland that often, but maybe this girl could help. She is named Ana Free on Youtube and is from Portugal, I bet if you sent her a message on youtube she or someone she knows could tell you where to go, or at least be able to better explain what we are talking about in Portugese for you!

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/anafree

[jgomes21]

Thank you very much for your answer!

Cheers,

Juan

[zombywoof]

First, hello.

 

Not sure if this will help but sometimes going to a heavier guage round wound works. Strings wound on a round core as opposed to the more typical hex core exert less tension on the neck allwoing you to use a heavier gauage with no worries.