My Hardware Vibrates

[lewijo]

K so i got a new acoustic guitar on MF and when i hit any individual string hard (i cant hear it when i strum) i'll hear the hardware from my tuning mechanism at the top of my neck vibrate. so it will kind of sound like a vibrating "sshh"... i dunno if i dunno if i should try and send it back or what.

[TommyK]

Since you didn't buy this at a brick and mortar store, you'll have to track down the rattle yourself. If you can't track it down, either live with it or send it back.

 

I can make my truss rod rattle by holding the guitar by the neck and knocking on the back of side of the neck with my other hand. I can definitely feel the vibration coming from inside the neck with the hand holding the neck. Since this is not my normal mode of playing and... it doesn't rattle when I play, so it's a non-issue.

 

If you can 'make' it rattle, but if it doesn't rattle when you play normally, it's probably a non-issue. Only you can decide.

 

Vibrations have a tendency to sound like they're coming from an area they aren't emenating from, kind of like a ventrolquist who throws his voice. It could be the truss rod rattling in it's groove, the end of which is under the truss rod cover at the headstock. The noise could travel to the headstock area.

 

Are the tuner gears enclosed? If not, check the screws holding the gears on the spindles for tightness. Make sure the tuner frames are screwed tightly to the head stock. Make sure the truss rod cover is tight.

 

If the tuner gears are enclosed, make sure the enclosure is tight. Some are really chinzily crimped together and could be loose.

 

My Epi has bridge bolts under two black plastic lugs on the bridge. The nuts and washers are accessed from the inside. I spent most of a year trying to track this one down. It would rattle sometimes when I played.. but where was it coming from? I could make it rattle by knocking on the sound board. But, still where was it coming from? After a year of the washer rattleing above the nut like a tiny high-hat cymbal, the nut had worked its way off the end of the bolt dropping, along with the washer to the bottom of the guitar. That's the first I knew there was a nut inside. Fix? white glue on the threads of bolt, reinstall the washer and nut. Thread it up just a smidge over finger tight. The dried glue has held the thread in place for 30 years. No more rattles (buzzes or sszzz's) You'll have to remove the strings for this fix. But it's all good.. NEW STRINGS WOO HOO!

 

Make sure when you tune a string you are always tuning UP. If you tune it too high, take it back down past the required pitch and bring it back up. Tuning DOWN to pitch can lead to some slack in the gear train, causing a spur gear to not be tight against its worm gear. Either gear could then be free to vibrate, not to mention your string will go flat when this slack is finally taken up by the string making up the slack in the gear train.

[allslots99]

If the tuner gears are enclosed, make sure the enclosure is tight. Some are really chinzily crimped together and could be loose.

[stone1281734000]

I had a similar vibration once on my USA Sheraton. In my instance it turned out to be nothing more than a loose washer under the nut on the tuning post.