P90s Posted June 4, 2012 Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hello everyone, There is something that is nagging me while playing my guitar - a Gibson Les Paul Standard, 60s tribute with P90s. It is a problem hard to describe and explain so I am going to do my best... The problem is a weird vibration / oscillation / wah sound, that occurs after I pick on the 1st, 2nd or 3rd strings, and mainly on frets 7 through 12. The weird vibration sound kinda lingers after picking. It happens the most when I use high gain. This weird sound is not noticeable with a clean sound...at least not to my ears! I did two recordings to show you the problem..If possible, please take a minute to listen the recordings at: 1. http://soundcloud.com/arturo-pellecer-comparini/vibration-problem-w-gain (In this clip I play strings 1st - 3rd starting from the 7th fret till the 12th) 2. (In this I play (badly!!) a little Santana and I'm sure you'll notice the vibration) Do you know what I mean!? Thanks and please let me know what your thoughts are. Is it my guitar, my amp (Fender Mustang I) ... is it me!! What to do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Hi, One of the first thoughts that came to my mind is do you have a ceiling fan running at the time? That will definitely cause some of the sounds to oscillate similar to that, but on this example, that wouldn't add up entirely because the oscillation would be consistent. On your examples it seems change how it's pulsating. of course I say this having no clue how you recorded these samples... Another suggestion check the distance of your strings to your pickups. If the pickups are too close to the strings, the magnets will be pulling on your strings and impacting the way they are vibrating and depending on the strength of the magnet, will pull the strings out of tune, (given your samples, sort of makes more sense to me as the notes do change in how it oscillates based on the pitch) Good luck P90. /KB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P90s Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 Hi, One of the first thoughts that came to my mind is do you have a ceiling fan running at the time? That will definitely cause some of the sounds to oscillate similar to that, but on this example, that wouldn't add up entirely because the oscillation would be consistent. On your examples it seems change how it's pulsating. of course I say this having no clue how you recorded these samples... Another suggestion check the distance of your strings to your pickups. If the pickups are too close to the strings, the magnets will be pulling on your strings and impacting the way they are vibrating and depending on the strength of the magnet, will pull the strings out of tune, (given your samples, sort of makes more sense to me as the notes do change in how it oscillates based on the pitch) Good luck P90. /KB Hi KB, thanks for the comment. Definitely no ceiling fan in this room...nor in the house! So, that's out. I did tried lowering the neck pick up but still no success on getting rid of this weird vibration, I'll try lowering them a bit more and see what happens. I heard/read that P-90 pickups have really strong output. I still have to see if I can go to someone with a different amp and see if it sounds the same. Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 6, 2012 Share Posted June 6, 2012 Hi KB, thanks for the comment. Definitely no ceiling fan in this room...nor in the house! So, that's out. I did tried lowering the neck pick up but still no success on getting rid of this weird vibration, I'll try lowering them a bit more and see what happens. I heard/read that P-90 pickups have really strong output. I still have to see if I can go to someone with a different amp and see if it sounds the same. Thanks, About the fan, why I mentioned. some years back I was invited to a jam at a co-workers house, While I was were there, he mentioned he weird problem with a new Deville, same kind of thing you are hearing "I'm stumped, the store got Fender to replaced the speakers, but wasn't problem, the amp must be screwed up" He was waiting for a RA from the store to send the amp back to Fender. So he turns it on and starts playing and asks "So, do you hear that funky oscillating sound?" which I did, I reached up, shut his ceiling fan off, (which was right over the area where his amp was) "ok try now"... Mysterious oscillation cured, nothing wrong with the amp. So, naturally, this came to mind. The P90s will definitely have enough pull if they are close enough to interfere with the string vibrations, but if you lowered them and there was no change, not sure that's it either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P90s Posted June 6, 2012 Author Share Posted June 6, 2012 About the fan, why I mentioned. some years back I was invited to a jam at a co-workers house, While I was were there, he mentioned he weird problem with a new Deville, same kind of thing you are hearing "I'm stumped, the store got Fender to replaced the speakers, but wasn't problem, the amp must be screwed up" He was waiting for a RA from the store to send the amp back to Fender. So he turns it on and starts playing and asks "So, do you hear that funky oscillating sound?" which I did, I reached up, shut his ceiling fan off, (which was right over the area where his amp was) "ok try now"... Mysterious oscillation cured, nothing wrong with the amp. So, naturally, this came to mind. The P90s will definitely have enough pull if they are close enough to interfere with the string vibrations, but if you lowered them and there was no change, not sure that's it either. Well, I'll keep investigating. Someone (in another site) mentioned a refret job! that kinda scared the guts out of me!! So, if any other idea come to your mind, let me know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvar Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Are you using a tube amp? If so, I'd suspect a tube that is microphonic, or weak, or, has a sympathetic resonance at certain frequencies. If your amp is SS, then I have no idea. I've noticed some sort of strange harmonics from both my LP Trad+, and my 60's Tribute. Sorta' like ghost notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 marvar brings in a good question, I had thought of that too, but never posted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P90s Posted June 10, 2012 Author Share Posted June 10, 2012 Are you using a tube amp? If so, I'd suspect a tube that is microphonic, or weak, or, has a sympathetic resonance at certain frequencies. If your amp is SS, then I have no idea. I've noticed some sort of strange harmonics from both my LP Trad+, and my 60's Tribute. Sorta' like ghost notes. No tube amp for me. It is a 20w Fender Mustang I, for practice at home. But definitely...I have to try my guitar on a different amp and see the results. Someone else told me to try changing strings also, which I haven't yet. It still carries the ones from the factory... I received my guitar just two months ago. Thanks for all your inputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P90s Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Hi all.. I digged a bit more to see if I could find more information about this weird vibration/oscilation sound on my 60s tribute LP. The following is something I found in a "not Gibson" forum: "Stratitis is simultaneous multiple discordant frequency syndrome. To state it non-technically, the sole function of a magnet in a guitar pickup is to magnetize the strings -- any more magnetism than that is unnecessary and detrimental. The excessive magnetism causes different sections of the string to vibrate at different rates producing multiple dissonant frequencies from the same string. The effect becomes even more unpleasant when the string is out of tune. Excessive magnetism is the reason you can't set a typical Fender-style single-coil pickup (Hence Strat-itis) very close to the strings if you want to avoid "Stratitis" and loss of natural sustain. (Buzz and rattles are also caused by excessive magnetism pulling the strings into the frets.) When the magnet is also the core material of the pickup's coil, as in a Fender-style single-coil pickup, the magnetic properties and the core's effect on inductance and Q make the situation even more difficult. It's better to use separate magnetic and core materials so each can be selected precisely for the necessary characteristics." So, from what I read from you guys in this thread and in other links, I definetely think that I have to keep lowering the pickups -probably to pickguard level- and then maybe raise the action just a bit. ....Or, I'll just take it to the luthier!!!! lol Have a good guitar-weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Strat-itis is a 'benign' B-I-T-C-H .....Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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