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Has anyone noticed that certain notes on your hollow body do not "sing" out as much as the other notes? When I write they do not sing, I mean the notes have less volume, less sustain, and sound "duller". It is very noticeable when I play chord melody using these notes.
I have observed this on a number of my guitars. It always happens on the high E string. It happens most frequently on the Bb note on the 6th fret. It happens less frequently on the G note/3rd fret and the C# note/9th fret. For these guitars, the notes played on the B string dominate the note on the E string.
A number of my guitars don't have this issue- all notes on the high E string sing out the same.
Because the Bb on the high E string almost always sounds "duller" than the other notes on the guitar, I'm wondering if this is a common occurrence related to the general design of the guitar.
In addition to this, I find that the notes on the B string from say frets 7 to 12 have a better quality (sing more) than those on the E string. So, for example, a B minor 7 played at the 7th position using the fingering X 9 9 7 10 X (or even X X 9 7 10 X ) sounds much better than the one in the 2nd position at X 2 4 2 3 5.
Has anyone observed this? Does anyone have a solution? I have tried changing strings, changing action, but neither has helped.
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The ability of the high E string to really sing is, in my mind, one of the hallmarks of a really great guitar. In my experience it is particularly relevant on Fender guitars, and even great vintage examples, i have had several vintage strats and telecasters with this issue. Some really sing and bloom on the first string, and others not so much.
But the same is true sometimes on Martin guitars and other Gibson electrics- and especially short scale Gibson acoustics, which often don't really "sing" on the first string. So I guess what I'm saying is that it's one of the things I look for first on any guitar. Along with the obvious things of sustain, balance and resonance of the guitar overall, playability etc.
Having said that, happily many guitars can be improved quite a bit with proper setup at the nut and bridge.
On arch tops, it seems to me to be a bit less of a regular problem, if the guitar is a good one, and it can be mitigated to some extent with a heavier E and B strings, this after a proper setup of course. Maybe a good leveling of frets is in order, not sure in your particular case, and not knowing which guitar of yours has this problem. You should check if it is something you notice when playing acoustically, or only when you play electrically, that might help you narrow down where the problem might lie.
What I do notice on most arch tops that I have owned is that there seems to be a resonant note on the body, and when you hit that resonant note you can feel the life go out of the string and lose sustain. You hit the note and feel the body quiver, and the note kind of dies. But that tends to be in the middle register (Bb on the 4th string in my case) and is just one note.
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The problem is commonly referred to as "dead spots". There's a widespread notion that a guitar "is what it is" and that dead spots can't be cured. That's false, but as a matter of fact; It's sometimes hard to find the culprit and you have to know where to look.
There are more than one possible root cause for this sustain problem, but it's always acoustic of nature; it's a resonance problem caused by sympathetic vibration, that cancels parts of the fundamental frequency that won't be recovered in the amplified signal. When you roll back guitar tone, the dead spot becomes even more evident, because now you add an electrical filter that attenuates even more of the note's harmonic frequencies.
The most obvious source of resonance in a guitar are the strings next to the string being plucked; when you play a note, other strings start to vibrate. This happens regardless of the guitar being a solid body or a hollow body. And there are multiple sources for this transfer of energy from one string to the others, most importantly the bridge, but there are also other parts in play, like the nut, the tailpiece, the top, the speaker and anything that vibrates...
90% of all dead spot issues are caused by a poor bridge setup and poor bridge saddle slots in particular. Intonation is of utmost concern.
-What kills the Bb note?
The A-note and the B-note that are a semi step apart; When you pluck any single note, the open A-string and the open B-string start to vibrate. When you play a Bb on the first string, those open strings steal energy from your Bb.
Cure: Pay attention to the high E saddle slot (and all the other slots too) and make sure that the guitar intonates (there's more to intonation than just sliding bridge saddles back and forth).
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I have noticed this happening on classical (acoustic) guitars as well. Several in fact.
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Could be a wolf note, a bad or less resonating note, due to guitar/instrument design or construction problems.
Last edited by StefanoGhirardo; 11-13-2023 at 06:54 AM.
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The first key is to determine whether you have a wolf-tone or whether it's a setup problem.
Tune the string down a whole step. Play your 6th fret (which is now Ab) and your 8th fret (which is now Bb).
If your 6th-fret Ab is fine and your 8th-fret Bb is still wonky you have a wolf-tone. Something about the instrument's resonance is blocking that note.
If your 6th-fret Ab is now wonky and your 8th-fret Bb is fine you have a setup issue. Maybe you have a high 7th fret, or the bridge isn't set up right, or something else.
The easiest response to wolf-tones is 'live with it or ditch it.' Last month I sold a pretty nice archtop because I didn't want to live with the wolf-tones (and I paid taxes). No regrets.
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I cannot comment till I know exactly what guitar this is happening on. If it is an archtop it is a different problem than a solidbody or really any electric ces guitar. What you described to me seems to be possible the whole set up. A Bmin7 chord at the 7th fret should sound good but a Bmin7th at the 2nd fret actually should potentially be more powerful from the bottom end for sure and not be as quick to respond. Both however should sound good. It is electric sound or plugged in?
Finally, as far as archtops are concerned you bring up an important point. One of the hallmarks of a very fine acoustic archtop is that it is even up and down the neck. Jazz players playing in many positions want the guitar to respond evenly in all registers. It is one of primary reason that studio players would use Dangelico's and their special L5 acoustics and the like to record was because they wanted this on the recording. Think of Johnny Smith and his sound or a fine chord melody sound like Martin Taylor.
So detail on which guitar this is. Seems might be pickups too..
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Wonky
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Sympathetic vibration of other strings is not involved. A real "wolf" tone is a narrow and strong resonance in the body or neck that is in between proper notes, and forces a string to try and vibrate at two frequencies. This is found in some violins and other bowed instruments.
Assuming the issue is not a low fret, causing the string to choke on the next fret, it is a resonance in body or neck. Those resonances suck energy from the string, but add interest and character. They will inherently shorten sustain.
Tap the neck or body and see if you can hear the Bb in the knock.
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Thanks to everyone for the helpful comments.
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