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Hey Guys

I am a my wits' end about this one: There is a rather loud rattle and brief rattle that seems to be coming from the bridge area on the G string only, when I pluck hard. It is much more pronounced than a buzz and sounds like something making brief contact. If I apply the smallest of pressure with my left hand on the saddle when I pluck, it goes away. When I let go, it comes back after 3 or 4 plucks on the string. It is only on the G string, and on most (but not every!) ever note I play on it.

I thought at first that the saddle was not seated properly, but it is. I then thought that a bar was loose or came unglued, but detailed inspection revealed nothing. I tried adding weight on different places with magnets, but then the rattle goes on one note but remain on others. It still does it when I use a capo on the first couple of frets, so I know it isn't coming from the nut end.

The bridge was glued on a couple of weeks ago (and having done that a least 40 times before, I am quite certain that it is glued on properly). It didn't do it when first strung but I removed the strings to do a bit of touch up on the finish, and now this thing has appeared. I tried changing the string and using a different kind, to no avail. I tried many combinations of saddle design, even using half a saddle and sanding a concave area on the contact surface so that only the ends of it would be seated (which would confirm an uneven saddle slot bottom), and still the rattle remains.

Any ideas?

Cheers

Pat

I had a truss rod rattle a couple years ago that had me convinced it was coming from the saddle. It would only do it when hitting the "g" and "b" strings at the same time. It didn't matter where I fretted them. I even changed bridges. I took it to my "mentors" house, who's in his 80's now. He immediately said it was the truss rod, and that I had assembled the neck with the humidity too high. I removed the FB made some changes and it was fixed. I doubt this is your problem, but I guess it could be.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Hi Woody

I should have mentionned that it's a classical: no truss rod involved...

Thanks

Pat

Wolf note perhaps. Does the troublesome note have short sustain and/or a louder volume?

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Hi Pat

I ruled out the wolf note as it happens not only on a specific note, but across the entire string. It is worst when I pluck directly over the soundhole, and fades as I either pluck farther up or down on the string. It is also more dominent when the string is plucked alone but almost disappears when many strings are played at the same time. Weird...

Thanks

Pat

I haven't got much experience but have heard mysterious rattles that turned out to be mechanical looseness in a tuning machine -

David

Hey David

Good one, and it is normally one the first things to check, which I did thoroughy. Not the culpit this time, unfortunately...

Cheers

Pat

I had something like this with the "Peace" guitar that I built some years ago. An annoying rattle that also had the sound of a loss of power coming from the saddle/bridge area and on two strings. That one turned out to be a saddle that was too flat on the top without a clean break. Reshaping the saddle top did the trick.

I also had a rattle like yours on my first and I would have sworn that it was coming from the bridge area. That one turned out to be the nut slots being filed improperly where the string did not break cleanly exactly at the face of the nut. It still amazes me to this day that a bad nut slot can make a rattle that seems to come from the bridge.....

I hope something here helps.

Majority of the times even though the sound seems to come off the bridge, the real problem is at the nut. Check the slots and back of the nut for string clearance.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Hey Hesh and Peter

Flat spots on the break point of the saddle and nut is also one of the first things I checked, having seen that problem a few times over the years. Just to make sure, I just checked again and that ain't it.

String clearance over the first fret is fine. Another area to check is the tuners: you can get rattles from loose screws and awkward wrapping of the strings. Not the problem either.

Cheers guys.

Pat

Hesh ... rattles and buzzes always seem to originate at the saddle .. its the main input into the 'amplifier' for an acoustic .....

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Could it be that the bridge hole at the g-string is not clean, and the string buzzes around there? (I'm just thinking out loud, don't know whether that can or can not have an influence at all...)

Christian

Maybe you have a guitar that dreams of being a sitar.

Hey Guys

After analysing the problem and trying out every possible options I could think of, I have to eliminate pretty much everything except a really bad case of wolf tone. I have had a few over the years but this one is the Mother of all wolf tones...

So, I will just spend some time finding the sensible spot and deal with it accordingly. I just got to go buy some new play-do as I haven't had to do this in a while and my old stock has gone dry. Toys R Us, here I come...

Thanks for your input my friends. It is much appreciated.

Pat

I know you said you tried the saddle break area, but it can be the smallest of small changes there to get rid of the noise you mention, you said it went away when you put your finger on the string at the saddle, boy it sure seems like it might very well be this area. I had one like that and I took a small piece of sandpaper and rounded the area a few strokes at a time and would check until it finally went away, bizarre sometimes I'll tell you that. By the way, I too "fixed" the saddle on this guitar and went looking for other potential problems only to come back to the saddle with the remedy mentioned before finally doing cartwheels when the rattle finally disappeared.....maybe worth a look-see again?

Greg

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Gwaltney Guitars

Hi Pat.

Have you tried changing the saddle? Sometimes you just get a bad bone.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

Hey Greg and Alain

I have cheched and rechecked the saddle 3 or 4 times. I also changed it to make sure there wasn't a crack inside the bone, but that was not it. Flat spots on the string break area normally leads to a small buzz, and rarely a rattle as in this case. Same thing with the nut. It is always the first thing to suspect when an unidentified buzz comes up, so I that was inspected thoroughly.

Cheers

Pat

Well, good luck with you wolf hunt then!

keep us informed!

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)