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I just finished my second guitar and the guitar sounds great except the low e string. It sounds ok open and for the first 3 or 4 frets but by the time it gets to the 5th it doesn't sound good and at the 12th fret there is no sustain at all and it sounds terrible even thought it is in tune. Any ideas on what the problem could be? Th whole guitar is made of australian blackwood.

Check your setup. Since it's an outside string that's giving you trouble, look for a loose fret end. Glue it or them down and revisit you're leveling along that string path. After that, look at your saddle height and then relief.

Steve

Poor sound and sustain 5th fret and above on the low E doesn't really sound like a loose fret end.
Change the string yet?
Check the saddle is seating well at the bass side?
No mention of buzzing either, so sounds like it could be the response of the guitar rather than a fret problem.
A hardwood top can be tricky to get to work well everywhere on the fretboard.
Could just be very tight.
Or very new? Have you thrashed it, sorry, played it in for a time yet?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

If there is no buzzing -- start experimenting with different strings, most likely a heavier gauge higher tension. Seems the current string does not have the power to efficiently move the hardwood sound board.

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

I think Colin has it with this.....................!\
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I think it's just the hard top also.. There is no fret issues and I checked the saddle. It is only 2 days old so very new and I have only played it about an hr total. And now I noticed the A string does the same thing. I'll try some heavier strings. I use elixirs what size should I try? If the top is built a little tight is there any way to get it looser to sound better?

"It is only 2 days old "

You might want to wait 2 weeks before you do anything. It can be surprising how much the sound can change over that short amount of time.

I'm with Clay play it in. How's your intonation? Have you put your tuner on the guitar and checked it's tune at the various positions. The tuner will tell you how much it's off if any. Just a thought. Good luck


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Your action may be too low. can you measure your string action over the frets. Feeler gages are good for this.

Thanks

My action is 2.25mm above the fret at the 14th fret low e and 2mm on the high e, at the 1st fret I've got every string about as low as I can without touching.

And how high are the strings above the soundboard at the saddle?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Strings are 11mm from the soundboard at the saddle

As an experiment - stuff a 1mm shim under the saddle and see what happens...

Soundbox might be tuned high. Test for the main air resonance.

I agree - look for loose frets. Nothing kills response quicker or deader than loose frets. Check very carefully to see if frets are loose under that low E string. You may want to ensure tightness by running some cyanoacrylate under them to glue them down even if they don't seem particularly loose visually.

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Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

It's acually starting to sound really good now I can't believe how much it has changed in just a few days. The a string still could be better around the 7th fret but maybe that will change too. Overall it's a pretty good sounding guitar. Sounds better than my Taylor the first day I played it I kinda thought I built a terrible sounding guitar. I have been on here a lot asking all of you questions threw out this build. Thanks everyone for helping me out!

"Tight" meaning over braced? Want to make sure I understand the references.

Thnx!