Sitar buzz and rubber band

[zmf]

Have a guitar that was developing a nasty sitar-like buzz when hitting the open high E string. This guitar almost has a wolf note at that frequency -- i.e., loud -- which made it worse. Couldn't find an obvious cause. Tuner hardware tight, string high enough to rule out fret buzz. Overall action still a bit high after replacing the saddle.

Anyway, I put a strip of thick rubber band over the nut slot and it fixed the buzz that occurred after the initial attack. So I'm guessing maybe the nut slot cut isn't optimal.

But what surprised me is that the rubber band had no effect on the loudness or quality of the tone. So if you're considering swapping out nut material to change/improve the tone, it might not make much difference.

Anyone see a flaw in my logic? Suppose it could be that the rubber band between nut and string raised the string height slightly, and eliminated some fret buzz that I overlooked?

[stormin1155]

That sitar buzz/ringing with an open string is very likely something to do with the way the nut is cut. Often the channel is cut at too great an angle, there is something keeping the string from seating properly, or the slot is too wide or too narrow.

[Alan Carruth]

The sitar buzz is produuced by having the string roll on the top of a wide saddle that is slightly crowned. The string is a little shorter when it's down than when it's up, so the frequency varies as it vibrates. Evidently your nut slot was cut like that.

I would guess that the pressure of the string on the rubber band compressed it so much that it became essentially solid, and that's why it didn't hurt the tone to speak of.

[Wade Hampton]

Short term solutions like your rubber band are great for - are you ready for this? - the short term. But you'd be wise to have the nut replaced, or at least worked on.


whm

[rick-slo]

Sitar sound only on open string, not fretted string?

[Truckjohn]

When this happened to me - it is generally a sign the offending component needs a bit more break angle. In this case - the nut slot is probably too "flat" (aka coplanar with the fretboard) and needs to be angled down a bit more towards the headstock.

Easy to fix if you have a set of nut files... Otherwise take it to your friendly local guitar tech to sort out.

[zmf]

Thanks, folks. Appreciate the input. I'll take a file to it. And, yes, only the open string -- hence the rubber band to attempt to isolate the problem.