Randomly, Rapidly Rattling Resonator - Reason?

[Shibby S]

Hey guys I got my shiny new Fender resonator today and it sounds absolutely beautiful.

Unfortunately, however, the low E string seems to cause a slight rattle that the other strings do not. Is this acceptable/to be expected or should I start worrying?

Thanks in advance, any help would be appreciated.

Edit:
The rattle is most audible/noticeable when you play the E string openly and quite hard. It rings for roughly a second then starts a metallic, grating/rattling sound like metal vibrating against metal. The other strings do not do this to any extent.
It is also quite evident if one frets the E string at frets 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Fret 6 and onwards make it much less, if at all, obvious.

[Wade Hampton]

Shibby, first make sure you've got the right size and style of screwdrivers and wrenches needed for the various bits of hardware on the guitar. Then go around and firm up all the screws and nuts on there.

Reso instruments are prone to this problem, and the only way to be sure that nothing has worked its way loose is to go around and firm everything up, including the truss rod and the screws that hold on the truss rod cover, the screws that hold the tuners on the peghead and the screws that hold the buttons on the tuners. Make sure the nuts on the peghead side of the tuners are firmed down, as well.

Then if you've done all that and none of the screws holding the cone in place or the coverplate over the cone are loose, then start looking at the frets.

Basically, you've got about ten times as much hardware on resonator instrument as you have on a standard guitar, and any one piece can come loose enough to cause a buzz or rattle. Normal vibrations from travel is enough to loosen things up.

It might be worth having a luthier look at it to do a set up and all-around check, but it's something you're going to have to do on a semi-regular basis if you wind up taking the instrument out of your house a lot.

Just goes with the territory.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[kydave]

Button or Spider resonator?

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by kydave

Button or Spider resonator?

Button or spider? Did you mean biscuit bridge (National style) or spider (Dobro style?)

If not, a "button" style resonator is a new one on me.

In either case, the same principles about screws and hardware loosening during travel apply. Doesn't matter, vibration shakes 'em loose after a while.


whm

[Jimmie]

But first...Check to be sure it's not just the ball end of the E string rattling against the cover at the tailpiece -- a very common problem with resonator guitars.

[Shibby S]

Thanks very much guys!

Kydave, it's one of these:


Wade, thank you very much for the advice, if all else fails I'll take a screwdriver to it but if I can avoid that then so much the better.

Jimmie, I'll loosen the string and put it back in later, I guess it could be the ball end, but don't see any evidence (e.g. it doesn't move) to support that.

Anyway I'm going to ask at the music shop today since I'm visiting anyway to get a hard case and some other supplies.

[DaveG]

Make sure the tailpiece (where the ball end of the strings attach) is not vibrating against the cover plate. A lot of people put a small piece of felt under the end of the tailpiece to keep this from happening.

[MarkC]

Originally Posted by DaveG

Make sure the tailpiece (where the ball end of the strings attach) is not vibrating against the cover plate. A lot of people put a small piece of felt under the end of the tailpiece to keep this from happening.

I'll second Dave's suggestion of checking the tail piece. I recently bought a steel body resonator which was buzzing as you describe when I hit the strings hard.

A quick test for this problem would be to hit your E string and then press/pull gently on the tail piece in various places to see if you can make the buzzing go away.

My solution turned out to be removing a piece of felt that the manufacturer had put there. Go figure.

Good luck finding the source of the buzzing.

Mark

[MarkC]

I just realized that this is my first post on the AGF Well, actually this is my second post, but you know what I mean.

Mark

[Shibby S]

Turns out there's a bow in the neck, in an unfortunate direction. So the string is vibrating against the fret or something
Tried taking the string out and putting it back in, no change.

Can anyone fix that without making the action much higher? Or should I try and get a replacement?

[sdg]

Bite the bullet and bring the buzzing bugger back.

[MarkC]

Originally Posted by Shibby S

Turns out there's a bow in the neck, in an unfortunate direction. So the string is vibrating against the fret or something
Tried taking the string out and putting it back in, no change.

Can anyone fix that without making the action much higher? Or should I try and get a replacement?

If the problem is caused by a slightly bowed neck then a truss rod adjustment might be all that is needed.

Mark

[Shibby S]

Originally Posted by MarkC

If the problem is caused by a slightly bowed neck then a truss rod adjustment might be all that is needed.

Mark

The shop I asked at attempted this. The action was uncomfortably high and the grating/buzzing was the same.

We are going to send it back either for repair or replacement.

Thanks to everyone here for your time and advice.

[MarkC]

Originally Posted by Shibby S

The shop I asked at attempted this. The action was uncomfortably high and the grating/buzzing was the same.

We are going to send it back either for repair or replacement.

Thanks to everyone here for your time and advice.

Thats disappointing, having to send a new guitar back.

Hope you get it resolved as soon as possible.

Mark

[Shibby S]

Originally Posted by MarkC

Thats disappointing, having to send a new guitar back.

Hope you get it resolved as soon as possible.

Mark

Thanks for your sympathy Mark. I look forward to getting sorted out so I can get back to playing it. It's in its case in my warderobe right now