Jangly high E string
 

Greetings! The high E string on my OM 21 has a jangly quality to it, it's not a pure tone, but oscilates unevenly, with what sounds like jagged harmonics. It has this quality both open and fretted. I'm using a (D'Addario) .014 because I like it as pure and fat as possible. The other strings ring true. I guess it's the saddle. Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Mike.

Could be the fatter winding is catching in the pin slot/bridge ramp, not allowing the ball to firmly set on the bridge plate.

One question: Is this the first .014 that you've used on your OM, or have you used them before?

It might just possible you string might have a slight kink in it. So, for starters, try a new .014 string, making sure (like the previous poster recommended) that the ball end is seating against the bridge plate. If you still hear it then check the saddle to see if you need to create a sharper break on the top of it.

Using a new .014 string and securing the ball end against the bridge plate definitely helped, though it still has somewhat of a jangly, uneven character. I hoped that playing the new string shimmer off it would help, but this hasn't cleared it up.

Could be the higher tension of the strings causing the neck to have excessive relief and it's slapping against the high frets? Or maybe, the original string cut a slight groove on the saddle, and there's a tiny air gap where the thicker string sits on that groove? May not be seated right at the nut?


Fat string does not always equal fat tone.

Having recently gone through this, I can tell you its most likely the nut.

Can be fixed in about 5 minutes with the right size nut file. Sounds like its an 'overtone' (your oscillating example is correct) created by the string being seated in the nut at an incorrect angle. Pretty common problem.

Great call, much better! Instead of a file I used 600 grit sandpaper under the string where it sits on the nut, pulled it back and forth a few times, and the string does seem to sit better. Thanks!

You're right, the tech could see that the bottom of the nut slot was uneven, the string wasn't resting fully on the forward edge. He filed it, no charge, problem solved!

I'm glad your problem is fixed, but I don't know how a nut slot would cause problems on fretted notes as you described. I'm guessing he seated it better on the saddle while moving it aside to file the nut slot.

You're right, my original post did say open and fretted, the problem was really primarily the open string.

Oh, thanks for clearing that up for me - the solution makes total sense!
Mike