Help! High E-String problem

[gurtejsingh]

Hey guys,

I have a black stealth JP6, and it's had this problem since the beginning (I bought it second hand), but of late I have started to notice it a bit more (it's one of those bad nagging habits of noticing fret buzz). Basically, on almost all the frets, my High E-string sounds like a sitar when played acoustic. There are no problems in sustain when I play through an amp, but it does affect my clean tone a bit. Does not sound like fret buzz, but more like a strange sitar type of sound if you know what I mean . It intensifies if plucked hard, and becomes minimal when played soft.

My fretboard is perfectly straight and in-fact I have tried the following things but no good: increasing the action from the saddles and the bridge (the problem obviously goes away if the action is too high), adding relief etc.

I do play with a considerably low action, but I do not have similar issues in other strings.

Just wanted to understand from the pro's here what possibly could be the problem? Uneven frets? Nut?

Thanks guys for the help!

Cheers.

 

[beej]

It's probably making intermittent contact with something. Could be a small burr on the saddle, the saddle not seated properly on the bridge, etc.

 

[Lou]

Check for loose screws on the tuners and bridge. I find a pencil eraser is good for checking. Apply pressure to the screw with the eraser and move around the guitar till you find the culprit.

 

[SikkiNixx]

I had this issue with a Sterling JP model... turned out that the break angle in the nut was a bit off, causing it to vibrate to the point of that 'sitar-ish' sound. My brother in law builds guitars so I had him straighten out the problem- a few seconds with a file and the problem was solved.

 

[DrKev]

OP says occurs on all frets so it's not the nut, which only affects the open strings. But you are correct that a problem nut slot will do a similar sounding thing.

 

[SikkiNixx]

Guess I should try reading between the lines, eh?

 

[gurtejsingh]

Thanks guys for the awesome support and pardon the tardy response. I've been away for a few days.

@Dr. Kev is right, its not the open string but every where else. Not all frets though, or maybe I don't notice it too much. Its surely more prominent on higher frets above 7 or so, but it is there on the 3rd fret as well.

@Lou: Thanks for the inputs buddy, however I could not understand your suggestion well, perhaps an illustration or a video you have, or maybe explain it in steps so that I can try it out?

@beej: Yes sir, I do know that its probably touching somewhere, but not able to understand where it could be. The saddle looks good and I've tried tightening the screws, so does not seem to be a problem there.

I look forward to try out Lou's suggestions once I have more clarity!

Will keep everyone posted

Thanks!

 

[DrKev]

Have you emailed Customer Service yet?

 

[gurtejsingh]

Have you emailed Customer Service yet?

I have spoken to them over a call some time back when I had another truss related problem (if you remember), but they said there cannot be much done without having a look at the actual guitar (which is absolutely fair IMO), but it's impossible for me as I am located in India and shipping this to the states is quite difficult to be honest.

Hope you understand.

 

[Lou]

Get yourself a pencil with an eraser intact on the end. Place the eraser onto a screw, apply some pressure, and pluck string with your other hand. If the buzzing/ringing stops you have found the area where the problem is. Keep moving the pencil to different screws on the guitar.