NGD Black Silhouette special making weird noise from pick guard

[guitarheadhunt]

I just received my 2nd musicman today. I love the guitar. My other is a JP12. When I pulled it out of the box I had to tune it. It was badly out of tune. No big deal. After tuning it and playing through my rig I immediately felt attached to its playability and sound.

When I played it with out amplification I notice a strange resonant sound. I quickly found it was coming from the pickguard. When I applied my pinky with a little heavier than normal pressure the noise stopped. I was wondering what would cause this. I also want to know from others if the trem should float or be against the body. Mine is firmly setting on the body. So no up pull. I was wondering if that could be causing the resonant pickguard.

The other thing I notice on this guitar was the very sharp feeling fret ends. My Jp frets are very smooth on the edges. Is there an easy fix for this.
Also when using the trem. The guitar goes out of tune but when I bend the strings it goes back in tune. I think there is something snagging the strings. I will probably try some nut sauce.

Other than these minor things the guitar is lovely.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

 

[lock-ny]

Hey man, congrats I have 3 silo specials, it very well could be the springs under the backplate, try putting some foam in there or something, it happened with mine as well....would love to see a pic?

 

[guitarheadhunt]

Thanks I will give that a shot. I did notice the pickguard bowed a little left side of the top single coil. I bought this as an open box item from musiciansfriend. They had it listed as level 1 mint (practically new) they had it for $1210.00 plus I had $100 dollars in loyalty points and another $150 in a credit. I got this for a steal. It might have been a returned item. Here is space between parts of the pickguard and body. I can push it down with my finger. I am wondering if someone popped the guard off and did not seat it right. I notice the guard touches the left side of the trem but there is an 1/8th inch gap on the ride side of the trim. I will post a pic as soon as I figure out how.

 

[guitarheadhunt]

 

[lock-ny]

It looks correct the pickguard, I actually bought the same guitar and changed the pickguard to abalone and put different pups in it, but it looked the same when I grabbed it....

 

[GWDavis28]

The other thing I notice on this guitar was the very sharp feeling fret ends. My Jp frets are very smooth on the edges. Is there an easy fix for this.

That' fret sprout, it's usually caused by temperature change. Happens when it goes from warm to cold, it should subside. You could either file them down, or take it to a tech and have them do it.

Nice guitar by the way, love the Silo Special!!!!

Hope this helps, Glenn |B)

 

[beej]

When the fretboard shrinks due to low humidity, the fret ends can stick out a bit. Best bet is to keep it in a well-humidified environment for a while and let the fretboard adjust- that should take care of the fret sprout. As Glenn says, you can always file them down if it's a big issue down the road.

In terms of the noise ... that's a weird one. If the pickguard is rubbing somewhere, could be that it's warped, etc. You can always take a file to the offending areas. Or get a new pickguard- not a big cost.

If you have an issue you can't sort out, give the MM customer service folks a ring (or email) and let them help you out.

 

[guitarheadhunt]

Thanks for the replies so far. Even though I just bought the guitar I am finding out that it's born on date was Sept. 13th 2012. I am thinking Musicians friend had this in their warehouse for a good while. I tried the tissue in the springs that did not work. I did remove the pick guard and the plastic film over the guard last night and simply reinstalled it. That seemed to do it. I did notice 2 of the screws are loose and won't tighten up. It is like someone over tighten the screws and now they won't tighten at all. I also notice that the guard is a bit warped. So I might purchase a new guard. The only issue I am dealing with now is the tuning. When I removed the strings to get the pick guard off I steel wooled the fretboard lightly and then applied some nut sauce to the nut and bridge. I notice that one of the locking tuners was a little loose on one string. When I use the whammy it still goes out of tune but I can usually bend the strings and it goes back in tune. I am starting to suspect the strings. They look new but who knows how long they've been on the guitar or if Musicians friend put some cheap strings on.

last night I was stretching the strings and the E and A string kept on stretching no matter how many times I stretched them. I will try new strings and see if that takes care of the tuning issue.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. As far as the frets go I will give it some time and see if the fret board expands any. It did look like the fretboard was a little dry. After I polished the board I added some guitar honey to the board. I live in the south so humidity is plentiful here.

 

[beej]

Wait a sec ... is this a new guitar, as in, you're the first to purchase it from the retailer who bought it from MM? If so you'll be covered by the warranty, in which case definitely call MM.

 

[GWDavis28]

Wait a sec ... is this a new guitar, as in, you're the first to purchase it from the retailer who bought it from MM? If so you'll be covered by the warranty, in which case definitely call MM.

Good call Beej, He's right name listen to him, if there is a problem, let the factory fix it, since it's open box, but new. I got a AL that had been floating around GC for like 6 year, I bought it, it needed help, shipped it back to EBMM and they took really great care of me.

Glenn |B)

 

[beej]

Ditto! Ages ago I bought a NOS Axis Sport that had been in a store forever. Needed work and MM took care of everything.

 

[guitarheadhunt]

If the new strings don't fix the tuning issue yeah I will call support. The pick guard I can live with. It is really not that noticeable. Musicians Friend did say it would still be under the warranty seeing how it is new but open box. I just wanted to use that as a last resort. I still can't believe I got this as cheap as I did. I love the guitar. I love my JP12 but feel it is limited in what I can do with it. The neck on the JP12 is great but I am not so sure about the crunch lab and liquifire pickups. They are not as versatile. with the ss I can go from a nice clean and classic rock crunch to a good solid hard rock sound.

I am thinking about swapping my JP12 pickups or just keep it as is for the more modern sounding stuff.

Thanks guys for all your help. I have been lurking the forum for many years now but never needed to post anything. So now I am a member and it is nice to see that there are some helpful individuals that frequent the forum.

 

[lock-ny]

I would leave the foam or whatever under the springs, it will stop the vibration, you will notice it when everything else is fixed as I had it on all my silos, but yeah as stated if its a lot of stuff send back to MM for a refresh, Ive done it as well...