[krissovo]

my guitar sounds awful?

I cannot describe the sound to well but its like a cross between buzzing and a tinny sound. To narrow it down I think its the two bass strings but its strange becouse if I flatpick the strings they sound ok......not great but ok. I have tuned and re tuned but the sound is the same.

If I put a cappo on it improves so that might help with the diagnosis.

Please help!

Oh the guitar is only a cheap Stagg not sure of the model.

Thanks

[Bennett]

This could be due to a number of reasons:

• Different guage strings compared to previous
• Strings not tuned to the correct octave
• Reduced neck relief
• String height to low (action)

There may be some other potential reasons but they're the ones that come to mind.

To help you diagnose you might like to check this site out.

Good luck.

[mcollett]

Neat site Bennett.
Thanks,
Mike

[nocat]

I agree with Bennett, it sounds like u went with a lighter gauge... Not enough tension
to induce the correct bend in the neck, therefore the strings are rubbing on the frets..!!
If you want to keep the strings you have on now, you will have to have the guitar set-up
for them...!!!

Cheers...
Ben

[krissovo]

Cheers lads

Changed the strings and hey presto she plays again!

Next problem is a small portion of plastic nut has broke off.....oh well time to search the forum again

[allthumbs]

Go with a bone nut. Better quality.

[krissovo]

Sorry I have to drag this one up again....I dont know what I am doing wrong?

Ok this time I needed to change the strings on my Fender acustic, researched what strings I needed and tried to change them. Same thing happend as before, the two small strings are fine and have great tone the rest sound awfull. Its as if there is a tinny echo since I changed them, it was so bad I had to put the old ones back on and then it sounded fine again. Oh the stress of it all!!!!!!!!!

I must be doing something wrong, I really dont want to take it into a shop every time I change my strings.

The process I followed was to remove the 6th, replace it tune it up then 5 etc. This happened with two makes of string, Guvnor and D'Addario now on both my acustics so it must be me

[WernHalen]

Do you know what strings you have on the guitars at the moment? and not the make but rather the guage of the strings... for Acoustic guitars you would rarely go below 0.011 on the thinest string usually about 0.012. What I try to do is to keep to the same brand strings as well as the same string guage. This prevents the guitar form going out of its sweet spot. The string brand is not really crucial but the guage is... if you are not sure what guage your srings are try measuring with a caliper. Other wise choose a sting guage, get the guitar setup for the guage and then stick to that guage...

i usually keep an empty packet of strings in my guitar case for reference when i buy my next set of strings...

[krissovo]

The Guages I am using are 12/52 and the Fender so there is a very slight difference but I would not have thought it would have made that much difference. I cannot locate Fender strings in Cork, oh well back to the shop it goes and a bulk order of strings.

[WernHalen]

You could use those string guages (the make does not really matter, that was not the idea I was trying to get acros.) You just need to make sure your guitar is setup for the guage you are using. After you had the guitar setup you would keep to one string guage to make sure the guitar setup is still valid.

Oh and string guages can make a huge difference...

[arachnoid]

when i changed from the very dodgy strings my guitar came with to some nice light weight strings that the guy in my local shop rcommended i had the same problem.

I used the tutorial in one of the stickies at the top of this forum to set the relief on my guitar and it now works much better than when i bought it. I've changed the strings once since then, but stayed with the same type and it didn't need any change in setup.

HTH

Russ