String rattling – guitar maintenence advice needed

[Tim W]

Hey guys,

Am having an issue with my Les Paul was wondering if anyone more experienced could maybe help me sleuth out whats going wrong with it. Basically I get a soft metallic rattling sound from the G string when fretting notes high up (say in the 9th to 15th fret region). Its kind of hard to tell exactly where the noise is coming from but i think the bridge end.

I was wondering what might cause this and how it might be fixed?

Cheers 🙂

[JJ Roeds]

How old of Paul is it? and is your action where you like it?
J-J

Montana, USA

[JohnStrat]

Hi Tim,
It is quite likely that it is the next fret up or so in contact with a vibrating string. I think old strings can cause this a bit but carefully fret the string and see if when you pick it it could be vibrating and making contact with a higher fret. If it is it could be you need a set up. A competent luthier would sort it for you if you are wary of having a go. look at the fret position closely where this is happening and see if the fret itself is worn or more problematic but less likely is the neck may have moved slightly with the changing atmosphere of winter. Frets can be dressed but they can also become worn out. That should give you an outline what to look for I would have though it unlikely to be the bridge and just a very small tweek of set up may well remove it or even just a change of strings. Thin Strings are more prone to rattle so maybe try a gauge up. I’m no expert but have been around guitars a while and I think that is a reasonable but amateur appraisal. So points to think about how old are the strings in question and have they been worked hard? Are they a very light gauge? Is there any warping of the neck or fret board? By pressing a string down at each end simultaneously you will be able to get an idea of fretboard flatness and angle and by viewing or sighting along its length. A very small bridge string height adjustment might well cure the problem.
There is a new member who has done a Luthier Course so he may chip in.
New Strings is the possible first port of call.
All the best JohnStrat

[Tim W]

Cheers John, some really good ideas there. I’ll have to test some out when i get home from work and check if its hitting a higher frett. I’d take it that if this was happening i’d need to raise the action on that string slightly? not totally sure how i can do that without a pro setup. I guess if i mess with the bridge that might throw off the intonation – not sure how easy it is to muddle through for a muppet like myself.

The guitar’s only a 2018 model (bought second hand) but i’ve never changed the strings and it’s probable the prior owner hadn’t either. Though i did restring the problematic one (i.e. took the string out and put same one back in to see if that would fix it)

[sunjamr]

Johnstrat speaks the truth. The rattle is almost certainly the string lightly hitting the next fret up, because the strings are too close to the neck so that the angle of the string from where your finger pushes it down going up to the bridge is not sufficient to properly clear the next fret up. Unplug your cable and listed as you pick the string, and you will hear it. It usually only happens on one of the first 3 strings, since they are the lightest gauge. I have the same problem which has developed over the past couple of months on one of my guitars, and I am just getting ready to tighten the truss rod about 1/4 turn, which I expect will solve the problem. It solved the problem when it happened once before, and it was about 4 years before it happened again.

Sunjamr Steve

[JJ Roeds]

You can try changing out the strings but I sure wouldn’t go any heavier then 10-46s on a Paul. As BB King would say “Why do you want to work that hard” I run 10s on all 3 of my Pauls and been thinking of going 9s but I don’t bang on them either. It depends on whether you are a tinkerer or not. I have radius gauges, radi blocks for doing the entire fret board, diamond crown gauges, several different straight edges ect ect. I do not work on other peoples guitars but I will make them do it and coach them through it. It is a step by step process to get it right. A 2018 LP whether it is an EPI or a Gibson “should” have been set up at the last inspection station in the factory, HOWEVER, environments from where they were setup to where they now live can , not always but can play a role. If you do not want to tinker with it yourself and go through each step in sequence no big deal very few guitar players really know how to set up their instruments its not a sin. Take it to a quality luthier with a good reputation, ask around, and have them do it. It will really be worth it, they are like silk when they are right and frustrating when not. There is a ton of video out on the step by step procedure if you want to tackle it. If you change your strings and then take it in, the luthier will just put on new ones again during his setup.
Here is the thing, they don’t have to go through a complete set up every month or many times not even every year, depends on if you are flying around all over the world with it or just going to the local get together on weekends. Rule of thumb , less travel less maintenance , unless you are a shredder.
Personal opinion without looking at it, I think it has a fret or 2 that is a bit high and the neck could use just a tweek then reset the action. Now you know why I asked how old it was and if you liked your action height. In conclusion it isn’t just a couple screwdrivers and an allen wrench. Take your time and decide first whether you really want to tinker with it or play it. It is possible the first initial setup would be served best by a Pro luthier. Just my opinions, I live in the bush in western Montana, its a thousand miles from nowhere I have to know how to do it all.
J-J
PS If you decide to do it yourself I will help you all I can , I am in Utah this week working so it would be when I can get back here, it really does require a few special tools , at least they make it so much easier

Montana, USA

[sunburst]

Drink a bottle a wine ,,it will go away!

[sunburst]

try raising the bridge,,saddle adjustment but than you have to re intonate it.. you could first try a different gauge string like if you have 8s 9s 10s just try the up or down on whatever is on now.. grafite the groove in the nut too on the lespaul if it pings when tuning,, take your time and dont rush,, serches on youtube offer looks of good advice

[Billy]

You don’t say if this buzz is heard when played through an amp or it is only when played unplugged, if it isn’t heared when amped then I wouldn’t fuss too much about it.
If it can be heard and buzzes slightly from the 9th to 15th fret only on one string, I would suggest that a little tweek of the truss rod might just eliminate this problem. Truss rod needs slackened off a touch.

..Billy..

[Tim W]

Thanks for the thoughtful posts guys. Bottle of wine would probably be the best fix… just got to level out the fret buzzing with buzzing from the grog.

Had a fiddle and looks like the buzz isn’t amplified – though you can audibly hear it at volume levels of my bedroom amp. Oh and cheers for the offer JJ. I’ll have to think it over if I’m going to mess with it myself as it might be over my head.

[JohnStrat]

Tim small adjustments are fairly straight forward and I would advise thinking about getting on with it. You will be more knowledgeable in the end and better able to spot good setup and feel. You will need the relevant Allen keys and a tuner preferably a needle type or multiple lights type makes it easy to bring near spot intonation. On a properly built which a guitar of this class it should be no problem. If you raise strings it may alter the intonation but it is readily setup with an accurate tuner to set the tension. I have a vintage Strat 63 which I set up and recently a good luthier was checking it out and commented that it was nicely done..so that was pleasing.
JohnStrat

[GnLguy]

I once had an archtop guitar that had this nasty buzz if I played a note on the 4th string around the 7th or 8th fret. I checked everything, tightened screws and tapped on frets to see if they were loose

Turned out to be the pickups and/or pickup covers. Replaced the pickups and problem was solved

And in response to previous posts – I very much like my 11 ga strings on both my acoustic and electrics. I don’t find them hard to play on either and wouldn’t consider anything lighter on an acoustic. I get too much string rattle on an acoustic strung with 10’s. On electrics, 11’s keeps me from bending out of tune so much; I can deal with 10’s after I play them for a while but 9’s & 8’s – I’m looking for the wire cutters and new set of strings LOL

[Duffy P]

Two thoughts that I didn’t see mentioned. This can be caused by an exceptionally dirty fretboard. I have had that happen from a buildup of gunk from my skin, but almost always on the first couple of frets. But it is possible. Also, if you are using coated strings, it can happen when the coating starts to fray enough. Again, 15th fret seems an unlikely spot, but possible.

Most likely explanation is that the neck moved slightly, lowering the action. That in turn exposes a slight unevenness in how level the frets are. Raising the action will fix it globally. If you want to keep the action low, it’s possible you might need to have a fret leveled. You can check the fret level by resting the edge of a credit card over three frets and see if it lies flat. If you can rock the card over the middle fret, then there is an unevenness. Do that for every set of three frets, 123, 234, etc, for all six string positions.

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