Foam behind the Nut on my Agile 8...

[Riffmagus]

It's no biggie. But I'm foaming @ the nut with my Agile . I guess because of the extra scale length or even resonance from the peddling the low B / F# - you get some sympathetic string resonance.

Popping some foam behind the nut solves this no problem. I see quite a few players - Keith Merrow and Hawkevil have done the same.

A few guitar geeks I know say this could be down to a badly cut nut, or even the angle of the headstock...anyone have anything else to add?

Regardless, I'm now converted to an Agile 4 Life Man. Can Kurt start up some sort of Religious Cult? Count me in.

 

[hufschmid]

This vibration problem you're talking about does not happen on straight headstocks (fender style - no angle) which has a string retainer going across the strings

 

[Riffmagus]

Interesting, both the Jackson which I own, and Gibson Les Paul which I did have angled 'stocks - never heard the tones before...

But, with a sixer I was able to mute all the strings with my palm. Guess that's another issue. It's all cool though, just like understanding how things happen.

 

[hufschmid]

On some guitars, in some cases if the truss rod was not cushioned properly with silicone in some places in the groove, it can sympathetically rattle with some specific notes giving the impression that there is a buzz...

That's also another problem which can happen on a minority of some low end instruments, not all of course...

 

[Andii]

I've heard ring behind the nut of every instrument I've ever seen. Most people don't seem to hear it. Fender Strats, les pauls, Music Man JP, Ibanez prestige, Fender telecasters, 4 string basses, 6 string basses, acoustics etc. It just happens. I use a rubber band or a piece of tape to stop it. A better looking solution would be a black hair band.

 

[sol niger 333]

I've heard ring behind the nut of every instrument I've ever seen. Most people don't seem to hear it. Fender Strats, les pauls, Music Man JP, Ibanez prestige, Fender telecasters, 4 string basses, 6 string basses, acoustics etc. It just happens. I use a rubber band or a piece of tape to stop it. A better looking solution would be a black hair band.

Gotta agree with this I've heard it on as many flat headstocks as I have angled. Just a chimy ring. Barely noticeable unless you are recording and playing a lot of stop start stuff.

 

[Andii]

Gotta agree with this I've heard it on as many flat headstocks as I have angled. Just a chimy ring. Barely noticeable unless you are recording and playing a lot of stop start stuff.

Yes stop and start stuff and picking forcefully, which is what I'm always doing.

 

[pirateparty]

Wow I JUST did this to my RG7321, I don't remember where I've seen it but something in my head just told me to do it. Glad to hear it was a good idea/common.

Time for some un-buzzing phat sweepz!

 

[Pingu]

I put foam behind the nuts of all my guitars. On my older guitars it makes a difference. Actually, I think i'm so inclined to do the foam thing because most of my guitars are black and I use some wacky foam colours.

 

[hufschmid]

I've heard ring behind the nut of every instrument I've ever seen. Most people don't seem to hear it. Fender Strats, les pauls, Music Man JP, Ibanez prestige, Fender telecasters, 4 string basses, 6 string basses, acoustics etc. It just happens. I use a rubber band or a piece of tape to stop it. A better looking solution would be a black hair band.

yeah but non of those have a string retainer going across the strings (non tremolo models)

 

[MF_Kitten]

it´s pretty normal for the majority of guitars. the hotter your pickups, and the hotter your tone, the more you´ll hear it. a gate will get rid of the worst of it, but if you wanna kill it, just put tape or foam above the nut. i do this to all my guitars.

i can imagine a string retainer helping, because it shortens the length of the string that is able to vibrate behind the nut, and so the sympathetic frequencies of those parts of the strings are so high that "triggering" them would be harder.

basically, when playing with distortion, try playing the strings above the nut with a pick. that´s the noise that is being triggered by sympathetic vibrations from your playing. it usually consists of non-musical frequencies that´ll add a dissonant ringing to your sound (though mostly just in the background), much like tremolo springs can do.