high pitched noise when muting strings

[witeter]

As title says - on one of my guitars with a TOM bridge through body i get this high pitched noise when muting the strings in between 'chugs' - i know its not to do with technique as its the first time I have ever had this happen to me. Anyways only today i realised that by dampening the strings (with a sock lol) in between the bridge and where it goes into the body of the guitar the noise didnt seem to occur anymore (i thought it may be at the other end, with the nut,etc but it didnt seem to stop when i tried dampening up there). What is the reason for this? is there anything i could get to dampen the strings rather than a sock? lol cheers guys!

[Toe-Knee]

Put some foam under the strings behind the headstock.

Or a little bit of electrical tape.

That should sort it out for you.

Hmm actually I just read a bit more. Do the same behind the bridge!

This is one of those things that really bugs me. I find DRs do it less than most strings. Coated ones also nullify it to an extent too.

[witeter]

Hey Toe Knee thanks for that-when you mean to put some foam behind the bridge, in which place exactly? as the strings leave the bridge at an angle and then go into the guitar body-should i put the foam where it meets the body? or intertwine it through the strings? it may end up looking a bit 'blue peter' though, is there an actual product that would sort this?

[Toe-Knee]

Hey Toe Knee thanks for that-when you mean to put some foam behind the bridge, in which place exactly? as the strings leave the bridge at an angle and then go into the guitar body-should i put the foam where it meets the body? or intertwine it through the strings? it may end up looking a bit 'blue peter' though, is there an actual product that would sort this?

There was a product planned called the Jimmy Clip but I don't think they got the funding on kickstarter.

And yes I mean between the bridge and body as that & behind the nut as the places generally where you get the ringing.

I generally find just a bit of electrical tape works well and looks a lot tidier. Just a strip that makes one pass around the strings tends to work. I'll take a picture of how I do it on my EC when recording later as I suck at describing things in general.

[Toe-Knee]

This is the Jimmy clip

http://www.thejimmyclip.com/

[witeter]

Thanks for that-had a look, seems interesting-i did try dampening above the nut but nothing seemed to change; so a pic of your guitar when you have a chance would be of immense help! i just find it bizarre because i dont think the guitar always had this issue! :?

[WeAreNotGentlemen]

I had this problem. A strip of fabric with some hair clips did the trick for me, but electrical tape sounds like a lot better idea.

[Toe-Knee]

Heres the pic. It could be done with a narrower strip but I couldn't be bothered trimming it down so just used the width of the tape.

[witeter]

hey man thanks for that! so i imagine if i wanted to do the same at the bridge end of the guitar its pretty much the same principle?

[Toe-Knee]

hey man thanks for that! so i imagine if i wanted to do the same at the bridge end of the guitar its pretty much the same principle?

Yeah just one wrap around should do it. You don't need to do it overly tight or anything just touching is fine.

[witeter]

Ok cool man-thanks a lot for your help-will let you know how i get on! btw do you know ehat causes a guitar to develop something like this?

[Toe-Knee]

I think it's just sympathetic vibrations. Someone like feline or wez would be good to ask

[witeter]

So this is what i ended up doing! a bit of foam nestled under the strings and yay! all the annoying high pitched ringing has gone-i will try and make it look a bit tidier later on but for now so happy i don't care lol :-) its nice to know that it also hasn't affected the sustain (which i was worried about) thanks for your help Toe-knee

[Toe-Knee]

something you could try as its string thru is getting small pieces of rubber tubing and having them rest on the edge where the strings make contact with the body with just a tiny bit on the outside.

it would look much neater specially if you find some transparent tubing such as that from fish tanks.

And no problem i'm glad it worked out for you

Thinking about it you could also cut a fine strip of foam that rests behind your saddles on the bridge this would also look neater.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Yes this happens if you have a length of string behind the nut or bridge that is long enough for the ringing to get into the audible range.
These lengths of string are under the same tension as the main playing part of the string and if that part of the string gets excited by body vibrations or worse a too shallow break angle over the nut or bridge then that bit of string will vibrate and you'll be able to hear it.

Worst offenders are reverse headstocks or really long headstocks (I haven't seen a Black Machine with a reverse stock where the player didn't use a hair scrunchie to mute the strings behind the nut)

Some strats with only one string tree and a shallow scooped out headstock can have this problem on the D or G strings.
Many bass players get this on the A string of a P or Jazz bass.

It is the laws of physics in play , although some designs do make it happen more easily as detailed above.