Common Guitar Problems - Part 1 of 3

I hope you enjoy this video about guitar problems. If you think my videos are helpful, consider making a small donation through my website: http://www.dmometalguitar.com.

This is the first chapter of my Common Electric Guitar Problems video series. With these three videos, I discuss common factory problems I have seen on numerous guitars during the last 25 years:

1. Excessive pickup noise - This usually occurs because of poor shielding and grounding. I compare a properly shielded guitar - my Carvin V220 - against a badly shielded guitar - my Jackson King V KV2.

2. Fret buzz or dead notes - This is usually related to uneven frets (or bad fret leveling). I show the problem on my ESP M-II guitar.

3. Bends fretting out - This is a typical problem on guitars with a single radius fretboard. Contrary to my Charvel Model 4, I show how well my Jackson King V and ESP M-II perform with high bends. Both guitars have a compound radius fingerboard, which is more curved at the nut and flatter as it approaches the neck.

4. High nut / high locking nut - Good low action involves lowering the bridge, adjusting the truss rod and having a properly placed nut (or locking nut on Floyd Rose-equipped guitars). But many guitars come with a high nut / locking nut because the neck cavity is not deep enough.

5. Unstable neck curvature - Unlike my other guitars, my Jackson King V requires constant truss rod adjustment despite the fact the guitar is not exposed to drastic weather or humidity changes.

6. Unbalanced neck and body - With my B.C. Rich Wartribe, the neck is unbalanced in relation to the body. It moves downward when I release my right hand.

7. Loose locking nut - On Floyd Rose-equipped guitars (and some Kahler ones), the locking nut must be tightly attached to the neck to maintain tuning stability when the tremolo is used. If these screws are loose or badly drilled, the locking nut will move back and forth when you use the tremolo, and the strings will go out of tune.

8. Pull-ups going out of tune - Floyd players complain when the strings go out of tune with pull-ups. This usually occurs when luthiers rotate the action studs against the knife edges under friction. A portion of ChapStick between the knife edges and mounting studs usually solves the problem (assuming nothings wrong with the locking nut).

I play/show the following guitars in this video series:

• Carvin V220 with original Floyd Rose and Carvin C22 pickups

• Jackson King V KV2 with original Floyd Rose and Seymour Duncan pickups (JB TB-4 bridge / JB SH-4 neck)

• ESP MII with original Floyd Rose and EMG 81 pickups

• B.C. Rich Wartribe Warlock with Kahler Hybrid tremolo and EMG 81 & 85 pickups

• Charvel Model 4 with Kahler 2300 tremolo and Jackson pickups

• Ibanez Roadstar with Edge tremolo and Ibanez pickups

Category:

Music

Tags:

• pickup
• noise
• hum
• ground
• connection
• uneven
• fret
• buzz
• leveling
• dead
• notes
• bends
• fretting
• out
• locking
• nut
• truss
• rod
• neck
• curvature
• floyd
• rose
• pull-ups
• tuning
• chapstick
• carvin
• v220
• jackson
• king
• esp
• m-ii
• bc
• rich
• wartribe
• charvel
• model
• ibanez
• roadstar

[YooTubeSuxLikeHell]

Im gonna record this background music and make a ringtone out of it just to piss people off.

[FahimMotoGP]

This guy plays metal riffs really good. Audition for Metallica or something lol

[MatKiller1197]

can someone tel me where i can buy that thing at 9:42 because fucking guitar center, used a fucking hummer to take out the gunk and now i cant even bend and they also fucked up me fucking truss rod.

[carlosisafuckingod]

yeah i got a shit load of fret buzz on my ltd ec 1000, so i sold it and got a schecter hellraiser c7 and wow it was perfect, nothing was wrong with it

[doom666kratos]

@Zero10814 On the issues, no problem dude. So, no problem! you can use an aluminum or copper shield, does not make much difference! the two will decrease the level of hum.

[Zero10814]

@doom666kratos thanks for the info man. oh and would aluminum work instead of coppr for shielding? (please excuse my noobish questions)

[doom666kratos]

Dude, too cheap pickups can result in a high level of hum and noise. This video teaches the same guy to end or at least minimize the level hum of his guitar. If does not work, try a shielding inside of the pots or pickups! or if it does not yet buy a pedal Boss NS2, or attempt to remove the lid of the cavity back of the guitar and leave without it. Remember that poor amplifiers and pedals can also cause poor noise. And it still does not work buy a pair of EMG's.

[Zero10814]

i bought a jackson kelly js series and i noticed the guitar makes excessive pickup noise when i stop playing - is there a way to stop the noise? buying EMG pickups? can u make a tutorial for removing the noise. thanks!

[jaspers22]

What you are proving using your multimeter is that the shielding is a conductor, nice information but your explanation about "the numbers are moving" ... is not accurate, what you would expect is to have a resistance of 0 or close to 0, that depending on the conductor. By saying the numbers are not moving you are trying to say that the shielding is of a material not metal-conductive meaning that there is no faraday cage of any kind. Great vid by the way! :D

[sukkahiki666]

@Neatroultima Maybe your action is too low?

[Neatroultima]

Hey guys I'm a beginner and I have a problem, everytime I strum a string my pick makes a "buzz" like sound. Can anyone help me?