Weird string sound

[musicmand]

Hey, guys, I sat down with my Trad Pro for the first time in over a month last night (we just moved into our new house about three weeks ago), only for about 45 minutes before my daughter woke up.

I noticed a really odd chorus-y sound on all of my unwound strings. Chorus is the closest word I can come up with- the sound has beats, kind of like two of the same pitch slightly out of tune... but with only one note sounding. It's really weird. Happens both unplugged and through the amp.

It's still got stock strings on it (I bought it in July in the midst of a move), so I thought maybe it was just the year old strings, but I thought it would be weird for all three unwound strings to do it. Then I started wondering if it might be a weird magnet interaction. I raised and lowered each pickup, and couldn't get the sound to change or go away.

Anyway, my next step is to change out the strings (even though they still look and feel fine). I generally use Dean Markley Nickel Steel strings, but I also have a couple sets of Dean Markley Blue Steels that I can try.

Hopefully I can look at it over the weekend, but in the meantime, any theories? If it continues, I'll record some clips.

 

[Lurko]

Thread a shoelace through the strings up above the nut. I bet that stops it. Sounds like sympathetic vibrations above the nut.

 

[Jon6]

Sounds like a badly cut nut to me. Change the strings out first though! One year old is just silly!

FWIW, I'm really digging the Dunlop strings these days on my 24 3/4" scale guitars. They seem to retain more clarity in the low end.

 

[rxbandit]

New strings, and/or a setup if needed. Could be intonation.

 

[Latearrival]

Sounds like a badly cut nut to me. Change the strings out first though! One year old is just silly!

FWIW, I'm really digging the Dunlop strings these days on my 24 3/4" scale guitars. They seem to retain more clarity in the low end.

Yes I have had this with a badly cut nut. A local luthier cut me a new one to perfection - super low, but not so low that it buzzes like the last one.

Also traced an annoying buzz to the pick-guard vibrating against the body the other day....!

 

[musicmand]

Solved. And it was the dumbest thing.

It's a small room, maybe 10' by 10' with a 7 foot ceiling... and a ceiling fan. I changed the strings, checked intonation, muted the strings on the headstock... but I didn't think that it might be the ROOM until I pulled out another guitar and discovered it had the same issue.

Long story short, the ceiling fan created the pulsing sound, in exactly the same way your voice sounds weird when speaking through a fan. Turned off the fan and the noise went away... sigh... lol...