Dull Sounding Notes, Too Many Overtones

Archtop Eddy

Thanks Michael for the clarification. AE

ghodaddyyo

Just put on some fresh Galli .10 GSB Silk n Steels. I bought a big supply sometime back. I love how they sound and feel when fresh, but they just go dull so fast. I'll be watching this set to see how long it takes.

ghodaddyyo

Well the Galli Silk & Steels died out in about a week with light playing. I decided to try the Galli non Silk version. They've been on for about a month now and seem to be going strong with light playing. They haven't gone dull yet and sound nice to my ears. Now if I can reduce those unwanted overtones, I'd be pretty happy. It seems to sound strongest when I play the G string at the 7th fret. While the note is fretted, no problem, the minute I release the note, you can hear both the A and D strings ringing. I've tried a few different things to alleviate this, but none have really worked. I've tried putting some padding under the tailpiece, made no difference. I tried a velcro strip on the strings behind the bridge, no difference. One trick that kind of works is a scrunchy hair band wrapped around the first fret near the nut. I learned this trick back in my high gain, sweep arpeggio, finger tapping days, but it has serious limitations with acoustic playing. The lower down the fret the scrunchy sits, the better the damping, but mutes the tone, especially open strings. Higher up the fret, closer to the nut, and the ringing returns.

Soon as I get some money, I think I want to start replacing some components, starting with the bridge.

Passacaglia

ghodaddyyo wrote:

Just put on some fresh Galli .10 GSB Silk n Steels. I bought a big supply sometime back. I love how they sound and feel when fresh, but they just go dull so fast. I'll be watching this set to see how long it takes.

That's always been my experience as well. Like, ridiculously fast. Drag, because I've always been intrigued.

Phil

Replacing the bridge might do the trick...a few years ago, Josh Hegg made me a custom rosewood bridge for my 2003 Gallato 452, the bridge was much lighter than the bridge the guitar originally came with and it was amazing how it allowed the guitar to open up, especially with the wound strings.

I've also tried my fair share of various different brands of GJ strings...and have found the most consistency and shelf-life with Argentines.

Good luck
~Cheers Phil