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baffling overtone?
This one is a strange one for all our guitar geeks. Especially while flatpicking Billy In The Lowground I notice a sound like an overtone after hitting a few strings. Its like the guitar is picking up very slight string vibrations. I dont think Im accidentally touching any strings. Its weird. The guitar is a new hd 28. In a couple of weeks I’ll have the local guitar guy change the strings and check the neck. Has anyone aside from me encountered anything similar. The strings are the Martin authentic acoustic silk and phosphor. Thanks for the input.
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6 Replies
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Totally normal and in some cases desired. When you are playing notes the open strings will ring out making sympathetic tones. I don’t remember off hand what key Tony plays Billy in the Low ground but let say it is G. When you hit the Bass note of G on the low E string the open string G will ring out sympathetically, activated by the vibration of the guitar itself. other strings will also ring out like the B string and the E. You can test this by just playing a single note loudly and slightly touching all the other strings to see which ones are vibrating. A light built highly active guitar will have lots of sympathetic tones. They should all be pleasing tones aligned with the key being played when tuned. If something is sounding wonky try retuning and playing again.
If the sympathetic tones are not what you want you will have to play in closed positions and get good at muting- barring with index as a damper.
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Outstanding response J.J.! I knew the tac family would have some great answers.
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@Mrfredsporty : I was working on something this morning and realized there is another technique that I use (reflexively now). Palm muting. Or for me it is done with the outside, pinky side, of my right hand. I will do this mostly to quiet the bass strings but works for all.
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See, asking questions is a great thing for all of us, @Mrfredsporty . I appreciated the information and experience you shared with us @jumpinjeff .
MG 😀
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I have an hd-28 too. Overtone is what rosewood does.
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Great question and response! We ll learned something!
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