Re: Dead Note\Wolf tone moving up in pitch

The top E string is also effected at the fifth fret but it's not as
dead. As the string gets thicker the dead note becomes more dead.
I just found out that if I add mass to the bridge edge near the higher
strings the A dead note is gone.
Maybe I'll try the chladni pattern technique that al carruth talkes
about and see how different masses changes the node location.
I don't know if the bridge was ever perfectly matched to the top, does
anyone know if this can have any effect?

This is really fascinating indeed, If tailpiece mass or bridge mess
can have such effect how do builders actually solve dead notes
appriory?

I also thought about trying something like you describe which is
called soundpost. I know they are used by some archtop makers like PRS
and gretch. The problem is that I don't want to glue anything inside
the guitar's body. I wonder why no one has invented a removable
soundpost - I mean one with thumb buttons like in archtop bridge where
you can adjust it's length.

Thanks,
Yoni.

performingchimp :
yoni baron wrote:
I read Luthier Al Carruth posts about dead notes and the different
modes that cause them and I don't seem to see how any of the three
dead note types relates to the dead note I have.
The first type he mentioned was when the air mode and the first top
mode are octave apart and this causes dead note on G on the E string.
The second type was that the top mode and the back mode where too
close.
The third was that some part of the top mode causes the bridge to
vibrate "sucking" the energy out of the string.

Thanks,
Yoni.


That's fascinating. Is the Top E string not affected at the fifth fret
then? Just the B string?

Personally I've never thought there is anything you can do about dead
notes, as long as it isn't affecting the overall guitar tone then you
just have to treat it as an idiosyncracy of that instrument and avoid
trying to sustain that note.

Although I've always wondered if placing a piece of dowel or another
type of soft wooden strut inside the guitar between the top and the back
would help. Obviously it would be an incredibly painstaking process
trying to find the spot and continually cutting the dowel to length to
follow the curvature of the archtop!

Jon Gomm

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