Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a 2012 360. I was practicing acoustically recently and noticed that the sustain on the high E from about the 14th fret on up is very short and the tone is "choked." It's not a sitar like buzz, almost a bit like a palm mute. I guess is *could* be fret buzz but it just sounds differently than it would toward the nut.

The guitar doesn't have typical fret buzz anywhere else.

I have a mastery bridge installed, so I doubt it's typical bridge rattle.

My theory is that one of the frets is high. Is there a quick way to test this?

I am OK trying to slack the truss rod on that side but it seems unlikely to be the culprit given where the buzz is happening.

Any advice?

Is is fret bizz, but not a "sitar" sound? It chokes out, and buzzes? These are three different things.

12th fret or 14th?

Best way to solve this confusing state of affairs is to use a thick 6" machinist's scale, standing vertically, and span the 12th, 13th, and 14th frets. If the scale can be rocked either way, however little, the culprit is a high 13th fret. If not, try 13, 14, 15 and repeat. Move on up the neck and keep trying.

Once you've found the high fret, you can first try tapping it down a bit and see if that cures it. If it's fully tapped down, and still the problem persists, you should level it using some 320 paper glued to a small aluminum block; wood could be too soft for accuracy in this.

Here's the scale I'd use:

Kingbreaker wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 12:21 pm
My theory is that one of the frets is high. Is there a quick way to test this?

I am OK trying to slack the truss rod on that side but it seems unlikely to be the culprit given where the buzz is happening.

Any advice?

Just out of curiosity:
Did Paul W.'s advice cure the "choking"?

There could be a variety of reasons for strings choking out south of fret #12:
- high frets (of course!)
- bridge set too low because of neck underbow
- magnetic pull because the neck PU is too close to the strings
- sympathetic vibration, absorbing the string's energy
- dead strings (well... ofer courser! )

If the culprit was indeed a high fret, you don't have to check (and read) any further.

If the problem still persists, next thing to look into would be neck straightness and the resulting string action across the fingerboard.
Many players try to achieve low action by lowering the bridge - instead of tightening the truss rod(s) first.
In your case, loosening the rod(s) would probably make matters worse. Try the opposite!

If any action-related issues can be ruled out, check for magnetic pull. When you're boldly goin' where no Rick player's ever gone before, that is beyond the 12th fret, the string may get too close to the pickup. Our unsuspiciously lookin', neatly dressed PU then rears its ugly head by acting more like a "brake"... or shall I say "politician"?

Also check for any sympathetic vibration caused by loose screws, springs, electrical components, truss rods... virtually anything aboard your guitar. Sometimes even the odd open string north of your playing position.
(Dead spots are generally caused by sympathetic vibration. That's basically phase cancellation between the string's vibration and those parts of the instrument resonating in a way that's eating up most of the energy... excuse my awkwardness )

If it's because the strings are simply too old, I'm sad to say there's absolutely nothing you can do...