Strange bridge rattle.

TA22GT

I changed the strings on my Les Paul copy and had the usual new string kind of rattle. It was still there after bedding in and was noticeable after playing the wraparound Bernie SE which has a tighter acoustic sound.

I started to delve deeper. The frets had been levelled and crowned about 6 weeks ago, the truss rod was spot on and the nut is cut perfectly. Open strings were fine but around the 10th fret or so there was a metallic ring from a fretted note on the G and B strings. Not fretting out but an annoying metallic ring. It wasn't heard through the amp but it annoyed the hell out of me. I checked the bridge saddles and they are all cut nicely with the break on the leading edge. I also have a high action so no fret buzz.

The guitar came with a Gotoh ABR1 with wire when I bought it about 7 years ago but I had replaced it with a Faber Germany none wire ABR last year.

At a bit of a loss as to what was going on I slackened the strings and re-fit the Gotoh bridge. Voila! Rattle gone which surprised me because of the wire. The intonation was spot on too because the saddles were in the same place as they were when the bridge was taped up and put away.

I was thinking about it last night in bed, as you do, so this morning I re-fit the Faber and immediately the metallic ring came back!
  
The Faber is solid, every saddle is tight in their slot and there is zero movement when you push on them. It is also a tight fit on the bridge posts.

I re-fit the Gotoh and the ring has gone again! It also sounds better......the low E string has a stronger fundamental note.

Any ideas as to why would be welcome.

ICBM

Are any of the screws loose? They can be, and the saddle still be tight in the slot - in fact the saddle being too tight *allows* the screw to be loose without the saddle moving. The wire helps to stop this as well as the saddles falling out if a string breaks. Why would you want an ABR-1 without a wire?

Simple answer - just keep the Gotoh on, it's a better part.

TA22GT

@ICBM ;  thanks for that.

The Faber didn't have a wire so it seemed strange that anything could rattle if the screws and the saddle were tight but that bridge did give a metallic ping. 

The Gotoh does have a wire and usually they rattle but in this case there is no rattle or ping!
 
You are right, I think the Gotoh is the better part and I use there stuff a lot. Why on earth I decided to change it to Faber is beyond me........t'internet perhaps??

crunchman

The Faber isn't leaning back is it, so the adjustment screws are catching on the strings?

TA22GT

crunchman said:

The Faber isn't leaning back is it, so the adjustment screws are catching on the strings?

No it wasn't leaning. It sat squarely on the screw posts and well seated on the adjustment wheels. The guitar has a very flat neck angle which means the bridge sits very low so it is quite solid. I could see it tilting if the posts were very high.

A bit of a mystery but changing the bridge has sorted it but I don't really know how or why!!

ICBM

TA22GT said:

The Gotoh does have a wire and usually they rattle but in this case there is no rattle or ping!

If the wire rattles, you need to take it off and tweak it with some pliers so the angles at the top are sharper, that way the wire will try to curve downwards over the screws and will press tightly on all of them.

TA22GT

Thank you! Appreciated.

jimmyguitar

This happened to me twice before and turned out to be the pickguard on one occasion and the pickup height adjustment screw on the other. Worth a check elsewhere as it sounded like it was coming from the bridge!

TA22GT

jimmyguitar said:

This happened to me twice before and turned out to be the pickguard on one occasion and the pickup height adjustment screw on the other. Worth a check elsewhere as it sounded like it was coming from the bridge!

Cheers mate! It did have me scratching my head!