My new guitar (electric) rattles against the frets.

[Nihilanthic]

Two lowest strings. I've tried adjusting that tension rod thing and raising the strings from the bridge.

Still no go.

Would guitar center be able to help me? Or could someone here help.

It looks like a Gibson LP knockoff... it says "first act" on it, apparently my gift givers got it from walmart  :rofl: c'est la vie, no?

Could it be just the strings themselves?

[Botched Programming]

Two lowest strings. I've tried adjusting that tension rod thing and raising the strings from the bridge.

Still no go.

Would guitar center be able to help me? Or could someone here help.

It looks like a Gibson LP knockoff... it says "first act" on it, apparently my gift givers got it from walmart  :rofl: c'est la vie, no?

Could it be just the strings themselves?

As long as the neck has a truss rod going through it the guitar center should be able to set the action on your strings.

If there is no truss rod then you've got to settle for it the way it is.

Be advised that someone who does not know how to adjust the truss rod can ruin the neck on the guitar.

You can start out with changing to a lighter guage string to start with.

And yes "First Act" is a guitar sold by Walmart.

Hope this helps.

[Ursus]

Ah... string buzz...

New and vintage stringed instrument site with troubleshooting tips (more pertinent to acoustic but still somewhat applicable):
http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/buzzing.htm

WWW Guitar Advisor, minor repairs and adjustments:
http://www.merde.org/guitar/repairs.html

Forum thread with some suggestions:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/ar ... 27019.html

Buzz Diagnosis Start Page (for luthiers, but still somewhat applicable), deep site:
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier ... tbuzz.html

[Nihilanthic]

The fucking book was wrong.

I twisted it the other way and its fine.

BTW do I have to put that stupid cover plate back on it? I'm lazy and just finally got it tuned!!!

Also the tone isn't as shitty as I was afraid. Its decent... though the amp is a joke. Im thinking when I get better I'd get an EMG pickup. Should I go ahead and get a better guitar or do that?

Also, anyone heard of getting an adapter jack and using GuitarFX (digital signal processing, HOORAY) on your computer instead of an amp? I have MORE than enough cpu horsepower to do anything I'd want live, even with all 16 effects being used

[Anonymous]

Way to change  a subject, yo!

[Froderik]

The fucking book was wrong.

I twisted it the other way and its fine.

BTW do I have to put that stupid cover plate back on it? I'm lazy and just finally got it tuned!!!

Also the tone isn't as shitty as I was afraid. Its decent... though the amp is a joke. Im thinking when I get better I'd get an EMG pickup. Should I go ahead and get a better guitar or do that?

Also, anyone heard of getting an adapter jack and using GuitarFX (digital signal processing, HOORAY) on your computer instead of an amp? I have MORE than enough cpu horsepower to do anything I'd want live, even with all 16 effects being used

No you don't have to put the stupid plate back if you don't want to.

What kind of guitar is it? I'm not sure if those EMG pickups are all that good or not. I like the sound I get from a standard Gibson humbucker (on a Gibson, that is) and the Philtertron is nice on the old Gretsch (the philtertron is its original pickup).

I've never heard of that GuitarFX shit, sounds interesting though... you've actually used this live? With a drummer? Was it loud enough..?

[Nihilanthic]

Nooonononono... lemme clarify.

I mean it can do digital signal processing in REAL TIME ("live") to emulate the effects of actual effects pedals, certain kinds of rectifiers and tubes, etc.

Also GuitarFX is just signal processing. Loudness is up to your amp/speakers.

But honestly, the average home computer these days is a few orders of magnitude more than powerful enough to do that. Like the most demanding effect is stated to require a 850mhz Pentium :rofl:

I've got a vastly more superscalar and pipelined, 3000mhz Athlon 64 dual core cpu.. I think I can handle that.

http://guitarfx.net/ I'm not plugging it so much as saying its cheaper. If you can do DSP fast enough to emulate soft clipping and various other effects, why not? I mean its not like you could ever tell the difference and if you were to get on stage you could probably afford the real deal.

[Froderik]

http://guitarfx.net/ I'm not plugging it so much as saying its cheaper. If you can do DSP fast enough to emulate soft clipping and various other effects, why not? I mean its not like you could ever tell the difference and if you were to get on stage you could probably afford the real deal.

I'd tend to agree with you, although I know a couple of 'effects geeks' that would no doubt disagree about being able to tell the difference. :lol: I generally don't bother with effects too much in a live setting (aside from the occasional wah pedal or flange, the only two boxes I own) as I prefer pushing the amp for its 'natural' distortion, etc.... So, since I don't use them all that much anyway, I could see taking the cheaper route and just using the software if I were inclined to bother with effects beyond the ones I mentioned...