Custom 24 overtones from above fingers

[Mystic]

When I play my Custom 24 with a clean or slightly dirty tone, when I pick notes in approximately the range of the 12th to 15th frets on the G and B strings, a secondary note is coming from the length of the string between my fretted position and the nut of the guitar. This tone is somehow being transferred (perhaps through the neck and body) and getting into the pickups, setting up some truly awful, out of tune resonances when heard through the amp (or amp sim, in my case).

This isn’t a case of me hammering hard on the note with my left hand and triggering the secondary sound that way … I can hold the string fretted beforehand with no vibrations happening anywhere, and somehow when I then pick the note, that portion of the string behind my fretted position still picks up a vibration. It also happens no matter how hard I press down behind the fret. Also, I’ve already taken steps to mute the tremolo springs in case they were contributing, but have since demonstrated to myself that they aren’t the problem, because the resonance only goes away when I deliberately change my hand position to allow me to mute the string behind the fretted position. It also doesn’t seem to be a wolf tone (same reason, and also setting the headstock solidly against a wall doesn’t alter the issue).

I’ve never noticed this happening before on my other, non-PRS electric guitars, and for quite a while I’d been concerned that there may be something fundamentally wrong with my beloved PRS; I’ve owned the guitar for about five years, and have been worrying about this for more than half of that time. These days I don’t really think there’s a technical problem with it anymore, but I’m also not quite ready to assume that it’s a deficiency in my technique, since I’ve played electric guitars (just about all Gibsons) for about 45 years now and never had this happen before.

I can think of a couple of possible reasons for this, and would like to know if other PRS owners have perhaps experienced the same thing and been able to address it in one of these ways:

1) Maybe it’s just that PRS has a more lively body that other brands, allowing those vibrations to travel more easily through the neck and body, and hence requiring more technical skill to mute the strings behind the fretted position (not easy when I’m used to playing scales with four fingers)?
2) Maybe it’s specific to a certain string brand (I’ve been using the PRS XTS 10’s ever since getting the guitar, just because I figured they would be suited to it). Might changing string brands help?
3) Overly microphonic pickups? Could this be a characteristic of PRS pickups?
4) Picking too hard? I do tend to dig into the string a bit with my pick … do I need to learn to pick more lightly on a PRS to avoid this?

I’ve seen some people using various string dampeners wrapped around the nut area to suppress such vibrations, but I’m reluctant to do that since one technique I like to use is a pull-off to an open string.

Thanks for any thoughts or experiences you can share to help me get my head around this problem and get back to making music.

 

[Drew]

I've encountered a similar thing but not to the degree that you are talking about. Mainly it was just the 12th fret on the G. I use jazz 3 picks and have a very flat on pick attack which can be very hard and staccato. So, maybe try experimenting with a different pick and/or lighter attack? Hard pick attack can have some very undesirable results. I've had to focus hard on left and right hand muting.

 

[AP515]

It's possible your guitar is just super resonant. I had a McCarty years ago that was so resonant if I plucked a string at the note an octave or a fifth above or below an open string, the open string would also produce sound. So loud that the pickups would send it to the amp and I could hear it in the speakers. It wasn't bad when the note was being played, but if I didn't dampen the open string, when I played the next note the dissonance was, of course, undesirable. This was a stoptail so I agree with you, it isn't the trem springs. I never found a solution. I moved the guitar along. As much as I loved the sustain, I couldn't take muting the strings all the time.

 

[Warmart]

Probably won't help but lowering the pickup height could be something to try. Is it both pu's? Also wouldn't hurt to TRY a string dampener. Also take a hard look at your saddles and be sure everything is kosher.

 

[Mystic]

Thanks to all of you for the replies!

Warmart, what specifically would you be concerned about with the saddles? Too low of an action, or something loose? I had the guitar setup at Guitar Center (only authorized PRS repair center around here, unfortunately), and the kid there did a pretty lousy job - some fret buzzing was happening on a couple of strings that I couldn’t hear in the store, so I ended up tweaking it a bit more once I got it home and seemingly got it straightened out. (In the store I watched what the kid was doing with the bridge when I pointed out a few problems he’d introduced after the setup, and realized it wasn’t rocket science and I could do that much of the work myself.) Also, I think this overtone problem existed before that setup was done, and I just didn’t notice it as much back then because I was always playing through heavy saturation at the time, which seems to suppress the secondary vibration … it is only more recently when I started wanting to use some cleaner sounds that this really started to bother me.

I think it’s both pickups, but will have the check again to be sure.

 

[Ovibos]

Thanks to all of you for the replies!

Warmart, what specifically would you be concerned about with the saddles? Too low of an action, or something loose? I had the guitar setup at Guitar Center (only authorized PRS repair center around here, unfortunately), and the kid there did a pretty lousy job - some fret buzzing was happening on a couple of strings that I couldn’t hear in the store, so I ended up tweaking it a bit more once I got it home and seemingly got it straightened out. (In the store I watched what the kid was doing with the bridge when I pointed out a few problems he’d introduced after the setup, and realized it wasn’t rocket science and I could do that much of the work myself.) Also, I think this overtone problem existed before that setup was done, and I just didn’t notice it as much back then because I was always playing through heavy saturation at the time, which seems to suppress the secondary vibration … it is only more recently when I started wanting to use some cleaner sounds that this really started to bother me.

I think it’s both pickups, but will have the check again to be sure.

Well, of course I’m gonna blame GC.

I’ve taught myself to do pretty decent setups using Phil McKnight’s videos on YT (Know Your Gear). I started by working on my SEs and now feel comfortable messing with my Wood Library. Basic trussrod and bridge adjustments will get you far.

 

[Warmart]

I just would ensure that the saddles are in proper alignment, anything obvious. A shot in the dark of course.

If you're sure everything is good with the bridge, pu height, etc - then you would be left with different strings, always playing high gain or moving on.

 

[Mystic]

If I can’t solve the problem any other way, I guess I’ll be teaching myself to either mute behind the fret in that region of the fretboard or else avoid it entirely when doing that kind of playing. I can’t move on from this guitar, because I no longer have the income to replace it (I retired last year), so it’s either this PRS or no PRS for me I’m afraid.