Silver Sky Decibel Drop High E 12th Fret

[Griz]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I am having issues with a brand new SS. I thought it was a sustain issue, but when not plugged in all is good.

So, I put a decibel meter next to the amp and on the high e string all is good except at the 12th fret. Playing at bedroom levels, there is a 10 decibel (89-->79) loss going from 11th to 12th frets and then from 12th to the 13th fret it goes back to the same level as the 11th.

Any ideas as to the cause of this?

Thanks in advance.

 

[alantig]

Sounds like it could be something like phase cancellation.

Some questions:

Does this happen w/all three pickups? You say it doesn't happen when the guitar isn't plugged in, but did you try the decibel meter when you checked it acoustically?

Have you tried the same note in a different spot (i.e., 17th fret on the B string, or 22nd on the G)? Have you tried bending into the note? Have you detuned the string to Eb to see if it still happens at the 12th fret or if it moves to the 13th?

Does it happen with a different guitar and the same amp? Or w/the Silver Sky into a different amp?

Have you tried clamping a capo to the headstock to see if it changes how the string/note behaves?

 

[Griz]

Sounds like it could be something like phase cancellation.

Some questions:

Does this happen w/all three pickups? You say it doesn't happen when the guitar isn't plugged in, but did you try the decibel meter when you checked it acoustically?

Have you tried the same note in a different spot (i.e., 17th fret on the B string, or 22nd on the G)? Have you tried bending into the note? Have you detuned the string to Eb to see if it still happens at the 12th fret or if it moves to the 13th?

Does it happen with a different guitar and the same amp? Or w/the Silver Sky into a different amp?

Have you tried clamping a capo to the headstock to see if it changes how the string/note behaves?

Based on all your suggestions, I don't think it is the guitar.

Yes it happens with all 3 pickups. No, it does not happen acoustically.

Yes it happens on the same note, different spots (17th fret B string). Yes it moves from 12th to 13th when detuning.

And...now that I have tested, I guess it does occur with other guitars (S2 Singlecut and Core Starla). I don't have a different amp to test just using a Fender Pro Junior.

So, after all your suggestions, I then decided to go straight into the amp and bypass all my pedals, even though they were turned off. Sure enough, all was good after that. So somewhere the problem lies within the pedals. Guess I will add them back one by one to determine the culprit.

My apologies to my Silver Sky and my thanks to you!

 

[alantig]

Based on all your suggestions, I don't think it is the guitar.

Yes it happens with all 3 pickups. No, it does not happen acoustically.

Yes it happens on the same note, different spots (17th fret B string). Yes it moves from 12th to 13th when detuning.

And...now that I have tested, I guess it does occur with other guitars (S2 Singlecut and Core Starla). I don't have a different amp to test just using a Fender Pro Junior.

So, after all your suggestions, I then decided to go straight into the amp and bypass all my pedals, even though they were turned off. Sure enough, all was good after that. So somewhere the problem lies within the pedals. Guess I will add them back one by one to determine the culprit.

My apologies to my Silver Sky and my thanks to you!

Glad you've narrowed it down! I went through something similar, but mine is the amp (or, more specifically, the speaker). I have one of those little cheap Vox Brian May amps. I noticed one day that - ironically enough - the same E note as yours was just flat out dying when I played it. Like you, I chalked it up to the guitar at first. Then I played around a bit, and it was every guitar through that amp, and they were all fine through other amps. Bend into the note - died. Different spot on the neck - died. Finally, I plugged from the extension out to a speaker cap, and it sustained beautifully. One of these days, I need to find a small (it's smaller than 8" - that's what she said) speaker to fit it, but it's not a priority.

 

[Griz]

And the culprit is my EHX HumDebugger.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Good you’ve found the source

 

[Ryan Tapley]

And the culprit is my EHX HumDebugger.

Yeah that pedal is weird. It works by comb filtering out I think the 1st set of harmonic overtones somehow. Caused weird quirks for me as well. Did you notice when you mute strings with fretting hand and strum there is a weird doubling effect with percussive sounds.

Try the old boss ns2 or literally anyother noise gate. The boss will actually give you a slight increase in output and more topend