cbodie - Posted - 04/23/2009:  08:52:03

Hello everyone!! New to the forum, though not the resonator guitar.

I've been playing guitar for about 20 years, and during that time I've had the same late '60's Biscuit Roundneck Dobro (Dobro-brand, that is) that I played here and there.

I now play it rather often, so I gave it a "tune-up." I've got a buzz on the third string. I've read other forum posts in Reso-Hangout, and decided to start a new one since my situation may be a little different.

Note: All this work was done by me.

Symptom: Buzz on 3rd string. It appears to be coming from the cone/body of guitar. The buzz remains on that string when I fret up notes up the 3rd string. (Therefore: not the nut.)
Just in case, I've replaced the nut twice and buzz remains.

I've replace the tuners with new Grovers. The buzz remains.

I've replaced the old cone. The buzz remains. I can switch cones and the buzz exists with EACH cone. I've cleaned the lip and find no bad places.

Bridge: I've used 3 different bridges and the buzz remains. (The third one last night.) In fact, I can move the string out of the slot and rest it on the bridge and the buzz remains. I've tried gluing the biscuit to the cone with a thin bead of glue, and the buzz remains.

Tailpiece/Coverplace: I've padded the tailpiece from the body, the buzz remains. Most of my research has been with the coverplate removed, so we can eliminate that possibility.

Electonics: I completely removed the Fishman active Piezo, and buzz remains.

I've tightened every screw I can see but the 3rd string still buzzes.

Interesting: I can play a "G" or 3rd string and get a buzz, but when I play the same tone on the 4th string (say 4th string 5th fret, I don't get that sound). It seems isolated to that string.

It's not the frets.

Let me describe the sound: it's like a fuzzy tone. All other strings sound bell-like, but this 3rd is weak and fuzzy.

Any Ideas!!!!! Next I'll switch gauges and see what happens, since it's not the bridge or nut, it might could change the resonance.

HELP

phil dean - Posted - 04/23/2009:  09:58:11

Loose coverplate screw, loose brace inside, coverplate might be too close to the strings at that position, wrong guage of string for slot, cone not seated properly. Or it could be some of the things that you already have checked. One other thing , loose tension screw.

masteresoguitars.com

Edited by - phil dean on 04/23/2009 09:59:01

Dan Brooks - Posted - 04/23/2009:  16:33:26

Did you cut the slots in your biscuit bridge yourself? If so...or if not...be sure your slot is cut falling away toward the tailpiece side of the bridge. Basically the slot will be cut about 1/8" down the back of the bridge. You should do this to all the slots but if your not having trouble on other strings, I'd leave them alone. AND be sure the slot is .004" to .008" larger than the string diameter...and nice and round on the bottom. You can put a nice burnish in the slot by rubbing an old string back and forth through the slot.

One other experiment you may try - drop the tuning somewhere below standard and see if it still buzzes. If not, you may have some weird sympathetic vibration causing the trouble from the G note. That could be corrected by thinning braces, adding a brace, etc. Just some ideas.


Dan Brooks
B & B Resophonic Guitars
therarelyherd.com/documents/27...tion=show

Edited by - Dan Brooks on 04/23/2009 16:34:48

Slideman1939 - Posted - 04/24/2009:  08:33:27

The 3rd string is heavily played and gets fuzzy buzzes for multiple reasons.Although it is not like your symptoms above I had a similar problem and discovered it was the string itself and the buzz was because the WINDING seperated from the CORE fairly often due to aggressive playing and bar banging etc. Getting tired of replacing (3rd string only) I got a Paul Beard set with an intentionally heavier guage 3rd string and that solved the problem.On the Beard website (Resophonic Outfitters) he has two different products with a heavier than normal guage for third string--actually the CORE is thicker.This seemed to help.One other time I detected the source of a strange buzz on an older O.M.I. instrument was coming from a sound screen buzzing on certain notes.The screen was fitting loose in it's hole.The solution was wrapping the (side of) the screen with masking tape.It was not visible and the screen fit tighter in the hole causing the buzz to disappear. Good luck--it sounds like you have explored all the usual, typical buzz sources--now go for the unusual sources.

cbodie - Posted - 04/24/2009:  10:51:44

Great ideas!
Dan, thanks for the info on the bridge. I do the work myself. If I hadn't, I probably could spent a pretty penny. Initially, I had a lot of trouble finding out how a shaped biscuit bridge should look, but your description and information from others has helped me considerably. I will use an old string though, to round it out as I haven't done that in the past. It cannot be the bridge slot that's giving me the buzz sound. ". . . I can move the string out of the slot and rest it on the bridge and the buzz remains."

Slideman. Good points, and my investigation tonight will be with strings. The string is a likely candidate. Replacing the string with a new, exact same, string hasn't worked. That's about all I've done. I'm pretty brutal on the "G" string with my Pro-Piks, as are most players.

I've exclusively used D 'Addario Resophonic strings with the 0.026" 3rd string. I break that string (and the 0.016" 1st string) too frequently for my playing. (I'm not sure if these strings are only for slide, but they work fairly well for fingerstyle)
I'll try some new gauges tonight and see what happens. Looks like a good portion of the strings Beard sells are of a 0.027-8" 3rd string.

My bridge is not yet to "finish grade" so I can experiment before I commit.
I'll probably run the string through a different tuner, nut slot, and bridge slot to see what happens.












Again, this sound is like a "fuzz" pedal effect sound one gets on electric guitars.