Dead Spots?

[Pietro]

There was a discussion on TGP about dead spots. And it occurred to me... On any higher-end boutique instruments I've owned or played extensively (specifically Suhr, Soloway, Heritage and of course Anderson) I've never ever noticed any dead spot.

Why? Is it the better wood selection/drying? Or is it something else?

Thoughts?

[gibson5413]

There was a discussion on TGP about dead spots. And it occurred to me... On any higher-end boutique instruments I've owned or played extensively (specifically Suhr, Soloway, Heritage and of course Anderson) I've never ever noticed any dead spot.

Why? Is it the better wood selection/drying? Or is it something else?

Thoughts?

I would be curious to know Tom's thoughts here as well.

[dannopelli]

You know that is a good point. I don't have any dead spots on any of my gear, and they are currently all higher end.

But I did have a Am DLX Strat once, not a cheap guitar, that had a dead spot on the D G right around the 9th fret.

Interesting discussion.

[tom]

they are somewhat of a mystery. they seem to be more prevalent in mahogany necks than maple, but fender bass necks are famous for having them in a particular spot. my favorite acoustic guitar in the world has a horrible one at one note so i avoid that note. they are only really a problem if you are hanging on the note with nothing else going on. for chording and passing notes they're un noticeable.
so why do they happen? i've never heard an answer that i can agree with across the board. i think they show up more in very lively guitars as places where the whole guitar is inhibiting a particular frequency. i think that's why we see it in mahogany necks more. they are a more delicate piece of wood and i feel they have more harmonic stuff going on than maple. so we hear more inconsistencies in them. i have had necks with terrible dead spots on one guitar that worked very well on a different body. we took a neck off a cobra we built for stevie fryet because of a dead spot and put it on the black cobra that keith richards played for many years. my guess is that keith has never complained about a dead spot.

many have played around with different reinforcement products in necks to counteract it with varying results. in all my years of working with guitars i've not either before the build or after the build been able to "see" why a particular piece would be worse than another. obviously we discard lots of wood for lots of reasons and still see it happen. for the most part it is just that some notes ring a bit longer than others, not that a note is unusable.

we occasionally gets calls from people that sit around timing the sustain of each note on their guitars...

[Briggs]

I would think that sometimes it's just an anomaly in the wood itself. I seem to remember Tom saying that his Olson had a bit of a dead spot and that mahogany was more prone than other woods.

Gee...all this time I just attributed it to my poor technique...I could have been blaming it on 'dead spots' all the time! Must be like those solar flares...:D

[Briggs]

we occasionally gets calls from people that sit around timing the sustain of each note on their guitars...

seriously?! who has that much time?

[dannopelli]

.....

we occasionally gets calls from people that sit around timing the sustain of each note on their guitars...

For real? Ugh....

As the great Frank Zappa once said: "Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar"

[tom]

you'd be amazed at the things we hear. some of it is just people not knowing and listening too much to internet experts(how do you qualify for that title?). and some is people enjoying the look and technology more than playing. i was told once by a friend in the industry that if we all had to make a living on pro musicians we'd all be broke. i fully agree with that statement, and just because someone is not a great player, there's no reason they can't get great joy from playing what they can play. so we try to patient with all and explain as many of the "why's" as we can fully knowing that we don't have all the answers. these are organic pieces of art, or as some would say "tools", so there will always be variables. and then we don't all appreciate the same things so what's great for one might by not so great for another.

and yes it is my olson that has the crazy dead spot, but i would never ever, ever, ever, ever, suggest someone not buy one as it brings me unbelievable joy to play. angels sing along with me when i play that guitar.

[Pietro]

we occasionally gets calls from people that sit around timing the sustain of each note on their guitars...

I've heard the term "measurebaturs" do describe this.

I PLAY music... I don't measure amplitude envelopes...

[marzzz]

Just curious, can dead spots "come and go" as a guitar ages? I would think that the wood may change characteristics with temperature, humidity, etc.; My Cobra has a "slightly less live" spot on the high E 12th fret, but it seems to be improving....

[tom]

I think since the dead spot is a result of all things working together, or not, they could improve or get worse because of a different component like the bridge or the nut.

[dplight]

I'd bet one reason for dead spots would be due to guitar body/neck resonance at frequencies where the string vibration and guitar body/neck vibration were apposing.

[tom]

Certainly that is part of the vibrating mass. You'd have to add bridge, nut and at least tuners to total.

[Big Harry]

From other side, I find there are a few "sweet" , harmonic spots on each of my guitars , where sound is the most"harmonic" (?) , longer sustain than other spots, and easy feedback maintain ...vibrato just shines sooo musically ..

All of that is valid just for the same , specific strings setup ,tune and size, otherwise that sweet spot just vanish , or sweetness gets lower ...

Using that magic toy called Kemper , I have had a chance to try literary hundredths and thousands of different amp profiles , and interestingly, those sweet spots got increased or diminished , depending of amp (profile ) used !!???
Especially with so called collection of vintage amps , sweet spots get occurred on the frets where no any sweet spots occurred ever before ?????

Anyway, I also don't care for dead spots, but I do care for sweet spots !

How those sweet spots could be explained ? :)

ps
I hope this advertising is not forbidden , but you can check a few samples of "vintage amps" sounds I am talking about from Amp Factory -you might enjoy these cleans and crunch tones...
http://www.theampfactory.com/

[tom]

i'd say that live spots are the reverse of dead spots. i think the whole thing is just what we call the guitars liveliness.