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Bass string rattle... unattended in stand

therumour

therumour

Jan 5, 2014
135
59
#1
OK, I'm serious. The last couple of weeks (NYC 70-90 degrees locally) I'm in my basement with five basses. Three in a triple stand and one each in separate single stands (all Musician's Friends stands I believe).

So... once in a great while (and twice a few days ago) I hear a string rattle. I think it's a D string, but not sure. Anyway, all of a sudden I hear what sounds like a fret buzz, probably less than one second, quite subtle and quickly dies out.

Yes, there's lots of other stuff down here (a laptop on a Polyethylene Top table, metal shelving with plastic storage containers, etc). Floor is concrete with vinyl tiles.

The stands are within a one foot of each other, but no instruments touch each other (the headstocks on the triple stand are three to six inches apart.

I sit about six to seven feet away from the stands. The sound seems to come from the general direction of the instruments, to my left.

Anyone else experience some thing like this? I don't notice any trucks going by my house (instruments would be 40-45 feet from roadway), but there is construction going on two houses down (120-140 feet away).

Logically, one would say external vibrations could be the culprit, although I certainly don't notice any when the sound occurs. I've tried tapping the neck and body of each and cannot replicate.

Bases have been sitting there all year. And it's September now.
 
#2
New York, you say? :whistle:

ghostbusters (anim).gif


Sorry, couldn't resist. :D
 
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#5
It's happened to me but only a couple of times, it is spooky. The rattle has to be a winding slipping over one of the points of contact at the nut or the bridge. The other considerations are neck movement or, the string is sticking in the nut and then releasing. I would think it's the temperature on the strings personally. I played a show years back with dry ice machines pointed directly at the band for some reason, it was a nightmare. You had to retune every song, you could hear the guitars going out of tune during the song. Rounds are going to have a brighter rasp. Is the rattle highly pitched? That would suggest it's happening on the headstock side of the nut.
 
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#7
Lagado said:
It's happened to me but only a couple of times, it is spooky. The rattle has to be a winding slipping over one of the points of contact at the nut or the bridge. The other considerations are neck movement or, the string is sticking in the nut and then releasing. I would think it's the temperature on the strings personally. I played a show years back with dry ice machines pointed directly at the band for some reason, it was a nightmare. You had to retune every song, you could hear the guitars going out of tune during the song. Rounds are going to have a brighter rasp. Is the rattle highly pitched? That would suggest it's happening on the headstock side of the nut.
Click to expand...

I'll buy that.

Not necessarily high pitched, but 4 of the 5 have Fender-style headstocks (all string through bridge) and that's where I would think there's more string travel. I'm guessing somewhere between D2 and D4, but I can't swear by that.

Thanks much,
Vince
 

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