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Guitar making weird sitar noise on the B string

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(@seventhson)
Active Member
Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 4
Topic starter  

So I picked up this old 1960's Kay Vanguard off of eBay and flipped the nut and the bridge of it for left handed play, and in doing so I drastically lowered the string height and my B string now gives off this weird sitar sound when it's plucked. I'm not sure whether I need to get a new nut or bridge or both to remedy these problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated :D


   
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(@greybeard)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 5840
 

You may find that turning the pickups around may help. You're currently playing the B string on pole pieces designed for the A string.

I don't know the Kay and I can't say for certain whether that is the problem, but it would be my first guess.

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(@seventhson)
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Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 4
Topic starter  

I thought about that but it makes the sound when its not amplified too. Would it help if I posted pictures ?


   
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(@alangreen)
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Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

I remember Kay guitars - made in Japan and quite cheap, so they were popular with beginners in the 60s and 70s.

Can you adjust the bridge height? It sounds like you've lowered the action to the point where the string is vibrating against a fret.

Tell us more about the nut - I presume the B string is now flopping around in a slot 3 times the width of the string and the 1st string is in a slot which might be 4 or 5 times as wide as the string. I'd be tempted to pack the slot with a small sliver of cereal box card and see if that made any difference. If you can't adjust the bridge height, then put a sliver of cereal box card under the nut, it might just raise the action enough to stop your problem.

And finally on the subject of the nut - has flipping it round changed the vibrating length of the string? If one side of the nut is higher than the other, and the vibrating length is now 4 or 5 mm longer than it used to be then you've just put your guitar completely out of tune at anything other than the open string. It might be best to get hold of a left-handed nut.

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(@trguitar)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3709
 

Seems obvious to mee, it's the nut. You flipped it but now the back is the front and vice versa. I have read a nut should be cut with a slight backward angle. Now yours angles foreward. The string is buzzing in the slot.

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(@seventhson)
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Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 4
Topic starter  

Ah yeah you're right it is slightly forward that would explain the buzzing, and just to clear up some confusion the nut was flipped so the slots and the bridge fit perfectly with the strings. So a new left handed nut would be the obvious fix. Should I get an uncut nut and just notch it myself ? Left handed nuts (as with other parts) are rare and more expensive. Plus since it's a vintage guitar the nut size might be different from a fender or gibson style nut right ?


   
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(@grumps)
Eminent Member
Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 18
 

Glad I looked at this post instead of starting my own. My top E has begun buzzing since I changed the nut, and no matter what height I set the action at nothing gets rid of the buzzing on that one string.So a bit of cereal box under that end of the nut might sort the issue. Thanks for answering the question I would have asked. :)


   
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