Not too long ago, I changed out the strings on my Takamine steel string guitar. I’ve been playing it awhile since I did this–though not as much as I should be doing–and, as usual, the guitar sounded and played great, except for some buzzing around the second fret which I need to have looked at, but which I don’t think has anything to do with this. I’ve had this guitar for about forty years and it’s always worked great. In particular, once tuned it tends to stay tuned.
So the other day I started to play it and noticed that the treble E string had somehow become detuned, and it sounded about a fourth lower than it should be. When I tried tuning it back, it just wouldn’t get to the right pitch, sometimes sounding high above where it should be and other times sounding much lower. I checked to see if it had come loose from the tuning machine, but as far as I can see that hasn’t happened. And, obviously, it’s not snapped in two.
I think the obvious first step is to buy a single E string to replace it, and see if this happens again. But what else should I be looking at?
OK, I found the cause, and it was unbelievably simple. At some point when I was retuning the guitar, the unused end of the string, beyond the tuning peg, got itself caught under the rest of the string, between the nut and the peg, thereby affecting the whole string. I don’t know why it made the string feel loose, but when I hold the end of the string away from the nut, it feels and sounds normal.
The peg seems to be fine; nothing loose or jiggly.
To be sure we’re on the same page, we’re talking about the tuning peg, right? I ask because the part over which the strings go at the outer end of the neck is called the nut. The bridge is at the other end, beyond the sound hole in the case of an acoustic.
A common problem is the ball end of the string doesn’t fit properly against the bridge pin.
It can slip unexpectedly and detune the string.
I check mine (after changing strings) with an inexpensive inspection mirror.
The one on the far right can slip at any time. Pretty embarrassing if your playing at church or in front of friends. It also can damage the bridge plate (if it happens repeatedly over several years).
You can avoid this by gently pulling the string tight before fully pushing in the bridge pin. That snugs the ball firmly.
I spoke too soon. The string in question sounds good for any fretted note, i.e. F or anything higher; but when played open is still dead. Oddly this sounds like the string is way undertuned, which belies the fact that the purhes of fretted notes are correct and seem to hold their pitch as usual.
My bet is that it’s a bad string simply because the problem is so localized. If that doesn’t do the trick, however, the “buzzing arund the second fret” might be an indication that you have some kind of structural problem that has developed in the guitar itself. Considering the age of the guitar, molecular fatigue could be the culprit.
Or I might be the culprit myself (wrt second fret buzzing). For a long time, I had this guitar in an alternate tuning with the top three strings an octave higher. Of course, you can’t do that with the normal bass E, A, and D strings; you have to use treble strings tuned up or down a step as required.
