Any ideas!! After changing strings on my DS2,I started to get a bad buzz/rattle, when playing a
G note on the lower strings.Ater the usual checks, ie; loose bridge pins, braces, bridge plate, tuners, truss rod, etc still no joy.
My local guitar tech is pulling his hair out after three days of trying everything.
Could it be the neck bolts ever come loose??,& has anyone ever experienced this happening to them with a Collings,,as the buzz has a distinct metallic sound, & there is nothing else on the gitar made of metal,,this has us both stumped.Any advice welcome.

If the neck relief is correct, you probably need to raise the saddle height a little since the buzz only occur in lower positions.

Will it be just a bad set of strings?

I'm guessing this is not a string on fret buzz, yes? Perhaps the truss rod adjustment nut is loose. Collings necks are so stiff they frequently don't need much tension on the rod, so it could be loose and rattling. If the relief is good, just snug it to stop the rattle. Of course, it could be something else. I would try another set of strings first.

You're spot on regarding it being not a normal string/fret buzz,& so far we have tried 3 new sets of strings, with no joy. The tech has tried adjusting the truss-rod with no success.

This is a great new subject that I can shed some light on so pull up
your chair to the pot belly stove or if you don't have one use your
own pot belly and get out the saltines and vienna's.

Recently with my set up man , we got to talking about frequencys and
were having a devil of a time getting this new pickup to not rattle
the G string. My friend made a comment , "I wonder what this guitar
resonates at.

Well friends did you know that most , well many guitar resonate at a
certain frequency or ''note''

Take your D2H with fresh strings , hold it up and hum a scale with some
richness in your voice and when the top buzzes or ''feeds back '' a little
to you , not what note the tuner is showing on your tuner. (note: I use clip
on tuners to facilitate this best)

Surprisingly many of the 12 fret slot heads were resonate at F which poses almost
no problem but they are not quite as alive as , say my OM. The OM then was tested
with the Adi top and it resonated very strongly at ''G'' and the top and string
left unfretted and without any capo's involved it just rang like the devil. Sort of
what you might describe as a ''Hot '' string if plugged in. Now this G note or in my
case the entire range on the 'G' string seems to have a slippery sort of buzz . Not
like a bad fret or fretting out buzz but just this flange sounding , annoying as hell
frequency clash. And of all notes, The G is played a bunch. Well I'm telling you that
as I put on fresh Martin SP'PB's this am it is a little better but it's there and I
am going to keep experimenting to see what can be done.

I did install a new pickup which empoys a little metal ''hood'' over a magnet that is glued to the bottom of the bridge plate and that might be the actual source of the buzz but there is not getting around the motivation for the vibratioin in the
first place is the resonant note of the guitar.

After fresh strings are installed on your D2H do the hum test and see if you hear
a similar frequency to the one you hear when you play.

Another thing I like to do is put the guitar away after changing to a new set of strings and let it stretch out naturally under concert pitch . Just tune up , stick
it in the case and leave it overnight. I seem to get longer string life that way and
there are rarely dead individual strings later on .

Hi,
Your rattle (Squeal) could be coming from the strings against the frets from behind your fretted position. I found that sometimes the nut could be a hair too low or the neck could have a very slight back bow that the strings rattle behind the fretted position. The way I would check it is to fret a chord that makes the noise and then hold then hold the strings behind the chord ( i.e.. if the chord makes the vibration noise at the 5th position, mute the strings at the 3rd position this will rule out a nut cut a hair too low.

This is another intriguing question. Please let us know what you find when you eventually find it. I assume nobody dropped an ID bracelet in the box?? Or a loose pickup wire or under-saddle connection? How about a 3rd fret not seated tightly?

quote:

Originally posted by Stixx:
Another thing I like to do is put the guitar away after changing to a new set of strings and let it stretch out naturally under concert pitch . Just tune up , stick
it in the case and leave it overnight. I seem to get longer string life that way and
there are rarely dead individual strings later on .

BTW, I have also found this to be true, Stixx. I just attribute it to having the strings stretch out totally evenly, instead of having small areas with extra stretching possibly caused by fretting. Who knows?

Hopefully we've found a cure, the neck bolt nuts were a little loose, plus the small brace right at the front between the neck block & soundhole was slightly loose, hopefully after re-gluing, this should sort it out,,,or you will hear the scream even out on the West-coast.
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions Gents

Well, did it work? I totally understand your frustration.