|
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | My Balladeer 6-string has a buzz... I've eliminated the neck/frets as a source... seems to eminate from somewhere in the body... I've taped the wires inside the bowl... still buzzes... perhaps the preamp?
Any suggestions? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Buzzes like this are a pain to isolate, check the output jack & battery holder & make sure all the little screws in the preamp case are tight. Worst case senario is a loose brace, but you're probably in the right direction with what you've done so far |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Thanks.... I'll keep on listening... one frustrating thing is that noe eolse seems to be able to hear it.... kindof makes me wonder... perhaps I'm just having another Senior Moment! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 280
Location: Waterloo, IL | Sounds like the problem I had with my Balldeer. First problem turned out to be high action at the nut. I found a good luthier to do a proper set up for me, and that fixed the problem. However, I was still able to hear a buzz, although no one else could hear the buzz. I tried out a number of other very expensive guitars of various brands, and could hear the same buzz on every one of them. I am convinced that all of those guitars do not have the same buzz. I finally narrowed it down to the hearing aids that I wear. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | As a result of the insane '70s, and the affects of headphones plugged into an amp turned up to "12", I have a constant high pitched whistle (tintinitis)... maybe the buzz would go away if I got hearing aids... interesting that, because I interpret the sermons at my Church into sign language for the Deaf Members....
I'm going to remove my strings and take a deep look inside and tape everthing that can be taped... if that doesn't cure it, I'll blame the '70s! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | I have tinitis too. Mine changes tone from time to time, that's always nice. I guess. Does yours do that? I think I got mine from a combination of too-loud amps in the 60's, running air panel cutters & grinders in the bodyshop with no earmuffs before I wised up years ago, & a lot of shooting. I used to burn a lot of ammunition. I had a .357 magnum go off a few inches from my left ear once at a party too, I'm pretty sure that did some permanent damage. Hurt like hell. (Rip Snorter of a party though! :) )
A friend of mine has hearing loss from falling off a two story roof he was working on & he told me he can dial out the ringing with his hearing aids. It would be very interesting to hear nothing at all some time. I don't remember what it was like. Might be kinda scary. Then again, my wife keeps insisting the crickets didn't really become extinct like I thought when I quit hearing them years ago. They'd probably start making racket again about the time I finally got some piece & quite :)
Nils |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Nils
I can feel your pain, so to speak. I would like to make a warning to all that suscribe, my uncle Bailey, for whom I'm named, worked all his life at the Conneaut boat dock, where there were crushers for the ore and limestone , and railroad activity. He lost his hearing by the age of 50, and all made fun of his disability, even though he had established himself financially by doing so. DO NOT GIVE UP YOUR ABILITY TO LIVE WELL FOR MONEY, safety is easy to do well and ignoring it will RUIN YOUR LIFE. You do not have to ruin your future to make a living. This is especially important to musicians. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 1380
Location: Central Oregon | Thanks Bailey, but hell, it's mostly my own damned fault. Another dumb thing - riding around in big packs of Harleys running straight pipes for 30 years. That probably didn't help much either. A lot of the guys wear ear plugs now, or helmets that cover their ears, but we were too stupid back when. Packs can get pretty noisey. Thirty or fourty Harleys going through downtown Portland between all those cement buildings on Saturday night would set off every car alarm we passed. Still do actually. Hehehe, what a racket! The people at the various taverns always knew we were coming :) So did the police...
Still, turning off the ringing would be nice. I guess they have a way to duplicate the sound wave in reverse pulse or something, thereby damping it out. I think.
Nils |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Seems like we are losing the original thread... any other "buzz fixin" ideas? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Actually even though the thread has taken a different direction it's an important subject. Musicians just don't pay enough attention to hearing protection. Coincidentlally I've just bought a UK guitar mag today that has a feature on hearing damage & puts some of the dB level/exposure times into context and it's pretty scary reading. For example, the maximum level you should expose yourself to without protection is 85dB (their example of 85dB is a vacuum cleaner and i think most of us play louder than the average vacuum cleaner at gig levels) Exposure to 85dB should be for a maximum of 8 hours. As dB levels increase exposure time decreases. Remember that a 3dB increase equates to a doubling of perceived volume.
This is where is starts to get scary. According to the article A 100 watt guitar amp at "gig volume" produces 100dB at 4 metres, exposure should be for a maximum of 15 minutes without a break. (Due to the logarithmic nature of the dB scale a 100watt amp is only twice as loud as a 10 watt amp) A snare drum can produce peaks of 112dB at 1.5metres and constant exposure should be less than a minute. How close do drumers sit to their snares? I SAID, HOW CLOSE DO DRUMMERS....... anyway you get the point. If you listen to amplified music or anything else loud without hearing protection you're asking for trouble. When I'm teaching in the recording studio at college & my students ask how loud is too loud, I tell them "if you're sitting in front of a pair of nearfield studio monitors & have to raise your voice to talk to the person next to you, you're going to damage yourself" Pretty much works for any situation |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 623
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Good points, Paul.
I did a report on tinnitus in early high school, and learned a lot of these facts early on. One good point that I learned was that if you think about many "old" people with hearing loss that you know, and consider that in their early years they didn't have loud rock music blaring on radios in their homes and cars or at concerts & clubs, and they didn't even have the quantity of traffic we do as normal part of everday noise. Still, they suffer from hearing loss-so how will we fare in our "later" years with all the abuse our ears get?
Luckily, now in my mid thirties, I still have good hearing-despite all the loud music I've encountered. Sometimes my hearing seems over sensitive.
It's interesting to me how certain frequencies can send me through the roof. A drummer playing solo in close proximaty hurts my ears (that snare!) but if the "band" starts playing along, I'm fine. Even though it's louder, the mesh of the different frequencies seems to mask the painful ones.
My mother's voice, when she is enthused, raises to a frequency the pierces my eardrums, and often is incredibly painful. It's not the volume, but the frequency. Maybe it's psycho-sematic! But often it will just catch me by surprise and make me flinch in pain. It doesn't bother anyone else, though.
If a concert is mixed well, I find I can listen at high volumes and not even suffer any muffled hearing or tinnitus afterward. But at a venue that is not condusive for sound, or if a concert is not mixed well, there are mid-range frequencies that actually will create a distorted buzz in my ear, which is painful.
Makes me wonder about the real cause of the damage, volume or sound frequencies.
Regardless, it's wise to consider protection as a musician.
Johnny |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 280
Location: Waterloo, IL | For me the hearing loss occurred from a bicycle accident. Hard head hitting harder concrete without the benefit of a helmet to cushion the blow causes major head damage. At least in my case the Navy has been spending your tax dollars for expensive hearing aids to help me out. However, I still can not hear as well as I could before the accident 12 years ago. That has not stopped me from trying to teach myself to play guitar. I haven't heard of any hearing aids that can cancel out the ringing in the ears. In my case that may be even more difficult as I hear three to six tones at the same time, and most will not hold a steady frequency. However, as long as I can still hear the strings strumming along, and maybe keep the wife tuned out while I am playing, I will be alright. :cool: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Johnny, damage is generally not frequency dependant, it's down to level & duration. All audible frequencies are potentially damaging.
Generally the human ear is especially sensitive to frequencies around 2.5KHz, which is roughly the resonant frequency of the ear canal in an adult, so that may be what you're experiencing. You can actually use that fact in a couple of ways. If you find that you can't get a vocal loud enough to cut through a band mix without it feeding back a 2-3db boost at 2.5K will generally lift it & improve intelligibility. Equally when asked by club owner to turn down, a 3db cut at 2.5K on the main graphic EQ, along with the sliders either side by 1 or 2 dB will generally keep him happy without you having to touch the faders. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Couldn't agree more!
I recently read an article regarding the Inuit People in Alaska who have been experiencing a dramatic increase in hearing loss in their young adult population... turn out that the cause has been the almost total silence when they are hunting on the ice packs and then the teriffic explosion of a high power rifle. The extreme contrast has had terrible results... so, beware the "Pete Towndend" Power Chords! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 623
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Interesting info, Paul. Thanks.
I guess I'll have to duct tape my mother's mouth shut for that 2.5khz frequency cut!
Chuck-
I hate, I repeat HATE wearing a bicycle helmet as an adult (after all I spent all of my teens doing crazy stunts on a BMX bike without one)...but I'm blessed to be alive now thanks to one. In '94 I was struck by a car while riding-WHACK! I'm flying through the air...BAM!...back of my head on the pavement, helmet split in half. I never considered someone else's incompetence on the road...always thought, "ah, I'm a good rider, I don't need a helmet."
I'm really sorry to hear you were severly injured in your cycling accident.
I am currently teaching a beginner guitar student who is severely hard of hearing without hearing aids in both ears. I am stunned with her dedication...her enthusiasm and motivation makes her by far THE BEST , most driven student I have ever had, 10x over. It's totally inspiring to know people with physical challenges (ones, we take for granted) busting their ass to be the best they can be.
Hats off to you both!
Johnny |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 3604
Location: Pacific Northwest Inland Empire | Chuck, remember free advice is worth about as much as you pay for it, but the "tuning out the wife" thing, hmmmmmm......you gotta sleep sometime, and she's gonna be around. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 280
Location: Waterloo, IL | Yes, the wife claims I have selective hearing. Either that, or I just use my handy remote and turn the hearing aids off. In reality, I would never do such a thing, but we do joke about it. She puts up with my GAS, that's how I got both the Balladeer and the Pacemaker, plus the other stuff I claim to need to be able to play better. Seems I never have enough music to play, have to buy another thick book of songs.
The worst part of not hearing well is not realizing how bad I may be playing. Of course, that is only bad for others trying to listen to me. :) However, it also makes it harder for me to improve when I don't hear the problems. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Hey guys
Take reasonable precautions, and enjoy yourselves, I'm ancient and have violated some safety things, I can hear OK, but I can't seem to make a 6 minute mile, I was slowed down by those damn waltz beat songs in the 50's, did you ever try to run a marathon in 3/4 time, or worse in polka time. The King of Siam said (when he wanted to get in Anna's pants), 1, 2, 3, slide, 1, 2, 3 slide; you never can get up to real speed with that pattern, so music, when done poorly, can really slow you down.
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Funny thing about this pesky buzz... it only happens when I put on fresh strings... after about 1-week it fades and I need to focus in order to hear it... really wondering about the "ear damage" from the old Les Paul days... perhaps a sympathetic harmonic in my eardrum??? |
|
| |
Body/Preamp Buzz?
