Why does my acoustic guitar sound bad

Not only is it a borderline health code violation, excessive buildup of grease and oils from our fingers will dampen the sound of the strings and decrease the life of a new set of strings drastically. Keep your acoustic guitar clean, and it will repay you by sounding crystal clear, warm and bright.

Also keep your guitar clean because it will keep people from thinking you crawled out of a hole in your backyard. Yeah, the one behind the shed. We know about your hole back there Derek. Fret buzz can be a real pain and kill any good tone coming from your acoustic guitar. Even if everything is right on a guitar, a little fret buzz can make the whole thing sound like metal trash can in a demolition derby. To check this, tune up your guitar in standard tuning.

No slowly and methodically play every note on the guitar. Listen carefully for notes that sound different, or tinny. This metallic sound is most often due to low or high frets. While fretwork can be done at home, this is typically a job for your guitar tech. Fretwork should be left to the experts. As wood changes humidity and temperature it moves at different rates than the frets in the fingerboard.

These different movements can cause a neck to become out of alignment which often results in fret buzz. Oftentimes, the fix is a simple setup. A qualified guitar tech will be able to determine in minutes what is going on and how much work is needed if you are experiencing fret buzz.

Just to reiterate and beat this point into the ground, make sure you have a fresh set of strings on your guitar before you start looking for fret issues. A bad string can sound like a low or high fret. As the coils of a string start to unwind they can produce all sorts of nasty metallic overtones. You could waste a lot of money by taking your guitar to a tech when all that was needed was a string change.

Always start there. How do you know if you have nut problems on your acoustic guitar? Does the sound of the guitar get better? The nut is the piece of material that the strings run over on their way to the tuners that are mounted on the headstock. Most guitar nuts have slots cut into them which the strings run through. I saw most nuts act this way because of the fabled zero fret which in essence pulls the nut out of the equation, using it only directing the strings to the tuners.

This pinching muffles what should be the clear tone of the open string, and can also induce weird harmonics that sound sharp and biting. While it may be tempting to take your guitar to a tech to do this, it can be very rewarding to learn how to do this yourself. Nut slot tools are not too expensive, and the repair work itself not too difficult. At any rate, an improperly cut or worn out nut can cause strange harmonics, buzzing, muffling, intonation and tuning issues.

A properly cut nut will make your acoustic guitar sound better. Now on the other end of the guitar we have the saddle and all of the associated problems that can come with that. Similar to the nut, the guitar strings break their plane over this and are secured down into the body of the guitar in the bridge.

If there is something incorrect with where and how the saddle touches the string, then all types of strange sounds and problems can occur. Unlike the nut, while the top of the saddle is easy to inspect to determine if there is too much wear, how the saddle sits in the bridge saddle slot makes a big difference on the tone of the guitar and is often overlooked.

First, loosen the guitar strings and pull them out of the way to the side. Now take a close look at the top of the saddle where the strings run over it and into the bridge. There might be very small divots from the wear of the string, but these should be fairly insignificant.

When the pickup is sandwiched between the saddle and the bridge, it needs to be fully and evenly in contact along its entire length. If you can see light or gaps at the outside ends, then the saddle needs to be flattened.

While removing the saddle, take note of how tightly it fits in the slot. If the saddle is too tight, it can bind or seize in the slot, preventing the even pressure that the pickup needs. If the saddle is too tight, sand the faces lightly with or higher grit paper until it fits as described above.

If you are still experiencing balance issues but the saddle is perfectly straight and flat, then the next possible culprit is the saddle slot itself.

Most flat-top guitars are not really flat—some have gently domed tops engineered in during construction, while others were built flat but have bulged forward from string pressure. Some amount of this is normal and is generally considered the sign of a responsively built instrument. However, this top distortion can sometimes result in a flexed bridge, which could mean that the bottom of the slot has taken on a convex shape.

If you have a competent luthier nearby, they can often reroute the saddle slot to create a flat surface if the top has flexed too far. It may be necessary to use jacks or other braces inside the guitar to simulate the string pressure on the top, so the slot can be flattened accurately.

Saddles and nuts are usually made from plastic, graphite, or bone sometimes brass can also be used and they vary in quantity. For example, plastic is much less dense than graphite or bone and as a result, there is less of the energy produced by the strings that are transferred to the soundboard.

The soundboard is what is mainly responsible for the sound a guitar produces. If you have a guitar that has either a plastic saddle or nut or both, a pretty simple way to fix this problem is t upgrade to graphite or bone.

Once you have completed the full inspection, you can take note of any issues that you may have, and then decide if this is something that you can fix by yourself, or if you do indeed need to seek the help of a professional.

If you are not sure, the next section will give you some more insight into common tone problems that are simple to fix. The easiest way to solve a fret buzz is to change the strings of your guitar, or you could consider having a professional sort out the guitar setup. This is something that a professional will be able to help you with. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Sitemap - Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy.

Identifying The Issue In order to fix the issues with any acoustic guitar sound , you need to identify the specific issues. Here is a list of a few things that you could be experiencing with your guitar: Your guitar sounds as if it is out of tune and in need of guitar tuners, but only in certain places on the neck.

Your guitar goes out of tune quickly. You hear a buzzing sound, especially when you strum hard. You find that your guitar is rattling when you play, especially when you strum.

The tone lacks clarity and sounds muddy. You need to look at the following when inspecting your guitar: Do you see any cracks in your guitar?