Clanky D string with late '80s OFR

Good points…I can understand paying a premium if you KNOW it’s gonna have great tone….but even some of the custom shop stuff today can sound sterile and flat. Only vintage guitars that I’ve owned all had great tone; specifically the 83-85 Charvels
 
I tried raising the trem a full turn fully expecting it to go away but it's still there. I did check the frets up to the 12th and no high frets just a couple of slight low areas where I bend the G string a lot. In a way I'm glad it wasn't that because I really like this neck and if the lack of relief was going to make it unplayable I would have been really bummed. I also put the straightest edge I could find (unused guitar amp faceplate) on the fretboard and it layed perfectly flat, no gaps (using a flashlight behind) and I pressed on each end to see if the other end would rise but it didn't. The neck just seems flat/straight, not back bowed. I'm gonna slap the new trem on there and see what happens.

If nothing else Murphy's Law dictates that my Star body will be ready as soon as I put that new trem on another guitar.
 
I tried raising the trem a full turn fully expecting it to go away but it's still there. I did check the frets up to the 12th and no high frets just a couple of slight low areas where I bend the G string a lot. In a way I'm glad it wasn't that because I really like this neck and if the lack of relief was going to make it unplayable I would have been really bummed. I also put the straightest edge I could find (unused guitar amp faceplate) on the fretboard and it layed perfectly flat, no gaps (using a flashlight behind) and I pressed on each end to see if the other end would rise but it didn't. The neck just seems flat/straight, not back bowed. I'm gonna slap the new trem on there and see what happens.

If nothing else Murphy's Law dictates that my Star body will be ready as soon as I put that new trem on another guitar.
I hate doing this but you might want to get some locking nut shims. Why I hate doing this is because it is trial and error to find the right balance. I have a strat that the D string was doing the exact thing. Had to add one shim, tune it back up, add another shim and then play with the relief +/- and do this process a few times. Most of the times adjusting the Floyd height or playing with the neck relief is the key but sometimes the nut is too low. Also sometimes you need to shim the neck itself to either angle it downward or angle it upward. Sounds like you said that you already have the relief really loose and maybe you need to mechanical shim the nut or the neck and then you can tighten the truss rod back up to compensate the other way for the mechanical shimming. I know this is a huge headache with Floyd equipped guitars but at times it is a necessary evil. Most guitars that have given me grief with singular problems like this end up being the sweetest sounding guitars in the end because from sheer determination and trial/error you have gotten the string height and neck relief just perfect and the harmonics just jump out.

Another area is the spring tension on your actual Floyd. I block all mine so they don't float but having the springs too tight on a blocked Floyd also affect your tone and feel of the strings.

Sorry for all of the options to look at but I speak unfortunately from dumb luck myself and have experienced most of these anomalies. Robert
 
I hate doing this but you might want to get some locking nut shims. Why I hate doing this is because it is trial and error to find the right balance. I have a strat that the D string was doing the exact thing. Had to add one shim, tune it back up, add another shim and then play with the relief +/- and do this process a few times. Most of the times adjusting the Floyd height or playing with the neck relief is the key but sometimes the nut is too low. Also sometimes you need to shim the neck itself to either angle it downward or angle it upward. Sounds like you said that you already have the relief really loose and maybe you need to mechanical shim the nut or the neck and then you can tighten the truss rod back up to compensate the other way for the mechanical shimming. I know this is a huge headache with Floyd equipped guitars but at times it is a necessary evil. Most guitars that have given me grief with singular problems like this end up being the sweetest sounding guitars in the end because from sheer determination and trial/error you have gotten the string height and neck relief just perfect and the harmonics just jump out.

Another area is the spring tension on your actual Floyd. I block all mine so they don't float but having the springs too tight on a blocked Floyd also affect your tone and feel of the strings.

Sorry for all of the options to look at but I speak unfortunately from dumb luck myself and have experienced most of these anomalies. Robert
Naw man give me all you got! Thanks I appreciate it. I suppose it could be the nut but it has a gap between strings and first fret when I fret the third fret. And I have other guitars that have lower nuts with no issues. The ones I've cut myself are lower and don't have any issues. I had to sand the shelf down a lot to accommodate the new R3 nut, apparently the old ones are shorter. So I stopped just short of perfect, at least I thought I did. It's probably the highest nut of all my guitars but still intonates fine.

I do have 4 springs in it and it floats. I like 4 springs because it reduces the pitch change during bends a little and I don't 'flutter' much.
 
Naw man give me all you got! Thanks I appreciate it. I suppose it could be the nut but it has a gap between strings and first fret when I fret the third fret. And I have other guitars that have lower nuts with no issues. The ones I've cut myself are lower and don't have any issues. I had to sand the shelf down a lot to accommodate the new R3 nut, apparently the old ones are shorter. So I stopped just short of perfect, at least I thought I did. It's probably the highest nut of all my guitars but still intonates fine.

I do have 4 springs in it and it floats. I like 4 springs because it reduces the pitch change during bends a little and I don't 'flutter' much.
Try a new nut before going too crazy. That was usually my issue with a pinched or plinking string. I could see nothing wrong with the nut. Even after filing it still had the issue in most of my cases. I figured it was just a faulty made nut. There not as consistent as some may think. 90% of the time a new nut fixed. Of course there are other things that cause weird notes, which I have had as well.
 
Try a new nut before going too crazy. That was usually my issue with a pinched or plinking string. I could see nothing wrong with the nut. Even after filing it still had the issue in most of my cases. I figured it was just a faulty made nut. There not as consistent as some may think. 90% of the time a new nut fixed. Of course there are other things that cause weird notes, which I have had as well.
This is a new nut. Which is not a total waste because the original was R2 and I prefer R3, I've been wanting to swap it. Regarding this noise, the new nut made zero difference. And as mentioned above, I had to sand the shelf alot and left room just to make sure I didn't go too far. This new nut is higher than the old nut was.
 
This is a new nut. Which is not a total waste because the original was R2 and I prefer R3, I've been wanting to swap it. Regarding this noise, the new nut made zero difference. And as mentioned above, I had to sand the shelf alot and left room just to make sure I didn't go too far. This new nut is higher than the old nut was.
Yes I had to do same thing when I went from r2 to r3. The R3 is slightly wider and taller.
I would bring your guitar to luthier and get him to level and crown frets and ask him to fix the plunky d problem if still there after.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe there is a shim under the saddle that is not sitting properly or something?

Lol I am dying to know what it is. Hoping you figure out and let us know!
 
Try a new nut before going too crazy. That was usually my issue with a pinched or plinking string. I could see nothing wrong with the nut. Even after filing it still had the issue in most of my cases. I figured it was just a faulty made nut. There not as consistent as some may think. 90% of the time a new nut fixed. Of course there are other things that cause weird notes, which I have had as well.
Replying to this twice because I wanted to mention that I use either a magnifying glass or use my phone camera (slo motion works great) to look right at the nut and look for movement when I play or move the string. I fixed the previous nut from shitty intonation by inspecting it like that.
 
Yes I had to do same thing when I went from r2 to r3. The R3 is slightly wider and taller.
I would bring your guitar to luthier and get him to level and crown frets and ask him to fix the plunky d problem if still there after.

The only other thing I can think of is maybe there is a shim under the saddle that is not sitting properly or something?

Lol I am dying to know what it is. Hoping you figure out and let us know!
I originally leveled and crowned the frets and they are still good I think. It feels great and this noise doesn't happen always but start doing any Van Halen-y hard playing including hard pulls to the open D and just CLANK! Imagine the intro to I'm the One. :LOL: That first flurry of open pull offs ends with a big CLANK!

Anybody have Dave Onorato's contact? Please don't make me instaface.
 
This is a new nut. Which is not a total waste because the original was R2 and I prefer R3, I've been wanting to swap it. Regarding this noise, the new nut made zero difference. And as mentioned above, I had to sand the shelf alot and left room just to make sure I didn't go too far. This new nut is higher than the old nut was.
Is the neck compound radius or flat? If compound, the nut might look good as we always typically look a the string clearance on the first few frets on the E, A strings but the D and G are inherently pretty close to the frets on a compound neck.

Call me crazy but another area to look at is your Floyd Rose fine tuning plate (the part that moves up and down with the fine tuners. Sometimes these wear out or the Floyd saddles get bound up and even though the string stays in tune, the retainer plate does travel up and down properly under the fine tuners and reverberates that clanking sound on open chords.

I know I just exposed a whole "rabbits hole" of possibilities but with Floyd systems as great as they are and I have one on every guitar I own even Les Pauls, they can cause a myriad of issues like you are having with. By the time you are done with this you will either be a luthier or will have a guitar that looks like Paul Stanley smashed at the the end of a Kiss show. LOL
 
Is the neck compound radius or flat? If compound, the nut might look good as we always typically look a the string clearance on the first few frets on the E, A strings but the D and G are inherently pretty close to the frets on a compound neck.
Straight 12". Almost all my guitars are.
 
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