Popping/cracking when using vibrato bar

[Metalhex]

IIRC, it happens when I pull up on the bar; as in up in note pitch. I sometimes hear a pop or a crack sound. Cant tell if its coming from the nut or bridge area. LTD M1000 deluxe is the guitar.

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it? Thank you.

 

[Metalhex]

Bump

 

[Devin]

My buddy's Bernie Rico Jekyll did this, and he brought it to me to see if I could sort it out. It ended up being the mounting screws for the floyd rose nut - tightened those up and the noise went away

 

[Metalhex]

My buddy's Bernie Rico Jekyll did this, and he brought it to me to see if I could sort it out. It ended up being the mounting screws for the floyd rose nut - tightened those up and the noise went away

Thanks I will give it a try.

About how tight though? Mine arent super tight but maybe snug or a little more

 

[Inearthed]

Ugh - this type of thing is such a pain in the ass to track down, haha. One other really quick thing to check would be muting the springs with either some foam or tubing to see if that's potentially the source - hell you could even just hold your hand over the springs under the guitar while manipulating the bar to see if that helps it at all. I had a Jackson a number of years ago that had one especially noisy spring out of the 3.

Does it make the sound every single time? Also when you release the bar, does everything return to pitch or is a specific string flat / sharp while the others are all flat/sharp in the opposite direction?

 

[Metalhex]

Ugh - this type of thing is such a pain in the ass to track down, haha. One other really quick thing to check would be muting the springs with either some foam or tubing to see if that's potentially the source - hell you could even just hold your hand over the springs under the guitar while manipulating the bar to see if that helps it at all. I had a Jackson a number of years ago that had one especially noisy spring out of the 3.

Does it make the sound every single time? Also when you release the bar, does everything return to pitch or is a specific string flat / sharp while the others are all flat/sharp in the opposite direction?

Not every single time i use the bar but most times. A string or two might go slightly out of tune sometimes when that happens but overall it stay mostly in tune (none of that makes sense I know).

I swear it sounds like its coming from the headstock area like the nut but then sometimes I'm just not sure.

 

[PDC]

Depending on how many miles are on the lock nut, the blocks will develop grooves where they clamp over the strings. If you get one turned around - middle D/G block for example - the groove / witness mark from the D string is enough larger than the G string that the G will shift forward and backward under tension. Usually when pulling up. This will make the soft tick or even a slight ping when the string shifts - and then it is out of tune, too. This can happen with any of the 3 clamping blocks. I have gently filed the clamping face of the blocks with some success, but as cheap as they are, I would not hesitate to replace them if worn.

 

[Devin]

Thanks I will give it a try.

About how tight though? Mine arent super tight but maybe snug or a little more

To be clear I'm talking about the screws that actually bond the nut to the neck - not the string clamp screws.

The screws I'm talking about will either be going through the back of your neck, or they will be underneath the string clamps.

If those are the problem they will be noticeably loose