I have five guitars and only have this particular proplem on my American Standard Strat. The low E string makes a peculiar sound through the amp when plucked, kinda like a wah effect. I always thought it was related to the pick up post being too far to the side and that was causing the weird sound issues. I was ready to change pickups. But I got a magnifying glass and watched the strings and only the low E on this guitar behaved this way. When plucked it would fan own and get thin, then fan out again and get thin again repeatedly and not just slowly settle down like the rest. Everything seems normal. Can anyone explain why this one string vibrates so unusually?

Have you tried changing the string? Bad ones do get by QC. I have a habit of running my new string(s) through my fingers just before re-stringing, feeling for burs or aberrations. Just a thought.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

My guess is you have the string too close to the pickup causing magnetic resonance. I have had this happen several times. Try lowering the pickup and if need be, lower all of them accordingly, so the volume of each stays fairly equal.

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

When you say the string fans out and then gets thin and then fans out again I assume you are referring to the width of the vibration path getting wider and thinner. If this is what you are referring to it is not physically possible for a vibrating string to lose energy and then recover energy. It is an optical illusion. The string's vibrational axis is rotating. For a moment it vibrates side to side but as the axis rotates the string then changes so it is vibrating up and down which makes it appear under your magnifying glass that it is stopping. As the axis rotates back to a side to side motion it appears to start vibrating again. Your magnifying glass is giving you a 2 dimensional view but like all things in the real world the string is a 3 dimensional object. This difference in rotational axis will have a definite affect on the loudness and tone of the pickup's output. As it vibrates up and down it will alternate between much closer to and much farther from the magnetic pole pieces and as it vibrates side to side it will be at a more uniform distance. It is only natural that the sound will oscillate. There is something different about the angle of attack when you pluck the 6E string than all the other strings. This is possible because you have better access to that side and bottom of that string than all the others. It is very likely you are plucking it at a 45° upward angle and all the other strings at close to a 90° side ways angle. This is the most likely explanation as it is not physically possible for a vibrating string to lose energy and then recover that energy back again.

_________________

Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Frankly, I think you simply have a bad string.

_________________
You dig?

The guitar came with nine's and I just couldn't intonate that string, also. I had no room left to make it shorter. I don't know if that had anything to do with it. I just changed strings, but switched to 10's and after a minor adjustment to the set-up, it appears to have solved the problem. It was probably a bad string, but the intonating problem made me want to try the 10's. Thanks for the replies, everything helps, sometimes.

Glad you have it sorted out Fossilman.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

I'm glad to hear that it was as simple a problem as just changing the string. Less hassle the better

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/guitarmike26

Free & Easy Down the Road I Go