Happy New Year, everybody.

I got a new 2010 Fender American Standard Strat from Guitar Center about a month ago. I've noticed an undesirable vibrating noise at times when I play (BTW - I'm a novice currently taking lessons). I realize that sometimes I'm not fretting the notes properly but at others, I'm certain it is because of the guitar (note, it was not set up after my purchase).

My guitar teacher said the vibrations may be because the air in my apartment is dry, affecting the guitar. I thought about buying a humidifier but then read things that indicated that electric guitars do not benefit all that much from humidifiers - it's only beneficial for acoustics.

What's your take? Thanks for any feedback.

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Vince
2010 Fender American Standard Strat
3-Tone Sunburst
Maple Fretboard
Line 6 Amp

Guitars like any other thing made of wood are affected by changes in humidity.Ideally you woud like to see 45-50 percent.I think most beneficial would be a good setup.Every guitar should have one right out of the gate.That way you can eliminate the guitar as the source of the problem and concentrate on your technique instead.

That all largely depends on where you live. We in the UK don't suffer humidity problems, if you live on the Nile, you're going to suffer some dry air.

What he says regarding electrics not being affected like acoustics rings partialy true to my mind. I just don't see how moisture can get into or escape a sealed and painted electric guitar body. Is that much moisture going to get in through the scratchplate screwholes?
The neck, yeah it can be affected, plenty of people buy a guitar in the summer to find it doing horrible things in the winter.
Acoustic guitars have lots of exposed wood in the soundbox so are more prone to the effects of humidity. To say that a electric guitar isn't subject to humidity is just wrong though.

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No no and no

Hi Vincenzo, welcome to the forum. All guitars react to changes in humidity/temperature settings. The first thing is a proper set up for the guitar to perform normally. If you can avoid abrupt temperature changes, then humidity is a minor factor in the picture because it will affect the guitar over a longer period of time. A good set up cost about $40.00 to $50.00 around here. Some guitar techs will prefer you to take the guitar and play it at home for a few weeks before they perform the set up. The reason for this is that the guitar will react first and then acclimate itself to its regular environement, assuming that it will remain mostly in this location. Good luck.
Claude.

You may want to get the guitar set up. You're not very specific about the vibrating noise, but it could be from various things, most of which will be cured with a proper set up. I noticed when I got my strat the higher strings had a weird vibration to them that was very shrill to my ears. Changing the strings cured that. When they do a set up, your strings will be changed as part of the process.

Just a thought but is it more like a warble sound? Almost like a pulsating sound? You will get a warble sound when one note is not in tune with another. Check to make sure your open tuning is good, and your intonation is set correctly.