keeping strings from ringing out...

matty42

I find that with the floating hand technique in gypsy jazz, I get a lot of ringing from the open strings when playing lead lines. Do others have a problem with this? I so, what do you do to cure it?

MichaelHorowitz

What guitar do you own?

A dry guitar like a Dupont helps a lot. The Asian stuff tends to ring a lot whereas Duponts and many of the fine vintage guitars are much clearer. There will always be some overtone ringing and sympathetic resonance, but some guitars do it more than others.

Also, rest strokes help as they mute the next highest string.

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matty42

Right now I have a Gitane D-500 that I play the most. Also, I have a John Jorgenson signature, with the small sound hole, also by Gitane. The Jorgenson rings a lot too, but I dont play that one as much. It has been very buzzy, and I am working on getting it more humidified.

MichaelHorowitz

No matter what you do the Sagas will never be very dry....they are prone to overtone ringing, more so than most.

Bones

Yeah, I have as yet to find a guitar that is conpletely free from that. It is the harmonic (like the hi E string starts the low E string to start ringing etc).

It's inherent with the free hand style since there is no palm muting on the lower (bass) strings while playing lead lines on the upper strings.

There was a thread a while back about this. I use little o-rings on the top of the bridge to help damp out the bass strings but this also cuts down on volume of those strings a bit.

Steveareno

I think the little piece of leather or felt under the tailpiece helps. Some guitars don't come stock with this, but it seems it would be fairly easy to insert one. I noticed an archtop player had a piece of leather wrapped around the neck at the nut, under the strings but making contact, just north of the nut. I think it was to suppress overtones. My Dell Arte Latcho Drom (older one made by John Kinnard) is fairly dry, but all SelMacs I have tried have been quite resonant.
Swang on,