Newbe mistake #1: the case of a strange buzzing sound.

[Tavy]

I thought you guys might be amused by this one:

After I finished refretting my waldzither I thought I'd better string it up and see how it sounded/played. Everything was fine until I gave the strings some more force than usual (as in "lets test it to distruction and see if it buzzes"), and boy did it buzz, I mean not just buzz but rattle like the whole thing was going to explode at any moment!

It was only after I had the strings off again that I found the cause: I'd taped a large chunk of wood to the underside of the soundboard to act as a temorary reinforcement while putting the frets in the dusty end of the fingerboard, and of course I'd forgotten to take the thing out again :sleepy: Boy did it it rattle though :))

Any other war-stories out there?

John.

[Jim Rowland]

I strung up a newly finished mando and was disappointed in the sound. I had it strung up in white and remembered the sound as much clearer and louder. Couldn't figure it out for a few minutes until I discovered that I had left a couple of double trucks of newspaper wadded up inside.
Jim

[sunburst]

That's not a newbe mistake, it's a mistake anyone can make.
My friend Jeff Huss was at a festival and someone said "can you look at my guitar? I had to have the bridge re-glued and it hasn't sounded the same ever since.".
You guessed it, Jeff found a bridge clamping caul still taped in place inside the guitar.

[Chris Keth]

I built an electric guitar in high school and when it was all finished I strung it up and it sounded absolutely terrible. Tinny, the bass strings had nothing, just terrible. I set it down and walked away pretty pissed off. Later I came back and discovered that, in my excitement to string it up, I put a set of acoustic strings on it.

[Tavy]

LOL, well... after those replies I feel soooo much better :grin:

Cheers all, John.

[Chris Keth]

Yeah, everyone does dumb stuff. It's nice to commiserate.