Quieting down rod/undercarriage clatter

Tim Russell · From: Pennsylvania, USA

I have a 40 yr. old Sierra D-10, and it is "whisper quiet", so I have gotten used to that...

I recently purchased a mid 2000's "modern" steel, brand name you all know, it even included splits, and I immediately noticed a major increase in undercarriage noise, over what I am used to hearing with the Sierra.

If I press the pedals very softly, not much noise, but at normal playing speed it is noisy and quite distracting. It was suggested to me that I could cut foam blocks & wedge them in the underside, and I have seen that on some guitars, but to me, that seems like a band-aid approach to a real problem.

When you pay 5 grand on a new guitar, you are expected to receive it with the noise/clatter and remedy it with foam blocks?

Also, the pedals are stiffer than my old guitar, (I thought being a newer model, they would be smoother/easier) and I'm thinking that foam will add additional drag, making them even stiffer.

I didn't want to mention the brand of steel, because overall, I consider this an awesome playing guitar, sounds great, and I don't want to badmouth a particular company.

Any thoughts/insight/suggestions on how to quiet things down underneath?
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Sierra Crown D-10

Henry Matthews · From: Texarkana, Ark USA

Tim, I would just check and see if the pickups are isolated from touching guitar body. You may can remedy it by a small piece of foam under pickup or even possibly an adjustment to make sure they aren't touching guitar body. Some pickups have springs isolating them from body or some other means. I had an older MSA that did that and I put a thin piece of foam between guitar body and the pickup.
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Henry Matthews

D-10 Magnum, 8 &5, dark rose color
D-10 1974 Emmons cut tail, fat back,rosewood, 8&5
Nashville 112 amp, Fishman Loudbox Performer amp, Hilton pedal, Goodrich pedal,BJS bar, Kyser picks, Live steel Strings. No effects, doodads or stomp boxes.

Darrell Birtcher · Posted 25 Apr 2017 10:57 am

I rebuilt a steel that exhibited some clatter under the hood due to the pull rods torquing and hitting other pull rods and bellcranks. I did not want to use foam mufflers because I can feel the drag they provide and I just don't think they should be necessary. I was able to adjust the spacing of everything so that it was very quiet. Took a lot of fine tuning but I'm proud of the results.

I also took a queue from Frank Carter and isolated as many metal-to-metal contact points as I could, utilizing nylon acorn nuts, nylon washers, etc. Makes it VERY quiet.

The relative stiffness of your pedals is likely a leverage thing. It's always a tradeoff. You can have a short throw with higher force required, or a long throw with less force. Different players want different things so one size doesn't fit all. There are lots of threads about reworking the linkage points on the cranks and changer to suit your preference.

Be sure everything is properly lubed too. Tri Flow Superior Lubricant works well for me.

Tim Russell · From: Pennsylvania, USA

Thanks for the insight, guys.

As far as the pickups isolated...this is an acoustic, metallic clatter noise, so it is not noise transmitted through the amp.

I don't like the idea of using foam at all, so I will go through the undercarriage with a fine comb and closely deterring where the noise is coming from. I almost get the feeling that a lot of it is from the pedal stops, clacking against that area.

I will look things over & report back. Any other suggestions welcome!
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Sierra Crown D-10

Darrell Birtcher · Posted 25 Apr 2017 1:10 pm

If you do have to resort to using any foam mufflers, try soaking them with silicone spray, then let them dry out, before final installation. The dry silicone will reduce the drag.

Tony Glassman · From: The Great Northwest

If it is a new guitar, call the builder for suggestions. I usually wouldn't obsess over mechanical sounds unless I'm in a studio setting and then I jam some foam in the undercarriage . Maybe that's because I've played push-pulls for many years. Tone and playability trump everything else in my book, so I adjust it to play as quiet as possible & live with whatever clanking remains. .

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

Aluminum rods seem to be noisier than the heavy stainless steel.
If the problem is pedal pulls hitting stops, you can get nylon "top hats" for the screws.
If the noise is the bellcrank/pullrod interface taking up the slack, I'd try applying a thin bit of "Plasti-Dip" to the mating surface of the rod.
If the noise is a metal spacer tube between tuning nut and scissor, try putting a thin Nylon washer.
Basically look for every place where metal taps metal, and interpose a bit of nylon or Plasti-dip. Sierra was brilliant in that metal never taps metal.
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2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Rick Abbott · From: Indiana, USA

I have an old Miller Custom. If left to its own devices it would be horribly loud underneath. The guy that set it up put rubber shrink-tubing, like you use in electronics, anywhere rods would clamor against each other or a neighboring metal part. This does wonders.
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RICK ABBOTT
Sho~Bud D-10 Professional #7962
Remington T-8, Wakarusa 5e3 clone
1953 Stromberg-Carlson AU-35

Billy Carr · From: Seminary, Mississippi, USA (deceased)

Common problem. Pedal stops, I use plastic or nylon washers and then cut them to where they stop that noise at the stops. Soldering gun works good for trimming. I move my pull rods to where there not rubbing or touching each other. Regular oiling seems to work for me also on moving parts. I do that once a month with string changes.

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