Your experiences with canary neck? Could it be lifeless?

[arjepsen]

Hey.
A few years back, I put together a "canary-caster". Body in ash w. unique canary top. Neck modern construction 59 fat back canary with ebony fingerboard.
Callaham tremolo, vintage gotoh tuners, earvana nut, fralin vintage hot pickups.

It's a real beauty to behold, but unfortunately the low E string has always sounded somewhat lifeless. (both open and fretted).
I think I've boiled it down to either the neck not resonating well with the low E string, or something up with the bridge.
Since I might either buy a new neck, or try a different tremolo (like the Gotoh/wilkinson VSVG), I just wanted to hear peoples experiences first.
If a new neck, I think I'd go for a vintage/modern construction (think I read about some people having "lifeless" issues with the modern construction necks), but I'm also wondering whether it could be the wood (canary) itself, that might not resonate as well as maple?

What are your experiences?

Regards
Anders

 

[bagman67]

Well, you're not gonna get a scientifically valid sample here, but here's my anecdotal story - I put together a telecaster with a mahogany body and a canary neck with maple fretboard, and it's got quite a bit of snap and harmonic complexity.  My guess is you have a bridge issue, or maybe a dud part.  Every once in a while a lemon rolls off the line, no matter what the lumber species.

 

[mayfly]

I've got two telecasters with canary necks, both modern construction.  Both have a lot of character and are a joy to play. 

I do have one kinda lifeless neck, and it's a vintage modern maple neck.  Not that it's terrible mind you, but it's just not as good as the others.  YMMV.

 

[Re-Pete]

Hey.
A few years back, I put together a "canary-caster". Body in ash w. unique canary top. Neck modern construction 59 fat back canary with ebony fingerboard.
Callaham tremolo, vintage gotoh tuners, earvana nut, fralin vintage hot pickups.

It's a real beauty to behold, but unfortunately the low E string has always sounded somewhat lifeless. (both open and fretted).
I think I've boiled it down to either the neck not resonating well with the low E string, or something up with the bridge.
Since I might either buy a new neck, or try a different tremolo (like the Gotoh/wilkinson VSVG), I just wanted to hear peoples experiences first.
If a new neck, I think I'd go for a vintage/modern construction (think I read about some people having "lifeless" issues with the modern construction necks), but I'm also wondering whether it could be the wood (canary) itself, that might not resonate as well as maple?

What are your experiences?

Regards
Anders

I have a guitar with a wood combination that just didn't work. Sounded too bright & sterile. After many trials of new pickups and control options I eventually went for an active EQ system that usually goes into a bass guitar. I can adjust the treble & bass responses and sort out the midrange frailty & the overbearing treble. If your guitar has a lacklustre bass response would an active EQ (and bump the bass up) be a solution?

Alternately have you checked the posts that the trem bridge secure to? Is it at all possible that the bass end post (assuming you have a two post bridge stud set up) could be a fraction loose in the threaded stud into the body and causing a loss of frequency response? Not enough to hear a rattle but enough to not be a tight fit.....

 

[Logrinn]

A very simple thing to do and try is to change the low E-string to one made of steel instead of the much more common nickel ones.

I find nickel strings are so much more lifeless compared to steel strings.

It's cheap and easy to do and might just do the trick.

 

[TBurst Std]

I love my canary neck. As only 1 string seems impacted, check your bridge.

 

[Cagey]

I have a couple Canary necks here without any issues, one with a Canary fretboard and one with Kingwood. They sound much like you'd expect from Maple necks. Logrinn's string alloy change idea is worth pursuit. You could even go whole-hog and put a set of stainless strings on there if you want to noticeably brighten it up across the board and improve your string life, although they will negatively affect your fret life if you're still using nickel/silver frets.

In the end, I suspect your bridge is to blame for your current situation. Either the affected string's saddle has a poorly-cut notch, or there's something soft/loose about its mount. A poorly-cut notch will often have a slight "sitar" effect on the sound which also affects sustain (shortens it), and will drive electronic tuners daffy.

 

[line6man]

Having a problem with one neck is not by any means a valid excuse to blame the wood species. Remember that every piece of wood is different. No two necks are the same, even if they are made of the same wood, or even if they are made from wood that came from the same tree.

 

[anorakDan]

Here's a thought a little out of left field; what about the nut? Maybe there's a problem with the notch in the nut?

 

[Cagey]

If it was the nut, the problem wouldn't occur with fretted notes.

Something else to consider, though: perhaps the neck is twisted. Depending on the direction of twist, the low or high E could end up with some unusually low action farther up the neck to where the string would try just barely fretting out, which rather than buzz tends to make it sound kinda dead.

Also, thrashers who set up their necks close to flat with super-low action often end up with guitars that sound dead acoustically, but are just fine when you run them through a compressor and an overdrive into a Marshall on 11.

 

[zebra]

I've had strings do that.  It might just need some tweaking between the relief via the truss rod and bridge height adjustment.