Itās not that I am not acclimated to high string bends; itās just that the sounds of the bends starting from the 16th fret and above are beginning to sound sonorously clinky, i.e., like playin an electric guitar without electrical amps or outputs, just how it would typically sound plugged outta a sound system. I couldnāt help but think of this issue as characteristically mechanical and āā from within.
Can anyone help chip in some suggestions, please?
I own a Fender Squier Sonic Bullet Strat, 1982, Second-hand ($16K).
Done that on several occasions, but all in vain. I do feel with most surety, it has something to do with pickups - (opinion). The reason for espousing such a belief is that allās going well until you hit post 16 frets, and also primarily affects the tone and produces instead a metallic-clinky or off-putting sound
I canāt offer anything on the pickups. Iāve only just started venturing up that end of the neck - which is when I found that I needed to raise the action as notes werenāt ringing out properly.
I donāt suppose so.
Throughout the years Iāve been playing in different pickups every now and then, I think the difference is negligible to my ears.
So it stays the same throughout, irrespective of which pickup number Iām playing in, if thatās what u meant.
Is that the fret where the neck joins to the body? Check the neck, does it have a hump or are the frets higher.
Try raising the saddle on those two strings a bit and see if that makes a difference.
I donāt think itās pick ups if the same thing is happening with both.
How is your intonation? Do you āloseā tuning towards the higher end?
Pickup height is worth experimenting with.
Check if the bend is almost chocking on a fret - are frets level, or you can rock a credit card acros three consecutive frets? Edit. cross posted with you.
bending on higher frets require very good technique as usually we have to adjust well known hand position a bit, especially on single cut guitars. It might be your technique.
It would be good to hear / watch a video - hard to diagnose a sound with words.
One other thought though - if you donāt do a lot of bends on the higher frets itās possible the frets are a bit oxidised and rough - might be worth a quick polish.
I think itās a purely mechanical problem. 1st check your truss rod. You must have that correctly adjusted before anything else. Essential.
Then you need to check the frets. Itās likely to do with frets and action at the higher frets. You get this when bending on high frets if the guitar isnāt well set up and the frets are not totally level and the action is too low. It is common with some low cost guitars.
Itās unlikely to be the pickups. But if you suspect the pickups the only thing possible is that they are way too high and the magnetic field is pulling on the strings. So just lower them right down as far as possible before you do the whole set up to rule them out as a factor influencing the sound.
No worries, thanks for giving your five-cents though.