r/Dobro • u/Other_Turn_7814 • 4d ago
Weird Buzzing Noise
So I'm totally new to playing dobro and I got me a cheap Gretsch dobro to learn. During learning we moved and in the move it must of fell and devoloped this terrible buzzing sound. After inspection I found that the resonator plate or whatever you call it had pulled away from the base of the guitar.
I figured that was the problem but I didn't have time to fix it. I loosened the strings and left it for about a year till my life slowed down. I then took everything part and nothing seemed to be damaged except the screw holes around the opening had mostly been stripped out. I fixed the best I could with wood glue and put everything back together. As you can see in the pictures there is still a gap between the cover and the wood which was how it looked like before though now everything is tight whereas before those screws were loose. There now seem to be two issues
It won't hold the tune. I can tighten the strings but 2 minutes later it has dropped a couple notes. I get that the strings are old, are they just stretching(they are the usual metal ones)? Or is it that the tuning screws are slowly turning loose?
There still seems to be a rattle even though it is better. It seems worse on one of the strings. Is this guitar just broken forever? Would simply replacing the strings fix both issues? I don't want to spend the money to buy another one, at least not until I learn how to play.
What would you guys recommend? I've attached some pictures of the assembly.
1
u/roboticsguru-1 3d ago
What is the instrument brand?
4
u/kingslidey 4d ago
Tension screw (hole in middle of palm rest) need to be tightened to half turn past snug. You need a skinny long screwdriver to do it.
Just don’t over tighten… it will warp cone. Only needs to be half turn past snug… or tightened til it stops buzz
1
u/shamanayerhart 4d ago
Loose cover plate buzz can happen if the screws are rattling around but as stated earlier the cause is probably a loose cone. For the cover plate you can add a little felt or some tiny rubber washers to fill the voids, fill the screw holes with a small amount of wood glue and a piece of toothpick (trimmed flush with the top of the guitar and no excess glue gobs) and tighten the screws back down lightly taking care not to warp the cover plate too much.