Agile Epic 625 Ring Coming From Strings Between Tuners And Nut

Hi there. I recently acquired an Agile Epic 625. This one: https://www.rondomusic.com/product9786.html

The neck is VERY nice. The baked maple fretboard is quite smooth but has that notorious sort of "felty" feel to it. I am not for sure if the neck is baked as well. It is satin finish and much darker than normal maple. So I guess it is too? Not for sure...

Anyway, my only real complaint about the guitar is that there is a rather annoying ring that comes from the strings between the tuning pegs and the nut. So if I strum the open strings and then immediately mute them, there is a metallic ringing sound. This is heard even with the guitar unplugged, so it isn't a pickup issue. If I place my fingers across the strings in between the nut and tuning pegs, the sound completely disappears.

So I have two questions:

• Do other owners of the Agile Epic 625 experience the same thing?
• Is there any fix that can be done to the guitar? (I don't want to place felt woven between the strings or those gaudy string dampeners from Gruv Gear.)

I can only assume that it is an issue with the nut being either too loose or too tight and/or an issue with the angle from the nut to the tuning pegs. Nothing seems amiss, so I am curious if this is a design flaw that all Epic 625's have or if there's something wrong with mine.

Thanks!

 

Replacing the nut would be the 1st thing I would do as it is the easiest! Get the Tusq graphite but make sure you measure first! If that doesn’t work, you still made an improvement on the instrument (better sustain & tuning!) next stop would be either string trees or saddles & bridge...lastly, tailpiece bolts and finally tuners.... notice this order goes from easiest/cheapest to hardest/most expensive fixes! Good
Luck!


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I once repaired an AL-2000 with that problem, one of the tuners was loose.

 

That's a lot of work. And I am not one to really modify a guitar to that extent. By the time I do all that, I could just buy an Ibanez with a baked maple fretboard or a Jackson with an ebony fretboard. A brand new Jackson Pro Series Dinky DK2 is all but $500. A baked maple Ibanez is a just a little more than that at $700.

 

I will go and try that. However, the metallic ringing doesn't seem to be down to one string though. But I guess it's possible it's the tuner ringing and then imparting that on the strings through the headstock.

I tested it on my other guitars (Gibson, Ibanez, and Parker) just to make sure I am not being unreasonably picky. They all had similar rings to an extent, but they were all much less "metallic" or "ringing" if that makes sense. Basically, they weren't as loud and didn't get picked up by the pickups. The ring on this one is very noticeable both unplugged and plugged in.

I'll go test the tuners.

 

Have you changed the strings?

 

1. Change the strings
2. Check tuners/nut for looseness or funny business
3. The traditional fix is to tie a scarf around the headstock, or stuff a tissue under the strings.

 

well, i just went through and tightened all the tuners. nothing was really loose, but i was able to tighten them all down. however, no change in the ringing.

 

what will this change besides just changing something? it seems it would change how the strings are wrapped around the pegs and maybe the thickness or thinness of the string sitting in the nut. but is there something else?

 

does anyone else actually own an epic 625? does yours have this issue?

(by the way, i checked the tuners and tightened them. there was no change.)

 

It will change out old or garbage strings that may have shipped with the guitar. Are these the original strings?

 

Factory strings are famously garbage. Similarly, strings that are just 'old' can have tons of issues. With any guitar, it's rule of thumb #1 is to change the strings because this makes 9 out of 10 problems disappear.

The issue you describe was common to a lot of shredder guitars in the 80s. That's why it was popular to tie a scarf around the headstock or stuff tissue under the strings. Tissue also gets stuffed under the sPrings in the rear cavity if you have a tremolo, because the springs can also vibrate and make noise.

 

@Klisk had a Agile Epic 625 but sent it back. It had much worse issues than yours. He was here for a week last July just to bitch about it and we haven't seen him since.

https://www.aguitarforum.com/threads/just-bought-the-agile-epic-625.101139/

 

I recently had a stubborn high pitched buzz on only certain frets of a yard sale electric guitar I bought. Turned out the truss rod nut was barely loose and made noise at certain frequencies. Tightened it just slightly as neck was already perfect, and all buzz went away.

Additionally. I had a brand new Epiphone Nighthawk Custom Reissue with bad fret buzz. Was suggested by a well known local Luthier to change out factory strings. He said many guits ship with garbage strings and that would likely fix mine. I followed his advice, and the buzz went away.

 

Yep just seems like an issue with the nut (possibly with the slots). I would just take it to a tech, probably a very cheap and easy fix (and honestly to be expected given the insane features on this guitar at that cheap a price). I have an Agile Epic as well that I grabbed used from Guitar Center (the green satin one) and it's a killer guitar!

 

I take it yours didn't or doesn't have this issue?

And yes, the neck is insanely good on the guitar. The pickups are certainly high output as well. Some things aren't perfect, but it's pretty dope, especially at this price. However, there are some $500 Jackson DK2 guitars, brand new, on Reverb that are catching my eye, where the total package is probably much tighter than the Agile. Although, reverse headstock...

 

Yeah reverse headstocks are a pain.

As you can tell from my avatar, I prefer the downward-dongle.

 

Nope, the only issue mine had was it was missing one of the springs/screws for one of the saddles but i suspect the previous owner just lost it. Replaced it with a miscolored one and never bothered getting the right color .

Rest of the guitar is fantastic, from fretwork to the neck and tuning stability. I ditched the pickups in favor of a Bareknuckle Holy Diver neck and Dimarzio Steve Special bridge and it sounds huge now.

Crap pic:

 

Foam behind the nut?

 

So let's ask again here. Are these the factory strings?