Properly setting up an Epi LP?

robgilmo

Its been ages and ages since I set one of these up, need to lower the neck relief, and tips on what process I should follow? Stop bar height and bridge height? I seem to remember being able to deck the stop bar on my last Epi LP. 

robgilmo

Guys, I need to adjust the truss rod on this, is clockwise to flatten the board?

Danielsguitars

Righty tighty lefty loosey as they say, when in front of the headstock looking towards the body

Tighten it to reduce relief and flatten a board loosen to increase it

robgilmo

Thankyou, it feels tightish but moves consistently and seems to work Ok, I doubt this has been adjusted in quite some time, what would you suggest, quarter turn, wait for half an hour , check then adjust again if needs be?

robgilmo

Forgot to mention, I need to reduce relief so no string tension to compensate. 

kt66

My general rule of thumb with strings off, is get neck straight, then put strings on and that tension should add enough relief. Easier to do with strings on

robgilmo

I did just that, flattened the neck then added tension with the strings. Im working on the action now but it seems that the nut was cut a little deep hence the need for the high relief to compensate, Its all back together now and sat to rest a while but it looks like it will need a new nut, when I fret the third there is no gap at all on the first, this has put the bridge a little higher than I would like it to be but the good thing is there is no fret buzz even with quite a low action. Even with a higher than I would like bridge the stop bar is decked with plenty of clearance on the back of the saddles, it does make the strings quite tight though, well , at least compared to my Tele.

Adey

Can you just put a shim under the nut to sort out the over cutting? I've just used thick paper in the past. Does the job.

But a low nut should only affect the first fret. Once you fre the strings the nut is out of play and the string height and neck relief then take over.

Funkfingers

If the stock Epiphone nut is plastic, this would be the ideal time to replace it with something better. 

Stop bar adjustment is there to govern string tension. Set it wherever you think best. Just ensure that the strings clear the edge of the Tune-o-Matic bridge.

thegummy

Funkfingers said:

If the stock Epiphone nut is plastic, this would be the ideal time to replace it with something better. 

Better in what way?

A guy who's done some very good guitar work for me didn't seem to think the different nut materials made any difference.

p90fool

robgilmo said:

I did just that, flattened the neck then added tension with the strings. Im working on the action now but it seems that the nut was cut a little deep hence the need for the high relief to compensate, Its all back together now and sat to rest a while but it looks like it will need a new nut, when I fret the third there is no gap at all on the first, this has put the bridge a little higher than I would like it to be but the good thing is there is no fret buzz even with quite a low action. Even with a higher than I would like bridge the stop bar is decked with plenty of clearance on the back of the saddles, it does make the strings quite tight though, well , at least compared to my Tele.

String tension should be lower than your Tele if you're using the same strings, as the scale length is shorter. 
Why do you need to deck the tailpiece? It's adjustable, insisting it must be decked is like insisting a car seat has to be all the way forward. 

ICBM

thegummy said:

Better in what way?

A guy who's done some very good guitar work for me didn't seem to think the different nut materials made any difference.

He’s wrong.

Although you need to qualify what you mean by ‘plastic’ - some types are excellent, some are crap.

Blaendulais

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Better in what way?

A guy who's done some very good guitar work for me didn't seem to think the different nut materials made any difference.

He’s wrong.

Although you need to qualify what you mean by ‘plastic’ - some types are excellent, some are crap.

He probably meant you wont hear the difference  .  He may have been sarcastic

thegummy

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Better in what way?

A guy who's done some very good guitar work for me didn't seem to think the different nut materials made any difference.

He’s wrong.

Although you need to qualify what you mean by ‘plastic’ - some types are excellent, some are crap.

Different in what way though?

How easy they are to work with?

Changes the sound of open strings?

Funkfingers

Blaendulais said:

He probably meant you wont hear the difference  . 

There are a couple of characters in my area of whom I would say such a thing. One of them is deaf to purchase advice. The other cannot tell the difference between guitar tone and margarine.

thegummy said:

Different in what way though?

At this point in the discussion, I usually insert a YouTube link to the Paul Reed Smith TED Talk video. Fast forward to the bit when he is dropping blank guitar nuts onto the stage. Listen. Decide for yourself whether there is any significant difference.

thegummy

Funkfingers said:

Blaendulais said:

He probably meant you wont hear the difference  . 

There are a couple of characters in my area of whom I would say such a thing. One of them is deaf to purchase advice. The other cannot tell the difference between guitar tone and margarine.

thegummy said:

Different in what way though?

At this point in the discussion, I usually insert a YouTube link to the Paul Reed Smith TED Talk video. Fast forward to the bit when he is dropping blank guitar nuts onto the stage. Listen. Decide for yourself whether there is any significant difference.

I've seen it but it's laughable; at no point in guitar playing does the nut strike a large piece of wood like that.

It's like playing a xylophone with 2 different batteries then choosing the best sounding one to use to power a pedal.

ICBM

thegummy said:

Different in what way though?

How easy they are to work with?

Changes the sound of open strings?

Different in how easy they are to work, how well they stay in tune, and the sound of the guitar.

Harder is generally better, although some softer materials are more 'slippery' and sometimes preferred.

thegummy

ICBM said:

thegummy said:

Different in what way though?

How easy they are to work with?

Changes the sound of open strings?

Different in how easy they are to work, how well they stay in tune, and the sound of the guitar.

Harder is generally better, although some softer materials are more 'slippery' and sometimes preferred.

Is the sound and tuning an anecdotal observation?

Gibson use plastic nuts don't they?

ICBM

thegummy said:

Is the sound and tuning an anecdotal observation?

In what way? Different types of plastic have different coefficients of friction and different hardnesses, so there are perfectly good reasons why they will produce different results. Or are you saying physics doesn't come into it at all?

thegummy said:

Gibson use plastic nuts don't they?

Yes, several different types. Some vintage ones were nylon, which although not particularly hard is quite low-friction.

It's necessary to be more specific than just calling them all "plastic" before deciding whether they're good or not.

robgilmo

So guys a decked stop bar isnt necessaraly a good thing? I seem to remember reading something about it  being better at transfering vibrations into the guitar body.

ICBM

I prefer to have it down tight if possible - but sometimes (often, with modern Gibsons) the bridge is just too high to allow it without putting excessive pressure on the bridge, which is the main reason it's not a good idea to have the strings touching the back edge of the bridge - it just indicates that the angle is too steep.