So, I'm fairly new to setting up guitars and stuff. Last month I went to see the man in action - Jonathan from Feline, and was in awe of how effortless it all was for him. It's inspired me to start making some of my own adjustments and learn more about how to set up a guitar the right way, for me.
I saw Jonathan make an adjustment to the truss rod on my Les Paul and wondered if I should try that here, and need your advice.
So I have a Suhr strat and the action is a bit high for my liking - the action on the Les Paul is quite low and plays like butter after it had the Feline treatment! So, do I go straight to the saddles and muck around with them, or is it a truss rod adjustment?
Please check out the pics here...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qMoRMiQu4KMaAiZr1Sorry if I've missed out some vital details, please shout and I'll reply to the best of my knowledge.
Comments
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
How to check what needs adjusting:
Hold the guitar in the normal playing position and fret the G string at the first fret and the first over the body - usually the 17th on a Fender-type guitar. Look at the gap between the string and the 7th-8th frets. If it’s as large as the string diameter, it’s too much. Ideally it needs to be less than half that, ie less than .008”-.010”. There should be a *tiny* gap though - Rizla paper thickness at least. If the gap is too big the truss rod needs tightening, and if there’s none it needs loosening.
Check the bridge action by playing a note above the 12th fret, and bending up at least a full tone. Pick hard while holding the bent note. If it chokes when you bend or buzzes when you pick, you need to raise the bridge saddle. If it doesn’t, you can try lowering it. (This is dependent on your personal technique of course.) It’s important to keep the saddles in the right relative heights as well, which is an arc of slightly greater radius than the fingerboard - you can judge it roughly if you sight down from the bridge to the neck, and also look at the individual heights from across over the pickups - a too-high or low string should stand out. Or make a Blue Peter radius gauge with a cornflake packet and a dinner plate!
Both these things assume that the nut height is correct and that there’s no uneven fretting or other underlying problems - you need to check these first normally - but this is a Suhr so both almost certainly don’t need worrying about .
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
As a secondary benefit, the increased tension might raise the vibrato bridge to a more suitable angle of tilt.
Only when the rear of the bridge is 3/8ths of an inch above the top of the guitar do you need to make adjustments to the bridge saddles.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922