Now I've been having a go at setting my guitars up myself recently and there's so much varying degrees of information such as people say that there should be little to no relief like 0.08mm and others saying you should have about a credit cards worth of relief which is like 0.5mm which is more than a lot of factories recommend.
Also, what kind of action is considered high/medium/low etc? I have four electric guitars ranging from a 7.25" radius, a 10" radius and a 12" radius. I play with quite a heavy hand and I'm struggling to work out if it's fret buzz or just some string rattle, it's buzzing in middle of the neck and it's predominantly D & G strings and it's like short bursts of buzzing, the notes don't cut out and it's more the harder I hit the strings the more pronounced it is.
Action wise I like it kinda high, like 2mm and above. I like the acoustic resonance of a highish action, I'm moving up to 11 gauge strings and maybe beyond so I don't mind a bit of a fight!
I know people say "If you can hear it through the amp" but I'm pretty much a home player so sometimes the acoustics of the guitar kind of cloud my judgment as to whether it's buzz. I know it's probably down to technique but reading so many "this is the exact way it should be" etc. It's hard not to feel overwhelmed and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and I end up getting a bit frustrated.
Any advice, experiences and reference would be great!
Comments
string height at the nut has a definite right or wrong setting for 95% of players.
Relief and action are a lot more personal
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With out seeing the guitar in the flesh and you play @Arktik83 my suspicion is string rattle - The initial attack when you first hit the strings - With a heavy touch this is more pronounced - Don't see anything wrong with 11's, especially for a heavy player - Option 1) is accept it - option 2) is raise the action as required option 3) is be less 'heavy' on your picking
You can check the relief - heavy player might need more - Fret on the Low E both first and last fret and look for a gap at the 12th fret - If you can't see the gap then clearly not enough relief - I never measure it, just touch and experience but suggest to a heavy player around .1 or .2 m at least
It's just I wanted to make sure that I wasn't like making extreme adjustments that would cause long-term issues because you could see one video says having a relief of 0.08mm and another says using a credit cards worth of relief and I can see now neither of them is right or wrong it's just what's best for the player of that guitar.
Also, any recommendations on what relief a PRS DGT should have? I bought mine second hand and it had tens on it, PRS say 0.10mm for their core models it seems but I know the DGT is it's own beast so wondered if there was different ballpark figure.
Ta!
So the moral of all this is that it's very much trial & error to find the right balance for the way you play, and that aiming for the lowest possible action may not always be the best or most 'playable' set-up if you're doing more than just gently stroking the strings.