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Post by guitarboy02451 on Apr 21, 2007 14:22:26 GMT -7
I want to lower my action on my strat. Need some help.
I just the guitar all set up professionally, even had all the frets replaced. Plays 100 times better, but in comparison to my other guitars the action is just a tad higher and it bothers me.
I could easily take it back to the guy who did all the work, but it's over an hours drive and this probably something I could do myself right?
If anyone knows how to do this or can give some pointers I'm open to trying. If I screw it up, I'll just bring it back to the luthier...
It's a 96 American Strat with the block type saddles (two hex nuts per saddle).
Any help would be appreciated.
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Post by (8^D) on Apr 21, 2007 15:03:28 GMT -7
Do you have a roller nut or standard nut on that gitter?
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Post by GuitarZ on Apr 21, 2007 17:05:56 GMT -7
I was always afraid to mess with my Les Paul's truss rod although I did mess around with the action from time to time. When I bought my strat, I was surprised to find a pretty good primer on truss rod and action adjustment right in the Fender manual. Give this a look: www.fender.com/support/manuals/pdfs/instr_owners/FenderGuitarsAndBasses2003.pdfThey make it sound pretty easy and I have adjusted both the truss rod and action on the strat.
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Post by guitarboy02451 on Apr 21, 2007 20:12:00 GMT -7
Do you have a roller nut or standard nut on that gitter? Roller nut? I must have a standard, not sure what the roller nut is. As far as truss rod goes, I won't need to adjust that. The Luthier has done a great job with the tension / relief... and where the guitar has just come out of the shop, I'm sure I won't have to mess with that. So, it looks pretty streight forward. Will I need some sort of measuring device like a ruler or something? The guy who set it up did do an awesome job. The strings are all even (flat). Nothing is higher than the other. I'm afraid I'm going to screw the continuity up.
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Post by Hohn on Apr 21, 2007 22:01:24 GMT -7
Anyone can do a prefessional Strat setup themselves, provided the frets are levels and decent.
Here's my little spiel on setup, please don't feel talked down to; I just write to the lowest common denominator:
First is truss rod adjustment. Truss rod has to be set based on string gauge/type. If you had a good setup before and haven't changed the string gauge or brand, then the truss rod shouldn't need to be adjusted.
How do you know if you have the truss rod properly adjusted? Well, you need to capo the first fret. Then fret the 6th string at the highest fret and check the clearance between the string and fret at the 12th fret. It should NOT touch the fret-- you should have clearance of at least a playing card thickness up to perhaps 3 card thicknesses. This will vary with your personal preference, and this thickness is called "relief". Truss rod relief needs to be set with the strings at the tension you will be playing them-- standard pitch for most of us.
Next is setting the string height. Ideally, your nut slot depth is already perfect or at least livable, so all you have to worry about is the bridge or saddle height.
Fretboard radius plays a role here, as you want the string heights to follow the contour of the fretboard. I typically set the action at 7/64ths on the bass side and taper over to 5/64ths on the plain strings. I always set the final heights by feel-- these numbers are just baseline.
Most strings have on the package a listing of tension at pitch (in lbs). Notice how some strings have more tension than others. These strings will deflect less with a given amount of picking force, so they can be set a little lower without rattle. The flip side, of course, is that lower action becomes more difficult to bend cleanly with more tension.
To measure action action, you can use a metal machinist's ruler, which has increments of 32nd and 64ths of an inch marked.
Unfortunately, these are hard to read (at least for me) and your eyes (like mine) might need the help of magnifying glasses to read clearly.
Another tool that works supremely well (the best, imo) is a standard machinist's dial side caliper that has a depth gauge. Something like this:http://catalog.starrett.com/catalog/catalog/groupf.asp?GrpTab=Feature&GroupID=750
Make sure any slide caliper you buy has the "integrated depth rod" Starrett mentions. Then all you have to do is slide the depth rod down to touch the crown of the fret, and touch the end of the caliper to the string. Presto--- your action height is read on the caliper's display! (only you'll have to subtract the thickness of the string).
Don't ever be afraid to wrench on your guitar. If you completely goof up the string height, just lower it until it touches the frets and start over (like re-zeroing).
That's how *I* do it. YMMV, and it's probably a lot simpler and better than my way. Then again, I've never been the one to do things the easy way-- just ask my wife:)
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Post by cementman on Apr 21, 2007 22:56:23 GMT -7
great read hohn,, i will study this intently,, i have a book on this stuff, but i am just fumble fingers and my eyes are not as sharp as they used to wuz.. i preciate you putting this out here..
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Post by rcrecelius on Apr 21, 2007 23:04:06 GMT -7
It's a 96 American Strat with the block type saddles (two hex nuts per saddle). Any help would be appreciated. The way I see it, you have 2 options...and BTW Hohn gives a good explanation but heres my take on your particular situation. I personally would just attack those 2 screws(per saddle) that you mentioned. Stick your wrench in there and go a quarter turn per screw and see if that helps. Your other option is to just play it and see if you re-adjust to the guitar. Mine always feels different after it comes back from the shop...sometimes I make some slight adjustments and sometimes it feels better after a week or two so I just leave it be.
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Post by quinto on Apr 21, 2007 23:20:03 GMT -7
I used to pay to have my guitars set up until a friend encouraged me to learn how. I bought a Dan Erlewine book called how to make your electric guitar play great and it has provided a ton of useful information. It covers basic setup to common problems and how to fix them.
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Post by Joey Beverages on Apr 22, 2007 7:09:04 GMT -7
It's a 96 American Strat with the block type saddles (two hex nuts per saddle). Any help would be appreciated. The way I see it, you have 2 options...and BTW Hohn gives a good explanation but heres my take on your particular situation. I personally would just attack those 2 screws(per saddle) that you mentioned. Stick your wrench in there and go a quarter turn per screw and see if that helps. Your other option is to just play it and see if you re-adjust to the guitar. Mine always feels different after it comes back from the shop...sometimes I make some slight adjustments and sometimes it feels better after a week or two so I just leave it be. Think Hohn and Ronnie are both right-on. Personally, I would probably play it for a week and if the action still felt too high, then start doing some minor twee-king to your guitar ... have done this once or twice, and my guitars have survived ;D
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Post by mudskipper on Apr 22, 2007 7:25:42 GMT -7
you can measure the string heights and make a note of them. then you can screw around with the string heights all you want.
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Post by bluzman on Apr 22, 2007 9:05:24 GMT -7
WAIT A MINUTE!!!! Strats usually have the tremelo. Just about all the above will be fine with a hardtail but if you have a Fender tremelo you need to adjust that right too BEFORE adjusting height and intonation!! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Make sure your tremelo is adjusted the way you like it before changing saddle height!!! Also ESPECIALLY if you don't use all 5 springs on your tremelo inspect the springs and verify that they all have close to equal tension on them. I've used third party springs and they stretched out ALOT faster than real Fender springs and this have a huge effect on string height!! I've had the action lift all by itself due to springs stretching as I use a three sping set up on a couple of my strats. Here is a link on the Fender site to adjust a strat. These methods are good. www.fender.com/support/setup/stratsetup.php
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Post by RC on Apr 22, 2007 11:27:32 GMT -7
I used to pay to have my guitars set up until a friend encouraged me to learn how. I bought a Dan Erlewine book called how to make your electric guitar play great and it has provided a ton of useful information. It covers basic setup to common problems and how to fix them. +1 This is a great book and really explains all aspects of setting up your guitar.
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Post by Hohn on Apr 22, 2007 12:52:27 GMT -7
WAIT A MINUTE!!!! Strats usually have the tremelo. Just about all the above will be fine with a hardtail but if you have a Fender tremelo you need to adjust that right too BEFORE adjusting height and intonation!! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Make sure your tremelo is adjusted the way you like it before changing saddle height!!! Also ESPECIALLY if you don't use all 5 springs on your tremelo inspect the springs and verify that they all have close to equal tension on them. I've used third party springs and they stretched out ALOT faster than real Fender springs and this have a huge effect on string height!! I've had the action lift all by itself due to springs stretching as I use a three sping set up on a couple of my strats. Here is a link on the Fender site to adjust a strat. These methods are good. www.fender.com/support/setup/stratsetup.phpThanks! Nice catch, as I overlooked something HUGE! On *my* Strats, I use all 5 springs and I have the trem set so that it can only go down. Hence, it's not "floating" as a typical Strat bridge is originally designed to. If you want to "float" your trem, you have to adjust it before you set the string height, because the height will vary with trem position. The reason I elected not to "float" my trem is that the configuration causes a bent string to pull the other strings a little flat, since the increase in one string's tension is counteracted by a corresponding relaxation in tension on the others (distributed across all other strings). The other reason I don't float the trem is that I think having the "normal" bridge position set so it can move only one way increases resonance transfer and improves overall tone. JMO
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Post by guitarboy02451 on Apr 22, 2007 20:29:38 GMT -7
Thanks guys for all the tips, suggestions and references and resources. I went a head and just did a quarter turn on the sadles... and it's fine now, no issues with intonation or anything. They look pretty even...
Like I said, this guitar was totally unplayable when I dropped it off along with my other two guitars. They all came back 100% better and I was very satisfied. I just noticed that the strat was a "hint" higher on the action. A 1/4 turn and it's perfect now.
I'm sure they'll all be back in the shop this time next year as anyone from New England knows; 100% humidity in the summer and -5% humidity in the winter will reak havhoc on a guitar.
Thanks guitars.
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