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Post by digs57 on Jul 12, 2014 9:06:53 GMT -7
man ive been playing my strat American roadhouse for 10yrs....finally got around to try a wiring trick that is the same as a eric Johnson strat...I soldiered it back. the middle pickup opened up sweetly but that left the rest of them...not so.
I have been trying for years to get my strat down to the 4/64 that is rec setting 9.5 radius...manual has different #'s for some reason...its just kind of nice to play more relaxed on the strat after having it at 5/64 bass side/4/64 treb side.
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Post by BritInvasion on Jul 12, 2014 9:31:42 GMT -7
Newer Fenders have always driven me nuts getting the action adjusted to recommended tolerances and not buzzing / choking out. I finally used the recommended height as a starting point and then put the ruler away and just tweaked it by how it felt to me and sounded. If that didn't work , off to the luthier for a fret shave.
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Post by southmusic70 on Jul 12, 2014 9:36:56 GMT -7
Guys, as you know, if I tried this kind of thing the end result, at best, would be firewood.
So y'all rock on...
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Post by digs57 on Jul 12, 2014 9:57:55 GMT -7
good advice brudda...definitely leaned that way a few times...I might keep this dam thing afterall ...Nothing like having a tele setup just smooth and plays like perfection.
if I can get any of my guitars to setup like my teles...im takin it....A few buzzes and rattles is just part of it being...a fender.
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Post by Eddie on Jul 12, 2014 11:51:22 GMT -7
I have gone by Ritchie Fliegler's numbers for almost twenty years. It's what he recommends for most stratocasters, but I use these numbers for other guitars, too. They seem to work pretty good. Lots of personal preference, of course, but this seems to just work. Great for when you are tired of messing with it! Set it and play.
High E = 2/32 from bottom of the string to the top of the twelfth fret. Low E = 3/32 from bottom of string to top of twelfth fret.
Moving from low to high, each string gets a tiny bit lower than the last one. So, you're spring out that 1/32 difference from low to high.
These are the same numbers I usually settle on for pickup height btw. In other words, depress the string at the last fret and set the pickups 3/32 away bass side and 2/32 away high side. I may adjust these numbers a bit to balance them out, but the 2/32 and 3/32 numbers seem to be a sweet spot.
After that, it's all just rock and roll! Eddie
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Post by Eddie on Jul 12, 2014 11:58:13 GMT -7
Oh, and btw, I set my neck pretty flat, and play .011's. When I play jazz, I play with a light touch - when I play rock, I dig in hard. Same setup on the guitar for both styles, though...
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Post by markT on Jul 12, 2014 12:16:44 GMT -7
If I went by any numbers close to those you guys list, I'd be buzzing like a saw. I need and like much higher action. Meat hooks require it!
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Post by zpilot on Jul 12, 2014 13:13:32 GMT -7
This is why I don't use one standard setup for customers. All players and guitars are different. I like to watch a customer play for a minute or so. It even determines how I set intonation. Of course the factories have to have a standard set-up for production. That is just a starting point.
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Post by Maddog on Jul 12, 2014 14:05:42 GMT -7
I took too much math in college to be able to look at 2/32 and not cringe..... kinda like ending a 1,4,5 tune on the 4.... Neither are "resolved."
PS: Gotta agree w/ MarkT.... Gotta have some meat above the fret to grab and bend.....
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Post by Eddie on Jul 12, 2014 14:14:45 GMT -7
This is why I don't use one standard setup for customers. All players and guitars are different. I like to watch a customer play for a minute or so. It even determines how I set intonation. Of course the factories have to have a standard set-up for production. That is just a starting point. This is true. Every player is going to be a little different. The standards just became "standards" because they are the best one-size-fits- most. I think it is interesting that there are players who can adapt instantly to a wide range of actions, string gauges, fret sizes, etc. Even variations in amps, house PA, and humidity will only have a slight effect on their playing! Other players - probably most players - are absolutely lost on an instrument or setup that isn't "just right" according to them. I like to have things just so if I can, but if I get too obsessive about any one thing, a sort of Princess and the Pea effect will set in and then nothing will feel right. Knowing that about myself, I need to get to that point of "set it and forget it" that I mentioned. For me, the old NASA saying applies, "Better is the enemy of good." Eddie
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Post by Eddie on Jul 12, 2014 14:16:48 GMT -7
I took too much math in college to be able to look at 2/32 and not cringe..... kinda like ending a 1,4,5 tune on the 4.... Neither are "resolved."
PS: Gotta agree w/ MarkT.... Gotta have some meat above the fret to grab and bend..... But ya know, Lee. When we are talking machinist's measurements, we will sometimes like to keep all of our denominators the same. If there is a 32 in the mix, we might just want to speak of our other measurements in that same way. ;-)
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Post by southmusic70 on Jul 12, 2014 15:35:57 GMT -7
Well, this certainly a spectator sport for me.
You guys are simply fascinating!
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Post by j4gitr (John) on Jul 12, 2014 15:40:41 GMT -7
This is why I don't use one standard setup for customers. All players and guitars are different. I like to watch a customer play for a minute or so. It even determines how I set intonation. Of course the factories have to have a standard set-up for production. That is just a starting point. This is true. Every player is going to be a little different. The standards just became "standards" because they are the best one-size-fits- most. I think it is interesting that there are players who can adapt instantly to a wide range of actions, string gauges, fret sizes, etc.Even variations in amps, house PA, and humidity will only have a slight effect on their playing! Eddie Different instruments have a significant effect on me. This causes me to play differently. I try to view this as a good thing as the adaptation I'd like to believe makes me a better player. I'm probably no better, but at least maybe it forces me out of a comfort zone.
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Post by digs57 on Jul 12, 2014 17:01:18 GMT -7
I guess I have gravitated towards the tele for a # of reasons playing scale comfort,setup being the first two that come to mind.
I havent had much time in on the strat lately...feels good to appreciate it again
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Post by southmusic70 on Jul 12, 2014 17:05:01 GMT -7
I think more than "play differently," we actually approach instruments differently as far as our aural expectations and the anticipation of the tactile feel of the instrument and the timbre it produces, up to and including how it vibrates (or not) against our body when we play it. For example, one would certainly sense a lot of different things happening, tactile and aural, between a strat and an LP (or strat and tele, or a 335 and a 175, etc.). One of the coolest things for me is when I play a guitar that I've never played before (and this happened to me when I first played my CS336 for the first time, for example - even though I grew up on an ES330 and played an ES335Studio as my main guitar for 20 years) and experience the new sensual vibe that the 336 presented to me.
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Post by Eddie on Jul 12, 2014 17:16:22 GMT -7
... and experience the new sensual vibe that the 336 presented to me. Hey, let's try to keep this a family-friendly thread. :-) I do know what you mean, though. Have you ever noticed that some guitars resonate a little more on certain notes? There are a couple of sweet spots like this on almost every guitar, I think. I don't know what note it is exactly, but somewhere between the 7th and 10th fret on my strat, and maybe only on the D and G strings, there are frequencies that that guitar is tuned to. It resonates into my ribcage. I love that! When I had a 335-esque guitar, there were even more of those "zones." Someday, I'd like to get a decent jazz box just for the (I am guessing) expanded resonance zones on a true hollow body. Cool stuff that would only be appreciated by the player. Then again, maybe that joy seeps out to the ears of the audience somehow. Eddie
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Post by southmusic70 on Jul 12, 2014 17:48:50 GMT -7
Yes.
Probably the most striking incidence of this "vibe" (if you will), was the first time I played my Heritage Golden Eagle at Gruhn's in Nashville in the fall of 1998. This was the first high-end jazz guitar I had really had a chance to not only play, but to take the time to really put it through its paces.
Ooh.
I can highly recommend that exercise to you.
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Post by Maddog on Jul 12, 2014 20:19:57 GMT -7
I took too much math in college to be able to look at 2/32 and not cringe..... kinda like ending a 1,4,5 tune on the 4.... Neither are "resolved."
PS: Gotta agree w/ MarkT.... Gotta have some meat above the fret to grab and bend..... But ya know, Lee. When we are talking machinist's measurements, we will sometimes like to keep all of our denominators the same. If there is a 32 in the mix, we might just want to speak of our other measurements in that same way. ;-) Yeah, I know, Eddie.... It's just the remembrance of seeing those additional "-2" points IN RED on all those algebra, geometry, trigonometry, pre-calculus, calculus, physics, analytical chemistry, and pharmacology tests (because I failed to reduce a bloated fraction) that keeps my Math Nazi alter ego in service all these years later.....Some things will never die.....
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Post by bluzman on Jul 12, 2014 20:45:01 GMT -7
I can honestly say that I never actually measured string height. All eyeball and feel.
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Post by zpilot on Jul 12, 2014 23:30:10 GMT -7
I use feeler gauges and a depth mic to cut a nut but, after all these years of doing set-ups, I too can pretty much use my Mark 20 eyeballs for setting height and relief. That, and bending strings up a whole-step without them fretting out.
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