Guitar neck setup question

[David Schwab]

As far as David S.'s comment about manually positioning the neck before truss rod adjustment, I think thats mainly a Rickenbacker thing. I have to do that with Rics, but never needed to with anything else.

No, it's true of any truss rod. Wait until you get a recalcitrant neck, and snap the rod trying to straighten it. I've seen it happen quite a few times.

You generally don't need to do it, but if the neck has a bow that is not responding, then you should clamp it and adjust the rod like this illustration from Dan Erlewine's book:



Rics especially needed it because the rods were rather flimsy.

Also remember that its a piece of wood and will take time to fully settle in. Adjust it to your preference....let it sit overnight....check it and adj as needed.

Manually moving the neck before you adjust it generaly takes care of that problem.

And.....neck adjustment *will* change with environmental conditions.....count on it. Its a piece of wood, and wood absorbs moisture.....which affects relief.

Agreed! My Ibanez bass' neck is all over the place when the climate changes.

[R ski]

Sure all those post provide the info that applies to guitar neck adjustments. What you described as the strings buzz and maxed out saddle height. Your shim such as a business card, light ones measure about 15/1000 heavier cardboard like a cereal box can gauge out at 30/1000 should be the max of single ply card board to do the trick.

With a string winder handle on the tuning machines loosen off the six strings so that they flap, then insert a spacer such as a pencil on the 20th or so fret to keep the strings secure on the tuning pegs. When that is done now proceed to loosen the four screws securing the neck to the body, use a good screw driver to loosen the hardware securing the neck to the body The neck will dislodge from the body, revealing the pocket where the neck resides, if any shim is present at the two screws closest to the tuning peg, remove and re-tighten the neck to the body. If not the the camber to correct your problem would be to insert a shim in the pocket at the end of the pocket the is closest to your pick up. The shim can be sized and shaped using the necks profile at the end of the neck where the shim will sit in the pocket. The shim should sit just at the other side of the two screws, cut a V notch to clear those screws, this is important you clear the screws rather than polk through the cardboard, this with throw the neck set way out.

A good step to ensure proper neck seating, is to grab the Philips screwdriver and without the neck near the body, tighten the screws so they bottom out on that chrome plate and they should cut loose some of the built up wood through the neck mounting holes, then back the 4 screws out to clear the screw and neck hole so that the neck will pull it self firm against the body to ensure no good contact of neck to body.

If a shim is required to raise the string height in your case, proceed to secure the neck to the body, the thing to keep an eye on at this stage of the task, is that no gap that can be spotted on the Tele where most of this gap under the bottom of body can be viewed. Don't go ape tightening these screws, to much tension will cause the neck to distort over time, directly where neck is mounted.

Tighten the strings up, the height should be way high now, if to high can the strings be lowered to attain some action that you are trying to get.

Let the instrument settle for awhile, trust rod will usually cure the buzzing near the middle. Peer down the neck to see if a tad bit of truss rod relief is required to correct some buzzing. I usually unload the trust rod by using some furniture seat to support the neck on the chair then rest the body on the floor and apply light pressure at 12th fret to load the neck to allow the trust rod to relax in order to adjust. When the guitar is facing with frets facing up, light pressure at the 12th fret will bow the neck to loosen the trust rod. If the guitar is flipped over with the frets facing the floor, light press near the 12th fret will allow you to tighten the rod to straighten out the bow.

Lots of words, but guitars can be set up to your preference regardless of the cost, why hell most of my axes are off shore, some set up and the instrument plays fine.

[the great waldo]

I did previously try to adjust the truss but with no success. I started by tightening the rod a quarter turn, waiting 24 hours and inspecting it. I did a quarter turn for a few days to the point where the rod was getting difficult to turn. At this point there was no changes to the neck evident to me.

Then I tried going the other way but this time more aggressively. Within a couple of days I had it slacked right of but still no noticeable change. Now I just put a slight amount of tension on it so its not flopping around in there and there it sits.

My guess is that it was making a difference but the action is so low that I couldnt detect it by measuring the distance between the strings and the frets.

I am thinking that if I do as you suggested and shim the neck a little I can then work the truss to introduce the desired relief to the neck.

Put straight edge on the fingerboard and see if there is is a space between the first fret and the straight edge. Anything over 1-2mm will need the neck straightening with a heating jig (does´nt always work) otherwise your stuck with an unusable neck thats probably not worth investing too much time in.
good luck

Andrew

[David Schwab]

I'll repeat what I said in post #12:

I'd also check to see if there is a shim in there already. It's common practice to place a shim at the body end of the neck pocket. If there is a shim there, remove it. That will raise the action.

If there is no shim, you need to place on at the other end of the neck pocket, away from the body.

Start off with something thin like a business card or match book cover. If that's not enough try doubling it.

If the bridge saddles are up all the way, and the strings are too low over the neck, then you need to decrease the neck angle. Either remove what ever shim is in the neck (which is there to increase the neck angle), or put a shim in the neck pocket on the far end away from the body. This will tip the headstock end of the neck up, and raise the action over the fretboard, so then you can lower the saddles.

Unless the neck has a back bow, the truss rod has nothing to do with this.

This illustrates the concept:

[Fatcat]

Well Ok, I went ahead and put a shim under the neck, readjusted the bridge saddle heights and things are much better. I got the action down where I like it with only some slight buzzing around the 5th fret area. I checked the relief and there is a little but not much. Checked the truss rod and its as loose as its gonna get. Not enough buzzing to really worry and I doubt I would hear it through the amp. Unless anyone has any other ideas I am thinking its about as good as its gonna get. The reality of it is its probably as good as any of my other guitars anyway. Its surprising how easy it is to be over critical of something once you start messing with it. Its been a great learning experience and thanks again to everyone for all the helpful suggestions and guidance.

[David Schwab]

I got the action down where I like it with only some slight buzzing around the 5th fret area. I checked the relief and there is a little but not much. Checked the truss rod and its as loose as its gonna get. Not enough buzzing to really worry and I doubt I would hear it through the amp. Unless anyone has any other ideas I am thinking its about as good as its gonna get. The reality of it is its probably as good as any of my other guitars anyway.

One thing to keep in mind, especially with cheaper guitars, is that they can stand a proper fret leveling. Eve the US made Fenders often need their frets leveled to get the action low with no buzzing.

I like my necks almost dead straight, but you need good fretwork.

But all guitars buzz a little, especially Teles for what ever reason. It's part of their sound. You just want it to be even with no notes fretting out.

[jrfrond]

There's one thing here that bothers me: even Fender's budget axes like the Squier Affinity generally will setup properly without shims and other treatments, which leads me to believe that this is a backbowed neck issue. You usually do NOT see mechanical issues with these guitars, but you WILL see necks that dance! This happens due to subpar wood quality and occasional oddball saw patterns, like cutting across the grain on a diagonal, etc., most likely in an attempt to make use of every last piece of usable (?) wood.