Setting up my Fender Telecaster

[aniss1001]

When I got my tele back from the tech it was very poorly set up. Well intonated BUT with a lot of socalled fret buzz. So I asked him to raise the action. He tried to do this, got all frustrated and said that the only way he could intonate it well was by lowering the action again.

Furthermore he said that the problem was the neck. Or rather the frets and perhaps the nut. This bothered me a lot because I just spent a lot of time and money modding it and before I did that I had asked him to take a good look at the guitar and tell me if if it was worth the investment. I specifically mentioned the neck in that context. He said it was fine.

Now I've been doing some reading up. Partly because I wanna start doing MINOR setups myself and partly because I'm trying to find out what the problem is.

I think it's a combination of several things...

1) The 3 saddle bridge.

2) Less than perfect frets.

3) The fact that I'm using .012 strings which is rather heavy for this type of guitar.

It seems to me that the neck is pretty straight and since there is no fret buzz on the open strings I don't see how the problem could be the nut. But I'm not sure.

Anyway from what I have gathered you have to live with some imperfection in intonation when you have a 3 saddle bridge. Since there are 2 strings for each saddle you can't intonate each string individually but have to find some "sweet spot" where both strings intonates the best possible. That imperfection seems to increase the more you raise the action; the "gap" between where the 2 strings individually intonate perfectly becomes larger.

I THINK that heavier strings also adds to that problem. If nothing else then because heavier strings means a more drastic vibration, which again requieres a higher action.

Besides I've allready raised the action quite a bit and there is still a lot of buzz. Don't know how much more I can raise them and still have a playable guitar.

So my questions would be:

1) Have I (mis)understood the matters so far?

2) How much time would a tech typically spend on doing a fret job? I'm going back to the tech on monday and I would like to have a better idea of the amount of work involved when he gives me a price for doing it.

3) How can I be sure that a fret job would do the trick and that the problem isn't something else entirely? For instance the neck itself.

4) Besides adjusting the bridge and the trust rod I noticed that the tech also fiddled with the screews on the neck plate. Not sure why he did this?

5) I'm thinking about decreasing the gauge on the 4 lower strings while maintaining or even increasing the gauge on the 2 higher strings. That would mean buying the strings individually rather than a set. Could this cause any problems?

6) Any thoughts on the matter are welcome..

[cosmic gumbo]

It's all about having the proper relief on your neck for the action, string gauge, etc. Straight necks have a lot of fret buzz.

[kris]

Eveything is important: neck, frets,nut,bridge...
Gauge of strings -it is another problem.12' are ok for TELE.
Tele is specific instrument with a lot of metal things.
Service have to be professional.

[Retroman1969]

I never had any intonation issues with the classic 3-saddle bridge on my old Tele, but for those who do, they make several different types of "compensated saddles" for the vintage style Tele bridge. If you still want the vintage style bridge plate, you can get one with 6 smaller barrel type saddles. (the ashtray cover still fits these if you use one).
Buy All Parts Tilted Brass Tele Saddles | All Parts Guitar and Bass Parts | The Music Zoo |
https://guitarfetish.3dcartstores.co...asp?itemid=873
Nickel Vintage 6 Saddle Telecaster Bridge | Allparts.com

For the buzzing... I'd check the neck with a metal straightedge. If it's almost perfectly straight or a bit back-bowed, I'd loosen the rod a bit until you get just a hair of relief. If it still buzzes after that, then have a professional fret leveling/dressing done. Most guitars (even expensive new ones) need to have this done anyway, and you'll be amazed at the difference afterwards.
On a well set-up and dressed Tele, there's no reason you can't get the action stupidly low with any gauge or type strings on it you want without buzz or choke.

[Gramps]

Your strings should be fine.
You're right the intonation will be compromised by the 3 saddle bridge. (Look for a direct replacement and put it on yourself. easy peasy)
Your frets may need dressing but there is no way anyone who isn't there can establish that.

A Tele is about as simple an instrument to set up as there is. The bolt on neck makes changing the neck angle a breeze. If you have fully adjustable saddles and your nut is grooved to the proper depth it should play great. (PS. do you have a heavy touch with your picking hand?)

I can't imagine more than 2 hrs. labor for a fret mill and setup but don't do it until you replace the saddles/bridge or have him replace it. It should only add 20 minutes to the job at the most.

Good luck.

[Dad3353]

OK, Aniss, I'll try again, without the dumb British 'humour' (yes, I know; it's not really funny...).
Firstly, I'd ask if this is the ideal forum for your questions..? I often visit the telecaster forum...
Telecaster forum...
...and would imagine that there is more experience in teles there than here (although there are indeed many tele lovers here, too, and rightly so...).
Next, I would expand somewhat on the other posts above...
There are many reasons for fret buzz, and often enough a combination of factors contribute to this. One can only handle the problem by being rigorous and methodical, whilst having a pretty solid knowledge of what's involved. This is not to say that you can't attempt it, but the learning curve is not going to be less steep if this is your first go, and your luthier hasn't already done the job (this assumes, of course, that your luthier is at least competent...).
The tele was invented when guitar string gauges were normally 13's, and can easily handle, and perform well, with these (or even heavier...) strings. Decide on the gauge with which you wish to play, and set up using that gauge. One doesn't adjust a guitar with strings, one adjusts the guitar for the strings to be used.
You need to have a nut correctly fitted, and any decent luthier should be able to check, and if needs be rectify, that important starting point.
Next decision... Action height..? For slide (bottleneck...) playing, or 'Freddy Green' chord comping, a high action is perhaps preferable. For SRV lightning-fast solo runs, a low action may help. It is quite difficult to have both on the same guitar, and there is a downside to either extreme. In between, it is 'normal' to have some slight 'relief', or curve, to the neck. A perfectly flat neck can be 'fast', but is very much more prone to buzzing all over the fretboard (perhaps not strictly true for the finest instruments, played by experts, and 'pleked'...).
The angle that the neck presents to the body is important, too (this is what the tech was adjusting, I suppose, at the neck plate...). The lower the angle, the lower the action, but the upper frets will become more susceptible to buzzing. A steeper angle may result in an action too high for comfort. It's all a question of choice...
Given, then, a slight 'bow' to the neck, and a neck set to a decent angle, any buzzing should be identified as coming from the nut, the frets or the bridge. If there is some 'local' fret buzz, on some strings, and some frets, then a fret dress may be in order, or even a re-fret in extreme cases.
I'm not sure if I've helped much with all this, there are doubtless many details and corrections or expansions from the experts here; but, especially if the guitar has been 'modded' from an unknown state, I don't see how much more I can do. I certainly hope that you get things sorted out, one way or another, and can learn something from the whole experience...

[Timo]

One issue- Intonating a tele with the three brass saddle type of bridge can be difficult if you're using a wound 3rd (the G string) this kind of G string intonates differently from a plain wire G string..compensated saddles might solve the problem.

[PTChristopher]

Hi Aniss,

If you want to walk through the setup, let me know. We can sort of go one step at a time and get things in order.

You'll be able to do everything except fret dressing with only a little effort.

Now, I really disagree with a few comments above, but do not want to get into any sort of web-silly vibe here.

So how about I give my opinion on what to do, with the following guidelines:

1. Criticism of my opinion is absolutely allowed (anyone, anytime, any reason), and I will give the thinking (such as I can manage) behind my views as needed.

2. I will not directly criticize or rebut anything anyone posts in the thread, but that does not necessarily mean that I agree with anything in particular. I do not want to step on anyone's enjoyment of posting something in the thread, but also don't want to imply any agreement.

My opinion does not occupy any sort of forum high ground. It is just what works for me - and I think I am generally able to identify what I do and why from a first-hand and hands-on angle.

Soooooo,

Let me know.

Your questions:

>>> 1) Have I (mis)understood the matters so far?

In my opinion, yes, but not terminally.

>>> 2) How much time would a tech typically spend on doing a fret job? I'm going back to the tech on monday and I would like to have a better idea of the amount of work involved when he gives me a price for doing it.

Fret replacement or fret dressing (level, crown, smooth-en-ate)?

A diagnosis and dressing (with nut work as well) can take from a little under an hour up to two hours if you need to be unusually careful for some reason. Add to this some allocated fixed costs (rent, insurance, pictures of Spanish actress Natalia Verbeke), and some minor variable costs (tool wear, consumables like tape, etc.).

>>> 3) How can I be sure that a fret job would do the trick and that the problem isn't something else entirely? For instance the neck itself.

We can walk through that here. It is possible we will hit an impasse of some sort, but my money is on us getting a very good handle on your situation. It will take a while with the forum back and forth posts.

>>> 4) Besides adjusting the bridge and the trust rod I noticed that the tech also fiddled with the screews on the neck plate. Not sure why he did this?

No idea why he did anything in particular, but we can cover the screws and how to check them.

>>> 5) I'm thinking about decreasing the gauge on the 4 lower strings while maintaining or even increasing the gauge on the 2 higher strings. That would mean buying the strings individually rather than a set. Could this cause any problems?

Nope. It can all be made to work. But look at T-I sets, they have a heavier balance toward the treble strings than many others.

Why are you doing this? There can be many good reasons, but we should know what we are doing and why we are doing it. In my opinion.

>>> 6) Any thoughts on the matter are welcome..

- Your Tele will work absolutely fine with a .012 based set.

- If you use a WOUND G then the 3-saddle will be just fine. There is no need to go to an alternate bridge.

- Heavier string sets require LESS bridge compensation than lighter sets at a given action height (no, really; counter-intuitive I know, but we can walk through it later).

- Many players can get away with lower action with heavier strings. Again, counter-intuitive but we can slog through the reasons for the situation if you want.

Chris

[aniss1001]

OK a lot of heavy replies. Here we go...

1st off when I said "fret job" I was reffering to fixing up the existing frets (leveling etc.) NOT putting on new ones.

About the strings... I currently think the high E string (.012) sounds a bit whimpy / plingy. I generally like the higher strings to be thick and every time I have increased the gauge I have loved how it improved the tone on the higher strings. Meanwhile I definately think the .052 on the lower is string is enough or perhaps a tad too much like a bass. It sort of adds to the imbalance I'm still experiencing with the new pup even though the greasebucket circuit I installed improved SIGNIFICANTLY on that.

I thought decreasing the gauge on the lower strings would remove some of the presure on the neck and the bridge. It isn't a very good guitar to begin with so perhaps I'm pushing it. So I thought it would be ideal using .013 - .050 or something like that. I know that the T-I strings are more balanced in this way but they are not available here and even if they were they would likely be too expensive. I'm not exactly in Kansas anymore... Haha.

Another reason is because I don't particularly like the wound G string. I would much prefer an unwound one. Just feels and sounds nicer to me. But here I am confused since some say that a wound G string is problematic (on a 3 saddle bridge) while others say an unwound one in this gauge is. This seems to be a general disagreement, not just in this thread. Anyway if it will cause (more) problems changing it to an unwound one then I'll stick with the wound one. I'm NOT currently considering changing the bridge to a 6 saddle allthough I certainly would prefer one.

Another thing that really confuses me is this "relief". A week ago I never heard about it. I simply thought the straighter the better. But now I get that it has to be a little bit bent actually. Only I still don't know how to determine when it's too straight or too bent. I did a simple check... I held down the 1st fret and the 12th fret on the low E string and did notice that there is relief. There IS some space between the string and the frets in between. Apart from that the neck looks pretty damn straight to me.

And honestly when my tech said that it was impossible to set the intonation with a higher action I thought it was BS and that he was simply being lazy. But then I have read that it actually does become more difficult to intonate a 3 saddle bridge with higher action and also that the heavier strings adds to that. So I dunno.

And how high would I like the action. Well as low as it is possible and still be free of reft buzz.

But I'm curious... What have I misunderstood and what have I understood (if anything)?

[aniss1001]

Hi Chris,

I don't if the "which cap for warmer tone"-thread made you lose interest in this forum or not. But yes I am more than interested in walking through the setup as you say. I tried to answer your questions and generally provide all the information I could think of in my former posts. Let me know if something is missing....

[PTChristopher]

Hi Aniss,

>>> lose interest in this forum

Yeah, pretty cranky on my part about third-hand propagation of web-myths regarding guitars. My fault really. This stuff exists, and I should be less of a jerk about it.

But, yes, let's go on the Tele.

If your guitar is even remotely playable, then leave the action and relief alone and go right to the nut.

The nut (or zero fret if you have one) is absolutely the key to a good setup. If the nut is wrong, and it usually is in need of improvement, then everything else (relief, action, INTONATION) will be compromised.

Frank Ford is the only (one and only) person I know of who has never written a dopey, or ill-advised thing about guitars. So let's use his guide for as many things as we can vs. my tedious text.

I can only imagine how much time I could have saved learning if he had written this stuff (and there was an internet) 20 years earlier.

So start with nut action. Do everything he says here, including making sure the strings are bending over the nut. Then come on back with the results. Don't fix anything, just see how your current situation is.

Oh, and after reading the Frank Ford page on nut action, you may note that some "expert" advice published elsewhere (and often quoted on the web, can you imagine) is really off the mark. It discusses nut action as a clearance above the first fret when strings are open. I am assuming (or hoping anyway) that the august and respected luthiorator was trying honestly to dumb it down. But in my view he just really did an accidental disservice vs. just asking to license Frank Ford's superb write up on the subject.

Chris

Nut Action

[aniss1001]

OK! Thanks Chris,

I'll look into that ASAP. But while I had the day "off" today I'm afraid I wont have time until tomorrow night or monday since my girlfriend and daughter is just about to arrive.

I'll let you know the results as soon as I can.

And about the web myths. Well the good thing about the internet is the availability of information. Unfortunately that also goes for misinformation.

With stuff like this it is hard for someone that doesn't have your knowledge and experience to know what to think. For instance when I was about to install the greasebucket circuit I didn't know which caps to use. And since you hadn't mentioned it I presumed it was simply obvious. So rather than wasting your time with obvious questions I googled "greasebucket circuit capacitor" and the integrated circuit capacitor thingy popped up. Well just saying.. it ain't easy.

[jazzbow]

Hey guys, late as usual....

After all nut work is done don't forget to match the radii of the bridge to the fingerboard (may have been mentioned but I am word blind..).

It's easy to do on Fender type guitars as the string height can be adjusted.

T.O.M's have to be done by file, gauge and patience


I've seen guitars with 16" radius f/board and 12" radius bridge, this will make both 'E' strings buzz if the string height is lowered to improve the middle 4 strings action


A customers self adjusted string action


After fret dress, neck shim and nut work we adjust the individual string height/action. The customer wanted a low action and a 1.5 step up bend on the plain strings without any choking.

Of course Tele's have 3 saddles but there is the same amount of adjustment.

[thrush40]

I am going to mostly stay out of this one, except to say that set ups on guitars with mild issues or no issues are very easy to perform. The tools required are inexpensive. You may find yourself wanting to make small seasonal changes with the weather or changing environment.

Sighting the neck with a naked eye takes practice. A straight edge is far more revealing. Forgetting about the nut for a minute: you can always capo behind the first fret and depress the strings at the 17th fret (for your tele) to see how much relief or lack thereof you have, easily measured by a feeler gauge. The string will be your straight edge.

Also, there is no magic formula. Much depends upon your playing style and tastes.

Finally, sounds like you need a new tech.

[PTChristopher]

My dream here is to sort of keep the process in a clear chronological (with some emphasis on the 'logical' part) order so that the reasons and expected benefit of each adjustment become more clear.

This does not mean that there is not a great deal of personal decision involved. In my opinion there is. And they way to free the guitar up for these personal choices is to get the basics under control in a clear way, where for each adjustment we know:

- What we are doing.
- Why we are doing it.
- What we observe to support the two ideas above.
- What we expect to observe after we make the adjustment.
- What sort of pitfalls and misunderstandings are commonly associated with each step.

In my opinion this frees one up to then be creative in the fine points of a setup.

It really is not a mish-mash of random adjustments. And the interaction between adjustments is easy to understand if you keep things is order.

In my opinion, a "straight edge" is a very tricky tool to use when intersecting a cylinder or cone segment (which is what your FB is.) It will find reverse bows and high frets that do not exist unless used very carefully (and everyone thinks they have the amazing skill to be careful,...).

A flat plane (like a fret leveling stone or file) or THE STRING ITSELF, is far more accurate - but not without pitfalls as well.

I know Stewmac want to sell a tool for everything, and good for them. I love their new Cheese Straightener, and the Raisin Organizer saves hours of shop time.

But having the basic idea of what is happening is far more valuable.

So, looking forward to when Aniss gets a chance to say how the nut action looks on his Tele.

Chris

[thrush40]

Do we have a setup guide here on this forum? It might make a nice sticky for some step by step advice. I think it wouldn't be too difficult to manage the varying advice.

Just a thought.

A tele set-up outline (that assumes a relatively problem free guitar) might be a good place to start.

My invest of tools beyond a truss rod wrench and miscellaneous small screw drivers and allen wrenches this thus: a capo, a set of feeler gauges and a short measuring tool (stick) that measures as small as 64ths inch and 0.5 mm.
These three things help me a lot and together were probably well under 20 USD.

[PTChristopher]

Hi Thrush,

I think we can work on Aniss's (that's too many ssssses?) Tele while getting a non-Tele-specific outline together.

How about after this thread runs its course, we sort of review, consolidate, clean-up, and make a guide? I'm game if you are wiling to help.

And then make sure the guide is available for improvement as people find way to shorten it or otherwise make it more friendly to everyone who wants to try using it?

Nice tool list.

Chris

[jazzbow]

Hi Thrush,
How about after this thread runs its course, we sort of review, consolidate, clean-up, and make a guide? I'm game if you are wiling to help.

And then make sure the guide is available for improvement as people find way to shorten it or otherwise make it more friendly to everyone who wants to try using it?

Chris

+1 on that. Offset guitars have a specific thread for setup tips OffsetGuitars.com • View forum - Tech/Setup
As this part of the jazzguitar.be forum gets the most traffic from members and guests I think it would be a great Idea.

Same threads re-emerge time and again. Specific stickies will be of great use such as 'How to string a guitar to stop string slippage,' 'When to get a fret dress,' 'Nut action' and 'What capacitors are you using....'

Back to the OP's thread. Correct nut action is soooo important that I am dumbstruck by the ineptitude of certain music retailers to catch this. Maybe they are trying to get more work but I am of the opinion that if you buy a musical instrument then it should be fit for purpose.

A bolt on neck guitar is so very easy to set up (Leo you genius!) I am disturbed by the fact that Aniss's (ssesis) tech couldn't get it right.

[aniss1001]

Hey again Chris,

I did the test you linked to. It would seem that the nut is OK.

I held down the two E strings respectively between the 2ns and 3rd frets, and allthough I couldn't actually see any space between the 1st fret and the string I did the tap test and there does seem to be a tiny bit of space there. I will try again tomorrow in DAYLIGHT so I might be able to see it too. But I definately heard a tiny click as the instructions suggested. And in the case of the lower E string I could feel that it isn't touching the fret.

Sorry that it took me so long to do this, it's just hard for me to do these things when my girlfriend and her daughter stays in my rather small flat. But had I known how simple it was I would have done it right away. I presumed it would be way more complcated than that.

Ah and sorry about the double S in my name. It is how it is written though (it's Moroccan like my father BTW). I think the double S indicates that the accent is on the last syllable. So it is pronounced kind of like "abyss".

I will await further instructions

[aniss1001]

I am disturbed by the fact that Aniss's (ssesis) tech couldn't get it right.

Well me too to say the least. But even more disturbed that before my mods he told me it was all well and that it was worth investing time/money in the mods. The suddenly he drops this bomb on me

And I have checked out several out setup manuals. Some are very complicated and mentions all sorts of tools, while others are over simplified and assumes that anyone can simply SEE what is wrong to begin with.

For instance one said about truss rod adjustment: "It's simple.. if the neck is bent then tighten the truss rod until the neck is as straight as you can get it"

Anyhoo I never saw a fool proof and easy way of determining whether the nut is OK or not like the page Chris linked to...

[PTChristopher]

OK, so the E's sound good. Please check the other strings as well.

If you see a space, that almost means too much space really.

And if you do not see space, but get the tiny click, you are really right in the ideal range.

AND,

If you see no space, and hear no click, you may still be fine.

Pluck the tiny length of string from the 2nd fret to the nut. You can easily hear if the (very high) note is from the second fret to the nut or if you are hearing a much higher note because the strung is breaking over the first fret.

So long as you still hear the note that says the string is not breaking over the first fret you are fine. In theory you are still slightly high at the nut, but really so slightly that it does not matter at all.

It's sort of too bad if the nut is OK, since then we can't go through a fix, but what the heck.

OK, once the nut is all set, decide what sort of action you want at the 12th fret and set the saddles to that height.

1.5mm at the 12th is pretty low.

1.2mm is really low.

3.0 mm is getting up there.

4.5 mm is what is called "high" action these days even though it was low to moderate in the un-amplified acoustic archtop days.

Please let us know what height each (and every) string is above the 12th fret.

We'll change it again later, but pick a starting point and let us know what it is.

Note that if you go crazy-low everything gets more critical, including your playing.

After the "Rough Action" is set, we'll talk about relief a little (why have it, typical ranges, common problems), then set it.

Chriss

[PTChristopher]

>>> I have checked out several out setup manuals. Some are very complicated

Well let's stay calm here and develop our own. It will have mistakes (or more likely omissions), but then we do a little progressive iteration, fight the urge to over-build it, and who knows - it might be nearly not-awful.

As for your luthier, I'd love to not second guess what he may have said or done. We gots us a VERY decent sounding guitar that makes sense as a durable jazz axe. Let's march forward here.

I mean we may hit a spot where a little carefully guided assistance from your local luther will be key. So hurled tomatoes may be unwise at best.

Chris

[aniss1001]

Hi again,

I checked the other strings too and in all cases I heard the click. There is IS some space. It is perhaps a bit too high on the A and D string. In these cases I could actually see the space though it's not a lot, but definately more than the other strings. The high E string has by far the least amount of space, but still I do hear a click no doubt.

And when you say decide what sort of action I want I'm not sure I follow you. Well generally I would like it as low as possible BUT without any fret buzz anywhere.

So you're saying I should raise all the strings until there is no fret buzz anywhere? Right now? And without worrying about intonation?

Sorry just wanna be sure we understand eachother...

[PTChristopher]

I'll try to stay responsive on this thread, bit if I am am delayed, I will get back to you.

Do you have any sort of files to lower the nut slots on strings that are a bit high? Don't do anything, just tell me what you have for files.

Also, is there an sort of welding supply place in Cordoba? Welding tip cleaners are very cheap and quite good for minor slot adjustment on narrow Fender type nuts.

On action:

>>> I would like it as low as possible BUT without any fret buzz

OK, note that fret buzz is also dependent on the player once the guitar is optimized.

For now set the High E to 1.5mm, the low E to 1.8 or 2.0 mm. Then set the rest to gradually go from 1.5 to whatever you use for the low E.

Don't go crazy. Just make the B a touch higher than the high E, and make each lower string slightly higher 'till you get to the low E.

We'll play with this more later, so if you want all the strings at the same height or something, let's worry about that later.

In any case, tell us what you ended up with for action at the 12th fret for each string.

Now check the relief.

(Gotta go eat, I'll be back to get on to relief in a bit.)

[PTChristopher]

OK, back to relief:

Tune up and check the relief.

NOTE:
*****************************
You can break a truss rod or a truss rod nut. It takes some talent for disaster, but it can be done. It is unlikely, but the consequences are pretty intense.

If the nut does not turn without a great deal of force, remove it and add a non-runny lubricant to the nut threads and to the face of the nut that contacts the washer (or whatever surface it contacts). Silicone grease is OK, and so is candle wax. Thiner oil can soak into the wood and make a real mess.

Try the rod again. Give up and take it to a pro if it is still very sticky.
***************************

Most players do best (least buzz) with a bit of neck relief, a forward bow in the neck. Arguably there are a few reasons for this, but the main one is that the string vibrates in (very roughly), an arc. If the downstream frets follow this arc somewhat there will be generally more string clearance (and less buzz) at a given action.

Q: How much relief?

A: How wide is your arc? How much do you slam chords and go easy on single note lines up the board (use more relief)? Or do you go easy on chords, then bang away at single notes up the board (use less relief)?

So it all depends.

Some people use feeler gauges to set relief. I find it far easier to just look the the relief height compared to the strings.

Your relief will often change slightly with temperature and humidity, so don't go nuts. Get it to where you are happy, and don't measure to the last angstrom unit.

Press the B string down at the first fret and around the 15th fret. Use a capo if you want, but set it to "Stun" instead of "Kill". A hard capo setting will bow the strings upward a bit as they escape the fret above the capo. Go easy.

Now look at the clearance of the B string above the 7th fret.

No clearance is a potential problem since you may have a backbow. If there is no clearance, loosen the truss rod until there is some clearance.

Now set the clearance for about the thickness of the B string. Later we'll do a playing test to see if this is a good setting for you. But we gotta start somewhere. The thickness of a B string (which varies I know) is as good a "midrange" place to start as any.

I use less than this myself, some use more.

Now, check the clearance on ALL of the other strings. It is rarely exactly the same. Just look and see if it appears to be the same or if you see some variation.

Let us know what you find.

Then re-set your action as described above and try it out.

We are not done, but it is worth a quick try.

Chris