The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    I set my action very low, like less than .50 MM at the first fret and .90 MM at the 15th fret. I use 10 or 11 on the E if I went lower on the gage then I will have to raise it some to avoid Buzz. I dont use any relief. Why so low and why no relief is because it cause's intonation issues when your strings have to move down more to meet the fret. Lower gage stings have less tension and vibrate more so they are more prone to buzz. Now if you bend your strings then you will want to do a fret fall away to help with fretting out on bends. The reason why you adjust the truss rod when the strings are off is two fold one is to make shure it has not become stuck and it moves correctly and the other is to set it up for fret work if the frets are not flat across the fret board (no relief) you cant get a proper fret level.

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27
    Alright, so I have a confession to make. I'M AN IDIOT!!!!

    I have no idea what I was thinking of, but I don't remove the strings to adjust the TR. Maybe I was thinking that I remove the strings to oil the board, then re-string and adjust as necessary?

    Must be my age/senility!?


    My sincere apologies.

  4. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by John A.
    Losing the prehensile tail is the biggest mistake we ever made in our evolution from monkeys. So many things would have been much easier if we had kept that.


    Yes, I've seen that. Those are really just starting points, though, and it's valid to set up a guitar a little higher or lower if that's what feels and/or sounds better. Everybody picks a little differently, and everybody's hands are a little differently sized/shaped. That said, I find it interesting that there's such a small range of valid measurements given those variables, but there you go. It turns out the folks who make guitars know something about what sizes they should be.

    Cheers back at ya.
    You're right, things would've been much easier. LOL!

    Very true. My LPs and other guitars are definitely lower than that and I'd like to get my WesMo there too. Just seems like it would be easier to play if it were lower, especially since there wouldn't be as much a need for bending.


    Thanks again John and WesMo Setup How Low Can I Go?-cheers-gif

    P.S.

    Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get a better shot of the action using both the capo and pressing on the fret at the neck joint.

  5. #29
    Quote Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
    IMO that action is too high for at least me. 1st the truss rod adjustment. Every L5 I have owned could handle very minimal to zero relief. IMO the straighter the neck the better.
    Hold down the low E string at the 1st and 14th fret then tap the E string on the 7th fret. Should be very minimal bounce. After the neck is straight adjust the string height to your preference.
    Always do your own setup. Everyone has there own neck spec that feels right to them.
    Do it by feel not with a ruler IMO. A ruler will ballpark you though but just a guideline.
    Thanks for the tips Vinny, I appreciate it!

    I'd like to try a straighter neck and see how that goes.


    Thanks again and

  6. #30

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    After you get your neck in spec to your liking don't forget to re-intonate all the strings with a good guitar tuner (not a clip on). I take it you still have the stock tun-o-matic bridge ? With a tun-o-matic you can usually get the intonation spot on. After that play a blistering version of Cherokee.....

  7. #31

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    I never remove the strings from guitars, not even when changing them (I change one, then tune it, so on). Makes cleaning the fretboard a bit more difficult, but I do that very rarely, and never use oils on fretboards either (for the reasons Martin states on their website).

    When adjusting the truss rod on vintage style guitars, I prefer moving the pickguard a bit rather than taking off the neck.

    About adjusting the action, one extra thing to look for is the sound and feel of the guitar. Some instruments can go really low where the strings get to almost touch the frets, and there still isn't any buzzing at all. But the sound starts to get choked, you can hear the guitar is sounding subpar, and there's an audible improvement if you raise the action a bit.

    I generally find that the sound improves with a bit of a higher action, so I avoid going really low. Used to play with very high action for years, but not anymore. These days it's medium low.

    My lowest guitars are probably my 70s Gibson 335 that has low/wide frets, and my 512 fingerstyle Taylor. These two sound great even with unbelievably low action. On the other hand, I did a badly needed fret leveling on my favorite strat, now I hate how it plays with the frets lowered no matter how the action is set (for reference, I raised the pins on the saddles between two and one and a half full 360 turns when I got it back from setup, that's how low it could play without buzzing..), I'll probably have it refretted at some point.. so besides every player, every instrument is different too!
    Last edited by Alter; 01-28-2021 at 12:39 AM.

  8. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
    After you get your neck in spec to your liking don't forget to re-intonate all the strings with a good guitar tuner (not a clip on). I take it you still have the stock tun-o-matic bridge ? With a tun-o-matic you can usually get the intonation spot on. After that play a blistering version of Cherokee.....
    LOL! Yup, I still have the stock bridge on it. I do have a Snark clip-on, but I usually use my Boss TU-2 tuner.


    Thanks and

  9. #33
    Quote Originally Posted by Alter
    I never remove the strings from guitars, not even when changing them (I change one, then tune it, so on). Makes cleaning the fretboard a bit more difficult, but I do that very rarely, and never use oils on fretboards either (for the reasons Martin states on their website).

    When adjusting the truss rod on vintage style guitars, I prefer moving the pickguard a bit rather than taking off the neck.

    About adjusting the action, one extra thing to look for is the sound and feel of the guitar. Some instruments can go really low where the strings get to almost touch the frets, and there still isn't any buzzing at all. But the sound starts to get choked, you can hear the guitar is sounding subpar, and there's an audible improvement if you raise the action a bit.

    I generally find that the sound improves with a bit of a higher action, so I avoid going really low. Used to play with very high action for years, but not anymore. These days it's medium low.

    My lowest guitars are probably my 70s Gibson 335 that has low/wide frets, and my 512 fingerstyle Taylor. These two sound great even with unbelievably low action. On the other hand, I did a badly needed fret leveling on my favorite strat, now I hate how it plays with the frets lowered no matter how the action is set (for reference, I raised the pins on the saddles between two and one and a half full 360 turns when I got it back from setup, that's how low it could play without buzzing..), I'll probably have it refretted at some point.. so besides every player, every instrument is different too!
    I had my '72/'54 Limited Edition Les Paul regretted last year. It had "Fretless Wonder" frets on it. I looked all over and even contacted Gibson to get the wire, but couldn't find it. Gibson said they don't use it anymore too. It's a shame, because I really liked it. In fact, if the wire was still available, I'd love to put it on my WesMo.


    Thanks for the tips Alter and

  10. #34
    Horrible picture I know (I'm really bad at that), but I guess the relief (7th) fret isn't as bad as I thought? I could however, easily fit a piece of printer paper between the string and the fret:


  11. #35

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    That does not seem to be much relief that is good. Assuming your frets all level you can go really low. Modern archtops don’t have the relief of older ones. If I can I like very little relief. Not always possible in some older guitars. Old truss rods don’t always work either.

  12. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by deacon Mark
    That does not seem to be much relief that is good. Assuming your frets all level you can go really low. Modern archtops don’t have the relief of older ones. If I can I like very little relief. Not always possible in some older guitars. Old truss rods don’t always work either.
    Thanks Mark!

    I'm actually in the process of lowering the action as I type. I'm just slightly under 4.5/64 (I'm right at .070) for both the low and high E. If I try to go any lower on the high E, the post start to protrude from the bridge.

    Just out of curiosity, where is your's set?


    Thanks and

  13. #37

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    I like 4/64 on high E at 12th. 5/64 on low E 12th. Going lower on an acoustic archtop even with floating tends to diminish sound too much.

  14. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by deacon Mark
    I like 4/64 on high E at 12th. 5/64 on low E 12th. Going lower on an acoustic archtop even with floating tends to diminish sound too much.
    Treble side feels a bit stiff.