Solved my neck problem - WOW!

LQGuitarist

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I just completed a full setup on my 97 Bluesbird and I can't believe the difference it made.

First, The high fret we thought existed at the body was a problem with excessive neck relief. In stead of tapping the fret, I decided to start by adjusting the neck since the relief exceeded 0.004" and the spec called for 0.001". I marked the nut on the truss rod and slowly tightened down the rod, waiting about five minutes to ten minutes between each change. I finally got the relief down to about 0.002" and had to do some minor filing of the nut to bring the G string down to the proper clearance. Again, I did this slowly so as not to exceed the spec.

While the neck was adjusting, I reset the pickups. I lowered the Low and high E poles flush to the pickup cover of the SH-1's and found that I really did not need the Radius Gauges I made since the neck and bridge were in spec at a 12-inch radius.

I then adjusted the top of the pick up plate so that it was parallel to the strings and while pressing down on the low E at the last fret, I adjusted the clearance to a sixteenth inch clearance at the neck. I only needed to adjust one screw at the high E string to bring the level plate cover up to a sixteenth clearance and then assuming the bridge and neck were of same radius, I checked each string for the same sixteenth inch clearance between the pole piece and bottom of string after pressing the string at the last fret.

I brought the bridge pickup down to 3/32" using the same technique and figured that I would tweak out the pickup midrange later if needed.

Next since the neck was now adjusted, I reset the bridge height at the low E so that I was able to get nearly 0.08" clearance and 0.06 at the high E.

Finally, I checked for buzz and found that the problem with what I thought was a high fret disappeared. The problem was a truss rod adjustment after all.

Finally I set intonation. Nearly every string was flat on the 12th fret and required a clockwise turn of the Adust-O-Matic settings to bring the saddles forward. You can turn the screws quite a bit before you notice change, but remember to return each time you check open string to 12th fret. Also, keep you hands off the headstock when checking open string on an electric tuner since it can create a minor pull that sharpens the string or pushing forward will flatten the string.

Next was the sound test - Wow! I thought it sounded great before I did the setup, but I can't believe the difference. It is a major noticible change in output on the pickups plus greater sustain and more stability in tonal changes.

If you have not tried this, or hired someone to set up your electric, I highly recommend you learn to do it yourself. Even a change in guage of string will unset the intonation. It plays better and sounds many times better than when I first bought it a few years ago. I assumed that set to factory spec along was sufficient, but since learning to do it myself, I can notice the change immediately.

Send me a private e-mail if you want a PDF file of the neck radius cutouts. I sent one off tonight and it was my pleasure to give it away to those who intend to do the work themselves.
 

dklsplace

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Good deal LQG!

If you email the pdf to me, we can post it here as a tool in the tech shop area.
 
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