How does everyone keep their necks??

[dmraco]

I am ordering some tools from StweMac to really fine tune my set ups.  To date I have been eyeballing everything with some good success.  I really want to get my string action consistant on all my guitars.

How do you guys mostly keep you necks?  Flat?  With a little relief?  Also..you string height does everyone recommend??

Thanks

 

[hannaugh]

Those preferences are different for everyone.  I like a little bit of relief and the lowest string height I can get away with without hearing buzz, but I don't have a set of feeler gauges or any great measuring tools for figuring that stuff out.  I just go by feel. 

If you look in the back of Dan Erlewine's book "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great", it has a ton of detailed setups listed for a ton of different famous guitar players.  You could try out some of those just for fun. 

 

[Dan025]

relief but never more than .010"

well maybe more on a vintage 7-1/4" radius but not much

 

[jackthehack]

I have Josh set  'em low as they can go without buzzing:

http://www.massstreetmusic.com/store/show_info_solo/29

 

[erogenousjones17]

Between my head and my shirt? 

 

[Who?]

I capo mine at the first fret and hold the low E down at the 17th.  About .007" to .010" between the 7th fret and the bottom of the string seems to work well.  As far as string height goes, a sixteenth of an inch at the 12th fret seems to be as low as I can go without buzzing.

 

[mayfly]

I follow the old Rickenbacker rule of keep em dead flat.  Possible with the dual action truss rod, but not really with the total vintage rod.

 

[-CB-]

If you want to do setups to the Nth degree, you dont need anything fancy.

You do need a knowledge of how guitars work.

You'll need a good eyeloup, about  7x (camera stores).

You'll need a good machinist ruler graduated in 1/64 inches

If you set your relief to about .010 or so at fret 8 - using the string itself as a staightedge, then...

You can set the high E string to 3.5/64ths at fret 12, and

You can set the low E to about 4/64ths at fret 12.  Graduating the rest in between...

And that should be a really close to ideal setup for "action".

After that, just adjust the intonation and you're set. 

Pole piece setups are not super critical - dont fall into the trap of getting all sorts of fancy pole piece gauges and stuff.  Not needed.

 

[dmraco]

If you want to do setups to the Nth degree, you dont need anything fancy.

You do need a knowledge of how guitars work.

You'll need a good eyeloup, about  7x (camera stores).

You'll need a good machinist ruler graduated in 1/64 inches

If you set your relief to about .010 or so at fret 8 - using the string itself as a staightedge, then...

You can set the high E string to 3.5/64ths at fret 12, and

You can set the low E to about 4/64ths at fret 12.   Graduating the rest in between...

And that should be a really close to ideal setup for "action".

After that, just adjust the intonation and you're set. 

Pole piece setups are not super critical - dont fall into the trap of getting all sorts of fancy pole piece gauges and stuff.  Not needed.

All I was going to get was a good straight edge and a string action gauge....

 

[Superbeast520]

If you want to do setups to the Nth degree, you dont need anything fancy.

You do need a knowledge of how guitars work.

You'll need a good eyeloup, about  7x (camera stores).

You'll need a good machinist ruler graduated in 1/64 inches

If you set your relief to about .010 or so at fret 8 - using the string itself as a staightedge, then...

You can set the high E string to 3.5/64ths at fret 12, and

You can set the low E to about 4/64ths at fret 12.   Graduating the rest in between...

And that should be a really close to ideal setup for "action".

After that, just adjust the intonation and you're set. 

Pole piece setups are not super critical - dont fall into the trap of getting all sorts of fancy pole piece gauges and stuff.  Not needed.

CB pretty much covered it, if you set all your guitars up like this you would have some nice playing geetars, dont forget to use a good strobe tuner when doing the intonation, it makes a world of difference.

 

[-CB-]

The straight edge is the string itself

the "action gauge" is nothing more than the accurate machinists ruler (sears has em!)

 

[Strat Avenger]

The necks on all of my electric guitars are set up with a slight amount of forward bow (neck relief), and the string height is set to 1/16" to 5/64" for the low-E @ the 12th fret, and 1/16" for the high-E @ the 12th fret. This is with a Floyd Rose or TOM bridge. With a Fender bridge, all saddles are adjusted for 1/16" @ 12th fret. The low-E can be as high as 5/64". I use a machinist ruler.  I don't use feeler gauges for setting neck relief; I do that by eye and feel (fretting the low-E at the first fret and where the neck joins the body, and tapping at the 8th fret). A strobe tuner is not  necessary for setting intonation. Just use a good guitar tuner that has the needle (not LED or digital display).

 

[Superlizard]

I have a wee bit of relief and medium-ish action (.010 gauge strings here).

I like the strings to be "bouncy/lively" feel-wise, and the higher action for bends
and vibrato.  With low action the strings feel tight and "dead" comparatively.


Not to mention the strings "breathe" more with higher action; thereby
giving better tone...

 

[dmraco]

Not to mention the strings "breathe" more with higher action; thereby
giving better tone...

that's a new one....

 

[Superlizard]

Not to mention the strings "breathe" more with higher action; thereby
giving better tone...

that's a new one....

It's simple string physics.

The string has to vibrate (and they do so in a long, elliptical way)... and that vibration of course is captured by the pickup... this is a major part of the "tone process".

If the action isn't super low, and there's a little neck relief, the string vibrates freely... the fundamental
and all the overtones come out.

If the action is super low and/or no neck relief, chances are the vibrating string is gonna be hitting frets (doesn't
necessarily have to "fret out", either - it can graze the fret top, too)... which f's with string vibration, and therefore the tone.

 

[rockskate4x]

Not to mention the strings "breathe" more with higher action; thereby
giving better tone...

that's a new one....

It's simple string physics.

The string has to vibrate (and they do so in a long, elliptical way)... and that vibration of course is captured by the pickup... this is a major part of the "tone process".

If the action isn't super low, and there's a little neck relief, the string vibrates freely... the fundamental
and all the overtones come out.

If the action is super low and/or no neck relief, chances are the vibrating string is gonna be hitting frets (doesn't
necessarily have to "fret out", either - it can graze the fret top, too)... which f's with string vibration, and therefore the tone.

+1 for once I actual completely agree with you SL

 

[Steve_Karl]

Not to mention the strings "breathe" more with higher action; thereby
giving better tone...

that's a new one....

That's a way old one in my book.
Many call it string excursion. The more it can move the more it can sound.
Try it.

 

[Superlizard]

That's a way old one in my book.
Many call it string excursion. The more it can move the more it can sound.
Try it.

Indeed it is old knowledge.

I was just reminded of a similar common scenario whereupon if you move a pickup's magnets too close to the
string, it also screws with the string's vibration (and therefore tone).

 

[Kaoskadosk]

Well, that does also depend on your string gauge, how hard you pluck your strings and how precisely your guitar is set up. I'm pretty sure you can get a tone just as good with low action as with high action if you do it properly.

 

[Steve_Karl]

That's a way old one in my book.
Many call it string excursion. The more it can move the more it can sound.
Try it.

Indeed it is old knowledge.

I was just reminded of a similar common scenario whereupon if you move a pickup's magnets too close to the
string, it also screws with the string's vibration (and therefore tone).

Yes, I agree. Plus you also have the difference in tone caused only by more or less distance from the strings.
I tend to go for pickups as far as possible from the strings, but balanced against the loss of highs it can sometimes cause.

One thing I also noticed very early on ... probably when I got my first Les Paul with HB pups is that amp distortion can sometimes ( depending on the amp ) be harsher sounding if the pups are too close to the strings.