Well, I've been playing this thing and tweeking the setup on it, and I have about conceded to the fact that it needs a fret level. I put 10's on this one, which I am slowly getting used to (have used 9's always) and it just doesn't feel legato fast yet. Not quite like fenderitis, but you need to really play this thing with precision to get it to do what you want. Maybe partly due to the heavy strings, maybe cause I'm not used to it yet, I don't know. The action is hovering around 3/64 on the high E and slightly higher on the low side. Relief is around .009-.010. Anything past the 15th fret and a 3/4 step bend will die like right now. I polished the frets and gave them a mallot job, and it helped quite a bit with some of the dead spots/rattling areas. I'm close, but I think it's off to my fret guy. Any suggestions?
Iceman setup-not quite there yet
- Thread starter ice man
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Fish Out of Water
Senior Member
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Dude, I'd let a pro handle it. Any time that I feel like I have to use a hammer on a guitar I just conceed and take it to the shop. I'd be in tears if I wound up fouling up a fret job or pounding my guitar into tooth picks. I guess I'm just not that adventurous...
Fish said:
No worries, I know my limitations and the one thing I am NOT going to try on this one is filing the frets. Tapping them a little with a plastic carb hammer won't hurt anything, just makes sure the frets are seated. I played around alittle more, it's coming to me. More relief, lowe action. Plus, it seems an adustment in bridge height on one side really affects the entire feel of the high side-moreso than my other hard tail guitars. Maybe it's the Tonespro? Anyone know what the radius is on that bridge? Also, my neck is a compound radius 24 3/4 conversion, but it doesn't feel that flat down below the 12th. Like a Jackson neck feels FLAT. This one doesn't. Maybe I'll whip up a radius gauge and check it.
A Tone Pro tunematic is going to be radiused to 12", and the bridge pieces need to be filed to accommodate the compound radius of the Warmoth - it's 16" at the 22nd fret, but I think you have to notch the bridge pieces to a 18" or 19" radius? There was a thread about the calculations here some time ago, maybe somebody can dig it up? Getting your bridge right may take care of a big part of your problems - the edge strings are fretting out, and the middle strings feel high, I'll bet. Or you could just use a Fender bridge, like this guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5llfHPzt4H4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5llfHPzt4H4
