Setup/action heighth problems on my finished V

[Jim16]

Hello all !
I recently finished this flying V made entirely of parts from warmoth.
I'm happy with everything except the action that is strangely high.
The neck is tensed to the max and the strings are still way too high.
As far as I know, no mistake was made by Warmoth, it all fits together well.
However it really seems that the bridge sits too high by a few millimeter, even though when I compare to another guitar with the same setup, everything looks the same.
Right now the bridge is as low as possible and that brings it flush with the body with strings tensed, exactly as it should.Lower than that the tremolo action suffers.This is about the only place I can adjust, having tried putting the nut higher without real success.
I don't know what to do.I am considering re-drilling the bridge pocket to bring it even lower.

Another strange thing, when the guitar was assembled first, the nut seemed too low for the frets near it, and it was impossible to get a note on the neck.I had to put some wood between the nut and the neck and now it works, but it should work without it ...
-maybe there was a mistake on the nut prep?
-maybe there was a mistake with the bridge prep?
-did I do something wrong?

thank you all !

neck:
KWS, Warmoth Pro , Left Handed Handed, Maple, Purpleheart Fretboard, 1 11/16" Nut Width, Wizard, GD6105 (Gold Color), Schaller (25/64", 11/32") Tuner Ream, 22 frets, 10-16" Compound Radius, No Inlay,Side Dots Only Inlay, L3 Floyd Prep, w/ Mounting Holes, No Finish, 25-1/2 in. Scale, Standard 4 Bolt, Unique Choice: FB374

body:
Standard V, Left handed, Alder, Rear Rout, F-Holes: None, Pickup Rout: (Humbucker (Neck), None (Middle), Humbucker (Brdg))Controls: (X, Volume 1 (V), Volume 2 (V), Tone (V), X, X), , Bridge: Recessed Original Floyd Tremolo, Side Jack: 7/8" (22.23mm) Side Jack Hole, Contoured Heel, Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt, Neck Pocket: Strat® with 720 Mod

 

[fretless]

I see the FR is not exactly  parallel to the body as it should be , adjust the springs a wee bit , retune etc etc . That will indeed bring down the action a hair . Pickups seem to be needing a tweak as well , perhaps get this to a good setup guy .

 

[Day-mun]

Get Dan Erlewine's book "Guitar Player Repair Guide". -Actually buy it; you'll find it to be no waste of $$$. It can be found in any chain bookstore, or go to amazon. In it is the ten-step set-up for trem-equipped guitars. Follow these steps in order and you will find no need to drill/cut/shim anything.

 

[Jim16]

thank you for the advice; what I meant was more like: what do you do when you now exactly how to setup the guitar, but you can't get the string to touch the frets no matter what ? (on a good guitar that is possible, here it is nowhere near possible)

sure I can bring the FR further back but it won't lower the srtings 3 or 4 millimeters like I need...
also, how come I can't use the L3 nut in the L3 prep they did (the nut sits too low, the string won't ring.) ?

the focal length in the pic and the pickup give the impression the FR is a bit high, irl it's really flush and parallel with the body -also the pickup isn't setup yet and is not part of the topic, even though it does give the impression the FR is more at an angle )

 

[Cagey]

I hate to see it done, but you may want to put a narrow shim in the neck pocket perpendicular to the neck and closest to the body. That'll force the headstock back and lower your strings at the heel. Some guys use a pick, some use a bit of cardboard... you just need something about 1mm-2mm thick. It'll do something like this...

...although the shim shouldn't be as wide as shown in the drawing above. It should look something like this...

 

[Day-mun]

thank you for the advice; what I meant was more like: what do you do when you now exactly how to setup the guitar, but you can't get the string to touch the frets no matter what ? (on a good guitar that is possible, here it is nowhere near possible)

Sorry if I rubbed ya the wrong way; -just never know what people's level of understanding is on these sorts of things.

I just assumed that since it is made entirely of new Warmoth parts, there would be no trouble with things fitting together and being compatible. I have never experienced W parts being off the mark like that, so it was hard to imagine.

KG is right about the neck shim. -And it really doesn't need to be very thick at all. A pesky Fender-type bolt-on can usually be remedied with a slip of paper, in my experience. My personal favorite is the message out of a fortune cookie folded in half the long-way; it is already cut to the perfect size, and the good luck from that cookie is in there giving your ax happy ju-ju! :laughing7:

 

[Jim16]

thanks a lot for the suggestions, the shim is a very good idea!

I'll try to make a good shim that fills the gap as well as possible.it's still a bit sad.

it's probably the easiest fix at that point...

no problem with the rubbing - I was trying to answer without letting it show! I fail

 

[DangerousR6]

I hate to see it done, but you may want to put a narrow shim in the neck pocket perpendicular to the neck and closest to the body. That'll force the headstock back and lower your strings at the heel. Some guys use a pick, some use a bit of cardboard... you just need something about 1mm-2mm thick. It'll do something like this...

...although the shim shouldn't be as wide as shown in the drawing above. It should look something like this...

Typically that's only for non-recessed Floyds and Stop TOM, his appears to be a recessed Floyd.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, I know and I saw that. But, if the pivot posts are as far down as he's willing to go in order to get the range he wants and there's still too much air under the strings at the heel, whaddaya gonna do? Could re-route the neck pocket floor, but I got the impression that wasn't on his menu. That leaves the dreaded shim solution.

 

[Jim16]

hello!
ok so I thought about the dreadedness of the dreaded shim and decided to look closer: turns out there was so much finish right under the bridge, that it was requiring it to be a few millimeters higher to work properly.
I dremeled it out, but the bridge was still sitting too high, because the studs were actually hitting the bottom of their pits, so I sawed them off at the bottom.
It's all pretty horrible but it seems that I will be getting the string low enough in the end.
Next time, I will do a full setup of the guitar before finishing it.I'm pretty sure the cut was right and I got it wrong somewhere.
I'll post another  pic soon.

 

[Cagey]

I think if it was me, I'd have whipped out an appropriately-sized bit and drilled the bushing holes a tad deeper rather than shorten the bushings. You already know you have the depth to do that, since there are a million guitars out there done that way. But, I guess you can't argue with success.

 

[Jim16]

oh, I didn't even think of doing that  :toothy11:

anywhay here's the pic