Vintage 7.25 Radius neck setup question...

[Shellcaster]

I have what is likely a stupid question bbbbuuutttt I have learned the hard way the truly stupid thing is to not ask for help when needed...I've got that American standard strat I'm fixing up and sharing progress on in another thread but I have a specific question I wanted to ask separate so it would be me noticable. Feel free to delete this thread in m if necessary... Statement qualified so here it goes... It's a long one so thank you for your patience and help in advance

When I got the neck I gave the truss rod a tiny tweak, probably a 32nd of a turn counter clockwise before putting it on due to the difficulty adjusting it. Now it's on I currently do not have a set of radius gauges so I redid the action the "old fashioned" way by wrapping a piece of tape on a metal ruler at 3mm and went to with adjusting. I've had to set the bottom 3 strings somewhat higher (haven't measured because) as all 3 were buzzing so for now I just raised them till it stopped. It seems I have "permanently misplaced" my feeler gauges and Amazon is being kind enough to bring me a new set till tomorrow and I'm not doing anything till I can confirm measurements.

The neck has 6105 stainless steel frets and I don't mind higher action so much on a strat as much as I prefer the 7.25 to the 9.5 but I'm not used to having all 3 strings buzz like that. When I use my fret rocker I really don't feel any rocking and the really weird thing is if I press down harder on the string the buzzing "lessens" as the note "pitches out" digging into the fingerboard.

Is my instinct thinking the neck just needs a "settled in tweak adjustment" or am I just not paying close enough attention looking for some teeny tiny height discrepancy and the frets need to leveled/polished? The other 2 necks I've got from Warmoth have nickel frets and even the solid maple vintage neck with the same 7.25 radius and a hard gloss finish done by then the frets were perfect out of the old box... Or is there something I'm totally missing here?

No one ever accused me of being smart and any wisdom and insight is appreciated and thank you in advance!

 

[Strat Avenger]

How low are you setting your strings?
You need a tiny bit of forward bow in the neck. Hold the low E string down at the first fret and the 17th fret, and tap the string at the 8th fret, there should be just a slight bit of space between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string. When you tap it there, you can hear and feel a "clicking". No real need for gauges and whatnot.
Once you get that adjusted properly with the truss rod, adjust each string saddle for a string height of about 5/64" @ the 12th fret.

 

[Shellcaster]

How low are you setting your strings?
You need a tiny bit of forward bow in the neck. Hold the low E string down at the first fret and the 17th fret, and tap the string at the 8th fret, there should be just a slight bit of space between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string. When you tap it there, you can hear and feel a "clicking". No real need for gauges and whatnot.
Once you get that adjusted properly with the truss rod, adjust each string saddle for a string height of about 5/64" @ the 12th fret.

On that particular guitar I have the action higher than my others, call it an "almost' SRV setup. Tuned to E flat with Power Slinkies (11's). I have the gnat's hair gap when I measure my action and with 7.25 2 gnat hairs helps. I need the feeler gauge because my one eye is getting old and even with my contact to clear the astigmatism things that small I have to do by feel. Getting old is awesome! Lol

Just like even though I'm American it's become easier to see the mm side of my little metal rulers. I adjust the height at the bridge but eventually the current screws/saddles are being replaced because the ones on the guitar are rusted out... This is basically turned into a rescue project. I want them to sit between 3-3.5mm height wise which is higher than 5/64s... Aaaaannndddd in likely going to have to take it apart and adjust the neck anyways but because I've never had stainless frets before I wanted to see if there was anything else I wasn't thinking of before I pull out the old micro mesh and shine the frets...

Thank you, I'm trying to cover all the things and trying to make sure I'm not forgetting it missing something

 

[Shellcaster]

The thing that threw me was the harder I dig into the fretboard the buzzing lessens that was making me think I need a little more relief and go from there I should say. Sorry, folding laundry and not good at multi-taking either...

If I remember my non -American right a 5/64th setup is fun high to low E-string somewhere between 1.75-2 to 2-2.5mm in European

It's been over 13 years since my last stint across the pond ... My foreign math-speak is a little rusty and mostly in German

 

[Shellcaster]

UPDATE: So I got my new set of feelers and reset the action to 5/64s to be at baseline. After 4 stressful partial neck removals and a little over a full counter clockwise turn in total the relief is coming in at about .009 and I need .012 per fenders own specs. I don't want to wear out the neck holes and with the pocket being loose I have to loosen and tighten it pointing the neck upright and using the old arthritic "hand clamp" to keep everything aligned and hand loosen/tighten it except for the first/final turns.

I don't wanna over due it and bow/warp the neck but has this ever happened to anyone else? I just have a cheap Ernie Ball capo, could that be the problem? When I started the relief was at .004 so I knew I had some wiggle room but over a full rotation is further than I've ever gone, even in quarter turn increments.

Any wisdom would be appreciated and thanked for in advance!

 

[Shellcaster]

For more context I put it on and played it and let it "settle in" the last 2 weeks before I even thought about adjusting it. Total vintage neck with a 7.25 radius and 6105 frets. I capo the first fret and press the 15, 16, and 17th down and measure on the 7th and 8th. I lay the feeler gauge on top of the 7 or 8th fret and press down and pull it. If I feel/see movement I try and slide it gently back under. If there's something I'm going wrong and missed it above please yell at me and correct me

 

[stratamania]

In both of your threads I cannot tell what the actual question is.

Try to post more clearly.

 

[Shellcaster]

In both of your threads I cannot tell what the actual question is.

Try to post more clearly.

My apologies... After starting with a neck relief of .004 I have made several small adjustments that totaled one full rotation of the truss rod nut counter clockwise plus a quarter turn more and am now at .007. I decided to let it settle for the night but I am trying to get to a relief of .012 ideally. I have continually checked my progress with feeler gauges and putting a capo on the first fret and pressing down on the 15th and measuring with the gauges at the 7th and 8th fret. As much as I've already turned the rod I'm nervous about turning it more and trying to figure out if there's something I'm missing/forgetting before I adjust it anymore?

 

[stratamania]

Have you tried play testing this?

If it plays well as it is leave it, and play it and let it settle more.

 

[Shellcaster]

Have you tried play testing this?

If it plays well as it is leave it, and play it and let it settle more.

Sadly no it has a ways to go. For now I'm using my other guitars to record so I'm going to just play it and let it settle for another week. I ordered the replacement bridge saddles and screws today to replace the worn out and rusted ones along with the screws that have stripped heads making it difficult to indicate. Once they arrive I'll give it one more shot since I seen to break a string when I loosen them to adjust the rod and then try and bring them up to tension. I'm enjoying it regardless.

This neck wasn't even meant for this guitar but just like with cats and dogs I'm a sucker for a rescue

I thank you for response as always kind sir and bow down to the superior wisdom.

Oh, I finally got the right sandpaper lol

 

[Shellcaster]

Have you tried play testing this?

If it plays well as it is leave it, and play it and let it settle more.

An update. Playing hard playing and physics is working, it's now settled at .009-.010ish. Have a feeling I may have to correct myself by the time I get my new saddles in the mail. It's impossible to find left handed American Standard saddles from the 86-07 era even though I'm fairly certain the same ones are still being made for the deluxe/ultra. I could get a new JB for the price of after market ones lol