Instrument Repair

[HobbswheresCalvin]

I Know this is not a Service Website, Nor is it about guitars directly, but i figured i would throw this up here because how can you play an amazing amp like a trainwreck or anything else without a well setup guitar.
I am the warranty technician in Santa Cruz for Martin, Gibson, Fender (Guild, Gretch, Tacoma, Jackson, Charvel), Ibanez, Yamaha, and a few more companies. I have Over 20,000 Instrument repairs in my experience field. I Specialize in Setup, Wiring, And Finish work.
I Can Make a 50 Dollar guitar Play like a dream. making it sound like one is another thing entirely. but i do know my way around the fretboard after over 1000 fretlevels.

I have the ability to travel and work on instruments from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Quality is hard to find and i know no one can really judge my work from my post on here, but if you have any questions related to Guitars. PM me. i have no problem trouble shooting to help you do any work yourself.

Sorry to Post off topic, but i figured it was enough related to throw this up here. i don't mind if it is deleted for Subject matter.


On a Side Note, i've been researching into building my own trainwreck clone for a few years now. i have finally come to the point where i can, im pretty jazzed about it.

[ESCOPUNK]

I can make a $1000 guitar sound like a 50 buck piece of crap? Its my speciality
I am more into making crappy amps sound good

[HobbswheresCalvin]

Haha nice

[Prairie Dawg]

This really is completely and totally off topic. This is a tube amp builder's community-says so right on the masthead, dunnit? We're all in favor of hearing about new stuff but you'll likely get a bit of flak. People flogging their for pay services here seem to get taken to task regularly.

[HobbswheresCalvin]

No worries, i figured. But i have seen alpt of people in the la area on here. And well amp communities definitely gotta have well playing instruments to. I more put up this post so that people could ask questions on their instruments. Playability and worong options. Work would be awesome but helping is more what im after

[M Fowler]

I'm glad your here I can always use good advice on guitars.

I've asked questions on finishing work from Structo and others which they always are more then willing to help out.

I suck at neck adjustments and want to be able to take off the fret edges on some of my cheap guitars.

Mark

[HobbswheresCalvin]

Ok so neck adjustment wise. Ive found theres a few different types of players, those that do mainly open chords, doing leads either in the middle of the neck or after the twelfth fret, and those that play bar chords more and do either lead areas.
Now to sight a neck. Alot of people prefer to look down the end of the fretboard. I find this can give a false reading as to how straight a neck is because the fretboard may not be straight but the fretlevel is. Or vice versa. So i use this trick. Given that the string is the straightest obkect on the guitar. Place your first finger on top of, and this is important. On top of the first fret bar. Then place your pinky finger of your right hand ON the 12th fret. The amount of distance between the neck and the string around the 5-8 fret should be either very slight or have no more then .008" thats slightly thinner then the e string. Bar chord player will like a littler more. I like it almost dead flat because i play chords everywhere. And dont play much for bar chords besides e and a major and minor.
Now when you adjust your guitar this way, you may find you have other problems. Next is diagnosing fretbuzz and nut height. Anyone interested in that?

[M Fowler]

I'll give it a try thanks.

I play bar chords and lots of lead runs, aggressive blues and rock with the Les Paul.

But on the Tele I practice my country chicken pickin but don't have any problems with the Tele. Was recently schooled by Greg Koch what a player, he showed so many techniques, great program he presented for Hal Leonard Publications thing.

[katopan]

Setting the relief is OK for me and pretty much what you describe. Small changes can make a lot of difference. But I'd be interested in what you've got to say about fret buzz. I assume it's all about getting the frets levelled properly?

[HobbswheresCalvin]

No were definitely not ready to tackle that yet. Haha but, there is a few things. Depending on where your having buzzing issues you can adjust different things. The nut adjustments i like to do next.
If the neck is straight and none of the frets are buzzing, but when you play open notes they buzz, you have a low nut obviously
If the action is buzzing in the first 5 frets, your neck is too straight, o maaay need a fretlevel.
If it buzzes from anywhere between the 7th -9th to the 14th or beyond. The bridge is too low.
If certain strings buzz and not others. Either the bridge radius does not match the neck radius, or you need a spot level.

To measure and set the nut heights you will need one set of files from stew mac.

This is a permanent change to your guitar and should only be undertaken if you feel confident to work very lightly with your hands and are a good trouble shooter. Because cutting nut slots need to have the proper direction, need to be wide enough so that string seats properly, and if you cut to low you need to be handy to either score and remove and raise the nut or fill the slots.

So to measure your heights, you need only your eyes, the guitar to be in tune and the neck to be straight.
Think of the nut as a zero fret. So try this when you put your finger on the first fret as i explained during the neck adjustment section and place your finger on the 3rd fret wire. There should be no gap over the 2nd fret wire. Same should happen with the nut. Except. Since the nut has so much friction from tuning amd because most people hit the open chords slightly harder then the rest. The nut should be cut slightly higher. To measure place your right hand finger on the second fret wire. You should see a very small gap above each fret. The same height for all of them. This amount is about half the thickness of a 9 gauge string. Very small. The more times you do this the keener your eyes get for it.

The reason for bringing the nut down is not only for ease of playability but so that when you fret open chords and chords close to the headstock that they do not sound sharp. More often then not when a guitar sounds out of tune, tho it tunes perfectly. Inconsistant nut heights is the culprit not the bridge intonation.

So check these things. And next time you take your guitsr to a tech, as you probably should once a year, at least to have the neck straightened, which shouldnt cost more then 25 bucks. Ask them to explain their logic of how a guitar sets up. If they can give a clear description of how to set a guitar up using no real measuring devices as ive just shown. Theyre in the ballpark of knowing how to do this. Im not saying i know everything about how a guotar works. But simply staying within these realms you can setup any guitar lower then most manufacturers will from the factory and have no buzzing problems.
As long as the fretlevel is flat that is.

Nut slots also have to be cut towards the tuning key at exactly the same angle as the headstock. The edge of the nut closest to the fretboard takes all of the weight to give the best sustain. Adding a bit of graphite to the nut slots does relieve any clinging that you may have when a string clicks into pitch, as long as the strings are fresh.

Any questions and criticism is welcome.

Hobbs

[Structo]

Welcome to the forum, it's good to have somebody else's brain to pick.

Obviously, most of us here are the do it yourself type guys and gals.

But to have a well experienced person in any field is always a bonus if they are willing to help.

As a less experienced tech (my own) I like to use feeler gauges to help guide me when I file nut slots.
First I measure things with a caliper, like first fret height, then I stack some feeler gauges to equal that height, then add between .003-.004" for the string clearance above the fret with slightly more on the bass side.
Then I can file down to the gauges without going too deep and the need for a new nut!

It allows me to determine how much I want the bottom of the slots to be above the first fret.

I'm glad you talked about how much nut to have above the strings because that always seems to be a point of contention among techs.

I find one of the trickiest things when filing is the angle of the slope to the tuning posts.
Getting that right is what determines how good your open strings will ring out and sustain.

[HobbswheresCalvin]

That is interesting. I was originally taught to use an .018 feeler gauge above the 1st fret wire. But because different tunings and different string gauges will have different pop off the nut this doesnt apply. And as well as if your bridge isnt set exactly to the right height already. The measurement will see off when the final steps of the setup are taken.
The angle is very important yes. Especially since too severe and the nut may crack. Too shallow and it will have a non sustaining ring to it..
I use the methode of using the 2nd fret mainly because as long as string gauges are not changed. This seems to be lowest i can set nut height. The distance i leave above the 1st fret sometimes is nothing. It all depends on how good of a guitar it is. (I.e. bone nut, not plastic)
Using the your right hand pushing on the string above the 2nd fret, sometimes 3rd when you get really close to perfectly seated. You can leave no room showing above the first fretwire. This isnt necessarily easy.

I like your method because it keeps you from going to far. But i am not sure it takes into acount the pop that the string has as it it pulled to a knife edge (edge of nut) with tension and down the length of the guitar. There is a pop here otherwise the string would kink everytime you put it on the guitar.
Bridge height for electrics usually can be adjusted withiut cutting anything. As long as the radius of each saddle is correct.

On my guitars (tune o matic) i use feel to govern bridge height. After i set the radius

Using a 6 inch scale ruler. Using 32nds. Placing the ruler in front of the low e string on top of the 12th fret, the string should sit on top of 2.5/32nds or 5/64ths. The treble e with the ruller in front of the string should sit directly in the middle of the line of 2/32nds . Radius from there should slowly taper from there the g should sit on top of the 2/32nds and on the b and e should be directly at 2/32nds. From there you can lower the bridge down slowly until the guitar begins to buzz. Or where you feel the height is right for you. With a perfect fretmill. The bridge height can go as low as 1.5/32nds on the treble and sitting on the 2/32nds on the bass side. ON AN ELECTRIC GUITAR. bass and acoustic are different, tho everything else applies.

This info is for your knowledge alone. I can help trouble shoot problems from here but something happens and it doesnt come out as you expect, ask questions before you start swinging. This is tried and true method i discovered at ESP guitars while working there for a year and a half. In that time i did between 35-70 setups a day. Needless to say i got curious and made mistakes until i discovered this.

So please question everything

[Colossal]

Thanks for all of the tips Hobbs. Very useful. I prefer 7 strings with very flat necks (16-20" radii), huge frets (6000, 6100s) and quite low action. I'm trying to learn how to do things for myself so your commentary is helpful.

[martin manning]

This is good stuff... I do maintenance on both acoustic and electrics (mine and my son's). On the neck I have gotten as far as fret leveling and dressing with great results. Always good to learn techniques from pros.

[HobbswheresCalvin]

For sure guys.

Fretleveling is a monster all its own. Its very tedious.(the way i do it) and it takes alot of sculptive imagination. Ill post more on it later. As i actually have a fretlevel to do on a Shenk Acoustic