Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
It sure can't hurt anything to wait.TelePaul said:
TragikRemix
I am NOT a Gear Whore. ;)
i was going to say something here, but i'm tired and dont want to.
ill try again tomorrow.
ill try again tomorrow.
ez_willis
.
ez_willis said:
mrface2112 said:
Man, you beat Light to the punch. He'll be angry, and probably lecture you.
This shit ain't rocket science. A 1/4 turn of the truss rod will not turn the Strat into a potato.
Follow the advice of the people that are offering it up, you'll be fine. The worst thing that can happen, barring you don't crank on the truss rod until it snaps, is your strings will buzz, still.
cephus
Slow Children Playing
True dat. I never pay to get my guitars set up, but I don't do such a great job. I get them functional and that's good enough for me.
That said, I just threw mucho dollars at my strat for a new nut and setup and it plays great. It doesn't buzz anywhere. Before it uniformly buzzed everywhere. Around here a good setup is around $60 and I would gladly put that into any shit piece based ont he results I have gotten with the recommended techs. THe disco slut is next and that guitar only cost me $75 when I bought it.
That said, I just threw mucho dollars at my strat for a new nut and setup and it plays great. It doesn't buzz anywhere. Before it uniformly buzzed everywhere. Around here a good setup is around $60 and I would gladly put that into any shit piece based ont he results I have gotten with the recommended techs. THe disco slut is next and that guitar only cost me $75 when I bought it.
ez_willis
.
cephus said:
I wouldn't attempt to replace a nut on my own, but eyeing up the neck and adjusting the truss rod accordingly is doable.
Sirnothingness
Banned
If you haven't adjusted a truss rod before, I would seriously have it done by someone else. But you can do it as long as you know what you're doing. I was taught that there is a specific order in which to set a guitar up. Adjusting the truss rod comes before adjusting the bridge saddles & string height. Then intonation follows. Then pickup height. That's how I was told anyway.
Light
New member
Some degree of neck adjustment is immediately apparent, but they will settle over time if left to their own devices. Most professionals, in the interest of speed, will "stress" the neck a bit to get it the rest of the way (which is to say, we use a little pressure in the direction the neck is supposed to go; some customers don't like to watch this, but in 36 years we've haven't broken one yet; at least, not that way - one of our former employees snapped a customers neck of the back of his dog while the customer was standing right there, but that's a whole different issue), but it's probably best for most people to just wait a few minutes.
As to the original question, I have no idea if you need to adjust the truss rod. I can't see the guitar. Basically, you if you fret a string at the first fret and (about) the 14-15th fret, you want approximately a playing cards thickness between the string and the top of the fret in the middle. Check both of the E strings.
Finally, if you are not comfortable doing it yourself, DON'T. You can damage your guitar (although it isn't all that common). Take it to a good repair shop, and get your guitar setup by someone who knows what they are doing. A good shop can do it faster and better than you, so you may as well take advantage of their expertise.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
As to the original question, I have no idea if you need to adjust the truss rod. I can't see the guitar. Basically, you if you fret a string at the first fret and (about) the 14-15th fret, you want approximately a playing cards thickness between the string and the top of the fret in the middle. Check both of the E strings.
Finally, if you are not comfortable doing it yourself, DON'T. You can damage your guitar (although it isn't all that common). Take it to a good repair shop, and get your guitar setup by someone who knows what they are doing. A good shop can do it faster and better than you, so you may as well take advantage of their expertise.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
ez_willis
.
Light said:
Nice work, Light!
Light
New member
Sirnothingness said:
Oh, absolutely. Doing anything out of order just means you need to do it again.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Light
New member
ez_willis said:
THAT was quick!
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
MessianicDreams
New member
right, well thanks for all the help guys. gunna buy me a nice, precise ruler, and give this shit a go.
i figure, if i'm careful, the worst i can do is set my guitar up REALLY badly, in which case i'll take it to a pro to get it done. i should be able to do this myself, and although its kinda scary the first time, we've all gotta start somewhere right?
right...
i figure, if i'm careful, the worst i can do is set my guitar up REALLY badly, in which case i'll take it to a pro to get it done. i should be able to do this myself, and although its kinda scary the first time, we've all gotta start somewhere right?
right...
TelePaul
J to the R O C
MessianicDreams said:
Yeah, good job man.
3
32-20-Blues
New member
MessianicDreams said:
Damn right. Although, not all of us are lucky enough to have to do this for the first time on an American deluxe strat.
cephus
Slow Children Playing
The nut and fret dress were what "forced" me to take it in to a pro, but now I think that it is worth the money to have the guy go chiropractic on all my guitars. I wish he'd give me a deal. Fourth one for free.
M
mrface2112
Well-known member
yeah, this is NOT hard. it's just that if you've never done it before, it can be a bit daunting and scary--especially when you crank the truss rod for the first time and hear that *crack*. 
check out www.frets.com. Frank Ford's site has some excellent resources about necks and bowing. it's acoustic-based, but the principles apply to electrics as well.....a neck with a truss rod is pretty much a neck with a truss rod.
you will need a long, straight ruler to check the straightness of the neck--i recommend a metal one. you will also need a ruler that does 32nds (and possibly 64ths). most regular, store-bought rulers only do 16ths. www.stewmac.com is your friend for those supplies.
have fun at it--like you said, the worst you can do is make it worse (provided you don't force anything and break the truss rod).......but given the nature of the strat's bridge system, i don't wish setting up a strat as a "first time" on anyone. hell, i don't really even like changing the strings on my strat.
cheers,
wade
check out www.frets.com. Frank Ford's site has some excellent resources about necks and bowing. it's acoustic-based, but the principles apply to electrics as well.....a neck with a truss rod is pretty much a neck with a truss rod.
you will need a long, straight ruler to check the straightness of the neck--i recommend a metal one. you will also need a ruler that does 32nds (and possibly 64ths). most regular, store-bought rulers only do 16ths. www.stewmac.com is your friend for those supplies.
have fun at it--like you said, the worst you can do is make it worse (provided you don't force anything and break the truss rod).......but given the nature of the strat's bridge system, i don't wish setting up a strat as a "first time" on anyone. hell, i don't really even like changing the strings on my strat.
cheers,
wade
T
travelin travis
New member
What a bunch of sissy's. Unless you're a complete moron, you're not going to hurt your guitar during a setup. Read a book ya idgets. For the price of a couple of setups and a new nut you can buy all the tools you need and a book or two. Like Flamin said, it ain't rocket science. Buy some nut blanks and just try it. Worst case scenario, you waste a few bucks on blank nuts. Get yourself a cheap strat copy and go to town on it. Take it apart, put it back together. Measure some shit. Set it up, put it back out of whack, set it up again. Sell it, buy another, repeat. Why are so many people here afraid of working on their own guitars? I guess if you don't have any experience using tools and measuring instruments you have an excuse.
MessianicDreams, I don't think you're going to have a tough time with it. At the very least you're going to know whether or not to take it to a guitar tech. If you don't try you have to take it to a tech. If you can't get things setup the way you want, you'll take it to a tech. You might as well give it a good shot. For intonation, check out aptuner. If you're using reaper, check out reatune.
Unless you're a complete moron, you're not going to hurt your guitar during a setup. Read a book ya idgets. For the price of a couple of setups and a new nut you can buy all the tools you need and a book or two. Like Flamin said, it ain't rocket science. Buy some nut blanks and just try it. Worst case scenario, you waste a few bucks on blank nuts. Get yourself a cheap strat copy and go to town on it. Take it apart, put it back together. Measure some shit. Set it up, put it back out of whack, set it up again. Sell it, buy another, repeat. Why are so many people here afraid of working on their own guitars? I guess if you don't have any experience using tools and measuring instruments you have an excuse.MessianicDreams, I don't think you're going to have a tough time with it. At the very least you're going to know whether or not to take it to a guitar tech. If you don't try you have to take it to a tech. If you can't get things setup the way you want, you'll take it to a tech. You might as well give it a good shot. For intonation, check out aptuner. If you're using reaper, check out reatune.
Light
New member
TravisinFlorida said:
A LOT of people would rather let someone else do it because they would rather be PLAYING their guitars than working on them.
By the by, I think it is particularly important to get a new guitar done by a professional, because it is pretty close to being guarantied to be wrong from the factory. Just one of those things, but something which is much easier to get done by a pro. If you don't have the experience you will probably mess it up (god knows I messed up a few when I was learning), and then you will have to either shim up the nut, or if you REALLY mess it up you will need to get it replaced. Why risk it on a $1,000 guitar? Once the nut is set right, the rest of the shit on a Strat is pretty basic.
Still, I've never met a person yet who had their guitar set up by someone who really knew what they were doing who wasn't happy with the results. We've simply got more experience with the balancing act of a set up. Yes, I am in fact saying pros do it better, and you know what? We do. It's hard for someone to get good when they only do a few setups a year. Each of our repair people do 400-600 a year. It's their full time job. If you want to dedicate that much time to it, then you might be able to get that good, but I'm guessing most of you have jobs that take up most of your time.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
ZoSo58LP
rock guy
yeah I agree with light about the brand new guitars straight from the factory...but the last time I bought a brand new guitar was back in 2001...and i didn't get it set up because I was stupid then and thought it played great..but of course as years went by i realized what intonation was, and always adjusted the action myself...but now I just do everything myself..electronics, setup, trussrod, etc etc...only thing i wouldn't do myself is with the body itself..like when my Les Paul fell of a stand and the headstock literally cracked off the neck..yeah that was the first time I brought a guitar to get fixed/setup lol
T
travelin travis
New member
Light said:
A lot of guys around here show a genuine interest in working on their own guitars for what ever reason (hobby, save money, etc.) but are afraid to because they don't understand exactly what they're doing.
Light said:
I think it's pretty important to adjust a new guitar too most of the time (some times you get lucky). In my opinion, and I know I'm not alone here, EVERY guitar player should know how to adjust his/her own guitar. As long as a guy understands what he's doing, I don't see any reason why he can't do a good basic setup. Come one man.......it amounts to measuring and twisting screws. The only way I can see someone screwing up their guitar is by snapping the truss rod. That comes down to knowing what you're doing before you do it and not being a dumbass. As far as the nut, just don't alter the old one. Use a blank or preshaped nut and if worse comes to worse, put the old one back on. For the rest of the guitar, measure things before adjusting so that the guitar can be set back to the way it was before adjustments. If you don't like your adjustments, put it back the way it was. What's the risk here? Some time for education? How many guys waste gobs of time slobbering over a guitar catalog?
Light said:
I agree with you here. Anyone that does something every day is logically going to be better at it. BUT!, you can only get so good at some things. Taking measurements and twisting screws ain't rocket science and doesn't require a special touch. Knowing what you're doing is the key phrase here. Pick up a book and know what you're doing before you do it. I'll admit that when you throw filing and wood working into the works, experience definitely pays off. Example: I've filed jet parts that require hand finishing to remove tool marks and bring contours into specs. It doesn't require any special talent just actual doing. The very first parts I ever took a file to, on my first day at the job, passed inspection and went in a jet wing. I was slow at it at first from lack of experience. After a while I got quite a bit faster at it but marginally better. Specs is specs. The guy that over watched me when I started wasn't any better at it than I was but he was by far faster.
You'll never learn if you never try something. How much is a guy really risking by buying a cheap guitar or two and having at it? What about working on a buddies clunker that plays like shit? Buy some tools and treat them with care. If it turns out that you don't like working on your guitars, sell the tools (quality tools hold their value fairly well).