i want to lower the action on my tele, dangerous?

  • Thread starter Thread starter oh_the_blood
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oh_the_blood

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so i want to lower the action on my tele, and ive never really done it before.

im kinda afraid of messing up the truss rod, or like have the string tension too tight since i have medium brass daddario strings on.

any tips on doing it so i dont screw it up?

im sitting here waiting with a allen wrench in my hand

dun dun dunnn
 
Buy a book and learn how to adjust your guitar properly.

Might want to invest in a straight edge also.


Dave
 
im kinda all about saving money n stuff
so

anyones expert opinion on how to tighten my truss rod would be appreciated
 
Give it a crank and check it out.

If you don't like it, crank it back.

Remember how many cranks you give it and in what direction.

You wont break it.

Dave
 
Very Dangerous

If you want it done right take it to a professional but if want to learn how to do it I guess theirs no better way then making mistakes.

Search for info on the net http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitarrepairshopelectric.htm heres one site I refer too.

Anyone else correct me if I'm wrong but you should lower the saddles on you bridge to get a lower action. You only need to ajust your thruss when your neck gets warped over time and develops an up-bow, down-bow etc.
 
oh snap, then how do i lower the bridge?

the strings are too high from the frets and i want to make them lower.

suggestions?

man i suck at this stuff.
 
What kind of bridge do you have on the tele. Also do you have a locking nut?
 
Yeah man, I agree don't touch the truss rod yet.

The easiest way to see if the truss rod is right is to put your eyes level with the headstock and look down towards the bridge....

The easiest do what I just said, is to set the guitar butt down on a chair, and hold the neck, kind of rock it back and look at it like you'd look at a 2" x 4"..... If it's not bowing up or down a whole lot, I just leave it alone.

Over tightening a truss rod and be a serious problem..... a problem that can lead to permanent warping.

Ok now about your string saddles..... have no fear man, I'll help you the best I can. What you're going to want to do is detune your guitar a little bit.

Ddon't take the string off or anything crazy like that.... you just want to get some of the tension off of them, that's all.

I generally start with the "big" E string. (The one closest to my face). And lower it a little bit, I tune the guitar back up to my normal tuning, and if I like it where it's at I leave it there.

If I don't like it I can raise or lower it untill I do like it... just let off the tension, adjust, retune, play around, and repeat untill you get it right.

When you get the "big" e right, take the tension off of all the other stings and lower them to back the same level. Retune and see if you like the guitar where it's at now.

If you don't play around with the individual strings untill you get something you like, but try not to have any really signifigant jumps or drops (it won't feel right when you're playing).

Ok if you've got that done and really just want to go all out you can set your intonation, because you've done a good job with the string height, and you've already got your tools right there.

With your guitar is PERFECT tune (it doesn't matter what that tune is, if you usually play in drop C, then tune the guitar to drop C). And start with either the top or bottom string.........

What you're going to want to do is pretty simple. Play the string open and triple check it's tuning, then play the same string on the 12th fret. Is the note at the 12th fret is perfect tune with the string being played open?

If not you have to adjust the saddles fowards and backwards untill it is. I believe fowards makes the note a higher and backwards makes it a little lower. (It's been awhile since I've done any set up jobs).

Make sure everytime you move the saddle fowards or backwards you check the strings tuning OPEN again. Once the open tuning is right, then check the 12th fret, and just keep on adjusting.

You probally won't get it pin point perfect, (you could play this game all night trying to do that). But I bet you can get it noticable better.

Now you're saying "holy shit I can't believe I did all of this"..... well I teach you one more little snipet..... The height of your pickups makes a huge difference in your tone and it's not hard to adjust.

Raising them a little bit will give you a more trebly tone and lowering them will make your guitar sound more bassy. Just think of them as a giant tone knob... higher and lower....

And congratulations, you can now apply for a job as a guitar tech! I got a little tech-ing job repairing guitars for a pawnshop in high school. They would basically just call me up and ask me if I could come set up some really nice guitar they just got in, or say something like "wil the guitars humming really bad, you think you could take a look at it".

Anyways long story short, I got a full time job with them in my junior year in high school, because I had done a lot of tech work for them, for way cheaper than the "tech" down the road would do it.

Pretty cool huh? If you need anymore set up help just lemme know. :D
 
Charva said:
Buy a book and learn how to adjust your guitar properly.

Might want to invest in a straight edge also.


Dave
Click to expand...


The best advice you have gotten in this thread, right there. Buy Dan Erlewines book, or take it to a good tech. Anything else is asking for problems, period. The book is not that expensive, and you will NEVER get everything you need off the internet. And I'm sorry, but if you are too cheap to buy the book, don't even try it.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Oh, and you most certainly CAN break a truss rod if you go to far. If it becomes difficult to turn, stop, and take it to a pro.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I agree buying a book would be a good investment............ And Dan Erlewine builds the Chiquita guitars, so the man's obviously got a good head on his shoulders.

Plus the book could tell you things, that I don't really want to get into all the details about like ohms law and other basic electronics stuff.

Plus the book will teach you how to set up your guitar a lot better than my post did. And if you set up your guitar once, you've paid for the book. (Down here a set up runs anywhere from 15 to 40 dollars).

Good advice light :D
 
I've never used the truss rod "to adjust the action". I've used it to increase relief to get rid of the buzz after I lowered the action by adjusting the bridge. I sight down the high e-string to assess whether there is enough, or any bow because there is often fret wear on the wound string side of the fretboard that can obscure the true curve of the neck. Also, fret the first fret and the pickup side of the highest fret to see if the string will ring. If it doesn't ring, there is not enough relief and you need to adjust the rod. If you google "truss rod adjustment" guitar, you will find a half dozen sites that explain how to do it pretty well.

If it's a cheaper tele, and has never had low action, it may be necessary to shim the neck, too.

If you got the guitar and it played OK, but now it plays badly, maybe it is a truss rod thing. If it always was set up poorly, then it can be a matter of shimming the neck pocket and adjusting the bridge. If you take the neck off, just remember not to over-tighten the neck screws when you put it back on.

Since a tele is such a screwdriver guitar, I wouldn't be intimidated to get the appropriate allen key and adjust the bridge, or take the whole thing apart for that matter.

As for taking it to a "good" tech, I think they are hard to find, and it is well worth doing an exploratory so that you can learn to do it yourself. After all, that is how the tech started doing it, right? It may take you a few tries or a few years to figure out how to get your guitar playing the way you need it to play, but if you intend to play guitar for the rest of your life, it's a skill worth developing.
 
cephus said:
I've never used the truss rod "to adjust the action". I've used it to increase relief to get rid of the buzz after I lowered the action by adjusting the bridge. I sight down the high e-string to assess whether there is enough, or any bow because there is often fret wear on the wound string side of the fretboard that can obscure the true curve of the neck. Also, fret the first fret and the pickup side of the highest fret to see if the string will ring. If it doesn't ring, there is not enough relief and you need to adjust the rod. If you google "truss rod adjustment" guitar, you will find a half dozen sites that explain how to do it pretty well.
Click to expand...



Good, because the truss rod does not adjust action, it adjusts neck bow. It CAN effect the action in parts of the neck, but it most certainly can not adjust the action.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
The only way a truss rod adjustment will help the action is if the neck is bowed really bad, and then it will only affect the action on the higher notes. Before adjusting anything always check the neck bolts for tightness, good and tight but not tight enough to strip them. Also check all hardware mounting screws (this should be part of routine maintenance.) As a general rule, an easy way to check the neck is to press a string (low E is the easiest to see) at both the first and last fret, look for a small gap between the string and frets about midway of the fingerboard (7th to 9th fret) if the string is touching, the truss rod needs to be loosened, if the gap is more than the thickness of a medium to heavy pick then the rod needs tightened. After checking the neck, play up and down the neck and listen for buzzes. If you have none then move to the bridge saddles, most have 2 small hex screws for adjusting the hight, lower them one at a time untill you begin to hear a buzz on a fretted note somewhere on the fingerboard, play up and down 2 or 3 successive notes on the string all the way up the fingerboard, when you hear a buss you have lowered the string as far as you can, raise it back up untill the buzz is gone, repeat this for each string. Now look across the bridge, if any string is a lot lower than the rest bring it back up a little. If any one is a lot higher this could be a sign of fret wear or a high fret. If you moved anything very much the intonation will need set at this point. You can check this with a good tuner and get it cloce enough for most purposes. Most people say to check at the 12th fret, I also recomend checking at other places as well, if you play a lot above the 12th then check intonation at higher frets (I check at 15 and 17) and at lower (7 is a good midpoint). Perfect intonation is extremely rare, chances are that you will have to compromise someplace, just get it as cloce as you can, especially in the area of the fingerboard where you play most. Adjust the pickup hight by raising or lowering to get the sound and volume you like, too high and you get distortion and buzz and loose sustain, too low will result in loss of volume. Clocer on the high strings will give more treble and attack, clocer on the lower side for more growl. Anyway thats the basic process I go through when doing a set up. A few thousand set ups ago I was asking the same questions. Take your time and make adjustments in small increments.
 
Um, it is a Fender Tele right?
Or, a copy?
If you bought it new there should be an easy understand clearly written manual that came with it and it will tell you how to adjust the action.
I wouldn't touch the truss rod until you know more.
You can't get into too much trouble adjusting the action/intonation.
First thing I do when I get a guitar.....set it up to MY specs.
 
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