neck setup help

[simon1138]

hello,

i bought an encore strat from a second hand shop for £25. i am not sure where to start with the neck setup. the strings look a little low. i checked the height of the frets using my fret rocker and the 2nd and 3rd frets require work. the frets need rounding anyway. this is a project guitar. i am not sure how to check the nut for height and rake (if that is the correct term). i heard that the rake or lack of makes the string buzz. this is a project guitar to strip and rebuild. i thought that i would start with the neck. i am going to remove it and check that its straight, level and round the frets. then attempt to set it up.

any advice would be great, thanks

if there are any videos on how to do this that would be great.

 

[curtisa]

I'd evaluate the guitar as a whole before deciding the neck needs work. You haven't mentioned whether it plays OK or not (disregarding for the moment what things look like). I have an old Pacifica 112 with a few visibly flat frets in the first five that still plays perfectly OK.

My suggestion is to first check that it is set up correctly before assessing the neck and frets for faults:

• Tune guitar to pitch. Use fresh strings.
• Check and adjust neck relief via truss rod under string tension.
• Check and adjust action at saddles.
• Check and adjust intonation at saddles.
• Re-tune as appropriate as you go
• Play the instrument and check to see what works and what doesn't. Do certain frets buzz? Do open strings buzz? Is intonation bad in the first few frets?

There are plenty of tutorials out there explaining how to adjust neck relief, action and intonation. Google is your friend.

If you decide after doing the above there is work to be done, then you can start examining things in more detail.

 

8 hours ago, simon1138 said:

the strings look a little low

This may amount to nothing if all that needs to happen is the guitar requires a setup (as per above)

 

8 hours ago, simon1138 said:

i checked the height of the frets using my fret rocker and the 2nd and 3rd frets require work. the frets need rounding anyway

I assume by the frets needing 'rounding' you mean 'crowning' (ie re-shaping the peaks of each fret into a smooth peaked shape). Again, I'd only avocate doing this if there is actually a problem being experienced, either with low spots in frets causing buzzing on adjacent frets, or introducing problems with the feel of the string over the fret. Don't get too hung up on the fret rocker indicating a problem with a couple of frets - listen to the guitar first to decide if there is something that needs work. The fret rocker should only be used to identify where an issue lies, not necessarily that there is an issue.

 

8 hours ago, simon1138 said:

i am not sure how to check the nut for height and rake (if that is the correct term). i heard that the rake or lack of makes the string buzz

I'm not sure what you mean by 'rake'. Perhaps the amount of backwards tilt each slot in the nut has? A very flat (horizontal) nut slot may introduce a sitar-like buzz on the open strings. A slight backwards angle of each slot should guarantee the string leaves the nut slot at the peak of the slot. If it does turn out to be the case that the slots are too flat (or even angled forward), at best it will require a set of gauged nut slotting files to change the angle, and at worst a new nut (plus the files too).

I usually check nut slot height by depressing the string between the 2nd and 3rd frets and checking the gap between the string and the 1st fret with a feeler gauge. I aim for a gap of around 0.007" to 0.010"