Guitar setup....WTF went wrong with my Schecter?

[jkdsteve]

Ok...gonna pre-face this by saying I learned to do my guitar setups over a number of years and very cautiously but I'm lost.

Y'all recall my thread on D'Addario strings and them sucking...well they still suck but I don't think that's the problem here...

I re-restrung my Schecter Exotic C1 with a set of EB Regular Slinkies (which 'm 99% sure were same as on there previously) and I still have a massive problem with the action...I had to set the height at roughly twice what it was before the re-stringing to get rid of the fret buzz....this is really hacking me off.

I'm getting buzzing at almost every fret on the neck (except open strings) with it set as it was previously......did the whole neck just shift or something??? Did the bridge just fuck up (and no, I didn't take it off and put it on backwards...) If it was just the first few frets I'd think..quick truss rod tweak....but nope, appears

Granted this guitar cost me relatively little (<$500) but it's been one of my favorites sounding and playability wise since I had it......

....realize I probably killed any hope of re-sale value anywhere by posting this but I'd rather have the guitar playable as it was before than even contemplate getting rid..since they come up for sale so rarely.

 

[Mudder]

If you had no buzz before, then maybe you're using lighter strings now and the truss rod needs to be adjusted.

 

[fek]

The dry weather here in Northern Ohio just caused the action on my SoCal, that I just had a pro set up on last month, to go up a bit. The neck added some unwanted relief after it had been stable for the last month. Other than taking it somewhere, you know the common culprits. If none of them are obvious then it might be tech time.

 

[cyndicate]

If you had no buzz before, then maybe you're using lighter strings now and the truss rod needs to be adjusted.

Most likely this I assume, I had a similar thing happen on my strat, lighter strings caused the board to be more flat due to less tension, so I just adjusted the Truss rod to fix the buzzing I was getting

 

[jkdsteve]

If you had no buzz before, then maybe you're using lighter strings now and the truss rod needs to be adjusted.

Nah...the neck relief looks pretty much like it did before as far as I can remember and I'm 99% sure I'm using the same gauge/brand now.

 

[aeroic]

If you had no buzz before, then maybe you're using lighter strings now and the truss rod needs to be adjusted.

Nah...the neck relief looks pretty much like it did before as far as I can remember and I'm 99% sure I'm using the same gauge/brand now.

Well. I'll tell ya... This was the best $120 I spent for setting up gutiars:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... 3&xsr=6087

http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/0670

A few hundreths of an inch can make the difference in playability. Really took the "guessing" out of setting up all my guitars. With these tools, I can set up the relief in the neck the same from guitar to guitar...and set up the string action the same also. This assumes you have a level fretboard...and level frets. Which my guitars do, as I have had my frets professionally leveled by my luthier.

Anyways. These two tools, have really allowed me to set up the guitars as much as I can by myself.

Eric

 

[jkdsteve]

If you had no buzz before, then maybe you're using lighter strings now and the truss rod needs to be adjusted.

Nah...the neck relief looks pretty much like it did before as far as I can remember and I'm 99% sure I'm using the same gauge/brand now.

Well. I'll tell ya... This was the best $120 I spent for setting up gutiars:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... 3&xsr=6087

http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/0670

A few hundreths of an inch can make the difference in playability. Really took the "guessing" out of setting up all my guitars. With these tools, I can set up the relief in the neck the same from guitar to guitar...and set up the string action the same also. This assumes you have a level fretboard...and level frets. Which my guitars do, as I have had my frets professionally leveled by my luthier.

Anyways. These two tools, have really allowed me to set up the guitars as much as I can by myself.

Eric

Cool set of tools....but can't say I've ever had neck relief problem cause huge action issues...usaully I've equated truss rod adjustment with problems on lower frets....but as I said, I'm learning as I go.

 

[tonmazz]

I am certainly no expert but I do have a similar problem from time to time and it is with my Les Paul and Ibanez. In every case it has been neck adjustment and a few minor turns fix it up. I keep my guitars in my basement so temp and humidity play constant havoc. I had the Ibanez professionally set up and it came home awesome. A few days later in my environment it was buzz city. On the advise of a friend, a few minor adjustments on the truss rod put me back to heaven and I have to watch it every now and then. I'm not sure what else it could be that would just happen other than neck due to temp and humidity changes.

 

[nbarts]

First of all, how's the weather around you? Humidity changes can make it jump like insane.

Second, you most likely went over the head with something in your setup at some point.

 

[jkdsteve]

First of all, how's the weather around you? Humidity changes can make it jump like insane.


Second, you most likely went over the head with something in your setup at some point.

I don't routinely have to tweak my guitars but we are in winter so humidity is up a fair bit..


I'm probably in way over my head () *but* this problem appeared simply after changing strings..so I don't know what you mean.....

..I was hoping someone would say..yes, I've had this happen, tweak such and such...but a faint hope

 

[nbarts]

Well, it sounds to me like you'll need to start with truss rod. Once you have that part straitened up it should be pretty simple to adjust the bridge. Once you adjust the bridge you might need to go back & do a little bit more tweaking on your truss rod & then come back to the bridge again.

So please check your truss rod first & see if it's bowed, which it most likely is.

 

[nbarts]

Also while you do all these adjustments you need to constantly make sure that your guitar is in tune. Different woods, even the same wood type with the same neck act differently. I had an Orville LP that had a neck that stayed straight even without strings on, needed no setup around the year. Other guitars I have to fine tune when weather changes.

 

[aeroic]

If you had no buzz before, then maybe you're using lighter strings now and the truss rod needs to be adjusted.

Nah...the neck relief looks pretty much like it did before as far as I can remember and I'm 99% sure I'm using the same gauge/brand now.

Well. I'll tell ya... This was the best $120 I spent for setting up gutiars:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Speci ... 3&xsr=6087

http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/0670

A few hundreths of an inch can make the difference in playability. Really took the "guessing" out of setting up all my guitars. With these tools, I can set up the relief in the neck the same from guitar to guitar...and set up the string action the same also. This assumes you have a level fretboard...and level frets. Which my guitars do, as I have had my frets professionally leveled by my luthier.

Anyways. These two tools, have really allowed me to set up the guitars as much as I can by myself.

Eric

Cool set of tools....but can't say I've ever had neck relief problem cause huge action issues...usaully I've equated truss rod adjustment with problems on lower frets....but as I said, I'm learning as I go.

I have. I have had too much relief, cause issues where around the 12th fret and beyond, the action was way to high, but pretty good down around the 3-7 frets. Had fret out issues if the neck is backbowed too much. So it can cause issues that's for sure.

 

[sled]

I also have a C1-Exotic and I use Slinky Heavy Bottoms on mine.

Has it been in a significant and quick temp change lately?

I know, but just possibly you had heavier guage strings on it before.

Have you tried a heavier gauge as a test?

 

[jkdsteve]

I also have a C1-Exotic and I use Slinky Heavy Bottoms on mine.

Has it been in a significant and quick temp change lately?

I know, but just possibly you had heavier guage strings on it before.

Have you tried a heavier gauge as a test?

This is possible...can I do anything about it?

 

[sg guy]

so the guitar was fine,..then ya changed the strings and all hell breaks loose?...is this correct?...you changed nothing but strings?...seems like were missing something...maybe i am lucky but i have never had to make a truss rod adjustment..does it have a floyd bridge?,...lay something like a ruler on the fret side of your neck to varify how much bow is in the neck,..like 1/32 of an inch concave aint bad,...if its convex,..not so good.

like you,..i'm just a hack who is too cheap to have something done right...so i do it myself,..with all the great minds on this forum,..it seems we should have ya jammin on the ole shek in no time!

 

[aeroic]

so the guitar was fine,..then ya changed the strings and all hell breaks loose?...is this correct?...you changed nothing but strings?...seems like were missing something...maybe i am lucky but i have never had to make a truss rod adjustment..does it have a floyd bridge?,...lay something like a ruler on the fret side of your neck to varify how much bow is in the neck,..like 1/32 of an inch concave aint bad,...if its convex,..not so good.

like you,..i'm just a hack who is too cheap to have something done right...so i do it myself,..with all the great minds on this forum,..it seems we should have ya jammin on the ole shek in no time!

Keep in mind, not all rulers are particularly flat on the edge as one might think

Eric

 

[glip22]

I use a very good quality 24" gauge. I put it right up aginst the G string in between the D and G down the length of the neck. I set the neck to a snug 9 thousandths with a feeler gauge. This has worked for me on all of my guitars unless the frets were not level, and you said yours were. This could also be a nut issue, although I cannot see how that would have happened so suddenly. If the neck is too straight you will usually buzz on frets 1-4. Too much relief buzzes 7+. You have buzz everywhere. Maybe not the neck? Try a set of GHS Boomers. They buzz the least to me, although sometimes you will get a bad A or D string in a pack that will buzz a little.

 

[jkdsteve]

so the guitar was fine,..then ya changed the strings and all hell breaks loose?...is this correct?...you changed nothing but strings?...seems like were missing something...maybe i am lucky but i have never had to make a truss rod adjustment..does it have a floyd bridge?,...lay something like a ruler on the fret side of your neck to varify how much bow is in the neck,..like 1/32 of an inch concave aint bad,...if its convex,..not so good.

like you,..i'm just a hack who is too cheap to have something done right...so i do it myself,..with all the great minds on this forum,..it seems we should have ya jammin on the ole shek in no time!

You have the whole story, with the added statement it went from cold to hot (maybe 58 to 70'F) ...before the string change, the guitar was pretty much straight neck'd...almost imperceptibly concave as it were.

I'm generally used to using the string length itself to eyeball how much clearance there is at certain frets...by pinning it at the first fret and some point up the neck kind of method

I'm with you...once I've got a guitar set up to a certain brand/gauge of strings..I have never had to touch a truss rod.

 

[jkdsteve]

I have. I have had too much relief, cause issues where around the 12th fret and beyond, the action was way to high, but pretty good down around the 3-7 frets. Had fret out issues if the neck is backbowed too much. So it can cause issues that's for sure.

backbowed (convex) I can understand...but the neck is definitely slightly concave (forward bowed)..