Need advice for 2015 Santana SE

Gringo’s Ghost

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Jan 11, 2019
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Hi I’m new to the forums and I just got my hands on a used 2015 Santana SE. I ordered the guitar through guitar center website and it got shipped to me yesterday. It’s in great condition except when it arrived the set-up was pretty bad; the pick-ups were cranked all the way down below the pick-up rings, the truss rod needed to be tightened, and the tremolo was tilted all the way backwards flush with the deck and with the claw screws inside the cavity tightened. I’m not really a guitar tech but I managed to make some adjustments myself and it sounds a lot better now but my question is this; The front of the tremolo where the six screws are is about an 1/8th inch off the deck. Do I need to make the front end of the tremolo 1/16 inch parallel to the deck for a proper set up?
 
To pass on what I just learned, the tremolo should definitely be parallel to the face of the guitar, but the 1/16" height is just a starting point - you will probably want to go lower, as I did.
DO NOT attempt to adjust the tremolo mounting screw without taking the tension off the strings and unhooking the springs first.
If you google John Mann's Guitar Vault there is a video that shows how to do it.
 
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To pass on what I just learned, the tremolo should definitely be parallel to the face of the guitar, but the 1/16" height is just a starting point - you will probably want to go lower, as I did.
DO NOT attempt to adjust the tremolo mounting screw without taking the tension off the strings and unhooking the springs first.
If you google John Mann's Guitar Vault there is a video that shows how to do it.
Thank you, that's what I thought based on what I've seen browsing the internet. I don't understand why the set up on this guitar is the way it is, possibly the previous owner was using really heavy strings. I'll check out John Mann's videos.
 
I watched the video; I took the strings off, took the springs out of the back and adjusted the height of the tremolo to his recommended 2.5 mm between the trem (flat on the deck) and bottom of screw heads. Restrung and now this baby plays like a dream. Although I still need to adjust the truss rod a little bit and fine-tune the action but it’s much better now!
The trem looks like it’s floating higher than 1/16” to me but at least it doesn’t sound dead anymore.
http://imgur.com/a/VhraWDL
 
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I watched the video; I took the strings off, took the springs out of the back and adjusted the height of the tremolo to his recommended 2.5 mm between the trem (flat on the deck) and bottom of screw heads. Restrung and now this baby plays like a dream. Although I still need to adjust the truss rod a little bit and fine-tune the action but it’s much better now!
The trem looks like it’s floating higher than 1/16” to me but at least it doesn’t sound dead anymore.
http://imgur.com/a/VhraWDL
I found that 1/16 was much too high on mine, action was too high with the saddles almost bottomed out. On advice from the helpful folks on the forum here, I redid the trem using a 1.5mm Allen key rather than 2.5 and got much better action with the trem still high enough off the guitar for me, anyway.
Glad it went smoothly!
 
I found that 1/16 was much too high on mine, action was too high with the saddles almost bottomed out. On advice from the helpful folks on the forum here, I redid the trem using a 1.5mm Allen key rather than 2.5 and got much better action with the trem still high enough off the guitar for me, anyway.
Glad it went smoothly!
Thanks for that. I will try that next time I change the strings. It’s pretty good right now but the action is relatively high. It doesn’t bother me too much because the 24.5” scale is very slinky but I definitely want to dial this guitar in as good as possible.
Thanks for the feedback.
 
Loosen the springs slightly. The trem is supposed to be parallel to the surface of the guitar. It'll stay in tune better when you do. The picture shows it leaning back.
 
Loosen the springs slightly. The trem is supposed to be parallel to the surface of the guitar. It'll stay in tune better when you do. The picture shows it leaning back.
You’re right It wasn’t exactly parallel yet. I loosened the screws on the claw 1/4 turn again and it’s it’s much better now. I don’t know why it was so messed up when I bought it. The previous owner must’ve had it set for gauge 12 strings or something.
ZorZO8Rh.jpg
 
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Unscrew the pickup ring and see if the pickup spring is in there. Anyone who wacked the action out may have done a bunch of stupid things.
Yeah that’s helpful thank you. I did a YouTube search for pickups springs and found one with a decent hack for putting the springs on the screws.
 
I’ve got it set up pretty well now, the only issue is I’m getting a little fret buzz on the 5th and 6th strings but it probably just needs more truss relief? Otherwise it sounds good acoustically and great when plugged in
 
The 5th &6th frets, or strings? If it's frets, then yes, probably the truss rod - usually that's the answer if it's the low frets. If it's just those two strings, try raising just those two saddles a hair.
 
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