String Action Too High

[CandidPicker]

In the past several months of owning my 2015 McCarty, and adding a MannMade 2300 USA adjustable bridge, the journey has been some fraught with string action / fret buzzing issues.

At the time of posing the original fret buzz question, there were several responses that didn't match up with others' advice. Some folks suggested it was simply a truss rod adjustment for the fret buzz, others suggested when the truss rod adjustment would be made, there might be resultant string action (height) issues.

This seems to be the case with my McCarty. So I asked a buddy who has been sidelining his day job with luthier work how to proceed.

He said, "Loosen the strings and adjust the bridge studs slightly and then check for truss rod adjustment if necessary to prevent fret buzz. Then, check string height either with a gauge or by capo-fretting the 1st fret and holding the 12th fret with your right index finger, and tapping at the 8th fret with your left index finger. The 1st and 6th string should have just a little bounce. If not and the string frets out, loosen the truss rod slightly. If there is too much gap, tighter the truss rod slightly. Once correct string height is obtained, intonate by adjusting the saddles measuring with your strobe tuner. Theoretically, you can find a happy medium where string height is close to spec as you might need, and still not experience fret buzz."

My gut tells me this is the way to proceed, but my confidence is lacking.

Can any of you verify what my buddy suggested? The PRS website seems to echo the same sentiments.

 

[Draconomics]

In the past several months of owning my 2015 McCarty, and adding a MannMade 2300 USA adjustable bridge, the journey has been some fraught with string action / fret buzzing issues.

At the time of posing the original fret buzz question, there were several responses that didn't match up with others' advice. Some folks suggested it was simply a truss rod adjustment for the fret buzz, others suggested when the truss rod adjustment would be made, there might be resultant string action (height) issues.

This seems to be the case with my McCarty. So I asked a buddy who has been sidelining his day job with luthier work how to proceed.

He said, "Loosen the strings and adjust the bridge studs slightly and then check for truss rod adjustment if necessary to prevent fret buzz. Then, check string height either with a gauge or by capo-fretting the 1st fret and holding the 12th fret with your right index finger, and tapping at the 8th fret with your left index finger. The 1st and 6th string should have just a little bounce. If not and the string frets out, loosen the truss rod slightly. If there is too much gap, tighter the truss rod slightly. Once correct string height is obtained, intonate by adjusting the saddles measuring with your strobe tuner. Theoretically, you can find a happy medium where string height is close to spec as you might need, and still not experience fret buzz."

My gut tells me this is the way to proceed, but my confidence is lacking.

Can any of you verify what my buddy suggested? The PRS website seems to echo the same sentiments.

I agree with his method, I kinda do it a bit differently. Remember, there are no hard rules with this, we can get the same results using different methods, this is just the way I approach setups.

Truss rod adjustment goes like this: You want the strings under tension when you check the relief amount. I back off string tension a hair if I need to tighten the rod. You capo the first, hold the last fret, then using a feeler gauge look for between .005-.010 relief at the 8th. You can also hold at the 17th or so, basically where the neck joins the body, I use the last fret. Just keep in mind, the truss rod is not for adjusting action, that is done basically in a whole other procedure. Like hea said, there should be a little bounce if you fret the 12th, I generally never do fret the 12th to check relief.

String action I measure under tension at the 12th using a string gauge, and for PRS, I usually start with factory spec, go as low as the guitar will allow, then come back up a hair. Adjust the bridge lower/higher as needed, but never raise it under tension. Back them off a bit to prevent damage to the studs.

 

[CandidPicker]

...Truss rod adjustment goes like this: You want the strings under tension when you check the relief amount. I back off string tension a hair if I need to tighten the rod. You capo the first, hold the last fret, then using a feeler gauge look for between .005-.010 relief at the 8th. You can also hold at the 17th or so, basically where the neck joins the body, I use the last fret. Just keep in mind, the truss rod is not for adjusting action, that is done basically in a whole other procedure. Like hea said, there should be a little bounce if you fret the 12th, I generally never do fret the 12th to check relief.

String action I measure under tension at the 12th using a string gauge, and for PRS, I usually start with factory spec, go as low as the guitar will allow, then come back up a hair. Adjust the bridge lower/higher as needed, but never raise it under tension. Back them off a bit to prevent damage to the studs.

The neck relief was fine. It was the gap between open 12th fret and fretboard that was way outta whack. Following the TRAIN video was straight-forward, though the video host neglected to tell you to loosen the 3rd and 4th strings for truss rod adjustments (upside is, it's intuitive that the 2 adjacent strings closest to the truss rod would need loosening).

From the first stage on, the neck relief was fine. It was the string action up the neck that was the issue. So the strings were loosened, and the bridge lowered significantly to bring the action at the upper registers much closer to the neck. From there, the truss rod was checked again and both neck relief and action were where I needed them to be. A .010 and .019 feeler gauge at the 8th fret was what was measured. The saddles were tightened (lengthened) slightly because the harmonics were slightly sharp. Then, each string registered relatively closely to both open strings and 12th fret harmonics.

Lastly the pickup bass side was raised slightly to 2.5/64" and the treble side 2/64". My only concern at this point is that the latter part of the week's air temps will be upper 80s with increased humidity, so there may be some settling of the truss rod with increased humidity. Other than that, Tuesday early afternoon will be my opportunity to verify no fret buzz (couldn't hear any unamplified; will need to plug her in and fire her up to learn what's happening fret-wise).

 

[Draconomics]

The neck relief was fine. It was the gap between open 12th fret and fretboard that was way outta whack. Following the TRAIN video was straight-forward, though the video host neglected to tell you to loosen the 3rd and 4th strings for truss rod adjustments (upside is, it's intuitive that the 2 adjacent strings closest to the truss rod would need loosening).

From the first stage on, the neck relief was fine. It was the string action up the neck that was the issue. So the strings were loosened, and the bridge lowered significantly to bring the action at the upper registers much closer to the neck. From there, the truss rod was checked again and both neck relief and action were where I needed them to be. A .010 and .019 feeler gauge at the 8th fret was what was measured. The saddles were tightened (lengthened) slightly because the harmonics were slightly sharp. Then, each string registered relatively closely to both open strings and 12th fret harmonics.

Lastly the pickup bass side was raised slightly to 2.5/64" and the treble side 2/64". My only concern at this point is that the latter part of the week's air temps will be upper 80s with increased humidity, so there may be some settling of the truss rod with increased humidity. Other than that, Tuesday early afternoon will be my opportunity to verify no fret buzz (couldn't hear any unamplified; will need to plug her in and fire her up to learn what's happening fret-wise).

Sounds pretty kosher. Also remember truss rod movements need to be small and the neck needs time to settle. My rule of thumb is to give 15-30 minutes between adjustments, then check the next day. PRS rods are very sensitive and they dont need much turning to see results.

Hope everything turns out good tomorrow!

 

[CandidPicker]

Test Drive Day:

All went well except for the 5th string which had fret buzz from the 1st fret upwards. It was determined that the neck had the correct relief; it was just the pickup height that was causing the fret buzz. The bass side neck pickup was lowered about ¾ of a turn. The 5th string no longer displayed any fret buzz.

Some adjustments were made to my HeadRush Gigboard settings to remove any fizz caused by too much treble, and removed one boost effect so as to make for a cleaner tone.

Recent Gigboard adjustment images can be viewed in the Amps section within my "HeadRush Gigboard v 2.3 post". my overdrive and boost settings are included, as well as an amp overview and amp settings for each rig within my main setlist.