I've been playing with 3mm action at the 12th fret on my electric, but looking at some of the setups in "How to make your electric guitar play great" by Dan Erlewine, it's much higher then most of them. But I find that if I set my action any lower, I get a lot of buzzing from the strings against the frets. Is this normal, or is there something wrong with my guitar?
Thanks
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3MM for an electric is pretty high. Since you get a buzz when you lower it I am guessing that either the neck relief (truss rod) needs adjustment or you may have a high fret somewhere.
Take a look at the setup page on my web site below and go through the measuring steps then determine if you want to attack the adjustments or take it to a tech. Atleast if you take it in for a setup you will be able to tell them what is wrong.
I've adjusted the truss rod, the neck is now pretty close to straight, but anywhere above the fifth fret, the low-e string buzzes (haven't adjusted the action on the other strings yet). How can I tell if I've got a high fret?
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What gauge strings do you have on your guitar? Can you isolate which fret(s) on each string that is causing the the buzz?
I've adjusted the truss rod, the neck is now pretty close to straight
I might be wrong on this, but I've always been told that you want a slight forward lean on your neck and not have it perfectly straight.
I've adjusted the truss rod, the neck is now pretty close to straight, but anywhere above the fifth fret, the low-e string buzzes (haven't adjusted the action on the other strings yet). How can I tell if I've got a high fret?
That is unusual. Usually when a string buzzes between frets 5-12 that indicates that there is too much relief in the neck. It is shaped like a smile. So when you fret at say the 5th fret, the string is touching or vibrating off another fret higher up the neck.
Imagine a string suspended over a bowl. If you press the string down over the center of the bowl, eventually the string will touch the outer edge of the bowl. This is what happens when you have too much relief.
So normally I would recommend that you slightly tighten the truss rod (turn clockwise). If you wish to try this,
1) loosen all strings
2) take note of the position of the truss rod adjustment screw so you can return to this position if necessary
3) make very slight adjustments, maybe 1/8 of a turn at a time
4) tune back up to correct pitch
5) give the neck time to settle in to the new adjustment
It is possible you have a high fret somewhere. To check this you need a short straight-edge that will cover only 3 frets at a time. Place the straightedge over 3 frets parallel to the 6th string. If the straightedge rocks, then you have either a high fret or a low fret. You can determine which by comparing each of the original 3 frets with 2 other frets. Hope that wasn't confusing.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
