The battles with my MIM Strat came to a head today. This thing had a warped neck or something. No matter what I did, the fret buzz from the low E and A strings required that the string height be set pretty darned high. Somewhere around the 14th-16th fret I think. Using the capo/fret-14th/measure-7th spec, I went at the truss rod. I've never had any problem with any other guitars. A little bit of a turn would be enough to bring it in. Not this guitar.
I turned it about 1/4 turn and repeated the measurement one too many times. Times before, I always chickened out when a couple of quarter turns never budged it. This time I kept going with two or three more 1/4 turns. I thought I was getting it. The high-E side was GREAT. It measured .005, no buzz, great action, etc. Maybe even too low. Even the A string was starting to cooperate. This was the best I had gotten this thing ever. One more 1/4 turn ought to do it I thought. The truss rod was feeling pretty tight, but I was determined. It was going to break or get fixed.
KA_CHINK!!!!!
So, I have a neck on order. Went with Rosewood this time. Went stock MIM from an '08 model. Paid a little too much for it, but what the heck. I wish that I had returned it back in '05 when I got it, but I didn't know a whole lot about guitars then. I assumed it was the Maple fretboard or something I was doing wrong. I could never get it really good like the rest of my guitars. I had recently come up with a use for it, re-strung it with 9's again for easier man-handling of the strings. I swear it was warped or something. I guess I'll never know. :evil:
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
OUCH! :(
Did they only buzz when played open?
Could very well have been that the nut slots were too deep?
Some cardboard matchsticks between the string and slot always fixed my teachers
well loved 60's Epi Casino :wink:
Hope the new neck works out for ya, Roy.
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
Did they only buzz when played open?
Nope. Fretted too. I could fret all the way up to about 8-10th fret and get the buzz. Stopped at 12 for sure. String height probably had three threads left open to use before running out of room to raise them. The bridge was lowered at one point to darned near even with the body, but this existed even when it was slightly higher.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
KA_CHINK!!!!! :lol:
Sounds like someone has a heavy hand! Well, at least you fixed it like a man. Kinda reminds me of Tim the tool man Taylor. :mrgreen:
Hang in there Roy, s#@t happens. Thunderfingers wants me to tweak a couple of his bass necks, we got that old humidity change thing going on here. I'll let him read this first. :lol: Nah, just standard maintenance, done it 1,000 times on these guitars. Well, not really 1,000 but a comfortable adjustment. Not enough bow on a couple of them. They are feeling the increased humidity. Bass guitars with bare maple necks are the first to respond it seams. High tension and the wood is not sealed. The problem with owning so many guitars .... spring tweak ... fall tweak ... ahhhh the north country. When you get the new neck Roy ... PICS! Please? Have fun.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Kat: At least I didn't use power-tools. :)
TR: Our humidity is similar to Upstate's. Lots worse in the summer.
This Strat and I have never quite seen eye to eye. I really wish I could remember when I bought it. There were two of them and neither seemed better than the other. Also available was a rosewood board, so I guess I chose out of three. It seemed odd feeling, but I wrote it off to being maple. It was not too long after I purchased it that I started hearing the buzzing. A tweak here, a tweak there. Never dawned on me that it could be warped.
I'm hoping that will change with the new neck. I checked out the Fender Forum and it seems I'm not alone. Probably just because there are so many MIM's in circulation. When I got my Squire Tele to get in to better shape than this MIM, I decided it was time to force the issue with this one. Fix it one way or another. I didn't figure on spending $180 for a mostly new neck. Somebody's running a by MIM's cheap and chop shopping them. Huge volume on eBay as well as a 99.9% rating. I could have paid less and won me an auction, but who knows what I would have gotten.
I am really hoping that I soon find out why so many love the strats as I have found out why people love Teles. Even teles improperly set up with 6 strings instead of 5. :twisted:
Picks will come. I warn you though, I bought the ugliest pick guard when I put some GFS pickups in. 8)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
I believe KA-Chink represents the error part of trial and error. Well nothing ventured nothing gained.
Sorry for your loss, Strats are great BTW, I am sure you will come to love yours too.
Hey, now you get to learn how to remove and replace a fretboard, and replace a truss rod.
I'm not sure I would pick your method of obtaining a neck to experiment on, but now that you have one...
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
yeah, definitely something to learn on...and if you don't want to try to fix it, I certainly will lol.
I believe KA-Chink represents the error part of trial and error.
Actually, more like "trial and the heck with this!". My rosewood comes in Monday. :mrgreen:
Hey, now you get to learn how to remove and replace a fretboard, and replace a truss rod.
Brilliant! I can learn how to replace nuts, fret wires, dress 'em, etc. Save the technique learning for the warped one so I don't mess of a good one. Good thought! 8)
yeah, definitely something to learn on...and if you don't want to try to fix it, I certainly will lol.
Bring it to the meadowlands in August to keep your ride from getting stolen. Make some sort of stearing-wheel lock out of it.
Maybe after it's all said and done, I'll rip off the fret-board, yank out the truss rod pieces and make a little seedling starter. It'll make good practice for sure for a while.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
The new neck came in late this afternoon. Fit perfectly. Put new strings on and adjusted truss rod (very easily, about two 1/8th turns) and string height. I let things settle for a bit, tweeked the string height a smidgen and everything's at specs now. .007 relief, 3/64th to 5/64th string height. No buzzing unless wailing on the strings. Best of all, it plays wonderfully. Probably a combination of rosewood vs maple and having everything properly set. I didn't measure the nut, but it seems fine to me. Let's put it this way. As good as it's playing now, I ain't touching it.
Will be out of town for a few days, so it will get plenty of time to settle in before I get a chance to play it again. So far though, I'm loving it.
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
Thats awsome Roy! Cool 8)
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
I love happy endings! :D
#4491....
Another reason guitars are better than dates...you break your dates neck, and you get in serious trouble.
Enjoy. I can't IMAGINE not wanting a strat. Hope you learn to love it!
Saludos,
Ande
I let it set for a few more days just to make sure all got settled. Double checked all the measurements, moved a few strings down a touch, about 1 full turn at the most, and she's just playing as easily as a 25.5'' scale can play. Not a whole lot of original parts left on her. New (and quite ugly) pick guard and some "hot" GFS pickups a few years back, and now the neck. I'll post a pic tomorrow.
Another reason guitars are better than dates...you break your dates neck, and you get in serious trouble.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
Well, if you're sloppy about it.......gotta cover them tracks. Actually might be legal in some states. Look what O.J. got away with. :twisted:
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
