No, my guitar didn't sleep wrong last night... I got new frets put in, and i can't get the neck to respond properly since. I moved during the repair so its hard to bring it back in (they shipped it to me), so i was wondering if anyone has any ideas for me. Its an 82 Fender Squire JV electric..
I am the kind of player who would make a truss rod adjustment in the winter and summer, opposite directions, to keep my action low. I get my guitar back from the shop with absolutely terrible action, and the neck has a big forward bow in it. So, i set out and tighten my truss rod a little.. not much change at first but i end up tightening it a full half turn with very little change in the neck. If i capo the first fret and hold the string where the neck hits the body (17th fret on mine), i measure a gap of 2/16" or 0.125" (about 3mm).
I also did my standard lower the bridge, and slowly raise each string until the buzz is gone, then fix the intonation. After all that, my action at the 12th fret is about 3/16" or 0.1875", just below 5mm.
My bridge is also practically locked down as i do not use a whammy bar and i have tightened the springs at the back.
any guitar tech want to give me advice before i find a local shop at my new location and take it in?
Thanks
Jim
Sounds as if the shop either widened the fret slots to ease replacement, or used new frets with a very thin tang. So the installed frets no longer put any significant "spreading force" on the fretboard, which would cause the neck to straighten or bow back (anti-relief). As a point of reference, this is opposite to the problem in which overly thick fret tangs or tang teeth spread open the fret slots and create a severe back bow.
I could make a recommendation on how to remove the relief, but it involves manual flexing along with truss rod adjustments that could damage the neck if one isn't experienced and careful. Take it to a good tech, and have him/her adjust the relief. If the tech can't fix it with a careful truss rod adjustment, then the guitar may need to be refretted with the correct fret wire.
Good luck
-=tension & release=-
Thanks for the input.. This doesn't spell good news for me :(
Well, i removed the truss rod nut altogether and greased it a little, cleaned it up, and put it back on. Very carefully, I tightened it up, but part way a piece of the nut broke off. The idiot who owned the guitar before me really chewed up the nut. Anyway, new nut on the way, but with a lot of adjustment i managed to get my relief down to about 1/64" and readjusted the action to 6.5/64. a big improvement. However, after the neck settled (say, since my last post) it relaxed back to 3/64" relief and 9/64" action. Is it supposed to relax this much or does this relate to your ideas regarding the fret wire tang?
I have a new truss rod nut coming from stewmac today, and after i replace it and try carefully again, i'll get a real tech involved.
Thanks again
Well, for those interested. The truss rod nut was a bit stripped when i started and it started getting a bit weak (i.e., threads moved) so i ordered a new nut from stewmac.. this one is an allen key type so much nicer. When i removed the old nut, it seems that it was digging sideways into the wood, making it difficult to adjust. i just pulled off the neck and placed the new nut on and tightened it a bit.
after reassembly i instantly got 2/64 relief with 7/64 action, and i didn't really tighten the nut too much. i'll let it settle and play with it a bit, and I will post what i manage to get out of it here.
Jim
Well, this is the final entry for this repair. The neck seems to be really stubborn bowing forward. I have been slowly adding more tension to the neck, wait a day and it settles and I add a little more. I have the action now at 4/64 with less than 1/64 relief so im happy.
Jim
Two questions come to mind,
Do you know if your neck was shimmed before you had it refretted?
Did they use the correct fret wire tang thickness?
Oops,
Third question,
Some of the older Fenders installed their frets by sliding them in sideways, I'm not sure if yours were installed this way but if they pulled up the frets that might have widened the slots, then string tension would bend the neck up.
the reason I asked if you had a shim before refret is that I take the neck off a guitar that has a bolt on neck, press in the new frets and then reinstall the neck, sometimes shims get misplaced.
Just a thought.....
When I die, I want to go peacefully in my sleep like my grandfather, not screaming......
like the passengers in his car.
Thanks for the input. No, there was no shim in before. I AM thinking though that the fret wire is thinner, the part of the tang that I can see looks smaller than the mark in the wood from the old frets, but its difficult to tell. This may also result in the slide vs pull issue you mentioned. Its a Japanese Vintage 82 Strat Squire, so i'm not sure what they did for this model. Well, at least i can get the relief to about what i'm used to, though not quite flat. i'll let it settle for a few weeks and see then. I'm just worried that rather than settling, i'm over-compressing some of the wood near the truss nut rather than compressing the entire neck.. not sure what this ois called but i read about it. if the neck bends forward again i'll have to look at resetting alternatives or refretting again. oh well, this is the fun of repairs! :)
Jim
