ST-1 Report

So I’ve been working on my strat over the last few weeks. I’m at the point of trying to get it set up and playing to a reasonable standard.

In terms of the action, it seems good for most areas of the fretboard, apart from the first couple of frets (which is shown in the pictures below) The nut doesn’t seem cut very deep. I have some small files that fit into the nut slot, so I’ve been filing it down, but it hasn’t changed much. I’m not too sure how much I should keep filing it? In contrast to that, even though the action is a bit high in that area, my low E string has a bit of buzz. Raising the saddle of that string would remove the buzz but cause a high action on that string?

Secondly I’ve been working on trying to intonation the guitar by following the video guide on intonation adjustment on the pit bull website. Problem is all my fretted notes at the 12th fret read sharp. I’ve moved the saddles back as much as I can tighten them on each string, but they are all still reading sharp. What other options do I have in getting the intonation correct? The photo of the saddles is below as well.

Should be 25.5" from the nut to the point where the high E sits on the bridge.
Generally this point should be at a furthermost (forwards) position on the screw.
I would have set this before even thinking about finishing.
If all the strings register sharp at the first fret then take out the nut and sand the bottom of it.
Do it in small increments at a time.

cheers, Mark.

You can file the nut slots down a lot more, as there's a lot of clearance there. It's a question of gradually filing the slot for each string so that there's still clearance, but not too much.

Your low-E buzz could be many things but it's certainly not due to the string buzzing on the first fret. It can sometimes be due to a badly cut slot, and the string isn't sitting in it properly with two contact points, and the string vibrations make it swap from one contact point to another in succession. The slots should be angled back slightly from the fretboard side down to the headstock side. Not quite as steep a slope as the strings make back to the tuning posts, but enough so that the string's single fulcrum point is on the front edge of the nut.

The other common buzz cause is the saddle height adjustment posts. If you don't get each saddle sitting parallel to the bridge baseplate with both posts touching the plate, you can end up with one post just hovering off the baseplate and making a buzzing contact when the string vibrates.

Until you've got the action sorted, I'd forget about intonation for the moment. With a high nut, you need to pull the string down further to fret it, putting it under more tension and so raising its pitch more than normal. Lower the action, that fretting tension decreases, so the pitch doesn't go up as much (which means less adjustment required of the saddles).

If necessary, you can cut the springs down in length so that you can move the saddles back further. I've had to do this on a couple of guitars.

I'd also check that the pickups aren't too near the strings, as they can exert quite a pull on the string and make it sound sharp if too close. Fretting at the 12th fret moves the string closer to the pickup than it would be with an open string (more so if the action is high to start with). With the strings fretted at the top fret, look for a minimum gap of around 2mm on the treble side and 3mm on the bass side.

But first, concentrate on getting those nut slots cut. And definitely use some folded P400-P800 in the slots after using the files to help smooth out the slots and reduce friction.

Thanks Simon, so I guess I’ll work more on that nut cause yes it still seems high. In terms of the filing, should I be filing it down on a slight angle toward the headstock (the same angle as the string sits in the nut)?

It does make sense what you said about how the high nut could be affecting the intonation, being it’s under more tension. So after I file the nut down to the point where the first few frets feel comfortable, I check the bridge posts to make sure they are all level and each post is sitting parallel. Is there a recommended height each saddle should sit? Mine are sort of high atm, the D and G string saddles are the highest points.

Hopefully the nut issue fixes the intonation issues as well, I guess by cutting the springs on the saddles, that would give me a lot more room to move. Also is it possible that neck relief can contribute to intonation issues? I did an adjustment to the neck initially but the truss rod loosened a lot, I did tighten it again a little bit, then checked the relief and compared it to another guitar of mine that I had set up for me previously, in which it seemed similar.

Saddle height will just depend on where you want your string action set, which is dictated by neck angle, neck curve, how level the frets are, so teer is no recommended height, they end up where they end up!

I normally try and go for a nut slot angle that's halfway between flat and the angle of the string as it runs up to the nut. It's all a bit approximate, so don't worry too much over it. Just a bit less than flat will be fine.

Before you cut the nut slots quite shallow, you really want to set up the rest of the action first, or you could end up with string buzz on the first fret.

Stick a capo on the first fret, or tape the strings down hard if you don't have a capo. (If you don't have one I'd get a cheap one as it is very useful for guitar setups or keeping strings wound on the headstock if you have to take the neck off a bolt-on guitar to adjust a heel-end trussrod etc.

this is how I set up my guitars for a low action:

Set up the truss rod so that the neck has a very gentle curve in it - not much relief at all.

Then look at the action from the 12th fret and above. I then adjust the saddle height so I can just fret and bend all the strings cleanly. I normally start low and work up the action until I can bend the lower strings without choking and generally just do teh upper strings on clean sounding.

Then look at the action at the lower frets. Using the capo has taken the nut slot height out of the equation so you get a good idea of what's really happening. Do all the notes sound freely without buzzing? The action at the 6th/7th frets may still feel feel quite high. If so, tighten the truss rod slightly, maybe 1/16 to 1/8 of a turn. The neck will be flatter and the 6th/7th fret action will be lower (also at the upper frets but it's the lower frets we're interested in at the moment). do those low notes fret and bend cleanly? If so, you could try another very small tightening of the truss rod. Repeat until you start to get buzzing or choking on the low frets and then back off the truss rod slightly until this stops.

Go back to the high frets and test them for choking and buzz. Straightening the neck will have pulled the strings nearer the frets, so you'll probably have to raise the saddles slightly by a small amount. Once those upper frets play OK, then that's the time to take the capo off and file the fret slots. If you file them when the action is high and then lower it, you'll probably end up with 1st fret string buzz, so it's important to only do it once the rest of the action is sorted.

Filing the fret slots will bring the overall open string height down lower, so you should end up with a very low action (unless you have any rogue high frets). This may end up lower than you like, so then raise the saddles or even loosen off the truss rod slightly - but at least you will have the nut slots properly cut with no danger of the strings buzzing if the guitar action is later lowered.