SG-1F build - The Red Lady

Awesome, Cheers DB.

Quote:

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[b]she will shine!

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I hope not, it's a satin finish! :P

So after a marathon long weekend effort, i've glued up the neck, wired the electronics and finished assembly!

http://i.imgur.com/Gp9oJcRh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/VGwEMvMh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/GlX7lHKh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/JgWFJuUh.jpg

Looks great, plays... ok. Pickups sound great but the action is too high and i don't seem to be able to get it down as far as i'd like.

It's a little difficult to see in the pic, but there's approx 3.5-4mm of gap between the 22nd fret and the low E string. That measurement is with the bridge adjustment bottomed out and the truss rod adjusted to minimum relief (the low E and A strings are buzzing on the first 3 frets, so it really needs a more relief).

http://i.imgur.com/hByt4HKh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/95NFR24h.jpg

Should i have done something differently during construction? or am i asking for absurdly low action? :p

The only adjustment i can see would be to file the bottom of the bridge where it contacts the adjusters, but that's a bit extreme.

P.s. Please ignore the little bit of bare wood showing at the neck joint, i made a slight miscalculation when masking up. The neck is definitely in the pocket all the way!

Hi Wiggles,
looking good, I built a SG-1F last month and forget what the action is like, I'll check mine out tonight and see if its as high as 4mm at the 22nd fret. Sounds like the neck needs a fret level

Thanks Wokka boy, that'd be great if you could measure it.

Frets are level, i spent quite a bit of time leveling and polishing them Saturday :)

Hi Wiggles, no worries, sounds like a truss rod adjustment then.
From memory I had to screw my bridge down to the minimum height, also the angle that the neck is glued will affect the action. From memory I couldn't get my action super low but I'll confirm tonight and get back to you tomorrow

Hi Wiggles, did you follow the intonation thread here when setting up your guitar?

http://pitbullguitars.com/?page_id=4...iewtopic&t=186

and did you do a proper fret levelling as shown here:?

http://pitbullguitars.com/?page_id=4...iewtopic&t=179

Perhaps you can take another picture at the bridge area because the glare had hidden the detail. I think your action is way too high.....

Hey Wiggles.

Easy work around time!
TOM bridge saddles are often a touch too high, so to drop the action you can file the bridge grooves deeper.
Normally these grooves are just deep enough to hold the strings.
Start playing a few Pete Townsend wind mill power chords and the strings will probably jump out of the grooves :)

Normally you would files the saddles with nut slotting files, but with some care you can do the job with fine jewellers files.

File the saddle grooves one at a time, just pop the string out of the saddle, give it a few strokes with the file pop the string back in and check the action. Repeat until the string is at the right height and move onto the next string.
A small amount of filing can end up being a massive drop in action, so take your time.

Hi Gav,

Yep, frets were leveled as per that thread (well, i didn't remove the nut). I did the texta trick and lightly sanded with a 12" radius stewmac block. Cleaned them up with some 800 and 1200 paper then polished with 0000 steel wool. The factory nut may be a touch high, havn't tackled a nut change before.
The fret buzz i mentioned was because i lowered the relief a litle further than optimum trying to lower the action (not the correct way to do it i know, i thought it might just do the trick) - i'll reset it back to proper neck relief.

http://i.imgur.com/muGGCEeh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/oqYQaIoh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/w731ja2h.jpg

(Sorry for the dodgy photos, my phone doesn't like close-ups. I'll try and get a hold of something better if you need better shots)

Haven't done the intonation yet, was trying to get the action down to final height before i tackled that job - as adjusting relief and action would change intonation.

Good looking machine, well done. Another sub-$200 kit that looks like a $2000 guitar!!