"That's a bit short. If you are using a sanding beam, it's best for it to sand all the frets at once using just the weight of the beam as pressure. Mine is about 60cm. That may not be the culprit. You can check with a fret rocker to see if there are any high/low spots. But I am guessing you've done that."
Understood - I'll make another levelling tool a bit longer.
Yes - there's no rocking.... of course that doesn't mean one side is not higher than the other....
"Curiouser and curiouser! Can you take some measurements? Capo the first fret. Hold down the Low E at about the 14th or 15th fret. In playing position, how much space is there between the string and the fret at about the 7th fret? Gibson says it should be around .010 and .012 inches (.25 and .3 mm). Next check the string action. Leaving the capo in place, how high are the E strings above the 12th fret? Gibson says about 2mm for the low E and 1.5mm for the low E."
My eyes aren't that good when it comes to the "fine graduations" though - but i'll try.
I've just changed the strings as one broke - I should have kept them as "gauges" to check (once I work out what they are in mm - I just cannot relate to fractional inches!)...... but:
capo'd at the first and fretted on the 17th frets - I'm going to guesstimate that the bottom of the string is about 0.5 mm.
Capo'd at he first fret - I'd say the gap at the 12th is about 2.5 mm for the low E and I brought it down to about 1.5 mm for the high e (no buzzing on the high e).
Capo'd at the first fret - the A string now has a little buzz to it as well.
"Gibson recommends a little more relief than Fender, but it should not be "very" high. With the capo on at the 1st fret does the low E buzz? Fingering all the way up the neck?"
I was unaware of that - are there any other differences in Gibson - as i've been using my Telecaster as a general "benchmark".... I may have more than one "inappropriate" thing!.
Does Gibson have a recommended height for the strings at the nut?
The Low E is about 2 mm above the fretboard.
But if I fret the low E on the first fret the buzz is still there (same with all the other frets - some are a little "more" than others).
To check if the frets are just higher in one side - I'll have to get a fret radius gauge. While looking - I saw this - would that be of any use? the idea would be to measure the fret heitnt at each end of the fret?
By the way - I don't have 6 saddles. It's a three barrel bridge (I went with the kit - next guitar has a Strat style hardtail - no tremolo).
And again- thank you for your help.
Very much appreciated.
Last edited by EsquireEsque; 13-06-2025 at 11:24 PM.
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