Neck and Bridge setup

[CindyLatta]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and new to building guitars. I put the strings on my guitar last night, and they are completely fouling on the frets. Is there something I have missed. It's like the level of the neck surface is too hign relative to the guitar and the bridge. Any suggestions? I tried adjusting the saddles but I don't think they have enough give to get the strings high enough.

[pablopepper]

Could be a number of things. Check the neck join for any gaps, a chip of wood or something trapped in between the neck and the pocket can throw everything off. Were there any gouges or ripples in the neck pocket? Have you set your truss rod? Fret the first and last fret on the low e at the same time, there should be a gap about the width of a business card over the 8th fret.

Don't worry, as DB says there is always a workaround.

[andrewdosborne]

Also, sometimes when you screw in the neck it can lift when you drive in the screws and not sit flush in the pocket. To help prevent this the neck needs to be held firmly into position when tightening the screws in.

[andrewdosborne]

I used this guide (in addition to the excellent tutorials on this forum) to help set up/fine tune my ST kit, has some guidelines on neck relief etc.

http://www.fender.com/en-GB/support/...r-setup-guide/

[wokkaboy]

Cindylatta,
as Pablo said I'd remove the neck and make sure there's no drill shavings in the neck pocket and give it a good clean. Also make sure there's nothing protruding from the neck heel where the drill holes are.
The neck looks a little high as you have said. Make sure the neck screws are tight and the neck plate should have the countersunk holes facing the outside.
Re-string it and see how the action is.
As Pablo said you may need to adjust the truss rod but if you have no experience in this ask for advice.
As Andrew mentioned make sure the neck screw holes are long enough and aren't lifting the neck

[CindyLatta]

Hey everyone, thank you for your replies. I will remove the neck and see what I can do. I appreciate all your suggestions. Just as a matter of interest, is the truss rod adjustment required "out of the box". I haven't touched the truss rod, but I will check by fretting the 1 and last frets and see if I get enough space on the middle fret.

[wokkaboy]

it's generally a lottery with the truss rod adjustment, sometimes they don't need any adjustment out of the box, sometimes they do.
After you have checked the neck pocket and re-screwed the neck in place, string it up and tune it.
Have a look down the neck from the bridge and around 8th - 12th fret should bow a little downward. If the 8th - 12th fret is bowing upward the strings will bottom out on these frets.
The general rule facing the truss rod is righty = tighty and lefty = loosey. Don't make large adjustments of the truss rod. Generally try 1/4 of a turn and test. If you snap the truss rod or damage it the neck is basically a throw away

[Fretworn]

Welcome CindyLatta! Love to see some pictures of the whole guitar. The little bit of the finish we can see looks very nice.

[DrNomis_44]

For setting the neck relief there are two tools which you can use along with a suitable sized Allen key for adjusting the truss rod, a Capo of some kind, and a set of Automotive Feeler Gauges, here's what you do (assuming you've sorted out the action on your guitar), place the Capo on the neck between the nut and first fret, next, select the .010 inch (10 Thou) feeler gauge of your set of Automotive Feeler Gauges, then fret the low-E string between the 17th and 18th fret and use the .010 inch feeler gauge to check the clearance at the 8th fret, if there's not enough clearance loosen the truss rod, if there's too much clearance tighten the truss rod, when the string just touches the feeler gauge when you slide it between the top of the 8th fret and the bottom of the string, you have the neck relief adjusted correctly, note that some guitars (i.e. Les Pauls) are typically set up with an 8th fret relief measurement of .012 inch, some guitarists prefer more relief, others prefer less, I read somewhere that Carlos Santana likes to have his necks set dead straight.


I'd also like to note that I've read somewhere that Fender specify a first fret action of .020 inch +/- .002 inch.


Hope that helps.

[Brendan]

Welcome along Cindy. What I can see of your guitar looks good. One thing to keep in mind is that a very small change at the point where the neck meets the body can make a significant change at the nut. Given you are talking not much in terms of a great action, it really wont take much to get it spot on.
Very worst case you would be looking at a shim (small bit of wood / paper that you can use to adjust the neck angle). That said, I haven't built a guitar yet that needed one (up to 5 done now).

On second look at the photo, I'd be tempted to check the two screws on the body side (as opposed to the neck side) of the neck. If they can tighten slightly that may fix the neck angle completely. Just need to be careful not to over tighten and shear the screws (have seen one person do this).