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I've never fully set up my guitar despite having played for over 10 years but i've just got mines back from a tech and while its lower the action is about 4.5mm at the 12th fret. Its on the verge of choking when i bend on the high E at the 15th fret. Is it possible to get it any lower? I've been used to lower actions and while i can play with it like this i would like it lower. Apart from raising the height of saddles how else is action adjusted? The trussrod?

malko wrote:I've never fully set up my guitar despite having played for over 10 years but i've just got mines back from a tech and while its lower the action is about 4.5mm at the 12th fret. Its on the verge of choking when i bend on the high E at the 15th fret. Is it possible to get it any lower? I've been used to lower actions and while i can play with it like this i would like it lower. Apart from raising the height of saddles how else is action adjusted? The trussrod?

You could file the nut deeper. But thats a precarious job.

endsjustifymeans wrote:

malko wrote:I've never fully set up my guitar despite having played for over 10 years but i've just got mines back from a tech and while its lower the action is about 4.5mm at the 12th fret. Its on the verge of choking when i bend on the high E at the 15th fret. Is it possible to get it any lower? I've been used to lower actions and while i can play with it like this i would like it lower. Apart from raising the height of saddles how else is action adjusted? The trussrod?

You could file the nut deeper. But thats a precarious job.

Ha nope i dont want to down the road.

if you don't know what it entails, take it to someone and have them do it. ain't worth fucking up if you don't know what's up.

i'm speaking from experience on this one.

thats the thing. From reading around most people say its just a matter of adjusting the saddles which i am comfortable doing. then some others mention the trussrod which probably like you i have experience f**king with and dont want to ever again But i have a feeling it cant be rocket science

Any experienced guitar setter uppers care to chip in? Cheers in advance guys

malko wrote:thats the thing. From reading around most people say its just a matter of adjusting the saddles which i am comfortable doing. then some others mention the trussrod which probably like you i have experience f**king with and dont want to ever again But i have a feeling it cant be rocket science

Any experienced guitar setter uppers care to chip in? Cheers in advance guys

You only need to adjust the truss if your desired string height gives you fret buzz, and even then it could still be other things, unlevel frets and such.

I'd lower the string to your desired action and see how it plays, if it's too buzzy you can just raise it back and then start working about the truss after doing more research.

In theory you should have slightly relief in the neck but I find truss rodding the neck so its as straight as arrow... allows for a nicer action overall. My high E has been chocking some what so i raised that... so might be worth considering changing the b & e saddle cobined for a slightly higher action and setting the others lower. It's the nature of fender's radius... choking is quite common.. if you want to get rid of all the probs you need a flat radius Ibanez

i'm kinda thinking of getting it set up again and getting the guy to go as low as possible. How big is the tone/low action trade off. I think i can live with a few chokes on high bends, with my gigging band i dont play any rawk out solos so i think i can deal with that but dont want crappy tone and sustain.

i think changing the action = difference in tone is bollocks. unless you've changed the actiom from pretty low to pretty high or vice versa and not set your pickup heights then i can't see why it would make a noticeable difference.

especially in a live setting.

raise/lower your pups with your action and it should be fine.

yea dude, just bust out the hex key and adjust the saddles until they're at a height you like. simple really.

some slight intonation might be required after you adjust the saddle height but that's hard either. using an electronic tuner adjust the saddle position (longways, not height) of each string until the they are in tune at the 12th fret as well as open.

You can shim your neck to make sure your strings are the same height from the fret board at the 22nd fret to the 1st fret, if adjusting your bridge height isn't working out.

hold up.
4.5 mms at the 12th?
and it chokes?
did he level the frets? crown them? anything?
the 63 jag i did a while back, i did a FULL fucking job on it and the action was srsly about 2.54 mms(digital calipers)
with no relief in the neck and no chokes.
i got a video on youtube somewhere, the thing plays like butta.

Yeah, I was thinking that's a bit much for it to be choking.

Neck angle can make a load of difference too; try shimming it with a thin pick in the top of the neck pocket.

Sounds a bit weird, my Baja's action is pretty low and was fine from the factory.

Can you take it back to the shop you got it from?

sorry my measurements are out, dont have anything accurate apart from a small ruler pencil case style! Its more like 3ish at the 12th fret if i measure from the on the fret wire itself. However the strings are way closer at the top of the neck. Is there anyway to get it equal height the whole way down. I'm trying to remember my other guitars but they were ibanez's that are renowned for low action. Its my first proper Tele apart from the old squire i posted in another thread so im not sure how these things should be set