After much tampering with relief & action settings, be mindful of the guitar's overall intonation. Intonation here refers to the guitar's relative tuning at the 12th fret, across all strings. If your open strings are in tune, please check the tuning at the 12th fret; it should
NOT be any flatter/ sharper, it should replicate the open string tuning. However, intonation would be affected after a relief rectification/ action adjustments/ both, you should address this by 'neutralizing' the 12th fret tuning. How so? Use a cross-tip screw driver to flatten (move the string saddle back towards the bridge end) or sharpen (move the string saddle forward towards the pickup) the strings accordingly.
After being done here, there is a need to check the action once more because there would technically be a change in action (however minute) when you move your string saddles. Repeat the intonation & action checks until everything is in place. How many times would it take, you ask? As many times as necessary; rather tedious but that's how it is.
Okie, dokie! Your guitar is now set up & ready to manifest your
real potential which had been hampered all along by poor instrument presentation. Hey, it's nobody's fault, really. Wood is organic to begin with & it reacts to the environment. More importantly, it reacts positively to positive investments in time & effort. Hope this helps...
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Every Sunday night, insomnia kicks in... Maybe I'm thinking too much.
4 comments:
good article... after this, gonna find myself a neck stand, capo and vaseline... thanks bro, never thought of buying these 3 stuff before especially capo
capo helped me check the neck in a more absolute way, before that, i was looking (sighting) the neck to detect changes. small, minute movements would be quite impossible for the eye to see...
can a long 1 meter ruler used check for the neck straightness/arch?
some luthiers do that, they use a very long metal ruler to check for straightness but that's checking for sytraightness per se. what would be more relavant here is checking for straightness against string action- relief, as we know it :-)
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