Andy Eagle ( Guitar repair tech for 30 years )

Eagle said:
Take the grub screw out to ensue full contact and place a piece of double sided tape between the two neck bolts at the top and even a piece under them across the middle. Then when you tighten the neck in place it is sandwiched between the neck and body. This is almost gorilla proof against sideways movement.
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Oh now I see…. I wouldn’t have thought tape would lock it in place, never would have tried that…. Thanks I’ll give it a shot!

D
 
Eagle said:
And then if you find one you are still better part dressing the whole area.
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Yep… I did this once for a friend who really didn’t want to spring for a level and crown and once on a guitar of my own that I just didn’t want to bother with beyond the one fret (rarely used sentimental acoustic). Other than those two times, for me I just do the full job and be done with it knowing that it’s right. I’m not a pro though, learned to diy for myself and friends.

D
 
Eagle said:
If you aren't swapping the string gauge you can assess the truss rod with old strings before you take them off. You have to get used to the particular guitar and make a guesstimate ( based on experience ) and this is the first part of the set up.
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Thanks for your reply. Hard to know without inspection I know but maybe you would know what’s going on with this.

On the high E string the 5th from the 12th fret E to 17th fret B is flat. As is the 4th F#-B. But only on the high E. The rest of the 5ths from the 12th fret on the B-G-D-A-E strings are fine. As are the other 5ths on the high E string, so Eb-Bb, F-C, etc.

I’ve looked at the fret and as near as I can tell it’s ok but reason tells me there’s something amiss. If you have any thoughts it’d be appreciated.
 
signalpath said:
Thanks for your reply. Hard to know without inspection I know but maybe you would know what’s going on with this.

On the high E string the 5th from the 12th fret E to 17th fret B is flat. As is the 4th F#-B. But only on the high E. The rest of the 5ths from the 12th fret on the B-G-D-A-E strings are fine. As are the other 5ths on the high E string, so Eb-Bb, F-C, etc.

I’ve looked at the fret and as near as I can tell it’s ok but reason tells me there’s something amiss. If you have any thoughts it’d be appreciated.
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Intonate it using fretted reference notes on the 3rd and 15th fret to start with. Make sure they are correct with a good tuner preferably a Turbo tuner or a Peterson strobe.
 
What tremolo and nut do you recommend for tuning stability for those who want to go hard without resorting to a locking Floyd?
 
Eagle said:
Intonate it using fretted reference notes on the 3rd and 15th fret to start with. Make sure they are correct with a good tuner preferably a Turbo tuner or a Peterson strobe.
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I set the intonation using a Peterson strobe but the B at the 19th fret on the high E is flat. All the other notes at the 19th fret on the other 5 strings are in tune. And the rest of the notes on the high E, excepting the 19th fret B, are in tune.
 
signalpath said:
I set the intonation using a Peterson strobe but the B at the 19th fret on the high E is flat. All the other notes at the 19th fret on the other 5 strings are in tune. And the rest of the notes on the high E, excepting the 19th fret B, are in tune.
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Tune the guitar to the third fret fret fretted note and intonate the 15th to get it perfect
And see what happens.
 
mk5 said:
What tremolo and nut do you recommend for tuning stability for those who want to go hard without resorting to a locking Floyd?
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A well cut bone nut is my favourite but Tusq and graphite are both good options. The bone lasts a lot longer. In none locking trems I like the Gotoh 510 ts with the Wilkinson locking saddles fitted best but it is also great with the stock saddles.
 
This picture is probably too blurry to make anything out, but the other night at practice, the high E on this PRS I just got popped out of the nut. Never had that happen before. The string doesn't look like it's seated properly. I am planning on putting some 9s in this guitar (I'm guessing it has either 10s or 11s) but I'm wondering if you think this looks like the nut needs to be recut?

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spawnofthesith said:
This picture is probably too blurry to make anything out, but the other night at practice, the high E on this PRS I just got popped out of the nut. Never had that happen before. The string doesn't look like it's seated properly. I am planning on putting some 9s in this guitar (I'm guessing it has either 10s or 11s) but I'm wondering if you think this looks like the nut needs to be recut?

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With the depth of the slots I am surprised. If you have nut files you could cut the back of the slots a little deeper with a tad of more angle. This will hold them a little better without lowering the action.
 
Eagle said:
A well cut bone nut is my favourite but Tusq and graphite are both good options. The bone lasts a lot longer. In none locking trems I like the Gotoh 510 ts with the Wilkinson locking saddles fitted best but it is also great with the stock saddles.
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Wow, I was LITERALLY going to ask that same question— the reason I came to this thread!!

To add another question:

I have a guitar on the way to me with a Gotoh 510 trem on it. I also happen to have a product called the Guitar NutBuster.

It is basically a metal piece you put behind the nut and the strings go through individual holes, then there are clamps to lock each string, and an adjustable fine tuning gear for each string.

I bought it on a whim, but never used it yet.

Would that be useful in conjunction WITH locking saddles, or would it be a pointless nuisance to add to my guitar?
 
Also, if you’d be kind enough to answer, my new guitar is coming with 10-46 gauge strings and the guitar has a bone nut.

Will I NEED to install a new nut if I want to use 9-42 gauge strings?

I imagine going down a gauge wouldn’t be a problem, as opposed to going up to a HIGHER gauge, which may cause the strings to bind in the nut.
 
Speedyone said:
Wow, I was LITERALLY going to ask that same question— the reason I came to this thread!!

To add another question:

I have a guitar on the way to me with a Gotoh 510 trem on it. I also happen to have a product called the Guitar NutBuster.

It is basically a metal piece you put behind the nut and the strings go through individual holes, then there are clamps to lock each string, and an adjustable fine tuning gear for each string.

I bought it on a whim, but never used it yet.

Would that be useful in conjunction WITH locking saddles, or would it be a pointless nuisance to add to my guitar?
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Don’t use the nut buster. It’s not going to work without locking at the other end. Also if you do fit locking Wilkinson saddles you won’t need it.
 
Speedyone said:
Also, if you’d be kind enough to answer, my new guitar is coming with 10-46 gauge strings and the guitar has a bone nut.

Will I NEED to install a new nut if I want to use 9-42 gauge strings?

I imagine going down a gauge wouldn’t be a problem, as opposed to going up to a HIGHER gauge, which may cause the strings to bind in the nut.
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You won’t need to fit a new nut unless the strings move sideways and ping when you bend them and even then if you do the thing I suggest above it is usually a fix for this too .
 
dk_ace said:
Are we talking about the same thing? I mean the neck shifts in the sense that if you are looking at the guitar head on with the headstock up like it’s on a stand and you grab the top of the neck and pull it to the left or right the neck will shift its orientation in the way that you pull it so it’s no longer perpendicular to the body. That movement is what I’m trying to eliminate.

I don’t think a piece of double sided tape is going to be thick enough to eliminate that play in the pocket, and you’re referencing the grub screw which is for shimming the neck angle so I think we may be talking about different issues. Fwiw, I don’t use the grub screw.

D
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Had the same issue with an old Squier many years ago. Ended up with a 4-hole standard mount. Problem fixed. Will do the same with my G&L Legacy should I ever reassemble it (which, in fact and sort of sadly, isn't likely).
 
Sascha Franck said:
Had the same issue with an old Squier many years ago. Ended up with a 4-hole standard mount. Problem fixed. Will do the same with my G&L Legacy should I ever reassemble it (which, in fact and sort of sadly, isn't likely).
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The three bolt fixtures that are a machine bolt in the third if set up properly are less easy to knock out of alignment than a regular four wood screw fender fixing. Necks moving around is common with the fender heel design. Over tightening is often a factor in crushing the wood and bending the plate making the whole issue worse. What I said works well and causes no damage. Alder swamp ash, basswood , poplar all are crushed easily by over tightening in a four bolt neck plate. The third in a 70s fender however has a threaded plate it screws into and better distribution of the pressure on the body. The design is not poor but the execution was. The problem above is three wood screws not the original design.
 
One problem with the 3-screw design still remains: There's no easy options to shape the heel for better high position access. For any standard 4-screw designs there's an option to just replace the plate with something featuring a "recessed" corner on the lower side.
 
Sascha Franck said:
One problem with the 3-screw design still remains: There's no easy options to shape the heel for better high position access. For any standard 4-screw designs there's an option to just replace the plate with something featuring a "recessed" corner on the lower side.
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There are better ways than any neck plate and a micro tilt is a bad idea full stop. It was added to make factory set up of a guitar out of tolerance really easy and quick .
 
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