Fret level on a compound radius neck?

[blakejcan]

I am slowly learning how to do my own setups and could use some help. I bought a nice new Warmoth strat neck, leveled, crowned & dressed the frets and then put it on my strat. After playing with the nut, saddles and relief forever as well as taking measurements from a near identical strat that is perfectly setup I believe that it is the frets that are causing the issue.


I am pretty sure my frets are not perfectly level up & down the board and that is why it is fretting out-choking-buzzing when I play a fretted note. I used the fret rocker and can't find anything standing proud.

Is this all because it's a compound radius neck? I did my best to follow this method which made sense to me---https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spmrLomLKsI

Anything else I could be missing? Thanks. I'm so close but this is annoying.

 

[GuitarDoc]

You're fretting out all up and down the neck or just in certain spots?

 

[blakejcan]

Almost all the way up and down the neck. Played with the nut height, saddle height and relief and can’t get it sorted

 

[ICTGoober]

There's something else going on here, Blake. A compound radius is usually no different to set up and work on than a single radius. How's the truss rod adjustment?

 

[blakejcan]

Truss Rod works just fine. Relief is set to very slight….same as my other strat that has a great setup

 

[larryguitar]

Check for a mismatch between your saddle and nut radii and their respective ends of the fretboard; agree with the above that something else is going on.

Checking each string and fret for buzz independently, while tedious, can let you 'map' the issue and get a better idea of what's actually going on.

Larry

 

[GuitarDoc]

Try adjusting the truss rod to give a flatter neck (tighten it), then raise the saddles as necessary.

 

[ErikH]

Keep in mind with a compound radius neck, you need to set the saddles to be the radius the cone will be at that point. If your neck is 10-14" radius, the saddles are probably closer to 15-16". I like low action but not so low that I can't dig in.

 

[GuitarDoc]

^ +1 (probably closer to 16")

 

[ICTGoober]

It's too late to mention it, but I would have waited to see if it needed a fret level before getting out the tools. Warmoth's fretting process sets the high standard for the industry IMO. Fender and Gibson should take notes...

 

[ErikH]

Yeah. They do a nice job. The last one I got had a few high spots that I was able to take care of with a simple spot leveling. Didn't have to do the whole neck. I'll be checking the one I'm waiting on with my fret rocker when it gets here.

Since it's Warmoth, standard compound radius is 10-16" so the saddles should be set at around 18". I would start there and then adjust to taste.

 

[blakejcan]

Thanks guys. Neck was very good when I got it but checked with a fret rocker it still had high spots that needed to be knocked down. Now must chasing down the rabbit hole a bit

 

[blakejcan]

Keep in mind with a compound radius neck, you need to set the saddles to be the radius the cone will be at that point. If your neck is 10-14" radius, the saddles are probably closer to 15-16". I like low action but not so low that I can't dig in.

I'll grab the radius gauges and try this. I'm worried it won't do much as my saddles were previously almost maxed out and it was still having issues fretting out........just at the higher frets only.

My real guess here is that my frets simply are not leveled properly. I will say that when I was trying to get the fretboard perfectly flat before working on the frets I was finding it to be a bit of a chore. Using my notched straight-edge I could get it close to flat but never perfectly there.

Only other thing I can think of here is that I need build in some sort of fall away on the upper frets but only after triple-checking that they are level?

 

[Clint 55]

Imo, fallaway at the heel is essential. Blend it in around the 15th fret and above, where the truss rod no longer has effect. The good news is if the problem areas are only up there, you can add it in without messing with the back frets at all.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Warmoth's fretting process sets the high standard for the industry IMO. Fender and Gibson should take notes...

And yet many are needing to do some fret adjustments on those "standard-of-the-industry" necks!
When I first started making guitars I didn't want to mess with making necks so I bought a couple cheap $35 necks. I never had to do any levelling on the frets! (Yes, I DID have to file and smooth the fret ends).

In my mind, that doesn't say a lot about Warmoth necks, especially considering their cost.

By the way...I've had to do fretwork on every Gibson that I've purchased (even those that cost up to $5000). I've never had to do any fretwork on Fenders (even those that cost $100).

 

[blakejcan]

I just adjusted the bridge to a 16 radius and it's a bit more extreme than before. Very choked out in the upper frets.

Currently have the fretboard/neck set to as flat as I can get it.

What should I try next internet friends?​

 

[Clint 55]

Sell the monstrosity and get a straight radius neck. I really have no idea how people deal with those.

Yeah no, you have to put fallaway in.

 

[ErikH]

Put some relief in the neck, or the action is too low. My bet is on the neck not having any relief. Capo the first fret, touch the last fret. Somewhere around the 7th-8th fret check with a feeler gauge. Should be able to get a .010" between the top of the fret and the bottom of the string. If you can't, adjust the truss rod until you can. Let the neck sit for a little bit to stabilize and then check it again. Once it's good, set your action keeping with the radius you have at the bridge. It takes some tweaking but well worth it once set.

And yes, there should be a little bit of fallaway at the higher frets like described and shown in the video you referenced.

 

[GuitarDoc]

File upper frets with some falloff, or tighten the truss rod a bit more and raise the saddles a bit more.

 

[ErikH]

File upper frets with some falloff, or tighten the truss rod a bit more and raise the saddles a bit more.

Wouldn't the TR need to be loosened to add some relief if it's choking out? It's already straight so possibly no relief in the neck causing it too?