Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

[STRATDELUXER97]

My recent strat build has a 12" radius American Standard neck in maple sitting on a highway 1 body...The neck and body and strings across the neck are great..I commend myself for a nice job getting the neck redrilled and all lined up nicely with a new nut....However...This is very minor(Read on) :newangel:

I have a slight bit of noting out(fretting out) on the 1st string between the 12th and 15th fret like we are used to seeing on the vintage Fender radius but it's nowhere near as bad as on the vintage radius in that the bent note doesn't completely die....It's more like a sitar sound when you bend that 1st string up about 1 step or more..I don't hear it if I'm playing clean and plugged into my amp,but I know it exists and I don't like it...

I have about .008 to .010 relief right now at the 9th fret with D'Addario EXL 110s(.010s)....My string heights at both E strings is about 6/64" at the 12th fret..I also use a Stew Mac radius gauge to get all strings balanced in heights across the neck and to get a perfect radius match from strings to the neck radius..I don't have any fretting out or buzzing problems from the 15th fret up and I also have no fret buzz just fretting notes without bending anywhere along the full length of the neck on every string..

Would tweaking the truss rod possibly get the rest of this out and if so,looser or tighter on the truss rod....Or...Do you feel it's more of a slight hump? .Any advice all? :dance:

John

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

Since you know how to setup guitars, you may be able to tell if it's in need of a fretdress. Other than that possibility, I'd adjust the trussrod by using that bad spot as a reference point. When fine tuning my trussrod adjustments, I fret the worst sounding notes on the neck, and adjust for those. If they go away, the rest of the neck is assured to be perfect as well. It sounds odd to have a fretout problem on a neck with that radius. I'd keep tweaking.......you know, on the allen wrench.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

They call it the Fender Hump. It's from both string compression and tightening the bolts of the bolt on neck and causes that area between the 12th fret and 21st fret to not lie straight. The way to fix it is to level the frets in that area while the guitar is tuned to pitch, so that the distortion from string compression and from the bolt on design are both present. It can be done. You can slide a 3" file under the strings or get creative...but that's what needs to be done.

Then remove the strings, recrown the frets and polish.

Lew

 

[Bludave]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

I have solved the fret "buzzing" issue by putting a shim in the neck pocket. John try this it is a real easy thing to try and may solve the problem. Loosen all the screws that hold the neck on. Take a piece of card board about 1/2" wide and as long as the neck pocket. Slide the shim under the neck, but only under the top two screws. This gives the neck a very slight forward tilt and allows the string to vibrate without hitting the frets below the note you are fretting. I have done this simple fix and it works. The thickness of the cardboard can be thin, like a piece of paper or it could be thick like a matchbook cover, it will depend on how much tilt is necessarry to fix the problem. However if the frets are not level you will still need to dress them. Good Luck!!

 

[Norman_T]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

You guys play past the 12th fret??? one of these days I must go wandering there once I have cleaned up all the dust and dirt :22:

The dreaded hump - I have found that shims only work once you have got the frets levelled off and although you might tweak the neck relief you need to get those frets dressed up to properly get rid of that choking out. So its out with the 0000 steel wool John if the neck relief tweak does not work.

 

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

Hey John - have you checked out http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/OwnerManual/manssguitar.html? The "Buzz Diagnosis" section helped me a lot.

BTW is the problem any greater for the thicker strings? I've ended up bagging the StewMac radius gauge for setting saddle height and just gradually increase it as I move toward the thicker strings. It's no more than 1/32" higher for the low E than the high E but it cured the buzzing problem I had. (Sorry if this has nothing to do with your situation.)

Chip

 

[Dom L]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

Check you radius too, John
I beleive American Std's are 9 1/2" radius
Dom

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

Check you radius too, John
I beleive American Std's are 9 1/2" radius
Dom

Thanks guys...The radius is actually a 12" radius(Same as on the Elites)...I do have the whole Stew Mac radius gauge kit that I always use to get my string radius all matched to the neck...

Chip...The problem is pretty much only on the 1st and 2nd strings on heavy bends...Maybe just an offending fret on one end?

John

 

[beandip]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

I think it's what Lew said. Alot of Fenders get that hump because of the exposed end which moisture seeps in and causes it to rise, and also the displacement of wood from the screws. you could level the end frets which is easier; or remove them, plane the fretboard, and put in new ones, which looks prettier.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

I think it's what Lew said. Alot of Fenders get that hump because of the exposed end which moisture seeps in and causes it to rise, and also the displacement of wood from the screws. you could level the end frets which is easier; or remove them, plane the fretboard, and put in new ones, which looks prettier.

Thanks buddy....Check this out....This neck was on a different strat body and I didn't have this problem at all...The neck pocket on the other body was deeper and I had to use a shim...Now this same neck is sitting within an actual Fender Highway 1 strat body...This body has a shallower neck pocket and didn't require the shim to get the same string heights overall along the neck and at the higher registers..I'm also using the same vintage bridge etc..Everything is exactly the same except for the body change..Could end up just being that I need to raise my strings heights a bit more to get rid of the problem...I haven't even tweaked the truss rod,so the relief is the same as it was also,plus i'm using the same string gauge and brand? Weird right? :smack:

 

[beandip]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

you might wanna check your relief again, it might have changed during body swaps. if everthing checks out there, then just add a business card shim to the neck end of the neck pocket. This will hopfully raise the action enough to stop the fretting out, but not so much to where there's a noticable difference in string hight. If that dosnt work, reset your bridge radius to the radius or flatter than that of the fretboard.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

you might wanna check your relief again, it might have changed during body swaps. if everthing checks out there, then just add a business card shim to the neck end of the neck pocket. This will hopfully raise the action enough to stop the fretting out, but not so much to where there's a noticable difference in string hight. If that dosnt work, reset your bridge radius to the radius or flatter than that of the fretboard.

Thanks BD...I'm going to allow a little bit more relief to the neck and see what that does..It's around .008 right now..Maybe .010 would fix me up? This extra relief would also raise the strings a bit and that might help also..At times I feel the action is a bit low for my blues tastes anyway..You guys are all great...Hope your Mom is doing better buddy...My love to your Mom...

John

 

[beandip]

Re: Other Strat Gurus And Neck Relief?

No prob John. Please tell me this stuff works, or else all my time reading repair books and surfing the FDP is gone Mom's fine, starts chemo teusday.