Question for the strat guys

[disturb]

What is your 12th fret string height on your strats? Fender recommends 2 mm on strings 1-4 and 2.4 mm on strings 5-6 measured at the 17th fret. On my other guitars, my action is pretty much 1/16th straight across at the 12th fret. But I'm finding that I'm running my strat at 3/32 on the low E, and a little more than 1/16th on the high E. Lower than that, I get buzz. Not bad buzz, just annoying buzz. The nut is perfect height, the frets are basically new, and the truss rod is adjusted correctly. Just wondering if strats have to run a little higher action than LP's, or if I need to take it to my fret guy.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Question for the strat guys

Truss rod?

There's no reason why strings at the same height would buzz differently on a Les Paul or a Strat (as long as you are not bending, then the fretboard radius kicks in).

Hold some thread or similar along the fretboard, press it down on the 1st fret, then move it down on the 22th. That allows you do see whether you have a truss rod adjustment that is suitable. It sounds like you have too much tross rod tension and the area around fret 12 "sticks out".

Did you change to thinner strings?

Those recommendations are rubbish, BTW, too much individual preference involved. Many people have higher action that you think would be required because they like how it feels and sounds. Many people have relaxed truss rods to have a curve in the neck to get higher action around the middle of the neck but not in the very high and low registers.

Having said all that, frets might be screwed up. That thread experiment also allows you to see whether you have frets that stick out.