Setting up an SG

[mr breaker]

Well...it's that time of the year again. The air is dry and my guitars are not happy.

My SG had pefect action a few weeks ago...pretty low with no fret buzz. Now I'm getting buzz everywhere...but mostly on the upper frets. Do I need to adjust the neck...or just the bridge? How do you tell which you need to adjust?



I keep a dampit in my acoustic case....will this help with the electrics too?

 

[hacker]

Re: Setting up an SG

The neck. The bridge height will not change unless you adjust it yourself. The neck can shift, bow, warp, twist, etc. with humidity changes.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Setting up an SG

It should help. Oiling the fingerboard with lemon oil will also help protect your axe from humidity. I think all you need is a small trussrod tweak and you'll be OK.

 

[mr breaker]

Re: Setting up an SG

Thanks for the replies...I'm going to adjust it tonight

 

[mr breaker]

Re: Setting up an SG

I gave it a quarter-turn and it is much better now. How can I tell if the neck is straight?

 

[MattPete]

Re: Setting up an SG

I gave it a quarter-turn and it is much better now. How can I tell if the neck is straight?

There are many variations on this, but the idea is to use the low E (or any string) as a straight edge.

Hold down the low E at the 1st and last frets, and take a look at the height of the string relative to the 9th fret. If the neck isn't straight, you should see a gap. Most people like a little relief in the neck.

I had to adjust the truss rods on one of my gutiars (the one in the avatar) last night because of changing humidity. I adjusted the gap on the low E at the 9th fret from a little bit larger than the thickness of the low E, to roughly half the width of the low E string.

 

[mr breaker]

Re: Setting up an SG

so how high should this gap be on my SG? And should it be the same height whether I am on the first fret or the last fret?

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Setting up an SG

You might also try polishing the frets where you find the buzz (it's the fret right before the one you come to that doesn't buzz). Use the finest grade of steel wool, tape off your fret board between the frets & over your pickups, then lightly polish the fret till it shines.

Jeff