Trying to learn how to adjust my neck

[Napthol]

My Player Strat is going through the usual changes a guitar goes through. I'm in Minnesota and now it's more humid and hotter and I got fret buzz going on now. I can't bring it to my usual repairman because he passed away a year ago (boy do I miss him).

So I've taken it upon myself to learn how to adjust an neck to get rid of buzz and make it play good like it did before. I have been getting the impression that this Strat wants to have a really straight neck. Very little relief. Truss rod is turned quite tight now.

I'm going to keep playing it and listening for any remaining buzz. I have an appointment scheduled with another luthier I've used in the past.

If I can learn to do this, I will be so proud of myself. I've taught myself how to solder pots, switches, pickups, change pickguards etc.

But the one thing I never learned is how to adjust a neck. But I'm guessing a lot of guitarists don't learn that aspect of it.

 

[Chistopher]

What frets are the buzzing at? Now I'm fairly certain what your problem is, but it's best to know all the possibilities.

TLDR: you probably need to loosen your truss rod.

If the action is too high or the frets buzz on the higher frets, the bridge is at the wrong height.

If the action is too high in the middle of the neck, but not on the really high or low frets, tighten your truss rod ie lower relief. Turn the truss rod clockwise.

If the action is too low in the middle of the neck, do the opposite and relax the truss rod by loosening the neck. Depending on your issue this may not fix it and if it doesn't it's best to seek professional assistance.

If the action is too high on the lower frets near the nut, you will need to sand down the bottom of the nut. Once again, not something you want to experiment with on a priceless instrument.

If the action is too high at the nut, you need a new nut.

If a single string buzzes at the higher frets, adjust the height of the individual saddle. The radius of your saddles should generally be close to the radius of your fretboard.

If the strings buzz progressively more as you get closer to the bass or treble side, your neck might be twisting and you are out of luck. Especially if you can rule out it's an issue with one side of the bridge being too high or low.

Whenever the humidity changes you might need to adjust your truss rod, or if you change from lighter strings to heavier or visa versa, especially if your neck isn't stable.

 

[ehdwuld]

Adjust the truss rod a bit

You had it playing good this winter , eh?

Needs just a bit more relief

I think that is tighten it though

Go a 1/4 turn clockwise

If it gets better done

If not, turn 1/2 turn the other way

 

[Napthol]

The action feels fine now. It is lower than I had it before. Pretty much every fret up the neck is showing some buzz, so it is not a case of just here or there. Pretty much all the frets are buzzing.

Frets have been leveled by another luthier I use from time to time. I don't think there is anything wrong with the frets themselves.

I loosened the rod a little. A business card slides in pretty nicely at the 8th fret.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Raise the bridge ..it's too low.

 

[ehdwuld]

If you hold the string against the 1st and last fret

Do you still have a cc thickness under the string
At the 8th frett

You should check relief with the string fretted on 1st and last fret

 

[Mincer]

There are some awesome YouTube videos explaining in easy terms how to do just this. I find a good steel straight edge helps me...even better if it is notched. I always start with the strings off, and the neck dead straight. Then I measure relief once the strings are on and up to pitch. On some necks, I like more relief than others. It is really a 'per guitar' sort of adjustment for me.

 

[Phantasmagoria]

If you hold the string against the 1st and last fret

Do you still have a cc thickness under the string
At the 8th frett

You should check relief with the string fretted on 1st and last fret

You should check relief with the string fretted on 1st and last fret

This.

But considering there's buzz everywhere all over the neck...it's (action) most likely too low & unless there's no relief whatsoever or back bow, you're going to have to raise the bridge.​

 

[Chistopher]

Adjust the truss rod a bit

You had it playing good this winter , eh?

Needs just a bit more relief

I think that is tighten it though

Go a 1/4 turn clockwise

If it gets better done

If not, turn 1/2 turn the other way

Clockwise straightens the neck. The way I remember it is if someone tells you to loosen up you might relax your posture. If someone tells you to tighten up, you might stand a little straighter. Throw that on top of right tighty lefty loosey and it's not too hard to remember.

 

[Napthol]

It's not necessarily as simple as that. I know which way straightens and which way puts more relief in the neck. What if the wood in the neck is not flexing correctly? What if the neck needs to be shimmed?

There can be more to it that just working with the truss rod and the bridge saddles.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Adjusting the truss rod is not hard. Soldering/pickup changes is much harder. It's all about preference too. Look up some YouTube vids on how to do it and get yourself some feeler gauges and an action gauge.

 

[ehdwuld]

Your old tech that you used for years
made it sound complicated
In order to keep you coming back

easy money

It's not hard at all

You are over thinking it

Watch a video
Start with a straight neck

It seems like we went over this with you last year

 

[Rex_Rocker]

It's not necessarily as simple as that. I know which way straightens and which way puts more relief in the neck. What if the wood in the neck is not flexing correctly? What if the neck needs to be shimmed?

There can be more to it that just working with the truss rod and the bridge saddles.

It's really hard to mess something up adjusting the truss rod unless you go like super apeshit on it. But on quarter turns, there is no way to break anything.

I've never heard of "wood not flexing correctly", personally. Maybe old guitars or guitars that were on a flood or on some very non-ideal conditions develop twisted necks. But it's VERY unlikely your guitar does that from just adjusting the truss rod unless something was terribly wrong from the factory.

If the neck needs to be shimmed, then your tech already probably did it last setup he gave your guitar. But the neck needing shimming has nothing to do with adjusting the truss rod.

There really isn't more to it than just adjusting the truss rod and the bridge saddles unless something is very wrong with the guitar, which I highly doubt.

 

[Napthol]

Some necks do not flex correctly. I had a Classic Vibe like that. It would be okay for a few days and then start buzzing again. Total garbage. Both my techs told me that.

My Player Strat has not been shimmed. John died before I even had this particular guitar. And Mark has not seen it yet either.

Don't assume.

 

[Chistopher]

More often than not, I've seen Player Strats come from the factory with shims. It's not usually the sort of thing the end user has to adjust unless you swap the stock bridge for a considerably taller one.

 

['59]

Shimming the neck causes the same effect as lowering the bridge.

Also worthy of note, truss rod adjustments take time to settle, so don't be shocked if you make an adjustment and don't notice a difference until the next day.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Some necks do not flex correctly. I had a Classic Vibe like that. It would be okay for a few days and then start buzzing again. Total garbage. Both my techs told me that.

Wood (necks) actually flexes like wood. That is correct for wood. Necks don't flex like paper, plastic, or metal, but they DO flex like wood.

Don't assume.

​

I'm assuming that you know absolutely nothing about adjusting necks/trussrods, bridges, saddles, nuts, etc. As it turns out, my assumption is correct.

You can adjust a trussrod and the neck MAY continue to react to that adjustment for a couple days. It doesn't mean your guitar is "total garbage". That's more or less normal. It's possible that you may not have understood what your techs were telling you. Your guitar may have in fact been garbage, but not for that reason.

The only time you would need to shim your neck would be if you can't get all the height adjustment you need from adjusting your bridge/saddles alone. That is possible, but it would be extremely rare.

 

[GuitarDoc]

You've been given some good advice from other forum members...take it.

 

[Napthol]

Brought the guitar to Mark last night. He played it through a small amp. He felt for the most part the guitar was already playing pretty well. He told me I set the neck relief really good. I asked him if the nut was okay and he said yes.

He told me my action was a little too high ( I already knew this and was intending to lower it) so I told him to go ahead and lower it. Feels better now.

And he told me my saddles were not radiused right. So he fixed that.

He asked if I play through headphones and I said all the time. I have to. I'm in an apartment building.

He said playing through headphones you can hear absolutely everything, every little buzz that is present (this makes sense to me I guess).

He remarked that Stratocasters can tend to buzz a bit more than other guitars (I don't know why that would be, or if that is true).

Anyway I've decided to put the guitar back in it's case. Probably until September or October. I wanna play my Hendrix Strat. Been so long that I've played that.

 

[Chistopher]

Do you run a speaker sim when you play with your headphones? If you play through headphones without a speaker sim you get a lot of high frequencies that you wouldn't hear through an actual amp