Why do most of my tele builds end up with maxed out saddle height?

[blakejcan]

That's more or less it. I've built a fair amount of teles at this point and whenever I get to the setup for whatever reason it seems like I need to have the saddles absolutely jacked up to the ceiling to get things right. I am 100% sure that I am not amazing at setups yet but I want to figure this out. I don't like the look and I'm sure it should be in the middle of the saddle adjustment range. I don't like the look or sound of the saddles looking like they are on stilts.

In some of my earlier builds I for sure did not get the neck pocket in the body deep enough. On this latest build.....it is definitely deep enough. I have played with the relief quite a bit and have it at a good spot. Saddles are very high and it's fretting out on different strings on frets 5 through 9.

I'm sure adding in some fallaway wouldn't hurt but open to any amazing insights.

 

[ehdwuld]

how many shims are you placing in the neck pocket

I know that gibson tilts their pockets back to raise the neck heel for the TOM Bridge

do you have the heel raised?

is it sitting level in the pocket

I seems to be a neck alignment thing to me

 

[blakejcan]

zero shims currently

I think you're right. I wonder if I am doing a crap job of routing the neck pocket.

 

[jeremy]

usually when ive seen that, the neck pocket wasnt routed quite deep enough. fretting out in the middle of the neck like that sounds like a relief issue though

 

[blakejcan]

hmm. I just re-measured and I think it's both. haha crap.

 

[ehdwuld]

shallow and tilted
dang it

 

[blakejcan]

eh it just wasn't deep enough. Actually was dead flat. Now back to try all the diddly stuff again.

 

[Mincer]

Ya need a MicroTilt!

 

[ICTGoober]

Ya need a MicroTilt!

Microtilts SUCK.

 

[Mincer]

Microtilts SUCK.

hehehe...I thought I'd get a response.

 

[Artie]

Microtilts SUCK.

Over the years, I've seen this stated several times. Why? I have several older MIA Peavey's that use this. Doesn't seem to harm the tone in any way, and makes setups easier. In the Peavey forum, designer and engineer of the early Peavey guitars, Chip Todd, was asked about this. He stated that, from a mechanical engineering point of view, concentrating energy at a point, doesn't attenuate it. It just concentrates it.

It why I question the validity of speaker spikes. (To de-couple bass from the floor.) I suspect they save your shag carpet from having a flat spot, but little else.

 

[Chistopher]

Yeah, same reason why my couch is "de-coupled" from the floor.

 

[Bill Dennis]

That's more or less it. I've built a fair amount of teles at this point and whenever I get to the setup for whatever reason it seems like I need to have the saddles absolutely jacked up to the ceiling to get things right. I am 100% sure that I am not amazing at setups yet but I want to figure this out. I don't like the look and I'm sure it should be in the middle of the saddle adjustment range. I don't like the look or sound of the saddles looking like they are on stilts.

In some of my earlier builds I for sure did not get the neck pocket in the body deep enough. On this latest build.....it is definitely deep enough. I have played with the relief quite a bit and have it at a good spot. Saddles are very high and it's fretting out on different strings on frets 5 through 9.

I'm sure adding in some fallaway wouldn't hurt but open to any amazing insights.

Where are your bodies and necks coming from? It could be a couple of things. 1) The neck pocket is cut at an incorrect angle or 2) Its cut too deep. 3) Its possible neck is thin, but I lean towards 1 or 2.

 

[blakejcan]

they come from my garage where I make them. So yea, good chance they are never perfect because I'm not using a CNC.

 

[RanchManSandy]

Are u using one of the really wafer-thin tele bridges? if so, try one with a thicker baseplate, like the ones gotoh makes. That extra 1/8" will probably solve your so-called problem

 

[blakejcan]

I'm actually using a Gotoh bridge. In this instance I just did not go far enough down.

I think what happened is that I was using the Stewmac calipers that have that little notch in them for measuring fret height. But because they have that little notch you have to reset zero whenever you want to switch from using the little extending bar thing to the crab-claw caliper part. Anyone who owns these will know what I mean. If not this is all gobbeldy-gook I'm sure.

Either way, I re-routed it to the correct depth and I think I'm ok now. It is always a bit of a guessing game for me on ......do I need to play with the relief a bit more or is this a high fret?