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tuning problems-is this right?


linv5800

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Ive done everything to this new Gibson 2016 Les Paul '50s Tribute T in sunburst.

Ive made sure its true all the way up the neck. Had to adjust the neck as

he string were way too high , I think it was shipping and sitting a year in a

hot - cold warehouse waiting to be sold . I

noticed that in the picture that's supposed to be my guitar that's shipped with it ,

that the bridge is flush with the body , BUT look at this .

Can anyone tell me if this is right ? ive never seen a Paul set like this ever and

ive seen tons.It just doesn't feel right. any help would be great.

The problem being that the strings are still too high and tuning . Its tons better

than when I got it , but. Thanks everyone.post-80115-092225400 1510944451_thumb.jpg

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Ive done everything to this new Gibson 2016 Les Paul '50s Tribute T in sunburst.

Ive made sure its true all the way up the neck. Had to adjust the neck as

he string were way too high , I think it was shipping and sitting a year in a

hot - cold warehouse waiting to be sold . I

noticed that in the picture that's supposed to be my guitar that's shipped with it ,

that the bridge is flush with the body , BUT look at this .

Can anyone tell me if this is right ? ive never seen a Paul set like this ever and

ive seen tons.It just doesn't feel right. any help would be great.

The problem being that the strings are still too high and tuning . Its tons better

than when I got it , but. Thanks everyone.post-80115-092225400 1510944451_thumb.jpg

 

You don't look at a guitar and tell it's OK with intonation and such. You need tools to "tell" you what the problem may be. Let's assume that the frets are level, because if they aren't these need to be addressed in a different procedure.

 

Well, first off, tune the guitar up to your standard tuning... After this, make sure you have a neck that is anywhere from straight to slightly relieved (i.e. forward bowed). You definitely do not want a back bow - i.e. too tight on the truss rod. Make truss rod adjustments as necessary to give your neck this slight relief - verify with straightedge or the string technique and feeler gauges. Every time you adjust neck, tune up to standard! This is important.

 

After you resolve the neck issues, start looking at string height - i.e. adjust your strings via your tune-o-matic bridge height screws to pretty low height to start (given you are looking for lowest possible action). Get it to the point where you have no fret buzz from the strings from open string to 22nd fret. You got buzz, raise bridge. Try to get as low as possible doing this technique. Make sure that your strings when breaking from the saddles, they aren't in contact with the tune-o-matic bridge... If so, raise the tailpiece to decrease the break angle.

 

Finally, after your neck is near straight - i.e. up to spec - and your action is low as it can go, then you adjust intonation via the saddles - the last thing you do.

 

Don't worry about the way it looks. Let the tools tell you what is right and not right. If you are still having issues, you might have to take the guitar to a reputable tech. See what they have to say... I wanted to have you backtrack to insure that the neck is where it should be in terms of needed relief and such. Only after this is 100% validated, then you can do the later tasks to properly intonate the guitar. Please feel free to share your comments or questions. I am sure you will get some feedback - hopefully helpful to you. Thanks!

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thanks McCoy. the other dude is a guitar snob who thinks

he knows it all and has to pat himself on the back so he

can get through his sad sad life. cant just answer a simple question

without TRYING to belittle those around him. so u know guitars ,

so do 100million people on youtube. congrats , your less than a dime a dozen.

I hate a guitar snob . sorry for the rant but I'm sure I'm not the only one who

hates idiots like that. thread closed.......never to return..lol

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thanks McCoy. the other dude is a guitar snob who thinks

he knows it all and has to pat himself on the back so he

can get through his sad sad life. cant just answer a simple question

without TRYING to belittle those around him. so u know guitars ,

so do 100million people on youtube. congrats , your less than a dime a dozen.

I hate a guitar snob . sorry for the rant but I'm sure I'm not the only one who

hates idiots like that. thread closed.......never to return..lol

 

Love you too buddy. xoxo

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Actually I thought NightHawk gave you some pretty good advice on adjustment, so if I was you I wouldn't 'slag' him.

McCoy was the one telling you to bring it to a tech.

 

Many here talk about having their bridge and stop tail "slammed" to the body of the guitar, for sustain, but the TOM and Tail don't need to be at the body if it's the adjustment that's required for the guitar.

 

Bridge for string height, bridge saddles for intonation

and stop tail , well it depends on whether you ascribe "the strings shouldn't touch the back of the TOM, to "I want the bridge against the body" camp's.

 

Seems like Nighthawk gave lots of adjustment advice without saying anything else

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thanks McCoy. the other dude is a guitar snob who thinks

he knows it all and has to pat himself on the back so he

can get through his sad sad life. cant just answer a simple question

without TRYING to belittle those around him. so u know guitars ,

so do 100million people on youtube. congrats , your less than a dime a dozen.

I hate a guitar snob . sorry for the rant but I'm sure I'm not the only one who

hates idiots like that. thread closed.......never to return..lol

 

That's a bit much isn't it?

Seeing as you've seen tons, it's a shame you didn't notice your pickups are far too high out of the mounting.

That's your problem.

 

Even I can see that.

 

](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

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there is definitely a sweetspot for pickups, i never had any that were all the way one way or the other. i can't imagine why a gibson pickup would need to be that high.

otoh, he didn't say what he's after, sound-wise. maybe there's some contextual reason for it?

i tilt mine, (bridge pup) to allow for the difference between the wound and unwound strings. my bridge pup is a fair but higher than my neck pup. but not nearly that high. it could be just me, but i think they have a spot where you get the best all-around sound out of a given pickup. i keep the neck pick up pretty low. it may be all in my mind, but i just have this thing in my head that says i hear more wood when i do this.

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That's a bit much isn't it?

Seeing as you've seen tons, it's a shame you didn't notice your pickups are far too high out of the mounting.

That's your problem.

 

Even I can see that.

 

](*,) ](*,) ](*,)

 

 

 

Yup, and the magnet is going to be pulling on those strings something fierce.

And to get clearance over the pup the bridge is going to have to be up pretty high, hence the poor action.

 

 

Johnny

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On the Gibson setup instructions/spec sheet they say that for an ABR bridge, the tailpiece should be down on the body and for non-ABR it should be up off the body just enough so the strings don't touch the top of the bridge. Doesn't say why. Anyone know?

 

 

The ABR is narrower so even with the tail piece decked the strings still wont touch the back of the bridge. The Nashville bridge is wider so with the tp decked the bass strings may come into contact with the back of the bridge. The impact of the strings touching the bridge is a topic often debated.

 

Johnny

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Ive done everything to this new Gibson 2016 Les Paul '50s Tribute T in sunburst.

Ive made sure its true all the way up the neck. Had to adjust the neck as

he string were way too high , I think it was shipping and sitting a year in a

hot - cold warehouse waiting to be sold . I

noticed that in the picture that's supposed to be my guitar that's shipped with it ,

that the bridge is flush with the body , BUT look at this .

Can anyone tell me if this is right ? ive never seen a Paul set like this ever and

ive seen tons.It just doesn't feel right. any help would be great.

The problem being that the strings are still too high and tuning . Its tons better

than when I got it , but. Thanks everyone.post-80115-092225400 1510944451_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

So.....as Chris mentioned, if you have your neck straight, lower your pick ups out of the way, lower your bridge to get the action you want. Lower your tail piece to get enough break angle to keep the strings in the saddles. Raise pups to get desired tones without choking the strings.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Johnny

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The ABR is narrower so even with the tail piece decked the strings still wont touch the back of the bridge. The Nashville bridge is wider so with the tp decked the bass strings may come into contact with the back of the bridge. The impact of the strings touching the bridge is a topic often debated.

 

Johnny

 

Ah ha. Thanks. Seems obvious now... Interesting that my ABR equipped LP came from Gibson USA with the tailpiece sitting up a few mm of the top. Never had any problems so I just left it that way. Next time I change strings I'll lower it see if the strings still clear the bridge.

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thanks McCoy. the other dude is a guitar snob who thinks

he knows it all and has to pat himself on the back so he

can get through his sad sad life. cant just answer a simple question

without TRYING to belittle those around him. so u know guitars ,

so do 100million people on youtube. congrats , your less than a dime a dozen.

I hate a guitar snob . sorry for the rant but I'm sure I'm not the only one who

hates idiots like that. thread closed.......never to return..lol

It was my post that was belittling because what I was really trying to say—just framed in a more neutral way with a hint of assholery on top of it—was that I will never understand those idiots who shell out a long money on a superbly made quality instrument but refuse to invest a mere effing fourty bucks on a professional setup for the best time of their life.

 

Nighthawk's reply was not to gloat but to instruct you for real how to do a setup yourself which I would never care to do (link 1, link 2, link 3).

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Two issues for sure

 

as stated, pickups are way too high, pull them down (way down).. there's plenty of sites to explain the proper adjusting method for pickups, check em out, very easy to do and usually quite effective. usually, while fretting at the last fret, you want to sort out the distance from the pole, to the bottome of each E string. Humbuckers are usually good around 7/64s ~ 8/64s.. but every pickup has a sweet spot.

 

the second problem I'd have with the photo, would be the stop bar, that seems to need to be pulled down quite a bit too. I know a lot of ppl will say the string should not touch the bridge behind the saddle, but I've never seen/heard it make a difference. did it come like that?

 

when you set your action, what are you looking for a string to fret gap at the 12th fret? (some where around 5~4/64s is pretty good most of the time. I perfer it a bit lower,, closer to 3/64s for example) what gauge strings are you using?

 

 

as for sitting in a warehouse, most large retailers (like sweetwater for example) have a very closely monitored climate standards for their storage areas. The idea of hold/cold, etc,, is probably not really a factor in any of this if you bought the guitar from a place like Sweetwater/musicans friend/ams etc..

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Nighthawk Chris is not a guitar snob and is not trying to insult you - he was just trying to help.

 

It's sounds like you did a truss rod adjustment before you posted so the neck should be pretty good.

 

Others noticed that the bridge pickup seem way higher than usual, lowering it (and possibly the neck pup too) will allow you to lower everything else.

 

You do have a Nashville bridge, which as mentioned is wider than an ABR1 so the stop bar probably can't be all the way down flush to the body without the strings hitting the back of the bridge.

 

Let us know if you are able to work it out.

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All I saw was sound advice.

 

1. Here's how you set up a guitar properly.

2. Pickups may be too high.

3. Bridge and/or tailpiece might be too high.

4. If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, take it to a good luthier for a proper setup.

 

It sounds like the neck is bowed a bit too much and the bridge is a bit too high. The tailpieces are lifted for new Gibsons, or at least they were for mine, so that the strings clear the back of the bridge. Good luck, OP. I hope you solve your issue.

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All I saw was sound advice.

 

1. Here's how you set up a guitar properly.

2. Pickups may be too high.

3. Bridge and/or tailpiece might be too high.

4. If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, take it to a good luthier for a proper setup.

 

It sounds like the neck is bowed a bit too much and the bridge is a bit too high. The tailpieces are lifted for new Gibsons, or at least they were for mine, so that the strings clear the back of the bridge. Good luck, OP. I hope you solve your issue.

 

I am offended by your reasonable-ness.... I'm never posting here again.. so there... how do you like yerself now mr. smarty pants..

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I am offended by your reasonable-ness.... I'm never posting here again.. so there... how do you like yerself now mr. smarty pants..

 

Oh yeah! Well, I'll never post a reply to your unreasonable post about reasonableness! Wait, I just did. Um, time out. Redo!

 

;)

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