[lengle1981]

Blueman335, on 26 March 2012 - 11:01 AM, said:

I used to be like you, however, when I got Dan Erlewine's book 'How to make your electric guitar play great' my life changed. I do all my own setups now, and get my guitars feeling exactly like I want them too. It doesn't take any skill or experience, everything's simple and cheap. That book is full of info and pictures. Every guitarists should own it. Get it from StewMac.

Secondly, I joined the Seymour Duncan User forum and learned all about PU's, pots, caps, magnets, etc and have been able to take a guitar that sounded mediocre, and make it sound great. Again, easy, simple, and cheap stuff anyone can do, if you know what to do. Helpful people.

Lots of resources out there, dig into them. Understand your instrument, know where tone comes from. Knowledge is power. Take the mystery out of guitars. Take control.

Does this book explain how to remove pickups and change? Never done it but want to learn how to remove current pickups and replace with new ones. Also anything about potting pickups in there too?

[Blueman335]

lengle1981, on 29 March 2012 - 01:40 AM, said:

Does this book explain how to remove pickups and change? Never done it but want to learn how to remove current pickups and replace with new ones. Also anything about potting pickups in there too?

Check out the Duncan site and forums for info on changing PU's. It's very easy. We'll teach you how to change magents too, and make a 'new' PU that way (also cheap and easy to do). HB's sound best unpotted, so unless you're playing metal really loud, I wouldn't be in a hurry to pot anything.

[lengle1981]

No I was referring to a casino with p90's for potting mate

[Blueman335]

lengle1981, on 29 March 2012 - 08:45 AM, said:

No I was referring to a casino with p90's for potting mate

Why pot P-90's?

[lengle1981]

Blueman335, on 29 March 2012 - 01:06 PM, said:

Why pot P-90's?

Cos they feed back like hell on a casino

[Blueman335]

lengle1981, on 29 March 2012 - 01:17 PM, said:

Cos they feed back like hell on a casino

The hollow body design feedbacks more than the P90's. I've got P-90's in solid bodies and feedback's not an issue (LP's and SG's). What happens with hollowbodies is that the soundwaves from the amp vibrate the top of the guitar (soundboard) and that gets the strings moving and then you have 'acoustic feedback.' You can control feedback by covering the strings with your hand when you stop playing and watching where you stand relative to your amp.

Actually HB's feedback more than P-90's, as the covers tend to vibrate against the coils unles the cover is pretty snug (tape around the inside of the coil helps).

[lengle1981]

Blueman335, on 29 March 2012 - 02:57 PM, said:

The hollow body design feedbacks more than the P90's. I've got P-90's in solid bodies and feedback's not an issue (LP's and SG's). What happens with hollowbodies is that the soundwaves from the amp vibrate the top of the guitar (soundboard) and that gets the strings moving and then you have 'acoustic feedback.' You can control feedback by covering the strings with your hand when you stop playing and watching where you stand relative to your amp.

Actually HB's feedback more than P-90's, as the covers tend to vibrate against the coils unles the cover is pretty snug (tape around the inside of the coil helps).

It helped mine with the feedback when I got the pots waxed. Plan on gettin another casino one day! Loved it, so light n easy to play

[LPDEN]

lengle1981, on 29 March 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

...Plan on gettin another casino one day! Loved it, so light n easy to play

You can't go wrong with a Casino...

[Blueman335]

lengle1981, on 29 March 2012 - 03:04 PM, said:

Plan on gettin another casino one day! Loved it, so light n easy to play

I'm tempted to get another one too. Light as a feather. And unplugged, mine is almost as loud as an acoustic guitar.

[eelir]

I think my SG has a bit higher action. Maybe it is normal for this guitar, but i would sure like to have it lower. I tried to do so by lowering the bridge but i get the fret buzz, so i turned it back until I heard almost no fret buzz. I guess a bit fret buzz is no big deal if it only happens when playing more aggressive. However i wonder how high should the string be on this type of guitar? My friend has an Ibanez and his string are pretty low, they produce no buzz. It is much easier to play such guitar, especially for someone like me who has no time to practice more than 10-30 min daily.

[stein]

eelir, on 25 April 2012 - 02:49 AM, said:

I think my SG has a bit higher action. Maybe it is normal for this guitar, but i would sure like to have it lower. I tried to do so by lowering the bridge but i get the fret buzz, so i turned it back until I heard almost no fret buzz. I guess a bit fret buzz is no big deal if it only happens when playing more aggressive. However i wonder how high should the string be on this type of guitar? My friend has an Ibanez and his string are pretty low, they produce no buzz. It is much easier to play such guitar, especially for someone like me who has no time to practice more than 10-30 min daily.

You might like the Epi louges DO-IT-YOURSELF thread.

Click on forums at the top left, then go to EPIPHONE, then click on the EPIPHONE LOUGE, then scroll down until you find it.

Learning HOW to do your own action and adjustments on the guitar will get you where you want to go. It CAN be adjusted to be a good as you want.

[eelir]

Thanks man, that thread looks great

For new members having same questions click here to check out the thread.

[eelir]

Ok, so after reading a bunch of materials on the proposed thread and other places on the net, i tried to lower the action on my SG. Especially since setting up the guitar in shop will cost me 50-60 euros (need to save some money for decent amp and maybe a pedal). So i lowered the strings almost near to what is suggested int the booklet that came with guitar. I got a fret buzz. So, I hold the 1st and 22nd fret to see if there is a bend on the neck, and it looked a bit too small, so I decided to release the rod a bit, and i did that. First time i did around 1/8 of a turn counter clockwise and it went too easy, almost no resistance at all. Tried the spacing again, nothing changed. Released the rod a bit more, this time i felt a bit resistance. Checked for bend, again nothing.

Now i read somewhere that when doing changes on the truss rod adjustment if nothing changes i should stop trying anything. Does this mean something is wrong, or should i wait for 4-6 hours to actually see the effect?

[stein]

HMM...it is hard to say HOW much change you should get with 1/8 of a turn...maybe you didn't see it.

Generally speaking, the truss rod should be able to turn more than 1/4 turn in both directions without fail, and the point where I might feel there is an issue is if you think you are in danger of breaking it. What point that is would be difficult to communicate.

I might try it a little more if you feel certain you are not putting enough stress torquing the nut to break the rod.

[Lefty Bill]

If your SG was purchased as a new guitar, it may be worthwhile to have the dealer adjust the truss rod to lower the action.
If it's a new model, the truss rod may be a dual/double action style.. although Epiphone/Gibson and the dealer might not even know for sure.

For my Epiphone models that are more than 2 years old (which will most likely have single action truss rods), I've taken the TR nut out and put a bit of beeswax in the threads to have some lubrication on them, rather than having bare steel threads.
I've seen some owners mention that they've put a drop of oil on the threads, but it can wick away.
Almost any sort of wax will be suitable, candle wax or even a Crayon. Paraffin is commonly found in lubricants, so it's very effective.
Just enough to fill a few threads is all that's needed, it will be spread over the rest of the threads as it's screwed back on.
If the TR nut doesn't unscrew freely, it shouldn't be forced out, which could potentially cause the top of the fretboard to crack or separate from the neck.

If the SG TR is a single action, it should turn CCW very easily after it's relieved any tension. If the TR nut comes against a steady resistance turning CCW, the TR may be the dual action type, if it's not just encountering resistance from excess paint in the routed slot in the headstock.

Having a straightedge as long as the fretboard during TR adjustments can be very helpful. Placing a straightedge between the 3rd and 4th strings and resting on the 1st and last frets (not the nut) will clearly reveal the amount of relief in the neck.
The special guitar straightedges with notches in them (to clear the frets) also work well for checking the neck relief.

For guitars with single action TRs, the tension of the strings (and the size/gauge of the strings) will be a significant factor in the adjustment of the neck relief.
A single action truss rod can only apply tension to oppose the tension of the strings (CW turning direction) decreasing/taking out neck relief.
When turned CCW, the nut is releasing the tension which opposes the tension of the strings, which causes an increase in neck relief, as the tension of the strings pulls the neck forward.

For TR adjustments, the strings should be loosened, then the TR nut adjustment is made, and the strings would then be tightened again until in tune. Without string re-tightening/tuning after the adjustment, there won't be a proper balance of tension (strings against TR and neck wood).. so the neck may not look like the adjustment made a change.

If tightening the TR nut (turned CW) doesn't decrease the neck relief, there is likely something wrong with the TR or the neck (possibly the neck wasn't set properly at the factory, or other defect).

Bill

eelir, on 28 April 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

Ok, so after reading a bunch of materials on the proposed thread and other places on the net, i tried to lower the action on my SG. Especially since setting up the guitar in shop will cost me 50-60 euros (need to save some money for decent amp and maybe a pedal). So i lowered the strings almost near to what is suggested int the booklet that came with guitar. I got a fret buzz. So, I hold the 1st and 22nd fret to see if there is a bend on the neck, and it looked a bit too small, so I decided to release the rod a bit, and i did that. First time i did around 1/8 of a turn counter clockwise and it went too easy, almost no resistance at all. Tried the spacing again, nothing changed. Released the rod a bit more, this time i felt a bit resistance. Checked for bend, again nothing.
Now i read somewhere that when doing changes on the truss rod adjustment if nothing changes i should stop trying anything. Does this mean something is wrong, or should i wait for 4-6 hours to actually see the effect?

[eelir]

Thanks all for the replies. Love it here a lot of helpful people

I was thinking of maybe going to the shop i bought the guitar and tell them the rodd is not working. In the instructions manual it is said something in the lines "setting action lower than specification may introduce a fret buzz, and that is not covered by warranty". As for now, i have the action set a bit over the specifications, and get the fret buzz, tried to adjust the TR, it does not appear to work. Based on what is written, i might ask for warranty cover for this, right?

[Oldhippie]

SubspaceAce, on 26 March 2012 - 09:09 AM, said:

I've read, that a bit of Fret buzz is normal. I don't have the amp very loud in my house, so I can kinda hear a bit of buzz, but when I turn the amp up, surely I won't hear it? Maybe I should just put up with it? It's just that, when I'm playing, it can irritate me. I guess that's just the drawback of low action maybe?

A few weeks ago I changed the nut on my Wildkat and my Les Paul Standard. The TUSQ XL- nuts were ready carved and so. First I had a bad buzzing on both of the guitars and so I put a small peace of paper under the nuts and it works fine. If I strum the strings quite hard I still have that buzz, but amplified it is not to hear.
I would say a very little bit of buzzing is ok.
Question of taste also.

[Lefty Bill]

I believe the meaning of the warranty statement you referred to means that the string height/gap specification is not a guaranteed spec, and that if the owner chooses to set the action lower, then fret buzz is not a warranty-covered issue.

The string height/gap specs are typically considered general guidelines, not guaranteed attainable on every model.

The truss rod operation is a warranty-covered* issue if it's not operating properly.

Warranty coverage only applies to the original purchaser of a new guitar from an authorized dealer/seller. A broken truss rod may prevent reasonable settings for the string height/gaps, so modern guitars generally require a properly operating truss rod.

FWIW, there are other reasons/factors which can lead to fret buzz which can be reviewed in the DIY section, and a thorough quick checklist was presented by Rastus recently
Notes on Adjusting Neck Relief by Rastus

DIY THREAD Help Section

Bill

eelir, on 30 April 2012 - 05:44 AM, said:

Thanks all for the replies. Love it here a lot of helpful people
I was thinking of maybe going to the shop i bought the guitar and tell them the rodd is not working. In the instructions manual it is said something in the lines "setting action lower than specification may introduce a fret buzz, and that is not covered by warranty". As for now, i have the action set a bit over the specifications, and get the fret buzz, tried to adjust the TR, it does not appear to work. Based on what is written, i might ask for warranty cover for this, right?