sbpark Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 First off, hello everyone! Just thought I'd combine my first post with an introduction and also ask a few questions that some of you might be able to help me with. I've been playing Fenders (Telecasters pretty much exclusively) for as long as I've been playing guitar (I'm 37 now, started playing in high school), and this is my first Gibson, so please go easy on me, as this is a pretty big change! I couldn't pass up the deals going on right now with the 2013 Standards, and ended up picking up one in vintage white for $819 plus tax. The shop I went to had a vintage white one and one in heritage cherry. I've always wanted one in cherry and think it's the classic SG color, but walked out with the white one. The cherry guitar was heavier (and now I am second-guessing myself thinking heavier may be better?) and had pretty bad grain matching with the two-piece body.The vintage white weighs 6.3lbs. Both guitars had very high action, so the sales person actually took them both to the luthier on staff and he set them both up for me and made it easier to decide. I guess the white one spoke to me more. I took the guitar home and fine-tunes the set up. NEVER set up a Gibson before in my life, but have been doing my own set up on my Tele (2006 '52 AVRI) and know my way around a Fender, but the Gibson is new for me! Here's how I set her up: Action at the 12th fret, unfretted on the bass side is 6/64", Treble side is 4/64". Seems like the standard is 3/64" on the treble side, but the bridge is max'd out as low as it will go on the treble side, but have more room to go lower on the bass side. I have 0.010" of relief in the neck measured with a capo on the first fret, fretting the 12th fret and measuring relief at the 7th fret. I have Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 10-46 on the guitar. When I measure the action at the first fret on the low E side it looks like is around 1/64", and 1-1.5/64" on the treble side. I'm wondering if the neck angle just isn't right on this guitar given that I'm max'd out on the action adjustment and it still isn't as low as it should be. Also, the guitar doesn't sustain that well, and that's comparing it to my Tele that has a bolt on neck. It also seems to go out of tune pretty easily, and by this I mean it goes flat pretty easily. I do a lot of string bending (country-style stuff) and would expect things to go sharp on a new guitar that hasn't has attention paid to the nut and the strings would be hanging up in the nut slots, but it never goes sharp with bends. Strings are new, but stretched and played for a little while. Hopefully you guys don't look at this as me just complaining! I just really loved the look and color of this guitar and the finish is really nice. Love the neck profile and feel, just wish I could get th exaction a little lower and curious as to why the bridge is cranked down to it's max. Hoping there are some pretty common, easy fixes, or should I take this one back and continue my search? Would be great to have an SG to go with the Tele and ad some diversity to the sound. FWIW, I play though a '68 Band Master (drip edge, with blackface circuit) through a '67 Band Master cab and a '59 Bamman Reissue LTD. Also have a 70's Silverface Champ. Thanks to everyone in advance for taking the time to read and reply. Hope to learn a lot from this forum! Just a note about the pictures, it may look like the break angle between the tail piece is to th point where the strings are touching the bridge before they reach the saddles, but they're not. Just looks that way in the pics. Notice how the bridge is max'd out in it's lowest position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 You might want to raise that tail piece up around 1/4" and see what that does for you. I'd also sight down the neck to see how straight it is at the moment. What seems to work best is to get the truss rod nut snug and then back it off by maybe 1/8 turn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbpark Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 You might want to raise that tail piece up around 1/4" and see what that does for you. I'd also sight down the neck to see how straight it is at the moment. What seems to work best is to get the truss rod nut snug and then back it off by maybe 1/8 turn. So less break angle between the tail piece and bridge? My understanding was a steeper the angle, the greater the sustain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I can't answer that one but I can say that none of my Gibsons look like what you've got going on there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsinla Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 It looks like the neck angle isn't quite right. If the neck had a little bit of a bow in it, I would almost expect you to have to lower the bridge that much. If the neck is completely straight and you still have to lower the bridge that much, it looks like the neck is set into the guitar a little wrong. On a Fender, you would fix this by putting a shim under the front of the neck. On a Gibson, this is more of a quality control issue and you might want to take guitar back. Not sure what to tell you about the sustain problem. My SG's sustain like crazy, even cheap ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hello! Check the neck first with a straightedge. Your guitar might have an extensive relief. Good luck... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbpark Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hello! Check the neck first with a straightedge. Your guitar might have an extensive relief. Good luck... Bence I have adjusted the relief already. It it had extended neck relief, wouldn't I have found theta when measuring with feeler gauges when I was adjusting the truss rod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbpark Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 I have adjusted the relief already. It it had extended neck relief, wouldn't I have found theta when measuring with feeler gauges when I was adjusting the truss rod? Ended up swapping it out for another one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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