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Weird choking


ant7629

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Hi all

 

Got a weird issue with my 89 SG. It's been in its case, unplayed for about 6 months, until yesterday I pull it out and tune it up for a play.

 

It's always been a fine player, low action, no choking. But now, the top E is choking badly around the 7th fret. Really strange. The neck was a little bowed, so I tightened the truss rod a little, but no joy

 

The action is silly high now to avoid choking out.

 

The other strings seem ok.

 

Any ideas on what is going on here?

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You say you tightened the truss rod. This would mean turning clockwise seen from the top and would make action faster. Did something strange happen to your guitar which possibly made the neck twist?

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What do you mean by "choking"?

 

Anyway, if you have back-bow, or the truss rod is adjusted to make the neck bow backwards of flat, you are going to have all kinds of action problems.

 

Further, (providing you don't have the truss rod way out of wack), when you makes truss rod adjustments, it means also a change in the bridge height adjustment. A change in neck bow means a change in string height. Keep that in mind.

 

If you have way too much bow in the neck, it basically will also mean the action will be high in the center of the neck compared to the heel.

 

You can measure it all, or take a look down the neck.

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What do you mean by "choking"?

 

...

 

In my guess he means fretted out or choked without bending, just by fret height differences.

 

It still seems unclear to me what might cause this trouble. Since the action is described as sillily high after tightening the truss rod nut, I'm a bit confused. This doesn't seem logical to me without having adjusted the bridge higher. On the stiff end of action adjustment so to say, the string may have not enough force on the fret wire which it is intended to be fingered at. It would be choked by the fretting finger. This can happen easily with very low fret wires of the "fretless wonder" style.

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Capo the first fret and as you fret the last fret (closest to the pick-up) slide a business card under the string.(Low E string I'm talking here) at the 9th fret.If there is a big gap, as you look down the neck from the headstock turn the truss rod to the right(towards the low E string). If the business card is tight then as you sight down the neck from the headstock, turn the truss rod to the left. A quarter turn at a time is good. Ideally the business card should slide between the string and fret wire and not be too snug or have a big gap. If the high E is still fretting out, raise the bridge screw on the treble side a bit and see if it helps. If you still have the "choke" it's prob time to address the frets and find the high one(s). Also, remember to check the intonation after these adjustments. It should be fine with minor changes.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Glad you got it adjusted. Whenever I tweak a trus rod I usually give the night before checking it the next day. Sometimes it just needs a little time to settle in.

This is especially true with a maple neck.....takes longer to settle.

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