McKale Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 anyway to fix dead frets on both b & e strings high up on neck? frets 14 on up on both strings are dead muted and all carry the same pitch. Also, i'm planning to switch strings from Zach Wyylde's Super heavy guage - to LIGHT guage strings. Is there anything special i should do when switching btwn the extreme tension these super heavy's put on the neck, that the light guage will not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordy01 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Sounds like that guitar needs some attention. If your strings are either dead, or hitting the same note fret after fret, or even in one spot, it needs a setup, and possibly a fret level. Picture it this way. The string is hitting 2 or more frets at once high on the neck. There is obviously some relief in the neck; maybe too much. As you fret the string "in the valley" so to speak, it hits more than one fret at the same time. You might be able to alleviate this by raising the bridge slightly also, but remember that by doing so you raise the entire action. A good tech will be able to tell you really quickly what's going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluelake07 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Is there anything special i should do when switching btwn the extreme tension these super heavy's put on the neck, that the light guage will not? The truss rod would probably need adjustment after such a change. Do it carefully or have a tech make the adjustment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Time to support your local repairman! They can take care of that in a jiffy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wardog Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 with the string change. i would recommend a repair tech look at it. The leap from the super heavy to lights will require the entire guitar to be setup for the light strings. as for the frets. again have a tech look at it. see if you can get a deal on both. must techs will have a maintenance package that could cover everything you might need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordy01 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 I don't know what repair rates are like where you are. Here in my city it would probably cost about 40 bucks for a setup, plus any parts and strings. If it needed more than that, then of course it would cost more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 As others stated you're going to need those frets dressed or recrowned and a neck-trussrod adjustment after such a drastic string change.Your best bet would be to get a qualified tech as these jobs require a skilled hand. -------------------------------------- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Eh, $40 is a little low here. Maybe if I'm also doing the frets or electronics as well. But don't be shocked if standalone is a little steeper. I've seen up to $100 for a set up, which I think is a little steep. But any price is fair if they do a good job on your guitar. You wouldn't believe how bad some of the work from major shops is that I have had to clean up after. And a great set up makes your guitar tenfold better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeper Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 It could also need a fret dressing in addition, but a proper set up must be done first to access the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcwillow777 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Sounds to me like you have some high frets. You can raise the action, but that won't help the high frets. It will help you to play and not have it fret out until you can get it into a shop. I used to live in Fargo. I bought all of my stuff at Marguerites in Moorehead. They used to have a really good tech there. I don't know if they are still in business or not. I haven't been there in 20 years. I think there was another store, Davey-Bs in downtown Fargo, that had a good tech too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dh82c Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Ok.. the way I read the original post: You havent yet changed strings guages. If a customer brought in the guitar I would procede this way: 1)Check the truss rod and make sure the neck relief is ok. If not, adjust it and go to step 2. 2)Check for high frets. One fret that needs to be reseated does NOT warrant a fret dress. If the problem is not one high fret go to 3) 3)straighten the neck completely and check for a rise in the fingerboard. Very rare that i have to get this far. If the rise in the neck is minor then i will do a grind and polish on the frets.If not go to step 4) 4)If the rise is major I do nothing and discuss with the customer. Defretting,planing the fingerboard and refretting. Is the guitar worth that much to the customer? On lower end guitar will I also have worry about planing through thin inlay? Remember that refretting a bound fingerboard is also more ($$) labour intensive. All this is assuming an LP style guitar. On archtops and acoustics you get into neck resets causing the fingerboard extension to rise which is a different kettle of turnips. In theory you could have the same problem on an LP style but I have yet to see/hear of this (but I have been wrong before). I always encourage people to be able to do their own basic setup. Trussrod, intonation and action. The stuff you have to do twice a year. Anything beyond that (or requires special tools) get your tech to do it. If you have a MAJOR change in string guage and the switch to heavier strings was done properly you might also have grooves in the nut that are too wide. If they grooves are in fact too wide then factor in a nut replacement. Someone please tell me to shut up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strumbone Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 OK, shut up. No, actually that was a very fine assessment of the situation, with some excellent advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordy01 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Eh' date=' $40 is a little low here. Maybe if I'm also doing the frets or electronics as well. But don't be shocked if standalone is a little steeper. I've seen up to $100 for a set up, which I think is a little steep. But any price is fair if they do a good job on your guitar. You wouldn't believe how bad some of the work from major shops is that I have had to clean up after. And a great set up makes your guitar tenfold better.[/quote'] Yeah Musikron, a setup which includes truss rod adjustment, bridge adjustment if necessary, nut work if necessary, and fret dressing goes for 40 bucks here in Edmonton. If more time is required for electronics, or some fret leveling, or a new nut, then of course the price will go up. Strings and parts are extra to the cost of the setup. The 40 covers labor only. The shops here are extremely busy with waits of up to 3 weeks just for a basic setup!! And some of the guys, to put it bluntly, are hacks. That's one of the reasons I'm getting into the business. I've only been doing this for about 7-8 months so I've got a lot to learn, but it is going pretty well. All of the customers I've served have said they wil be back. Part of that is that I get their guitar back to them in a week or less, unless I have to order special parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyGibson Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 My first LP Std. had some dead spots on it when I got it. It was a Blem. I had 60 days to return it too. But, I took a close look at where the strings were touching and why the notes didn't change. The action looked right, so i didn't raise that. What I found was the strings high e and b were touching the pickup when I played high notes. All I did was lower the pick up a bit and all was fine with it. Good luck getting your's situated. Hopefully an easy fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochet Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Just FYI. A "dead spot" is not to be confused with the fret-buzz you're describing. "Dead spots" are pretty common on guitars and occur if a neck's natural resonance frequency will even out particular notes. This effect is characterised by loss of the fundamental and sustain (think phase-cancellation). Violinplayers refer to this as "wolf-notes". Guitars with socalled "multiply" necks and/or comprised of artificial materials are less likely to show dead spots since they have a more even resonance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dh82c Posted November 15, 2009 Share Posted November 15, 2009 My first LP Std. had some dead spots on it when I got it. It was a Blem. I had 60 days to return it too. But' date=' I took a close look at where the strings were touching and why the notes didn't change. The action looked right, so i didn't raise that. What I found was the strings high e and b were touching the pickup when I played high notes. All I did was lower the pick up a bit and all was fine with it. Good luck getting your's situated. Hopefully an easy fix.[/quote']LOL.. that IS a very good point. It has happened to me before too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.