High action remedy...?

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Mondon
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High action remedy...?

Post by Mondon » Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:28 pm

Hi all,
I’m building a JM and have put it together and it’s not bad, but the action is high. I don’t think I can go much lower with the saddles as the break angle at the bridge is pretty small.
What’s the best way to lower the action? Nut? Neck angle?

I can’t find anything on YouTube about this, so here I am!

Best wishes

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CROSS_guitars
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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by CROSS_guitars » Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:40 pm

Is the neck straight?
Might need to tweak the truss rod.

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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by HarlowTheFish » Mon Jul 19, 2021 10:41 pm

If there's no angle in the neck pocket, a shim is probably the easiest way to bring the frets up to meet the strings if you can't bring the strings down any more.

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Lost In Autumn
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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by Lost In Autumn » Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:24 am

shim the neck.

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Mondon
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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by Mondon » Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:54 am

Thanks all - yes, the neck is straight.

I have seen you can buy shims from Stewmac - how do I decide which angle I need?

Also, if you use a shim, does this make the screw holes in the neck become angled compared to the holes in the body?

Thanks for helping, much appreciated. It's my first build and it seems to be going well so far, but setting the neck does make me nervous...

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Norrin Radd
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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by Norrin Radd » Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:06 am

Mondon wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:54 am
Thanks all - yes, the neck is straight.

I have seen you can buy shims from Stewmac - how do I decide which angle I need?

Also, if you use a shim, does this make the screw holes in the neck become angled compared to the holes in the body?

Thanks for helping, much appreciated. It's my first build and it seems to be going well so far, but setting the neck does make me nervous...
Get the 3 pack and start with the one in the middle (.5). Then from there you will obviously know whether that is just right, or you need more or less angle. Good luck! 8)

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JamesSGBrown
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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by JamesSGBrown » Tue Jul 20, 2021 7:41 am

Mondon wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:54 am
Thanks all - yes, the neck is straight.

I have seen you can buy shims from Stewmac - how do I decide which angle I need?

Also, if you use a shim, does this make the screw holes in the neck become angled compared to the holes in the body?

Thanks for helping, much appreciated. It's my first build and it seems to be going well so far, but setting the neck does make me nervous...
+1 for a 0.5 degree shim. Worked a treat on my partscaster Jag.

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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by j mascis » Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:26 am

.5 shims usually work, but I just built a guitar that needed .75. You just stack them if that's the case.

Have you dialed in the nut yet? That could be contributing, too. In general the truss rod won't do much for this.

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Mondon
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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by Mondon » Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:23 pm

Thanks all

J, I haven't dialled in the nut yet, to be honest being new to all this I'm not sure what that means so I'll google it!

I did buy a New Mexican strat neck for this project as I'm a leftie and couldn't find a JM leftie neck anywhere. I'm assuming the nut is in the correct order as it was new from fender rather than me making it, but that could just be me being naive...

Cheers

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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by adamrobertt » Tue Jul 20, 2021 5:28 pm

Mondon wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 1:23 pm
Thanks all

J, I haven't dialled in the nut yet, to be honest being new to all this I'm not sure what that means so I'll google it!

I did buy a New Mexican strat neck for this project as I'm a leftie and couldn't find a JM leftie neck anywhere. I'm assuming the nut is in the correct order as it was new from fender rather than me making it, but that could just be me being naive...

Cheers
He's talking about the nut height. It is a crucial component to guitar setup. Many guitars do not come with the nut set ideally for a good setup - sometimes to cut corners, and other times because companies know that not everyone likes their guitar set up the same way.

It isn't something you should mess with if you don't know what you're doing, you should take it to a tech.

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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by countertext » Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:06 pm

But in the meantime, shim yr neck.

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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by marqueemoon » Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:08 pm

Yeah. If it’s a brand new neck the nut slots may need to be filed deeper.

No amount of minor truss rod tweaking will correct for that.

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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by blimpage » Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:58 am

Mondon wrote:
Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:54 am
Also, if you use a shim, does this make the screw holes in the neck become angled compared to the holes in the body?
Yes, a little bit, but if your shim is 1 degree or less then it shouldn’t be an issue. If you’re shimming the neck at a much steeper angle than that then it’ll be a problem (something a guitar tech will be able to sort out), but otherwise you’ll be fine.

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Re: High action remedy...?

Post by soggy mittens » Thu Jul 22, 2021 9:17 pm

First thing I do with a new guitar I get is throw it at my luthier to replace the nut and set up the action. But yeah just echoing what others are saying now. New nut, fret level, and shim if needed are what matters most for a good action.
If OSG has tort me anything...

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