How to setup up action on a JP?

[damo_512]

Hi guys, ive read through the setup guide on the EB FAQ but was still wondering how you guys set up the action on your JP guitars.
I've got the bridge leveled so thats all good and now I think the next step is to adjust the neck relief and saddle heights.

Since i havent adjusted the saddle heights since i got it from the factory my guess is that when I need to lower the saddles i can do each screw evenly to keep the radius the same as they had it. Would this be the right way about it? I'd take it to a music shop but I want to learn how to do it myself for the future.
I would be aiming for 1.5mm at the 12th fret all around. For low action light that, how much neck relief is needed? It is coming up to the hot Australian summer too.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Justus]

Hi guys, ive read through the setup guide on the EB FAQ but was still wondering how you guys set up the action on your JP guitars.
I've got the bridge leveled so thats all good and now I think the next step is to adjust the neck relief and saddle heights.

Since i havent adjusted the saddle heights since i got it from the factory my guess is that when I need to lower the saddles i can do each screw evenly to keep the radius the same as they had it. Would this be the right way about it? I'd take it to a music shop but I want to learn how to do it myself for the future.
I would be aiming for 1.5mm at the 12th fret all around. For low action light that, how much neck relief is needed? It is coming up to the hot Australian summer too.

Thanks in advance!

Good to keep in mind, and what will help with our being able to help you, is what string gauges and tuning you are using, also, having not seen or heard you play, your level of attack will determine what will work best for you. Ideally a touch of relief, to where when you play first and twelfth fret, you have about a picks worth of space

I have found my JPs to be able to be set up lower than most guitars. But you shouldn't have to do much more than add a touch of relief in the truss rod, or straighten it as the neck moves from climate. If you use standard tuning and gauge strings this should be enough. If you play hard or tune low, raising the bridge as a whole just quarter turn or less should get you close plus the adjustment from above.

 

[damo_512]

Good to keep in mind, and what will help with our being able to help you, is what string gauges and tuning you are using, also, having not seen or heard you play, your level of attack will determine what will work best for you. Ideally a touch of relief, to where when you play first and twelfth fret, you have about a picks worth of space

I have found my JPs to be able to be set up lower than most guitars. But you shouldn't have to do much more than add a touch of relief in the truss rod, or straighten it as the neck moves from climate. If you use standard tuning and gauge strings this should be enough. If you play hard or tune low, raising the bridge as a whole just quarter turn or less should get you close plus the adjustment from above.

I play in standard/drop D with the hybrid slinkys (9-46). At the moment my action is overly higher than my preference. Earlier this year I had to adjust my bridge height to get the bridge plate flush with the body (due to string breakages, talking with CS), so I think I wouldn't need to move that so it would just be the saddle height and the relief that would make it right.
Am I correct with assuming this?

 

[JamieCrain]

Raise/lower bridge first. Maybe adjust saddles but these should be about right from factory setting, the problem is getting them level so one string doesn't sit higher than the others adjacent. If that happens then you'll break strings a lot.

Do a visual check of the neck relief. To the eye it should appear straight. If it's bowed either way then you have too much/little relief. Then test as Justus says above.

 

[Rick C]

Adjusting my Majesty took a lot of time and patience; all the factors are much more tightly connected than with a simple fixed bridge setup. My goal was to get my new Majesty equal in feel to my Les Paul Custom; starting with dropping string gauges from Regular Slinky (10-46) to Extra Slinky (8-38); I did this one string at a time as I didn't know how the trem would react; I had to pull the middle (of three) springs out and make some adjustments of the claw screws to get the trem flat with the body.

As with Damo's guitar, the factory action was quite high but my neck was completely flat; no relief at all. I dropped all six saddles until strings buzzed then raised them a little. Dropping saddles had a remarkable impact on string tension; when cranked back to standard tuning, I noticed that the trem was not flat with the body any more so the claw screws had to be tweaked a little more.

The action was still a little high and there was still some buzzing; the completely flat neck was the issue so I backed off the truss rod a little then lowered the saddles a little more until buzzing returned; I checked the neck again. With a finger on the 16th fret, the strings from the fret up to the nut were flat against the fingerboard; when a string was plucked behind the fret it was dead. I adjusted the truss rod just a little more so that the strings played a note behind the 16th fret but only just. Just that tiny amount of extra relief made all the difference. The action is really low, strings are really slinky and there's no buzzing anywhere on any string.

I don't know about you Dano, but I find just dropping the bass E to D is enough to put the trem out of whack and requires retuning of all the other strings. I love my Majesty but I cant use it to jam with CDs/TV like the Les Paul because of it's overly sensitive tuning as a result of the floating trem.

 

[somata]

Adjusting my Majesty took a lot of time and patience; all the factors are much more tightly connected than with a simple fixed bridge setup. My goal was to get my new Majesty equal in feel to my Les Paul Custom; starting with dropping string gauges from Regular Slinky (10-46) to Extra Slinky (8-38); I did this one string at a time as I didn't know how the trem would react; I had to pull the middle (of three) springs out and make some adjustments of the claw screws to get the trem flat with the body.

As with Damo's guitar, the factory action was quite high but my neck was completely flat; no relief at all. I dropped all six saddles until strings buzzed then raised them a little. Dropping saddles had a remarkable impact on string tension; when cranked back to standard tuning, I noticed that the trem was not flat with the body any more so the claw screws had to be tweaked a little more.

The action was still a little high and there was still some buzzing; the completely flat neck was the issue so I backed off the truss rod a little then lowered the saddles a little more until buzzing returned; I checked the neck again. With a finger on the 16th fret, the strings from the fret up to the nut were flat against the fingerboard; when a string was plucked behind the fret it was dead. I adjusted the truss rod just a little more so that the strings played a note behind the 16th fret but only just. Just that tiny amount of extra relief made all the difference. The action is really low, strings are really slinky and there's no buzzing anywhere on any string.

I don't know about you Dano, but I find just dropping the bass E to D is enough to put the trem out of whack and requires retuning of all the other strings. I love my Majesty but I cant use it to jam with CDs/TV like the Les Paul because of it's overly sensitive tuning as a result of the floating trem.

This was pretty much my experience with my JP13...lots of little tweaking between the saddle heights, bridge height, claw adjustment, and truss rod tweaking as per the FAQ on the site. I use 10-46 and tune to D standard, so I ended up with 2 springs on the trem for it to float. I may still have a little more tweaking of the claw adjustment, but its been playing pretty good so I haven't taken the time for the last little dialing in.

 

[damo_512]

Adjusting my Majesty took a lot of time and patience; all the factors are much more tightly connected than with a simple fixed bridge setup. My goal was to get my new Majesty equal in feel to my Les Paul Custom; starting with dropping string gauges from Regular Slinky (10-46) to Extra Slinky (8-38); I did this one string at a time as I didn't know how the trem would react; I had to pull the middle (of three) springs out and make some adjustments of the claw screws to get the trem flat with the body.

As with Damo's guitar, the factory action was quite high but my neck was completely flat; no relief at all. I dropped all six saddles until strings buzzed then raised them a little. Dropping saddles had a remarkable impact on string tension; when cranked back to standard tuning, I noticed that the trem was not flat with the body any more so the claw screws had to be tweaked a little more.

The action was still a little high and there was still some buzzing; the completely flat neck was the issue so I backed off the truss rod a little then lowered the saddles a little more until buzzing returned; I checked the neck again. With a finger on the 16th fret, the strings from the fret up to the nut were flat against the fingerboard; when a string was plucked behind the fret it was dead. I adjusted the truss rod just a little more so that the strings played a note behind the 16th fret but only just. Just that tiny amount of extra relief made all the difference. The action is really low, strings are really slinky and there's no buzzing anywhere on any string.

I don't know about you Dano, but I find just dropping the bass E to D is enough to put the trem out of whack and requires retuning of all the other strings. I love my Majesty but I cant use it to jam with CDs/TV like the Les Paul because of it's overly sensitive tuning as a result of the floating trem.

Dropping the bass E to D put's the trem out just a little because of the change in tension. I've been trying to find a wedge with just the right thickness to put as a block so I can go to drop D without affecting the other strings. It's still a lot of trial and error...

As for the setup of the guitar, my strings are pretty high at the moment at 2.5mm on the 12th fret. My relief is around 0.5mm but if I straighten it more then my higher frets start fretting out when I bend.

 

[Rick C]

Hi Damo:

My point exactly; the floating trem adds a whole new dimension to guitar playing.

I just checked; my top E is about 2mm at the 12th and the bottom is about 3mm. "Action" is a little bit of a relative term; 2mm at the 12th with an .008" string is so light you can hardly feel the string being bent at all. My guitar is so far away from what it was when received; 0.010" and around 3.5mm (maybe more). The factory action and string tension with respect to basic playing but particularly to pulling was, for me, uncomfortable and extreme. I have a bunch of guitars and I set them all up really light because that's the way I like them. My set-up may be way too light for you!

How are you measuring relief? I don't "measure" it, I hear it and feel it. As stated earlier, while fingering a string at the 16th (or 12th) fret, I pluck the string between the fret and the nut. If I can just hear an actual note and not a flat buzz, I know that there is a tiny relief.

 

[damo_512]

How are you measuring relief? I don't "measure" it, I hear it and feel it. As stated earlier, while fingering a string at the 16th (or 12th) fret, I pluck the string between the fret and the nut. If I can just hear an actual note and not a flat buzz, I know that there is a tiny relief.

I'm doing it by holding down on the 2nd fret and the 12th and measuring the max height between those (as per the EBMM FAQ's). I did a bit of work on it yesterday, dropped the action down to about 1.75mm but it still has a bit of fret buzz on the higher frets.

From the FAQ's
"Now, you are ready to play your guitar. If a string buzzes on an open string to the 5th fret and no higher, more relief is needed. If there is more buzz from the 5th to the 12th fret, the neck needs to be straighter. You should check the string height after every adjustment. If the buzzing happens throughout the neck, the string height needs to be increased."

The truss rod wheel feels stiff when I tighten it now and I don't want to change it too quickly. I'm trying to tighten it to get the neck straighter. That was yesterday so I'll see how it goes tonight. I must say it feels alot better already

I know Petrucci likes 1mm on every string and I don't want it that low but it makes me wonder how they get it like that.

 

[Rick C]

I'm pretty sure I read a Maddi Schieferstein comment once that stated that he sets Petrucci's action so low that there's always some buzzing. I believe the 6 strings are also set-up with 10's at the high E. I never tried dropping the action and making the neck adjustments until I put my 08-38s on.

Good luck!

 

[DrKev]

I'm pretty sure I read a Maddi Schieferstein comment once that stated that he sets Petrucci's action so low that there's always some buzzing.

Once the action gets below 1.5mm buzzing is unavoidable for many players. The strings simply need room to vibrate without hitting the other frets and they simply don't have it. Players with a very light touch can get away with it, but not for the majority, IMHO. There is a reason why most manufacturer's setup specs are so similar (usually closer to 2 mm low E, 1.75 mm high E, neck relief 0.2 mm to 0.3 mm) - it's what works best for most players. Petrucci likes his very different, but that's not say that will work best for anyone else without his tens of thousands of hours of refined technique and yes even he gets fret buzz.

My rule of thumb for neck relief is simpler than the FAQ...

If it buzzes toward the nut, increase neck relief.
If it buzzes above the 15th fret, increase string height at the bridge and check there is not too much neck relief.

And don't chase buzz free perfection. It doesn't exist, certainly not during the hyper-focus of setting up a guitar. Allow a little fret buzz that's not intrusive when you're actually playing music.