Luke III bridge setup questions

[markus506]

Hi Everyone,

I just bought a lightly used Luke III with rosewood neck. It's an awesome guitar. I want to set it up properly as there is a bit of buzzing, mostly on the A string that I can hear in the amp on clean settings. I adjusted the truss rod to get some relief. Action on the low E at 12th fret is set to just under 2 mm, so I'm ok with that. However, with the guitar being used, I'm wondering if the saddles or bridge posts were moved at some point. Is there a reference measurement that I could use to make sure the bridge posts and saddles are in the correct location? Also, if the saddles need to be moved a bit, how do you ensure that they are properly mirroring the 12" radius of the neck? Thanks for any response!

Mark

 

[DrKev]

Hi Mark, and welcome to the forum family! Forum tradition says your guitar does not exist until we see photos!

If you pull back up the trem until the bridge can't move any further, the bridge plate should sit flat on the top of the guitar. If the bridge mounting posts are too high, the front of the bridge will be noticeably higher than the back. Once that's OK, then the saddles will be OK too when the string height is correct.

For matching the radius of the neck, you could just measure each string individually at the 12 fret with a rule and make sure that there is a smooth progression of height from the low E to the high E string. Or you can use radius gauges. I usually set the two outside strings first (the low-E should be a little higher than the high-E) then use a gauge for the 4 inner strings.

There are free downloadable templates for radius gauges that you can print onto card. Very useful! You can also buy radius gauges pretty cheaply online.

And remember the rule of thumb - if a string buzzes on the higher frets (past the 15th fret) raise the saddles. If it buzzes on the lower frets loosen the truss rod a little to add neck relief.

 

[markus506]

Thank you, DrKev, for the informative response. I will try this later on today. One last question: I notice that the bridge is ever so slightly lower on the treble side with regards to the bridge posts. Is this normal, or should the bridge be the same height off the guitar when looking at both bridge posts? This is observing it from a side-on view. Thanks again!

Mark

 

[DrKev]

Ideally, it should be level side to side. (As string heights are set via the saddles, there is no reason to tilt the entire bridge).

 

[markus506]

When I pull back on the term, the bridge seems to sit pretty level. There is also not much of a difference in the level between the posts on the treble vs the bass side, perhaps .010" or so ( I haven't measured it), and the guitar plays really well, so I'll probably leave it as is, for now. Thanks for all of your help. These forums are great!

Mark