Help! String Alignment Problem

[mikeller]

Good morning

I noticed on my most recent EBMM addition (http://forums.ernieball.com/music-man-guitars/58713-ngd-silhouette-special.html) that the string alignment is off - that is there is a larger gap between the low E and the edge of the fingerboard than the high E side.

I am assuming (???) I would slacken the strings, loosen the neck bolts and move the neck over, correct? The neck pocket is very tight and doesn't appear to have any room for movement?

Any suggestions, help?

Thanks

 

[Another Noob]

I had a similar issue with my AX30D. The tech essentially did what you described to remedy it; he just barely loosened the neck bolts and then smacked the neck a few times with his hand. IIRC he also reset the intonation.

 

[A.J.]

PM Sent

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I've noticed this on a few EBMM guitars I've owned and played. While some could be fixed with a 're-bolting' of the neck, others seemed to just be done wrong. I'm sure EBMM will take care of you though!

 

[BrickGlass]

Had the same problem with a JP. Customer service is your friend.

 

[mikeller]

I did not have the opportunity to try to adjust it last night....hopefully tonight or tomorrow!! Thanks all

 

[Craiguitar]

I have a similar issue with my Luke II. This is a recent development too, it was fine before, but now the high e string seems to be a whole lot closer to the edge of the neck and will slip over when playing. I checked the neck pocket alignment and it hasn't budged at all, not one iota. So I assumed it was the saddles which might have all shunted across to the treble side of the bridge plate, thus moving all the strings. Trying to push all the saddles over a bit to the bass side didn't make a whole lot of difference. I'm stumped. I have read about this problem in other threads, but nobody seems to have accounted for the cause / solution to it. I might try the loosen bolts trick, and see what happens, then report back.

 

[mikeller]

I wound up fixing mine over the weekend. My first attempt wasn't successful. I loosened everything as previously stated and tried pushing downward on the neck which didn't do a thing. I gave up and went to see what's next and stumbled on a YouTube video that talked about it - I had been looking it incorrectly. The video showed laying a straight edge down the side of the neck on each side and seeing how the neck essentially aligns with the bridge saddles. its an alignment issue.

The way to fix it is/was instead of pushing downward or bumping the neck, was to pull up on neck close to the headstock which moved the alignment at neck pocket downward.

 

[Spudmurphy]

^
that's interesting?
I'm struggling to grasp the rationale behind that and will take a peek at you tube when I get home.
mmmmm

 

[mikeller]

^
that's interesting?
I'm struggling to grasp the rationale behind that and will take a peek at you tube when I get home.
mmmmm

Me too...it wasn't how I was thinking about it at all

Hot-Mod Your Guitar: Adjusting Neck Alignment - YouTube

 

[Craiguitar]

I tried loosening the neck bolts and pulling the neck towards the bass side, then re-tightening. To be fair this did work to a degree, I noticed a small improvement in the distance between the high E string and the edge of the neck. It 'feels' slightly more playable. However there is a noticably larger and more 'normal' spacing on the bass side. So the alignment is still not right, but maybe it never was 100% right to begin with. Comparing it with my other Luke's confirms this.

So despite the neck/pocket not looking misaligned, and there being no room for movement, perhaps there was some. It's interesting that I've owned this guitar for 15 years and this has only just happened. I can't recall it being bumped or anything unusual. Nor does it suffer huge sways in temperature. I'm in the UK, so basically it's always cold!.

 

[mikeller]

I measured mine from the outer-edge of the string to the edge of the fingerboard. Its pretty close to being spot on - if its off its a hair or two after the adjustment