Hello,
Can I have your thoughts please on a setup & fret dress I've have done -
Recently bought a 1990 Custom, it still had the original untouched frets with minimal wear.
I noticed the first fret was higher than the 2nd fret by about 0.012" , yet it didn't look like it had lifted from its slot.
The rest of the frets were level with each other.
I took it to a well recommended guitar technician, asked for a full setup &fret dress. I pointed out the high first fret and that it was odd.
Asked for it to be setup 'As low as possible, little bit of unamplified buzz is ok', basically do everything it needs to play as well as possible.
I collected it, the frets had been levelled, looked nicely crowned and polished, and the action around the 12th fret looked nice and low.
When I got home, I noticed that the first fret still visually looked high, and the action over the lower frets seemed a bit on the high side.
Got out my straight edge, it would not slide from the 2nd fret over the first.The 1st Fret is still high, measuring 0.006" higher than the 2nd fret!
Checked the neck relief with the straight edge between frets 2 & 15, it measured around 0.002", so pretty flat which is good (apart from the 1st fret). Higher frets all ok, action at 12th fret measured about 0.040" at the treble side, 0.050" at the bass side, so pretty good there.
The string heights at the nut looked high & uneven, so measured the string gap at the relatively high 1st fret, it ranged from 0.023" at the treble side, to 0.016" at the bass side. Guessing that the nut hasn't been touched at all.
So in total there is up to 0.029" (nearly 1/32") string gap at the 2nd fret on some strings, partly due to the high first fret! not very slick feeling when switching between open chords.
What are your thoughts on this? I am being too fussy?
Is it difficult to stone down a higher 1st fret relative to the others? The tech didn't mention any problems.
What's the typical string height (first fret) that the nut is cut to as part of a good setup? I have read that some players specify 0.010" . Seems that the nut was not worked on at all.
What would you do? If the nut heights were carefully recut lower, could the 1st fret height issue be lived with? Or should I be getting the first fret reworked?
All thoughts appreciated.
Can I have your thoughts please on a setup & fret dress I've have done -
Recently bought a 1990 Custom, it still had the original untouched frets with minimal wear.
I noticed the first fret was higher than the 2nd fret by about 0.012" , yet it didn't look like it had lifted from its slot.
The rest of the frets were level with each other.
I took it to a well recommended guitar technician, asked for a full setup &fret dress. I pointed out the high first fret and that it was odd.
Asked for it to be setup 'As low as possible, little bit of unamplified buzz is ok', basically do everything it needs to play as well as possible.
I collected it, the frets had been levelled, looked nicely crowned and polished, and the action around the 12th fret looked nice and low.
When I got home, I noticed that the first fret still visually looked high, and the action over the lower frets seemed a bit on the high side.
Got out my straight edge, it would not slide from the 2nd fret over the first.The 1st Fret is still high, measuring 0.006" higher than the 2nd fret!
Checked the neck relief with the straight edge between frets 2 & 15, it measured around 0.002", so pretty flat which is good (apart from the 1st fret). Higher frets all ok, action at 12th fret measured about 0.040" at the treble side, 0.050" at the bass side, so pretty good there.
The string heights at the nut looked high & uneven, so measured the string gap at the relatively high 1st fret, it ranged from 0.023" at the treble side, to 0.016" at the bass side. Guessing that the nut hasn't been touched at all.
So in total there is up to 0.029" (nearly 1/32") string gap at the 2nd fret on some strings, partly due to the high first fret! not very slick feeling when switching between open chords.
What are your thoughts on this? I am being too fussy?
Is it difficult to stone down a higher 1st fret relative to the others? The tech didn't mention any problems.
What's the typical string height (first fret) that the nut is cut to as part of a good setup? I have read that some players specify 0.010" . Seems that the nut was not worked on at all.
What would you do? If the nut heights were carefully recut lower, could the 1st fret height issue be lived with? Or should I be getting the first fret reworked?
All thoughts appreciated.
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