Guitar help

[darthweaver]

hey, i just an epiphone les paul custom (white, it's the bomb!) but i feel my strings are too high from the fret baord but im not too sure about lowering using the tuneomatic bridge as my last guitar ended up with heavy uncurable fretbuzz. Any advice on how to "properly" lower my strings or should i just get used to them?

[edlib]

Once you lower the strings you will probably have to adjust the "relief" (amount of curve) in the neck by loosing or tightening the truss rod (under the little plate on the headstock right next to the nut.)

 

Be very careful adjusting the trussrod though, only a quarter-turn at a time, unless you WANT to snap your neck. Slack the strings before doing this!!!!

 

You will also probably have to lower the pickups as well... the magnets can actually drag the strings downward, causing buzzes and out-of tuneness if they are too close.

 

You will also have to tweak the intonation once you lower the action. Check the 12th-fret harmonic against the fretted note and lengthen or shorten the string using the adjustable saddles until they are perfectly in tune with each other.

 

String gauge has a lot to do with how low you can get the action. Heavier strings put more tension on the neck, forcing a greater "bow" in the neck, meaning that you will never be able to get a set of .011s (what I use) as low as a set of .009s. Think about going to a lighter guage if the action is too high, yet still buzzing.

 

The easiest thing to do is to bring it to a skilled repairman to have everything done. That way if there is a also a high fret or 2 he can file it down so that theres no buzz.

 

But if you still wish to do it yourself, be patient. After each tweak retune the entire instrument, play a little, and slack the strings again if you need to make more changes.

 

Some instructions with diagrams can be found here: http://users.powernet.co.uk/guitars/setuptut.htm

http://www.mcnaughtguitars.com/index429.htm

http://archive.guitarplayer.com/archive/gear/setup.shtml

[Acrylic]

My Epi Les Paul came up too high too, but I'm not gonna attempt to lower it at all, since all I do is play, not mess around with it. That'd be really risky for me, since if I'm like my dad at all, I'd break it.

[edlib]

Take it to be professionally done, then.

It's a simple job, and never costs that much. If the shop isn't busy you should be able to get it done in an afternoon.

 

My dad has been a professional guitarist since he was before 10 years old, back in the '30s. Every guitar he gets, new or used, goes straight to his repair man to be set up before he'll take it out of the house on a gig.

 

I do my own setups, but that's only because I worked in a guitar factory for a couple of months, and learned all the ins an outs, and bought all my own tools at that time.

 

The biggest difference between an expensive guitar and a cheap one usually comes down to the amount of time they spend on the "fit-and-finish" part of the process, which is done by hand, and includes the setup for the action and intonation. You can make an Epiphone play and sing like a Gibson if you spend a little time and TLC on it.

[Acrylic]

Thats waht Im thinking of doing on my Epi.

 

I am planning on lowering the action a bit, and getting some Seymour Duncan Humbuckers.

I use .11's for strings, but when I get new Humbuckers, I'll change em down to .10's.

 

 

The main reason a gibson is more expensive than an epiphone is the wood. Or at least I think so. That's what the sales person told me.

 

I'm gonna look at tutorials and a whole bunch of stuff, and buy some tools. I have a crappy Samick strat that I want to work on, since it really doesn't sound to great at all.

 

Thanks for the help man.

[edlib]

Originally posted by Acrylic

The main reason a gibson is more expensive than an epiphone is the wood. Or at least I think so. That's what the sales person told me.

Partly... the quality of wood matters, but 2 Gibsons or Fenders can vary a lot in that regard too,.. so it's not guaranteed that a Gibson will automatticaly be better wood.

The big difference is that the Epis are factory made oversesas in a huge quantity (the same factory makes a couple of dozen different guitar brands.) Things like finish work and fret jobs and setups are rushed through as quick as possible to just get them out the door, whereas at the Gibson factory they spend a lot more time on perfecting the setup and frets by hand.

But the hardware on the Epis and Gibsons is exactly the same.

 

Switch the pickups, have someone check it out, and it could be a pretty sweet guitar.

[Acrylic]

Originally posted by edlib

Partly... the quality of wood matters, but 2 Gibsons or Fenders can vary a lot in that regard too,.. so it's not guaranteed that a Gibson will automatticaly be better wood.

The big difference is that the Epis are factory made oversesas in a huge quantity (the same factory makes a couple of dozen different guitar brands.) Things like finish work and fret jobs and setups are rushed through as quick as possible to just get them out the door, whereas at the Gibson factory they spend a lot more time on perfecting the setup and frets by hand.

But the hardware on the Epis and Gibsons is exactly the same.

 

Switch the pickups, have someone check it out, and it could be a pretty sweet guitar.

 

For me right now, it's a pretty sweet guitar, but I'm looking for a bit of a more...how can I say it, a "honey" tone. Thick, but sweet. I love that style of tone. And I think some Seymour Duncans can get me that.

[edlib]

The Gibson '59 Classic PAFs are pretty amazing too. I have them in my white Les Paul. The stock pickups were pretty weak, and always had a lot of squealy feedback at high volumes.

 

One of these days I'm gonna get around to switching the Dimarzios in my Strat to Duncans. I'm sure it will make a huge difference.