plucka
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Post by plucka on May 2, 2006 8:45:07 GMT -5
I've just picked up a 2003 Mexican Fat Strat with a standard tremolo bridge, and the string alignment is way off on the high (thin) E. It's completely missing the pole-piece (the pole-piece is outside the string). The alignment on the low (thick) E is good - straight down the middle.
Is there any way I can adjust this? I presume I somehow have to separate the saddles on the bridge - space them out a bit?
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Post by Ripper on May 2, 2006 10:44:39 GMT -5
Hey Plucka...Welcome to GN2. Do you mean all 3 pickups?...I say this because on my Strat the string is underneath the pole pieces on the neck & middle pup, but because the bridge pup is on a bit of an angle, its slightly off center. Which is normal. If its off of the pole pieces on all strings not just the high E...then I must admit I dont know how to fix that problem. One good thig though Plucka...If there is a way to do it, a member of GN2 will have the answer. Good luck!  |
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Post by sumgai on May 2, 2006 23:36:46 GMT -5
deep, I didn't know they made guitars that put the strings under the magnet pole pieces. It must be interesting, playing such a beast, eh? ;D (Just pulling your leg, man, I knew what you meant. But I'm in a good mood tonight, so forgive me, but I just couldn't resist.  ) sumgai |
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Post by sumgai on May 2, 2006 23:46:11 GMT -5
plucka, Hi, and  to these here forums! The way I read your message, it looks to me like your neck is pushed out of line. Check me on this - is your high E string well way from the edge of the neck, and the low E string is barely on the neck at all? What you should be seeing (and why)Most of these instruments, even the lower cost ones, have the same pickup installed in all three positions, so the string spacing across the pole pieces is "average". By that I mean, for the bridge pickup, both E strings may be a bit outside of the pieces (because the pup is slanted), for the middle pickup they may be pretty close, and for the neck pup, they are usually inside of the pieces by a small bit. But, those pickups are centered (side-to-side), so the disparity is spread from the center towards the sides in about the same amount, on each pickup. Did this make sense so far? Good, now what's the verdict on your neck? sumgai |
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plucka
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Post by plucka on May 3, 2006 18:02:29 GMT -5
Thanks, blokes, for the help so far ...
Just to clarify - the guitar has an humbucker at the bridge (HSS - Fat Strat?)
I do think their might be a slight neck alignment problem. Although there is plenty of fretboard on both sides of the outer strings, I think at the first fret, the high E is closer to the edge, and at the 21st fret the low E is closer to the edge - I will try to measure them tonight.
When all the saddles are touching each other, the D string goes right thru the middle of all pole pieces on all pickups, and the G string is very close to the middle of all pickup pole pieces also. The low E string goes the middle of the poles on the humbucker, but is aligned with the inside edge (but still over the top) of the neck pole piece. The high E string is well inside the pole piece edge of the humbucker (misses by about two string widths) and is inside the edge of the neck pickup (misses by about one string width).
I intend to replace the pickups with DiMarzios which I have (ProTrack neck, Virtual 2 middle and AirZone bridge) but I want to have the alignment all sorted out before I do.
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Post by Ripper on May 3, 2006 20:32:09 GMT -5
point for thanking out my dyslexia sumgai! ;D
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Post by sumgai on May 5, 2006 12:19:34 GMT -5
deep, Hey, anytime for a friend! sumgai |
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Post by sumgai on May 5, 2006 12:28:56 GMT -5
plucka,
Bingo! If you can see a difference with your naked eye, then there is a considerable difference that needs to be addressed before you do anything else. Even if the guitar "plays fine", it still has a problem that will bite you in the butt someday when you least expect it. Get it taken care of now.
Hold off on playing with your pickups until you've conquered the neck issue. But so far, it sounds to me like you may have more than one problem contributing to what you're seeing as an 'out of alignment' string issue. If the neck is positioned properly, the two E strings should miss their respective pole pieces by the same amount. If that's not the case, then either your pickguard is out of place on the body, or the pickup holes in the pickguard were not cut in the proper place. If this turns out to be the case, then you should start with a new pickguard, and carefully align it to the body, then carefully cut holes for the new pups.
Seek help if you're not sure of where to cut those holes. Here would be a good place to start your search. ;D
HTH
sumgai
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plucka
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Post by plucka on May 8, 2006 8:23:43 GMT -5
OK, some further updates ....
I mucked around with the neck alignment (loosened the strings, loosened the clamping screws, pushed on the neck, tightened it all up again) and things are a fair bit better.
Now the strings all line up fairly evenly with the two single coils, but are a bit offset on the humbucker. But I think the humbucker has not been correctly mounted within the pick-guard - seems to be slightly off to one side.
I measured the strings (from the outside edge of the string to the edge of the fretboard) and got the following:-
Immediately behind the nut, low E to edge 3.83mm, high E to edge 3.20mm
Above the 1st fret wire, low E to edge 4.02mm, high E to edge 3.41mm
Above the 21st fret wire, low E to edge 4.20mm, high E to edge 4.63mm
(My eyes are a bit wobbly in low light so I should re-check all the above to make sure I don't have parallax error).
But it all looks a lot better to the naked eye.
I think there is a bit more neck alignment to fix up, but should I correct the nut first? (I realise the strings are different diameters and so measuring from the edge of the string is not best practice, but are those dimensions OK?)
Thanks
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Post by UnklMickey on May 8, 2006 11:37:17 GMT -5
hi Plucka,
let me start by saying lutherie is NOT my strong suit.
but it does seem like the logical place to start would be the nut.
measuring at the outside edges of the strings to the edges of the fretboard might actually be better,
than measuring from string centers, in the case of determining the optimum centering of the nut.
from the numbers you gave, it looks like the nut is shifted toward the high-E side of the fretboard.
and with the correction you made, it's a little overcompensated at the 21st fret.
i don't know how much error is considered "normal", so i'll leave that call to someone less "lutherie challenged".
if i had to guess, i would think the sequence would go something like this:
1 -- center the nut to the fretboard.
2 -- align the neck to center the strings at the last fret.
3 -- adjust the intonation
4 -- align the pickguard to get the pickups centered on the strings.
but again, this is not my strong suit, so this is all just a guess.
unk
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Post by bam on May 9, 2006 6:33:04 GMT -5
Sorry for butting in (this post should've gone into electronics&wiring), but I think installing a blade humbucker will do the trick.
(c'mon, everyone loves changing pups ;D)
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Post by UnklMickey on May 9, 2006 8:29:26 GMT -5
'bout time you did! don't know where you been, but we're glad to see you back. good point about that blade pup. definitely easier. on the other hand, aligning the nut and neck will make it a bit more playable, so that might be worth the extra effort. |
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Post by bam on May 13, 2006 2:16:49 GMT -5
Thanks, unk.. Sorry (, everyone,) for going out without news for THAT long time.
I'm graduating this year, and the last few months are full of things to do. Seems like I won't have that much time for visiting for the next few months, too .. either way, hey, things really have brighten up here !
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