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Post by dannyhill on Oct 23, 2014 13:18:41 GMT -5
Hi guys, I've seen on some of these Peavey Rockingham's a gap between the end of the neck and the top of the guitar body, but mine seems' somewhat exagerated, in fact the bottom of the neck seems curved inwards.    Is this a keeper? Is it just cosmetic? Or is it/will it be trouble? All opinions most welcome whilst I decide to keep it or not. These are no longer sold though and are hard to find second hand. Cheers, Danny |
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 23, 2014 16:02:53 GMT -5
So, let me ask you, how does it play? Does it intonate correctly? Any buzzing or other odd behavior? I ask becasue in the few pictures I could find on this guitar, that gap appears to be intentional. See this:  If you're still not certain, drop an e-mail to Peavey and ask them. Their customer service department has always been quick to respond from my experience. HTC1 |
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Post by haydukej on Oct 24, 2014 13:07:08 GMT -5
It's their new, patent pending integrated pick holder  |
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Post by b4nj0 on Oct 24, 2014 15:38:31 GMT -5
+1 for the red Jazz3!
e&oe
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 24, 2014 15:41:28 GMT -5
It's their new, patent pending integrated pick holder I thought it was where you put your beer money to hide it from the drummer... HTC1 |
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 25, 2014 19:44:56 GMT -5
Hi guys,
I checked the nut, height is fine.
I then set the truss to get the right clearance at the 8th fret when holidng down at the first and last. OK.
But with the floating broidge screwed all the way down I cannot get below 3.25mm action on the low W and similar on the high E.
Is there something wrong with the guitar? Neck angle? Or should I be shaving the bottom of the floating bridge?
Be shame to send her back, and they want me to pay for the postage, 40-50€!
Cheers,
Danny
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 26, 2014 19:34:48 GMT -5
The action on an archtop\hollowbody electric tends to run higher than you'd find on the typical solid body electric guitar.
That said, that's some pretty high action. You can shave the floating bridge down to lower the action. Be careful and continually check your dimensions as you shave it down. When I do this I work from the top to preserve the established fit against the top.
HTC1
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 27, 2014 9:56:30 GMT -5
Hi guys,
I should be getting a roller sometime this week/next week and I will put that on and shave accordingly, but I have to say that as it is the break angle is fairly gentle so if the bridge were to be lowered, we could be into 'Jaguar land', that would smack of a bad neck angle right?
Anyway, I suspect this 'commission sale' is actually a B-stock they are trying to fob off on to me and I have pushed them into giving me a full refund (including my return costs) or if its fixable just with a lower bridge and break angle and intonation are ok then just a partial refund.
I'll upload some photos later to see what you think of the break angle as is with >3mm action at the 12th.
Cheers,
Daniel
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 27, 2014 11:04:04 GMT -5
This one has a similar neck joint with the strange gap between neck and top with it narrowing towards the end of the neck:  The breakangle doesn't look huge here either. Mind you, my only other B7/B70 is on a wildkat which is much steeper (I had to jack the front of the Bigsby up on washers so it wasn't at so acute). |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2014 16:31:15 GMT -5
I'll upload some photos later to see what you think of the break angle as is with >3mm action at the 12th. Cheers, Daniel Hola! I thought it was too high for an action on the 22th fret. But for 12th fret, the guitar screams "return me as soon as possible". Do not do any modifications to the guitar and get all your money back. |
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 28, 2014 4:43:16 GMT -5
Come on GreekDude, not with that one again! Anyway here are some photos.In one you can see that if I lower the bridge I should be able to get a low action with little or no fret buzz.  In the other you can see that actually the break angle is not too bad so the bridge can lower a little and I should still not enter the realm of 'slidey strings'.  So, just awaiting the new bridge. BTW There is a little thin foam rectangle under the bridge, if I take that will the action drop dramatically or would the bridge still need shaving? Cheers, Danny |
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 28, 2014 8:01:45 GMT -5
I think we can put the gap at the end of the neck to issue to bed. From all the pictures I've found on the Internet, that seems to be the way it was designed and built. Anyway, that doesn't seem to be your biggest problem at the moment anyway.
At this point, I'd pull the bridge and see if I could determine why the foam is in there. Not exactly a factory option.
One other thing that hit me is the disposition of the top. Archtop guitars can suffer from a "collapse", for lack of a better word this early in the morning. The archtop literally sinks over time...sometimes minimally and sometimes catastrophically...which may explain the foam under the bridge.
I've always had a soft spot for Peavey. Their USA made stuff was always seriously under-rated. I recently picked up one of the original Peavey Grind 6 string basses from God only knows where, and it has some of the lowest action I've ever seen on an import bass, with no buzz or dead spots.
This can be a very tricky thing to diagnose properly over the Internet. If you have a good tech you can trust, it might be time to have an experienced set of eyes and hands take a look at this guitar before you box it up and send it back.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
EDIT: Forgot to ask, when you're measuring the string height, are you using a metal rule or feeler gauges?
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 28, 2014 8:47:52 GMT -5
Hi Cynical1,
The foam is there to protect the top from scratches but is some 0.5-1.0mm thick. Will that drop the action down by 2mm at the 12th fret? Some quick trigonometry would suggest that dropping the bridge down by 1mm would drop the height at the 12th fret down by just under 0.5mm.
I too thought that perhaps the top had sunk/collapsed.
With regards to height measuring I use a metal rule from top of fret to bottom of string, and with 0.5mm divisions I can measure to the nearest 0.25mm.
Thanks,
Daniel
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 28, 2014 9:06:51 GMT -5
OK, at this point pull the foam, reset the intonation and see what you've got. Remember, with this type of guitar is very tough to get that shredder type low action. With the Bigsby, you probably don't want it anyway.
Aside for that, what does it sound like?
HTC1
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 28, 2014 10:18:36 GMT -5
Well, I can do that tonight.
Actually not plugged it in yet, but acoustically it is sweet.
I'm no shredder either, but it would be nice to be able to get down to 2mm on low E at 12th and 1.5mm on high E at 12th. :-)
D
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2014 11:38:56 GMT -5
Forgot to ask, when you're measuring the string height, are you using a metal rule or feeler gauges? Hey Cyn1, have any theory on this? Why would it matter? I use feeler gauges, rule or just an empirical way of using a pick. But my "official" ones are the feeler gauges. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2014 11:44:38 GMT -5
Danny,
also did you measure nut height? You said clearance OK relief was ok. How many mm? When you guys say "shave" you mean the bridge's wooden base, right?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 28, 2014 11:46:00 GMT -5
Come on GreekDude, not with that one again! Man, I have become an expert on that . Just returned my second lemon ibanez and awaiting the replacement. |
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Post by dannyhill on Oct 28, 2014 12:22:54 GMT -5
Hi Greekdude, Read the thread man! I said the nut was fine, it measured 0.15mm at the 1st fret with the 4th depressed for the 6th and 0.10 for the 1st. Clearance at 8th fret of 0.25mm when holding down first and last frets. No we are going to shave steel  D |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2014 3:46:31 GMT -5
Buenos Dias amigo! Hi Greekdude, Read the thread man! I said the nut was fine, it measured 0.15mm at the 1st fret with the 4th depressed for the 6th and 0.10 for the 1st. Clearance at 8th fret of 0.25mm when holding down first and last frets. No we are going to shave steel D Oops I missed that. But anyway, why did you have to press the 4th fret and not 5th, 6th and so forth? Normally people measure nut's height empirically by pressing the 3th fret and making sure the clearance on the 1st fret is just minimal, but not touching the fret. Now, once you are done with your setup, the nut is the last thing you need to take care of. Pressing the 1st fret measure the height on the 2nd fret. If you like this action and is buzz free, this is the action you wanna make your first fret to have open, and you gotta setup the nut for this action or a little bit higher just to be on the safe side. With regards to height measuring I use a metal rule from top of fret to bottom of string, and with 0.5mm divisions I can measure to the nearest 0.25mm. 0.25mm takes away a lot of precision. I usually play in the 0.05mm range precision. Using feeler gauges allow to go that high. |
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Post by cynical1 on Oct 29, 2014 8:50:06 GMT -5
Yeah, feeler gauges are much more accurate than a metal rule. You can miss quite a bit trying to eyeball a metal rule. It's OK for getting close, but feeler gauges are really the only way to nail the height of the action.
And I did mean shaving the top of the wooden piece of the bridge assembly. Proper tools required...
HTC1
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2014 10:40:16 GMT -5
And I did mean shaving the top of the wooden piece of the bridge assembly. Proper tools required... I had that impression as well, didn't find anything in the thread that would suggest shaving the bridge itself. |
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Post by dannyhill on Nov 7, 2014 5:42:47 GMT -5
Hi guys,
Well finally the roller bridge arrived and I spent last night and the night before working my way through sheets of glass paper until the action is 2mm and 1.5mm at the 12th for the 6th and 1st strings respectively. Well, ok I had to tighten the truss rod about a 1/4 turn as well as there was too much gap.
What do you think? Is is it a keeper? Bear in mind that this guitar has some very fat strings on, 13s? What will happen if I put on some 11s? Will the action be lower or higher (or the same) once I have adjusted the truss to get the same degree of relief? If it allows me lower, well great! If higher then we have a problem as the amount sanded from the bridge has left <2mm of hole depth to screw the post into already and I doubt I could drill much deeper before I come through the other side so maybe with time the posts will rip out of the wood?
Let me know as I need to tell the store whether I'm staying with it or not (it is rare and will be very hard to find another) and now I see that the bigsby was not put on in line with the nut to bridge axis, so the drill would have to come out tonight which would mean definitely a 'no-return'. :-)
Cheers,
Danny
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Post by cynical1 on Nov 7, 2014 9:08:22 GMT -5
I'd say, based on the relative scarcity of these guitars, she was a keeper from the beginning. Along with the work you've done so far, unless the two of you just don't get along, she's a keeper. If nothing else, you shouldn't lose any money selling her.
One thing you may notice with those heavy strings is a little buzzing with lower action. Anything I have heavy strings on always has the action set a tad higher than Hoyle may suggest to allow for the additional mass. IMHO, the heavier strings add something to the tone that makes the higher action a fair trade off. Opinions vary.
That said, I'd give it 3-4 days from the truss rod adjustment to see where everything settles.
As far as the lighter string gauge goes, obviously the lighter gauge will put less tension on the neck, and may take you back to the truss rod. You may also wind up having to tweak, or replace the nut. It's not a tremendous amount, but you're in the 40LB\20KG neighborhood, which may leave your current truss rod setting with a bit to much backbend. This may be good, depending on where you play. It also may make it too low and cause more buzzing. Trial and error are the operative words, but a lighter string gauge will not raise your action.
Back to your original point. This type of guitar tends to lend itself to a certain style of playing. Some players swear by them, some swear at them. Rather than base you decision to keep the guitar based on action, play it for a few days and see if you like the feel and tone. Granted, the 13s are something you have to get used to. I have a flatwound set on one guitar and admit it is a workout, but she does wail.
If the shop gives you until Monday play it through the weekend and see how you feel about it on Monday. If it doesn't click by then the answer is easy.
Happy Trails
Cynical One
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Post by dannyhill on Nov 7, 2014 9:28:34 GMT -5
Many thanks Cynical 1!
I will give her a road test this w/end when the wife is out!
With the current action there is no buzzing nor fretting out all the way up the neck, granted I am using a light pick and not strumming hard.
I have never played above 11s except on my acoustic, but I'm thinking that on a gretsch type 11s are absolute minimums, right?
No problem with raising the bridge to raise the action, I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't have to lower it anymore by say putting on lighter strings (not heavier, no way!) as I think more sanding would make the bridge too unstable mechanically.
Superb!
Thanks brother!
Now to straighten the bigsby.
Danny
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2014 3:10:53 GMT -5
If the measurements are 1.5mm , 2.0mm @12 fret with 13's on standard tuning, the neck is a beast. If you like the guitar, keep her by any means. Exhaust all the return period, and if you like it all the way, keep it. I agree on all points by Cynical. Currently I have beefy slinkies 11-54 (a hybrid between 11 and 12 set) on my workout guitar (and i regret having an absolute shredding weapon wasted like that, but hey that's life). Personally cannot find much use of even heavier gauge, except for practising.
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Post by cynical1 on Nov 9, 2014 11:12:09 GMT -5
It all comes down to style and genre. Guitar, string gauge, action, etc...ad nauseam...
DH's guitar is more at home with something like this:
Granted, it's not relegated to only jazz, but it's design is more for full clean tone...versus this:
Try doing that on a set of .013 gauge strings...
Then you've got this guy that would go as light as .007 gauge strings:
Having dragged everyone through that little medley, I guess the long and short of it is, if it works you'll keep it. If it doesn't you'll discard it.
HTC1
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Post by Deleted on Nov 9, 2014 12:47:48 GMT -5
^^ Cyn I liked Wes Montgomery's style! I am going for 13's as the next set for the acoustic.
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