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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 2
Location: UK | Sorry if this has been done to death on earlier threads, but I'm new here.
I bought my daughter a Celebrity Deluxe (CS257) as a Christmas present - I guess she was inspired by my Collectors 1984, which plays and sounds great.
To save money(ahem), I bought the Celebrity online. When it arrived and I tried it out, it played OK, but had comparatively poorer tone and had a tendency to buzz around frets 10-13. Although I was a bit disappointed by the sound, she's quite happy, especially as she can now hold down barre chords with it.
To satisfy my curiosity, I bought a set of feeler guages and measured the action and neck warp. I was amazed to find that the action at the 12th fret was 3/64 on top E and 4/64 on bottom E (just like a Les Paul Custom). The neck clearance was about .006 inch which is within spec. The gutar is supposedly brand new ex-factory.
Most folks on here seem to want to LOWER the action on new guitars, so I seem to be bucking the trend.
Question: Should I ease the truss rod first to see if that fixes the fret buzz, or should I go straight ahead and add a shim to the saddle, and only adjust the truss rod if necessary?
I did try loosening the truss rod, but found it too stiff with a normal-size hex wrench and my arm wedged in the back of the guitar. Is it normal for it to be that stiff?
From what I've read in earlier posts, the extra shim should also improve the tone of the guitar, which I do find a bit weak.
Any advice much appreciated
Pete |
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Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I would just add a shim and see if that does what you want...then if needed make truss adjustments...
careful that the truss rod isn't maxed out in that direction.... |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 2
Location: UK | Thanks for the caution - I didn't try to tighten the truss rod either as the neck was so flat, but having read elsewhere that you can actually break a truss rod, I thought that discretion was best at this stage. |
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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | Hi Peter. Nice gift for your daughter! Your's is a common struggle; any newly-purchased guitar needs to be set up, and it's not unusual for trussrod adjustments to be needed every spring and fall. Carefully move the trussrod back and forth slightly to get it moving. You need to have the right amount of relief in the neck to allow for string vibration between the nut and the saddle. When you stop a string (the low-e is easiest to see) at the 1st and 12th frets, you should be able to slip a business card between the string and the 6th fret. THEN you can see if you want to raise the saddle. Your daughter shouldn't suffer with a poorly set up gift. John <>{ |
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Advice wanted on RAISING action on Celebrity Deluxe
