k this distance, fretting the strings at the 5th fret, First time ever really measuring anything on my 1987 Squirecaster. I kind of wanted to see where everything was at after 30 years of playing and several levels & crowns to get the frets flat again.
I started by checking relief at the 8th fret when fretted at the 21st. I ended up actually measuring around .012" which seems good. No buzzing, but I wanted to obtain an actual specification.
Next, I checked nut "free" height at the first fret, which was about 1/64" and when I checked this height (when fretted at the 5th fret) I had about .010" on the low E and the smallest measurement recorded was the high e at .0045" (4-1/2 thousandths of an inch).
Again, no buzzing problems, just checking everything out.
The frets themselves measure .022" from the fretboard. All are even.
Next I moved onto the action
Beginning with the low 'E' string, I measured "free height" at the 17th fret.
E = 5/64"
A = 5/64"
D = 5/64"
G = 4/64"
B = 4/64"
e = 4/64"
Not too bad...no buzzing or anything like that, and I hot the strings really, really hard when I play, so it's not likely I will be lowering them.
I also dropped the bridge pickup slightly on the treble side, to a pole to string height of about 4/64"
The intonation is right on the money, but I get a funny dissonant harmonic from the 12th fret upwards. Like when playing AC/DC's Thunderstruck, (unplugged) using hammer on's (instead of picking) the 12th fret hammered note sounds strange - like it's an octave above the open harmonic or the fretted note.
None of my other guitars produce this odd tone....
Overall, what are your thoughts on the setup????
I started by checking relief at the 8th fret when fretted at the 21st. I ended up actually measuring around .012" which seems good. No buzzing, but I wanted to obtain an actual specification.
Next, I checked nut "free" height at the first fret, which was about 1/64" and when I checked this height (when fretted at the 5th fret) I had about .010" on the low E and the smallest measurement recorded was the high e at .0045" (4-1/2 thousandths of an inch).
Again, no buzzing problems, just checking everything out.
The frets themselves measure .022" from the fretboard. All are even.
Next I moved onto the action
Beginning with the low 'E' string, I measured "free height" at the 17th fret.
E = 5/64"
A = 5/64"
D = 5/64"
G = 4/64"
B = 4/64"
e = 4/64"
Not too bad...no buzzing or anything like that, and I hot the strings really, really hard when I play, so it's not likely I will be lowering them.
I also dropped the bridge pickup slightly on the treble side, to a pole to string height of about 4/64"
The intonation is right on the money, but I get a funny dissonant harmonic from the 12th fret upwards. Like when playing AC/DC's Thunderstruck, (unplugged) using hammer on's (instead of picking) the 12th fret hammered note sounds strange - like it's an octave above the open harmonic or the fretted note.
None of my other guitars produce this odd tone....
Overall, what are your thoughts on the setup????
