Feeling quite pleased with myself

Voxman

Forgive the smug post and probably nothing special for many of you, but I've never actually been that confident in adjusting truss rods and trying to properly set-up a guitar myself.  Always been terrified of busting the truss rod or neck.  

Anyway, donkeys years ago I bought my eldest daughter an Epiphone LP Special.  It wouldn't intonate properly, had an action higher than mount Everest, buzzed all over the neck, had crackly pots, boomed a bit through an amp, and because she preferred acoustic anyway it just sat in her room gathering dust for at least  the last 15 years or so.

So I thought what the hell, this is safe to experiment on because its not being used anyway, and I found some good videos on how to properly set up a guitar.  

Cleaned the guitar, cleaned the fretboard, and restrung it with D'Addario 009-042 EXL120's, & put some HB pencil lead in the nut slots.  There was no travel left on the bridge saddles (GBE) strings, so I took the bridge apart and reversed the saddles which totally did the trick.  Stiff as hell to get the saddles out, & then get them back in (the little bastards! - they did NOT fall out or go back in nice & easy as per the video!), and surprisingly tricky to get that pesky little wire retainer back in, but I got it sorted (what I lack in skill & knowledge I make up for in sheer 'I won't be beat' cussedness!) .  

Then, as instructed, I put a capod on the first fret, held the E-string down at the last fret and pressed on the 11th fret per the video to check clearance at the 10th fret - the string didn't move at the 10th fret so followed the instructions, adjusted the truss rod in the right direction, let the guitar settle down for a couple of hours, re-checked and re-adjusted, checking clearance with a bit of card on the 10th fret.  Not high tech, no measuring calipers, but after a bit of trial & error and 'fine tuning' my goodness it did the job.

The neck now has just the right amount of relief, the action is nice & low, with no fret buzz, and its now intonated perfectly.  Lowered both the pick-ups down (far too close to the strings before) to get a nicer warmer tone from the (surprisingly powerful) humbuckers, took the back plate off and sprayed some electrical switch cleaner in to get rid of crackly pots - and low and behold it's gone from an unplayable piece of junk to a surprisingly very nice and very playable little guitar.  

This little exercise has now given me a lot more confidence - and an extra guitar to play!  As I said, no great shakes to many of you experienced with all this, but for a sad old git like me, this was a real eye-opener that with a bit of guidance I could do more than I thought I could!  

As Kryten says on Red Dwarf 'End of smug mode'! 

stimpsonslostson

That's awesome. It's a great feeling isn't it. 

I learned to do it on the Harley Benton for the modding challenge. YouTube is such a useful resource. 

Congratulations. 

Bridgehouse

You did slacken off the right hand flange grommet first, right?

richardhomer

Bridgehouse said:

You did slacken off the right hand flange grommet first, right?

Have you read the OP properly?

It was an Epiphone - not a Terry Morgan!

HAL9000

Genuinely, well done! I remember being as nervous as anything first time I adjusted truss rod, saddles, etc. Now it doesn't bother me, and it's something I do straightaway with any new guitar. Still not brave enough to tackle soldering though, but I do aim to buy myself a soldering iron in the near future and teach myself the dark art of installing pickups, pots, etc.

sm55onl

Voxman, what videos did you view for your handiwork....links ?

Bridgehouse

richardhomer said:

Bridgehouse said:

You did slacken off the right hand flange grommet first, right?

Have you read the OP properly?

It was an Epiphone - not a Terry Morgan!

Ah, sorry. In that case:

It actually had a truss rod???!!!

usedtobe

Well done, man! Proud of you.

Voxman

sm55onl said:

Voxman, what videos did you view for your handiwork....links ?

I looked at several, but I really liked the simple explanations and simplicity of this guys methods.  I learned how to set the trem up on my Strat from one of his vids too, and it still returns back to pitch superbly well!



And this one for the saddles:

 

I actually knew the trick about reversing the saddles from over 40 years ago when I had a Shaftesbury Les Paul Copy, but it was a helpful reminder.

McToot

There's hope for me then?

Thanks for posting.  Now I just need a beater to practice on. 

Voxman

What I'm amazed at is what a nice little guitar the Epiphone Les Paul Special is. This is a cheap guitar aimed at the beginner, that you can buy new for around £110.  

The humbucker p/ups are powerful, the guitar is nicely balanced weight wise, and the 14:1 geared tuners hold tune very well. Now its set up properly I kid you not, it's actually good enough to gig!  I might even tune it to open D, E or G and use it for slide guitar. 

usedtobe

Voxman said:

What I'm amazed at is what a nice little guitar the Epiphone Les Paul Special is. This is a cheap guitar aimed at the beginner, that you can buy new for around £110.  

The humbucker p/ups are powerful, the guitar is nicely balanced weight wise, and the 14:1 geared tuners hold tune very well. Now its set up properly I kid you not, it's actually good enough to gig!  I might even tune it to open D, E or G and use it for slide guitar. 

I had one, years ago. The bridge pickup sound was one of the best I've ever had!