fretting out problem

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I've made 5 guitars now and overall I'm very pleased with how they have gone, however, my favourite guitar has a bit of a problem that I can't seem to sort. I can't get the action as low as I would like, specifically with the high E, which seems to bottom out on whole step bends at the 17th fret. I've attempted levelling several times, checked with a fret rocker and no fret seems high.

The guitar is a strat. The radius is 9.5, which all my other guitars are with no problem. I have quite a bit of neck relief to help with the action, and the high E is higher than other strings relative to the fretboard.

Being a complete amateur at the guitar building thing, I'm wondering if I have made some kind of inherent cock-up. Any suggestions on what to try?
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Comments

  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    Go right back to basics a do a full setup, look up Fender Strat specs and work to that, not what you think, go by the specs, too much neck relief might be the issue, (you say you have quite a bit) everything works in harmony so make everything right, then see if it still chokes....
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • SteveRobinsonSteveRobinson Frets: 6914
    tFB Trader
    Straighten the neck and raise the saddles.
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  • DanielsguitarsDanielsguitars Frets: 3261
    edited March 2020 tFB Trader
    Like Steve said, straighten that neck, loads of relief will just add problems imo, that's why your strings will be higher

    If you've got a notched straight edge that'll tell you how straight the neck is which might help
    www.danielsguitars.co.uk
    (formerly customkits)
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    Thanks good people, I got the neck much straighter, tweaked the saddles and it's much better. I think when I was faffing around with it a lot last summer I ended up tweaking the truss rod a lot and I ended up somewhere a bit mad which I hadn't gotten around to looking at since. I remember now I did have a few probs when I made this neck but all seems good now.
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