Duo Jet set up

Longtallronnie

Going to do some tinkering with my recently acquired Duo Jet.  I’ve performed set ups on my Gibson 335 but this is my first Gretsch so anything I should know before diving in?

Just looking at general stuff - action, truss rod, intonation etc. 

Also wondering whether to replace the space control bridge for something more adjustable. Not decided yet, it seems to work ok with the bigsby so will see how it goes. 

Cheers
Ronnie

stickyfiddle

If I’m doubt, a solid Compton (or similar) makes a great bridge for a Greatch, and guaranteed no rattles because there’s no moving parts. 

Otherwise just the usual stuff - relief, action, intonation.

aroof

Personally I hated the space control bridge and upgraded it to a Tru Arc because I had issues with the strings jumping out of the saddles.
It was a night and day difference in tone.

Winny_Pooh

Get it perfect then use thin doublesided tape underneath the bridge feet. The space control makes for nice bigsby action but I found the height on the low E impossible so changed to a tru-arc sepentune, well worth the money. Then added a kinman treble bleed mod to all the pots. 

Longtallronnie

So I've found that bends on the B string after the 14th fret choke out slightly and I was also hearing rattley overtones from  behind the bridge.
Sorted the overtones with some grommets but not had much luck curing the choking. Only way I can stop it is to excessively raise the action on the treble side. I don't remember it doing it when I first got it and I've been playing the same parts since so it was obvious when it began. Neck relief seems ok and intonation is as good as can be considering the hardware.  
I guess it could be a rogue fret but I haven't looked into that yet.

Winny_Pooh

Its common on 99% of production guitars that the upper 5-10 frets end up being too high when you apply a minimum of relief. The only solution is to rause action or a partial/full fret dress with "fallaway". IMO this is the biggest defect in guitar manufacturing. Quality guitars should be built from factory with a fretboard that tapers 1-1.5mm lower on the frets past the 12th

Longtallronnie

The strange thing is that it wasn’t doing it initially. Had it a month or so, perhaps the woods have settled into its new environment and somethings moved, a fret has lifted slightly or summat else?