Will I need to adjust trem if ONLY raising string height?

Hi all,

I'm a new member, just posted in introductions!

Love my newly acquired 2012 Legacy, but need some set-up advice.

I typically use 008's on Strats, but the Legacy which I traded for online came with 010's.

Now, I do all my set-ups myself on Strats, but am unfamiliar with doing a G&L set-up with their style trem. My local guitar is gonna be gone for 6 weeks due to back surgery, so I need to do a set-up myself. I don't have the requisite 3/16th spacer and fancy tools, so I have decided for the time being, to keep the 010's on the guitar, but I need to raise the action because the strings are buzzing quite a bit.

My question is this:

Can I simply raise the height at the saddles and reintonate to get rid of the buzzing, or will I need to in fact do a more involved set-up-- adjust truss rod, raise the tremolo studs, etc?

The intonation now is excellent, the trem is nice and spongy and returns to pitch... the only issue really bugging me is that the string height is like 1/64ths, practically touching the fretboard. I love to play Shawn Lane/Yngwie type of stuff, but I like my action much higher!

So what say you guys, if I simply raise the saddle height will that require me to fiddle with the springs and trem?

Thanks for any opinions you guys can offer!!

Speedy,

Welcome to G&LDP. I have six G&Ls with Dual Fulcrum Vibratos, and only one of them needed to have the springs adjusted. It had just spent 30 years in a closet, and needed extensive tweaking (including micro-tilt and truss rod adjustments) to dial in. The others have been fine after changes to saddle height and intonation.

All you should need in terms of tools is the spacer (a couple of popsicle sticks taped together work fine IME - all your really doing is preventing damage to the finish) and some common Allen wrench sizes. I'm not sure about newer guitars, but my '82 SC-2 has Phillips screws for the spring adjustments, IIRC.

Ken

Speedy, before raising the string height I would check the relief at the 7 th fret for .005 to .008 in. Then I would raise the string height on the low and high e to where you want them. Adjust the other string heights to match the neck radius. Then adjust the intonation. The trem should be perfectly parallel to the body of the guitar. Do not adjust the tem studs unless you need to do a complete setup. If the trem isn't parallel, adjust the springs so it is. Check playablility after this and if it isn't right, let us know and you may just do a full setup to get it right. I suspect the height and intonation will do the job.-- Darwin

you should measure that height of the trem plate, and is the trem plate parallel to the body? when raising the saddles, the relationship between the fulcrum point and the applied force point (string on saddle) changes. raising the saddles will require adjusting the trem springs. checking relief and adjusting the trussrod should always be done first, before you do any other adjustment. intonation last. not ding a full setup would be silly imnsho, especially with a newly acquired guitar.

See this post for the current factory setup procedure for your guitar: Current Factory setup for G&L guitars with vibrato bridges.

Also, if you decide to change your strings to 8's you probably will need to modify or replace the nut because the string slots will be too big, as they were
setup for 10's.

Hope this helps.

Thanks all for your replies!

Craig, I did just read that post before replying here-- very informative.

I have never cut nuts myself, and ideally, I would have someone do that for me before putting my usual 008 gauge strings on.

I was just looking for a compromise to keep the 010's on there until I can have a new nut cut, so for me, that means just doing some minor tweaks to make the action higher. I see now that I will need to check the relief, and perhaps adjust the trem springs, and other little things.

Thanks very much for the replies guys!

I'll let everyone know how it went tomorrow.