The place to discuss, post photos, video, and audio of the G&L products (US instruments, stomp boxes, etc.) produced after 1991, including the amps & gear we use with them.
Hey y'all. So, I'm trying to set up my Legacy, following the G&L manual guide (it's about time I learn how!), and it seems that my bridge plate is not level with the body when I have the 3/16" spacer inserted (see pic at bottom).
I have checked neck relief it's about .010 at the 8th fret with 1st and 22nd fretted, so that appears to be within specs. I'm wondering if not having the bridge plate level might be contributing to some fretting out and buzzing high up on the high E string. Also, my action is pretty high, but the saddle for the E string is cranked all the way down. I have the 7.5" radius neck, which I love the feel of, but I have heard that they can contribute to fretting out.
Should I try and make an adjustment to the tremolo unit studs to level it out? Would this even help contribute to lowering the action a little and getting rid of that buzz high up on the E?
My legacy did the exact same thing last time my guitar tech set it up. (My legacy looks similar to your too). Coincidentally, I was about the ask the same question here too. Mine is setup to play pretty low though & sounds sweet, but I can't help wondering if the bridge plate is really supposed to be %100 level with the body? Is there any damage being done if it isn't?
Comparing the photo of the Legacy bridge with my S-500, it appears that the 2 bridge posts are screwed too far down on your Legacy. Just raise them a touch until the whole bridge plate is floating level with the body at 3/16" height and you'll be set up to G&L specs.
Yeah, Philby, I was wondering if that's even OK to do. Should I make sure it's not at full tension before making any adjustments to the bridge posts? Anybody have any advice on this, and know if I should even tamper with them?
Craig, thanks for the link. I'll make sure to read through that this evening before making any more adjustments.
I think that Phil is dead on. I would recommend that you raise the bridge plate screws but remove the tension springs before doing that. After you have raised the screws to the height needed to make the bridge level, check the screws for side play. If there is side play in the screws, I would remove them and use Teflon pipe tape too remove any play from the bridge screws. Otherwise you could have a tuning stability problem. The reason for removing the spring tension is to prevent any damage to the screws or bridgeplate while turning the screws. You do not want any burrs on either surface. --- Darwin
+1 what Darwin said. When I got my S-500 I took the whole bridge assembly off to see how it works and to clean off the dirt/oil/corrosion. So playing around with the height of the bridge posts shouldn't do any harm unless a bolt is in cross-thread.
My bridge was screwed right down tight against the body in an attempt by the previous owner to turn it into a hard tail. No wonder he wanted to sell it. It was horrible. With the bridge sitting parallel to the body at 3/16" the guitar plays perfectly and the tremelo response is fantastically smooth.
wangbar wrote:Yeah, Philby, I was wondering if that's even OK to do. Should I make sure it's not at full tension before making any adjustments to the bridge posts? Anybody have any advice on this, and know if I should even tamper with them?
Craig, thanks for the link. I'll make sure to read through that this evening before making any more adjustments.
Raising the bridge posts will NOT make the bridge plate level!!! Leveling requires adjustment of the Vibrato spring tension; adjusted by the spring claw on the back of the guitar. You need to follow the set-up procedures to get the bridge saddles' heights in proper relationship to the height of the bridge plate (adjusted by the fulcrum posts). If any one spec is out too far, you'll run into problems. You may need to shim the neck or use the Micro-Tilt adjustment to get the proper neck-to-body alignment, and the proper height of the bridge, to get the action you want.
With the 7.5" radius, it is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL, that you use a radius gauge to precisely set the relative heights of the bridge saddles. I simple cannot stress this enough. You can get radius gauges from Stew_Mac, or plastic ones from Dan Erlewine's book, "How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great". Fender-style saddles will drift over time, so check the bridge radius often. If you want your guitar to "play like buttah", you've got to have this spec right. Gibosn Tune-O-Matics are ALWAYS off--you have to have the saddles filed to create the proper radius.
Then, reset your intonation after final height adjustment are made.
Sorry about our terminology Bill. I should have referred to them as fulcrum posts. He is trying to get the fulcrum posts level with the shim he is using for the setup. Darwin.
Great info from everybody here. After a lot of experimentation, I came to the conclusion that a shim was necessary to correct the neck angle. Not something I'm comfortable doing myself, yet, so my Legacy is in the hands of a very capable Luthier here in Seattle, getting shimmed.
