Guitar Setup- Weather Related

[darwinohm]

It is that time in Minnesota when we have summer weather and the last week I have noticed a slight buzz in many of my guitars when I play them unplugged in the morning. I have always set up low action .045-.050 hight E and about .060 low E. I have changed my neck relief from about .008 to .004-5 in the last year. I could really tell the guitars that I hadn't played for some time. They were all about 3/4 of a note high out of tune. Retuned them and found that several had no relief or a bit of backbow. Some of them change about .008 in relief from winter to summer. With the low action I like they are more sensitive to change. Keep in mind that the steel trussrod does not change in length from humidity but the wood neck does. The temperature in the house changes very minimal. With the increase in humidity, the wood neck gets minimally longer and the truss rod stays the same effectively tightening the truss tension and therefore reducing the relief or creating a bit of back bow in my case where the relief is only .004 thousands to begin with. Many of you may not care or even be interested in this but I will tell you that I check the neck relief before I gig with a guitar. That is why I recommend that many of you can do this yourself. I have a Stewmac straight edge for the neck and a feeler guage, a truss rod adjustment wrench and the guitar is always where it should be. As usual the Parker didn't require adjustment as it is very stable and the G&L F-100 return was almost perfect. It is an Ebony fretboard. The Maple necks are more stable that the rosewood fretboards. I have suspected that for some time but now know that it is fact. So--- if you have developed a slight buzz, a slight tweak of the trussrod will likely do the job. -- Darwin

[westsideduck]

I'm going through the same process here in Western NY, I adjust my rods about three times a year but no straight edge or measuring, just capo the first fret and finger fret where the neck meets the body and the string is the straight edge, eye it up from there and adjust accordingly. I like my action really low also, so low that I sometimes will hear a slight buzz acousticly but no buzz when I'm plugged in and thats OK too.

I see your G&L collection growing pretty fast lately but NO LEO era guitars! you've got to get in on that Leo mojo from back in the early 80's Darwin, you don't know what your missing!

[sirmyghin]

Every time my ASAT has been out in the last week I have been tweaking the rod. so 3 or 4 times. I love seasonal shift. I don't check it like you do, I just know when something is off. (usually as it buzzes). Generalizing what is more stable based on the fretboard is a dangerous game, your results are probably to a much great extent coincidence. My most stable board is an unfinished neck (1 pc maple) rosewood board.

[darwinohm]

Sirmy, you are right that generalizing can be dangerous. What I do know is that of the guitars that I own, mostly Fender and G&l's the Maple fingerboard necks on mine are more stable than the same brands with rosewood fingerboards. Rosewood is very porus and will allow more moisture to be absorbed by the neck internally even though the Maple back of the neck is sealed with Poly or Nitro. A maple fingerboard neck that is sealed with poly all over will mostly absorb and breath from the inside were the truss rod is inserted and I believe will be more stable to change. I have been keeping track of this for more than 2 years and first noticed it on the Fender necks. Coincidence? Could be, but it is consistent on my guitars and that ultimately could be a coincidence for my guitars. I am also convinced that lemon oil on the rosewood more frequently reduced the change. The Ebony Gretsches are both very stable and the same for the Parker which is maple covered with carbon fiber. My G&L with an Ebony fretboard was also stable. I have only had the Asat 30 Th for a couple of months and it has been stable (Ebony Fretboaed). In the end, the same guitars do pretty much the same thing each year and that could be a nature of that particular beast. If nothing else, doing this to over 40 guitars certainly keeps this old dude entertained. Sirmy, I did listen to your song on my computer speakers today and like it. Later tonight I will listen through my recording monitors. A song I posted recently has a bit of distortion that a couple of people mentioned. SBN was listening through a good set of headphones and Jos noticed through his speakers. One of the last things I do after mixing songs is I listen through headphones after mastering. Thanks Sirmy and keep up the playing and recording.-- Darwin

[sirmyghin]

Want a fun kicker, my least stable neck is a ebony fretboard walnut and maple 5 piece. 5 piece necks are supposed to be more stable (I currently have the ebony and maple with ebony board being built, that should be one stiff mother). Maple boards are generally finished, which I would say contributes a lot to stability. Keeping your rosewood hydrated may help with stability, I use fret doctor bore oil nowadays, never ran into one quite that good (doesn't just dry after 3-4 days like mineral oil). I know what you mean about the every year thing, my bass causes me some grief as it moves a lot, every spring.

As far as the song goes, it is almost ready for a better go at it, there was a lot to improve in the mix, and I posted something about that earlier. I am getting excited to start tracking it again but need to get down with the drummer first. He will hopefully contribute a lot more energy be it MIDI triggered (through his V-drums) or if we find a way to record the real deal. The production side of things is what really makes tunes shine.

Hopefully the distortion just came in through pushign a little hard mastering. A limiter can usually ditch that sort of stuff.