ESP SC-207 issues

[Dougal]

Hi all,

So I've had an LTD for about 4 or 5 months now; really like the feel of it but I'm having some rather irritating problems with it.

I got it, and straight away without really playing it properly, switched the pickups for 707s (and gave the factory pups away) and sanded the finish off the the back of the neck. After getting that sorted and settling in to play it properly, I found two things driving me nuts that I could do with some help with if possible.

First, the intonation is all over the place. An in-tune low B or E is horrible sharp at the 5th fret. All the usual adjustments seem to make no difference. I've changed strings more than once, checked the truss rod adjustment, nothing seems to be helping. The intonation on all strings is very hard to get tight actually, but the bottom two are the worst offenders. It does not stay in tune well either; re-tuning every 2 mins is not unusual.

Secondly, the tension on the low B is far too loose. Playing with anything above a gentle picking can cause the note to vary by up to a half semi-tone, which is obviously no use. I've raised the bridge to ridiculous levels without much improvement. Only thing I can think of doing is increasing the tension in the truss rod, but that seems like a bad idea to me...

I've been playing for some time (20-ish years), and this is far from my first guitar and I'm pretty happy doing my own work; but this thing just isn't behaving like I would expect a guitar to. I've got a 15 year old Squire Tele with a complete mish-mash of parts that stays in tune better and plays cleaner than the LTD.

I must confess I assume that the guitar is faulty in some way, but the shop I bought it from won't touch it due to the modifications. They won't even take a look at it without charging me though, so before I change the tuners / get the neck looked at I thought I'd have a post on here and see if anybody has had any similar issues.

Cheers!

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Get a thicker B string, that'll tighten up the tension. Then either lube (running the tip of a pencil through the slot works wonders) or replace the nut with a high quality graphite one, chances are that'll solve the tuning issues.

From there, work on intonation. Keep in mind you need a very accurate tuner to get it right.

It just sounds like your guitar needs a proper set-up.

 

[i_like_shred]

I'd say new machine heads will fix the tuning stability issue, as for the 5th fret being sharp, id say its been put in a tiny bit too sharp or something. If this is the case, you should be able to get a new neck or new guitar on warranty (im not 100% sure on this since the pickup replacement may have voided it). String tension is dependant on string thickness x scale length, since you cant change the scale length, get thicker strings for the loose strings.

Basicly set the truss rod for neck straightness, set the bridge for comfortable action, change the strings for thicker ones for increased tension, replace the machine heads if you need, in that order.

But if your 5th fret IS faulty (not in the 100% correct position), you SHOULD be able to get it fixed for free though an ESP dealer. Definately contact your ESP dealer and see what they can do for you.

Hope this helps

 

[Dougal]

That most definitely helps.

I'll give those a try and see where I end up.

I spoke to a local shop who are an ESP dealer and they said the warranty was completely void because I'd taken the finish off the back of the neck (even though it was done very gently with very fine sandpaper) and they basically wouldn't touch the guitar under warranty.

So there you go; lesson one is make sure the guitar is 100% OK before altering it.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Esp Griffyn]

That most definitely helps.

I'll give those a try and see where I end up.

I spoke to a local shop who are an ESP dealer and they said the warranty was completely void because I'd taken the finish off the back of the neck (even though it was done very gently with very fine sandpaper) and they basically wouldn't touch the guitar under warranty.

So there you go; lesson one is make sure the guitar is 100% OK before altering it.

Thanks for the replies.

Well, that goes without saying, it's common sense.

You should take it to a tech and ask for a full set up for low action. If you don't know what you are doing you could end up making it even worse, and improper truss adjustments are not beneficial to your guitar in the slightest. Shouldn't cost more than £30, but if you were in enough of a hole to take it back to the shop then £30 shouldn't seem like too much to get it working.