RG 8 Setup help

[Hybrid138]

I can't get my 8th and 7th string to stop buzzing. The neck looks straight and the action is way higher on my 8th string. I'm tuning down to E and I'm using a .082 as my 8th string. Any tips on helping me set it up?

 

[channie]

you need to give the neck some relief, i had mine set up that way with the F# string on 0.84, however the action is still considered on the medium high side for both F# and B string. You would not be able to have low action on a dead straight rg8 neck, the F# and B string would definitely buzz out and have dead notes, your only other option is to refret or recrown the frets ( which i think is not worth it )

In my personal opinion this is all mainly due to the fretwork , but for such a low price,i can't really complain and i will live with it

 

[Hybrid138]

So I would turn the truss rod to the right and lower the action? The 8th strung is crazy high right now

 

[channie]

if its just the action , use a allan key and lower your saddles on the bridge of the F# string

 

[Hybrid138]

It's not just the action. I made the action high because of the buzz and dead notes.

Neck as of now

Action

Saddles (almost maxed out!)

 

[saxman42]

A higher gauge string will help if you can tolerate it. That way, it will be a higher tension at the same pitch and will flop around less.

 

[channie]

A higher gauge string will help if you can tolerate it. That way, it will be a higher tension at the same pitch and will flop around less.

yes, you can try the curt mangan .84 gauges they sound very good.

but i still think u need to set some relief on your neck, turn it abit at a time in a clockwise manner , not more than 1/4 a circle, if you are not confident please bring it to a guitar tech

 

[saxman42]

but i still think u need to set some relief on your neck, turn it abit at a time in a clockwise manner , not more than 1/4 a circle, if you are not confident please bring it to a guitar tech

This ^^

Also, if it really is just that 8th string and you don't mind buying a new nut, it could be worth buying a new one and carefully filing it (or pay someone to do it if you're not sure about doing it yourself). I would say that's a last-resort option, though. Try Channie's suggestion, first.

 

[Hybrid138]

So clockwise will give relief?

 

[saxman42]

Yes. Clockwise tightens the truss rod, which gives a bit of string relief.

Adjusting a truss rod takes a lot of practice and patience. Ideally, your neck should be perfectly flat and you should be able to adjust your action with your bridge height, only. This is almost never the case, though. I would start by tightening or loosening the rod as much as it needs for the neck to be perfectly flat with the strings in tune. Then, adjust your bridge height until you don't have fret buzz.

If you're not happy with how high your action is at that point, you want to tighten the truss rod (clockwise) a bit and lower the bridge. Always make sure to retune after each adjustment. I usually do about 1/8 of a turn at a time. I flex the neck a LITTLE BIT back and forth with my hands a couple of times to let it settle in place. Then, tune it back up, and check the action check again.

Does that all make sense? This is hard to explain without pictures...

 

[Hybrid138]

I'll give adjusting the truss rod a try and I'll lower the saddles after too. Will this help with my intonation problem too? When I fret on the 8th string things go sharp pretty bad.

 

[saxman42]

Do you mean that all fretted notes are going sharp, or they get more out of tune as you go up the neck?

 

[mongey]

So clockwise will give relief?

thats backwards IMHO. clockwise does tighten but it straightens the neck as the truss rod fights against the pull of the strings. tightening too much will create back bow . Anti clockwise loosens which lets the neck bend with the pull towards the bridge creating relief

 

[saxman42]

thats backwards IMHO. clockwise does tighten but it straightens the neck as the truss rod fights against the pull of the strings. tightening too much will create back bow . Anti clockwise loosen which lets the neck bend with the pull towards the bridge

YES! My bad! I don't know what I was thinking! Sorry! You're right.

 

[mongey]

YES! My bad! I don't know what I was thinking! Sorry! You're right.

Yeah . I get stuff backwards online in posts all the time


OP also you should never use truss rod adjusment to adjust action. get the neck right then adjust the saddles for intonation and action . adjusting the rod is pretty easy . google it there is a ton of info on relief and many great you tube vids explaining how to do it safely. but if you do it keep the adjustments small. quarter turns and let it sit for a logn time. even a whole day . it takes a while for the wood to move and settle

 

[Hybrid138]

Well, I'm not using the trus rod to adjust action. The reason my action is so high is because I needed it higher so I wouldn't have dead notes. That gave me very high action and made intonation worse. I turned it clockwise today so I guess tomorrow I'll try to reverse what I did today. I think I'll drop my action down too. Any suggestion as to how low my action should be? I know it's a matter of opinion but a ball park suggestion?

 

[saxman42]

I'm a fan of "As low as possible without fret buzz". I usually accept a little bit of fret buxx to make it lower, too.

 

[mongey]

Yeah low as possible with minimal buzz. You may get some string rattle that doesn't come through the amp, that's ok to most people and part of a low action. Buzzing out on frets not so much.

If you Fret the 1st fret and the fret where the neck meets the body you usually want a tiny bit of space between string and fret at the 5th to 7th fret. That's the relief.

how flat you can get it depends on the quality of your neck and fret work. my 2 mid range 6ers need a bit of relief . my custom 7 with a really well made neck I set it pretty much flat with no relief and it doesnt buzz out

 

[donray1527]

Try this little nifty trick to see how strait the neck is. Fret the lowest string at the first fret, and use your right hand pinky to frett the last (24th in your case) fret, and look how close the string is from touching the 12th fret. You always want the smallest bit of bow, so the string shouldnt rest on the 12th fret, but be barely off of it. Adjust your truss rod so that when the first and last frets are freted at the same time, the string is a hairs thickness off the 12th. It is also worth noteing that you do this in playing position, so gravity will affect the guitar as normal.

 

[Hybrid138]

Try this little nifty trick to see how strait the neck is. Fret the lowest string at the first fret, and use your right hand pinky to frett the last (24th in your case) fret, and look how close the string is from touching the 12th fret. You always want the smallest bit of bow, so the string shouldnt rest on the 12th fret, but be barely off of it. Adjust your truss rod so that when the first and last frets are freted at the same time, the string is a hairs thickness off the 12th. It is also worth noteing that you do this in playing position, so gravity will affect the guitar as normal.

Would I use the 8th string? I'm assuming I would have to lower the action first?