U.S. Guitar Kits Cutaway Manuel d'utilisateur télécharger pdf (Page 36)

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Neck “relief,” the upward curvature of the neck in the direc-

tion of the string’s pull, is adjusted with the truss rod. You

should set the neck relief before ﬁnal adjustment of the

nut and saddle heights. Although the truss rod will affect

string height, it shouldn’t be used to do so. It’s intended to

control the relief, which can affect “buzzing” in the lower

frets. Depending on your playing style and the accuracy of

the fret heights, the neck should have anywhere from zero

(straight) to 0.012" of relief. A straight neck tends to play bet-

ter, but few guitars end up with no relief at all, and several

thousandths or more is perfectly normal.

Start with the nut and saddle roughed out to height, and

the guitar tuned to pitch. With a straightedge resting on

the frets, along the centerline of the neck, use feeler gauges

between the seventh fret and the straightedge to determine

the amount of relief. The heavier you strum, the more relief

you’ll need. Bluegrass players may need more relief, ﬁnger-

pickers less, and the majority of players will be somewhere

in between.

Turn the truss rod nut

counterclockwise to bring

the neck up, adding relief.

Turn the nut clockwise

to pull the neck back,

reducing relief.

Go slowly and carefully — a little

adjustment goes a long way.

Understanding neck relief

KIT TIP: Feeler gauges

Unwound guitar strings make excellent feeler

gauges for measuring relief. Turning the truss rod

nut clockwise straightens the neck and reduces

the relief.

Turning it counterclockwise bows the neck upward, adding

relief. Always adjust the truss rod with care — a little bit

goes a long way.

The ﬁrst stage of setup will produce a medium-high action

(this may be suitable for bluegrass players, but can be low-

ered for other playing styles). The heights of the nut and

the saddle should be adjusted together; changes in one will

affect the other. Adjust the truss rod to make the fretboard

playing surface as straight as possible. If your neck has un-

even fret heights, you must level them in order to “read” the

frets accurately (see “Leveling the frets”).

Install the two outside E-strings to establish the string clear-

ance over the ﬁrst fret and the saddle height above the top

of the bridge. The latter two measurements determine the

action height, judged by measuring string clearance at the

12th fret.

Install a guitar capo behind the ﬁrst fret and tighten it just

enough to pull the strings down for clearance between the

bottom of the strings and the top of the ﬁrst fret. Set this

clearance at about .020" below the treble E-string, and .030"

below the bass E-string. Use .020" and .030" guitar strings to

measure the clearance as the capo is tightened (pictured).

Now measure the overall string action at the 12th fret. A

comfortable medium action is about 3/32" to 7/64" under

the bass E-string, and 1/16" to 5/64" under the treble E-string.

Adjusting string action: nut slots and saddle height

Your bridge saddle may be too tall. Decide how much each

string must be lowered at the 12th fret. Twice that amount

must be removed from the saddle height (this is a proven

formula for lowering or raising the strings accurately).

The top of the saddle is already shaped, so we recommend

you remove material from the bottom of the saddle. Remove

the saddle and measure up from the bottom the required

amount to be removed. Use the same sanding method as

recommended in “Fitting the bridge saddle.” sanding evenly.

Work slowly and test often. You can remove a little more, but

once you've gone to far, it's impossible to add it back on!

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U.S. Guitar Kits Cutaway Manuel d'utilisateur Page 36

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