Fuck you guitar!

[Cat5Messiah]

Ok, I am asking for help.

I have been playing guitar for almost fifteen years but have no setup experience. Sad, huh?

Anyways, my guitar's intonation is horrible. I put on a new low E to be my new victim. I do the open E to 12 fret harmonic trick. Nothing seems off. But, when I actually fret the 12th fret, it is almost a full sharp too high. I tried adjusting my bridge saddle to accomodate the difference but it fails to fix my problem.

I've tried searching for information on what else I could do but everything I find is actually what I have already tried. My neck looks straight but it's almost hard to tell if it's perfectly straight. Even if I could tell (maybe I could if I took a better look) I don't even know which way to turn the nut for the truss rod adjustment.

My guitar is a Marty Friedman signature Jackson (the limited version) with a Floyd Rose floating bridge. Yea, Floyds are a bitch. But this is so bad that I can't even play the damn thing....and I have to get ready for a Battle of the Bands I'm doing next month.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really don't want to take my guitar to someone nor do I really trust anyone with it, it's my baby. Besides, I know what Guitar Center is like since I used to work there. I'd rather do this myself to also learn how to do it if need be again.

Yeeeeeeeee!

 

[mReEtTaIlRsEkD]

One of my basses got neck disease once from keeping it infront of the ac (I'm half retarded). Can't help you, I'm guitar setup retarded too, just better hope its not the trussrod(sp?).

Edit: Good luck though.

 

[MajestikMøøse]

I suggest a guitar tech

 

[Enemy242]

Yeah i don't know what it is either, intonation i think but i have no idea how to fix any of that or have any idea what im talking about. I'd suggest instead of fucking around with it yourself just taking it into a really expirienced tech. i tried to fix my floyd rose once when it was messed up on my jackson and i had to end up paying more money to fix it than i would have if i just took it in.

 

[FretsAflame]

Uhhhhhhhhhh

hm.

The 13th fret may actually be higher than the 12th fret. Did you try fretting the 13th and seeing if the 12th and 13th are roughly the same note?

Also if your guitar is a bolt-on you may want to check that the bolts are tight.

For your floyd, adjust the claw so that your bridge is FLAT with the guitar body at the desired tuning and see if that helps anything, and if that is too loose of a string tension for you than you can losen the claw a bit so that the bridge raises up.

If it's the frets though it may require sanding, if your neck is warped you're probably fucked.

 

[Cat5Messiah]

Uhhhhhhhhhh

hm.

The 13th fret may actually be higher than the 12th fret. Did you try fretting the 13th and seeing if the 12th and 13th are roughly the same note?

Also if your guitar is a bolt-on you may want to check that the bolts are tight.

For your floyd, adjust the claw so that your bridge is FLAT with the guitar body at the desired tuning and see if that helps anything, and if that is too loose of a string tension for you than you can losen the claw a bit so that the bridge raises up.

If it's the frets though it may require sanding, if your neck is warped you're probably fucked.

The difference in tone between the 12th and 13th fret appears to be an exact sharp (or close to it). My bridge is sitting too far up, it's not parallel with the guitar itself. It's not a bolt-on neck, either.

When you mean claw, do you mean the the two alen screws at the front of the bridge that cause the front of the bridge to go up and down?

I sure as hell hope it's not fucked....there are only 100 of these guitars worldwide.

 

[deathstrike from hell]

buttsecks.

 

[Cat5Messiah]

buttsecks.

Wow, thanks man! Solved all my problems!

 

[MajestikMøøse]

If you care about this guitar so much, I would strongly advise consulting a professional.

 

[Cat5Messiah]

I pretty much fixed it. There are some minor tweaks that need to be made but I'm not going to really worry about it right now. I plan on getting another guitar here soon and I can always use my rythym guitarist's other guitar for the show.

I'm paranoid of other people touching my guitar so when I get my new guitar, I'll probably destring this guitar, put it in a glass case and not touch it.

 

[FretsAflame]

What kind of guitar is it exactly?

And by the claw I meant - when you pop open the access space on the back, there are two screws holding a 'claw' which grasps springs that are connected to the bridge. Tightening these will effect the string tension.

So it's a neck thru? Your neck may be warping due to weather/having the tension set funky. you may also want to adjust your truss rod if you can.

 

[Cat5Messiah]

What kind of guitar is it exactly?

And by the claw I meant - when you pop open the access space on the back, there are two screws holding a 'claw' which grasps springs that are connected to the bridge. Tightening these will effect the string tension.

So it's a neck thru? Your neck may be warping due to weather/having the tension set funky. you may also want to adjust your truss rod if you can.

It's a Marty Friedman signature Jackson. It's the autographed version (limited to 100 worldwide).

Yea, I adjusted the claw. The bridge now sits parallel to the body, which is nice. I adjusted the Truss Rod as well. All in all, I improved the condition of my guitar though, there is a little bit of intonation problems that remain. Especially towards the 12th fret, tonal differences occure. I adjusted the saddle on my Low D which helped out alot, compared to how it was prior of doing so. I think some fine tuning adjustments need to be made but like I said, it's improved alot. I can now, at least work on this song without hitting excessive problems.

Shit, I'm blabbing. I need sleep.

 

[FretsAflame]

Oh ok, great! Glad you got it worked out - it sounds like more of a truss rod problem anyway to be honest, you could perhaps try tweaking it just a bit more if you're still having intonation problems, as doing so should largely eliminate them.

 

[NeonBlack69]

It's a Marty Friedman signature Jackson. It's the autographed version (limited to 100 worldwide).

Yea, I adjusted the claw. The bridge now sits parallel to the body, which is nice. I adjusted the Truss Rod as well. All in all, I improved the condition of my guitar though, there is a little bit of intonation problems that remain. Especially towards the 12th fret, tonal differences occure. I adjusted the saddle on my Low D which helped out alot, compared to how it was prior of doing so. I think some fine tuning adjustments need to be made but like I said, it's improved alot. I can now, at least work on this song without hitting excessive problems.

Shit, I'm blabbing. I need sleep.

Bro!! if you have a Friedman Kelly signature that cost $$$$,and is worth $$$$ and will forever be worth $$$$...then it is surely worth a $50-75 set-up job at your local music store. Think of it like an oil change - needed every 4-5K miles - if you like.

BTW, how's your Hangar 18 soundin these days?

 

[mReEtTaIlRsEkD]

My post was the most useful in my humble opinion.

 

[NeonBlack69]

My post was the most useful in my humble opinion.

I agree.

The lack of quality info in your's spurred me to action and, consequently, my insightful, helpful post.

What is steel compared to the hand that wields it?

 

[Cat5Messiah]

Bro!! if you have a Friedman Kelly signature that cost $$$$,and is worth $$$$ and will forever be worth $$$$...then it is surely worth a $50-75 set-up job at your local music store. Think of it like an oil change - needed every 4-5K miles - if you like.

BTW, how's your Hangar 18 soundin these days?

Yea, I just may. I have my eye on a Schecter C-1 Exotic (that I used to play all of the time when I worked at Guitar Center) that I might get in the near future. I love my Friedman, but because of it's rarity, I don't like playing it anymore.

As for Hanger 18; Wow. I haven't played that song in ages.

@FretsAflame: I messed with the Truss Rod quite a bit but I tried too hard to get it perfect. I really do appreciate all your help.

 

[FretsAflame]