Charvel setup

[shortguy]

Hi gang. I got a SD1 production. Do I set this up like any regular guitar. You know .010 relief, 5/64ths on the low at the 12th and 3/64ths high? I know action and everything is personal preference but I need a guide to go on. I just what semi- low. No fret buzz. Thanks.

[Grandturk]

i don't measure anything when i do setups. i do it all by eye and feel.

[shreddermon]

+1. I do my own set-ups mostly by feel and playability, too.

The only times I feel the need to actually measure stuff is when trying to diagnose a problem with a set-up. i.e., I can't get the action low enough without buzzing or, when there's buzzing, I'm trying to figure out where the problem is (nut height, neck relief, neck angle, yada yada), etc. And, so far, I've only experienced that on a few guitars in my life.

[phill_up]

welcome to the forum shortguy

[shortguy]

Thanks guys. I'm afraid I'm not that experienced with Floyds, so I have to go by some measurements. No place around here to take it too. I did take the neck off and tighten the truss. When I measure the relief at the 7th fret wire, the curviture of the frets seem to have the middle strings close to the wire but the 6th seems far away. Hope this makes sense. Do I measure relief at the 3rd or 4th string as opposed to the 6th as on hardtails?

[shortguy]

I tightened the truss a couple of easy clicks and measured. It seems if I have to measure .010 at the 6th it will never get there. Dont want to go much farther. When I capo the first and hold down the 3rd and 4th strings at the last fret and run a .010 feeler under the 3rd and 4th at the 7th fret wire, I feel a little resistance. A .008 slides very nicely. Should I stop and wait for the neck to settle? Thanks everyone for helping.

[joelayres]

Nothing wrong with .008 relief - most of mine are between .005 and .010.

[AndyK]

The neck will continue to settle - mine still had too much relief when I cranked the truss rod tighter and put the neck back on (PITA). But I played it and gave it a few days, and the neck straightened nicely now!

[shortguy]

Thanks Andy. yeah it's a PITA. I detuned the strings and then capoed the first fret to hold them in place, made the adjustment, then neck back on and tuned to standard. I'm still confused on this relief deal on the 6th. I'll never get the relief down to .010 on the 6th. For some reason i feel the nut shelf is cut too high. Did you remove the sandpaper shim?

[joelayres]

Did you remove the sandpaper shim?

Yep - first check to be sure your first fret is not high - mine was.
After leveling it out, the shim was removed.

[phill_up]

took me a minute to figure out what pita meant. pain in the @ss?

[shortguy]

Will do Joe. Yeah, thats what it means Phill. I wrote Charvel about 3 days ago about the sharpness of the notes on the first 4 frets and a fender rep replied with a nice email. He said that the techs said all Floyds are sharp down there but I could remove the sandpaper shim. However, he said it might cause buzzing on the first 4 frets. He said Floyds were tempermental. No do-do.

[shortguy]

Fellows, if some of you have the Charvel Production and have the time, could you measure your action on the 6th and 1st strings on the 12th fret wire to give me a idea of what everyone plays at. I play 10s. If someone has a production that they left alone and didnt touch from the factory, could you post those measurements please. Thanks everybody for your help.

[Grandturk]

Fellows, if some of you have the Charvel Production and have the time, could you measure your action on the 6th and 1st strings on the 12th fret wire to give me a idea of what everyone plays at. I play 10s. If someone has a production that they left alone and didnt touch from the factory, could you post those measurements please. Thanks everybody for your help.

Yikes... I'd need like a ruler or something for that.

[Dolan]

i don't measure anything when i do setups. i do it all by eye and feel.

Yup................its pretty easy after you've done it a few hundred times.