Action and Intonation

[Pez]

Hey guys how do first post onthe jackson forums hope it finds you all well! anyhoo:

I have a dk2m (lovely guitar) which i bought a little over half a year ago, im really happy with it kick ass guitar to play, i have a wrxt warrior which i used to play before and the dinky is a really good step up from that i find xD my question is this:

The guitar came in standard tuning, i need it to be in D. I also do a lot of tapping so i need the action to be as low as possible right the way across the neck. Ive had a little fiddle myself and got the claw into the right place so that the bridge floats when its tuned to D, but ive heard even retuning it can introduce error into the intonation? I also recon that the action could be lower but I don't want to fck up another one of my guitars so I wana leave it to a tech lol

Unfortunatly where I live (England near Bristol) there is a drought on guitar shops and the few that we have down here (even in the city) are OK for buying strings but other than that I wouldnt trust them at all lol. Can anyone recommend somewhere to send my dinky to be nicely setup? Preferabbly in the south-west cause I dont want to be without mah dinkeh for too long :P

[Trussrod]

Welcome and it's possible you'd get a better response if you posted this in the Tech Q&A section. Can't you use a digital tuner to check the intonation yourself? They're under $20. Youtube has some nice instructional vids on it too.

[warlok]

If you got it tuned to D and got it floating the way you want it, you CAN set the intonation and lower the action (string height) yourself. Look at it methodically - if you lower the bridge, string height goes down and vice versa). If you loosen the truss rod, the neck bows up (towards the front of the guitar), if you do small incremental adjustments and take your time, you really can't mess it up. As long as you don't hook the impact wrench to the truss rod nut, you won't mess it up. lol.
That being said, do you know what each adjustment does? If you do, then set it up yourself. If not, there's tutorials everywhere on guitar setup. And, there's the vast knowledge here to help. Ask questions - they'll get answered.

[Snoogans]

Mansons Guitars in Exeter are very good, and only about an hour or so from you. I've trusted them with my guitar before.

Oh, and welcome to the madhouse!

[Spivonious]

You can set it up yourself, and probably do a better job than most shops. You just need a tuner, a philipshead screwdriver, the allen keys that came with the guitar, and a truss rod wrench.

Check the neck bow first. It should be either flat or slightly bowed back, depending on your preference. Turn the truss rod to adjust this.

Next set the action by raising/lowering the bridge. Turn the bridge post screws until you're happy with the action and there isn't any fret buzz.

Next, tune up the guitar. Check the bridge level. It should be level with the body. Some people also like to tilt it towards the nut a bit for more pull-up range. Use the screwdriver to tighten/loosen the claw in the back until the bridge is level and the guitar in tune.

Finally, check the intonation. Play the 12th fret harmonic and fret the 12th fret. The tones should be the same. If the fretted note is flat, you'll need to move the saddle closer to the nut, if sharp move it away from the nut. It's a PITA to do this on a Floyd, but just be patient. Eventually you'll learn how much adjustment the saddle needs.

And that's it, your guitar is setup.

[Newc]

When retuning with a Floyd, be aware that as the strings loosen, the bridge tilts back. So if you detune to D first and then loosen the claw, you'll end up far below your target.
Then, when you tune the strings up to meet your target, the bridge will lean forward too far.

It's best to loosen the strings to Eb, then loosen the claw springs to D and then you should be close enough to tweak them both into the exact target.


As for the neck, I don't see how a slight backbow will help. You'll get a lot of buzz and it will fret out easily. I set mine flat first at the tuning I want, then give it a quarter of a turn counterclockwise to loosen the trussrod, letting the strings pull the neck forward just enough to notice when sighting down the neck from the bridge to the nut (like a rifle).

After that, I lower the bridge posts until a full-step bend at the 15th fret on the high E frets out, then raise it again just to the point where that note doesn't fret out.

That method always gives me the lowest action, requiring the lightest touch, and I have very minimal buzz. However, it also depends on your attack. I pick lightly with a JazzIII. Hamfisting with a Dunlop Tortex Medium is going to give lots of spank and plink, as well as horrendous buzzing.

You will not be able to do Master Of Puppets with action that low.
I tried. Sounds like ass. Even more assy than it does when I do it with higher action


Intonating those low-profile trems is a bitch compared to an OFR, especially if your'e lucky enough to own a Key tool.

However, years ago my laziness prompted me to risk life and limb by holding a flathead screwdriver smack against the front of the saddle with the string at pitch, secure the guitar body with my elbows, laying it flat in my lap, and as I loosened the intonation set screw I pushed hard against the saddle with the srewdriver, inching it back then tightening the set screw.

It's work, but it works.


I'm sure there's a specific mathematical formula you can use where you measure the string from the nut to the tip of the saddle and calculate something, then that tells you how far back or forward the saddle has to go, but I haven't seen it, and I don't think I want to.

[Spivonious]

As for the neck, I don't see how a slight backbow will help.

I can see how what I wrote comes across that way, but I meant that the neck would be bowed a bit, not backbowed. Carry on.

[Pez]

hail again guys thanks for the responses and thanks to whoever moved the thread!!

Should probably have mentioned that i do know how to set a guitar up, been playing music long enough to intonate one by ear, etc, I just want it set up *REALLY, REAAAALY* nicely and i dont have the patience to do it, and im not confident that i can get it 110% perfect myself.

Are the shops really that shit? Theyre not COMPLETELY hopeless here, but i certainly wouldnt trust them to get the absolute best out of me dinky. Might have to take a trip down to exeter if thats the closest place

[Newc]

Well, setups are generally such an individual preference type of thing that shops can only go by technical specs such as x amount of distance at x fret using a feeler gauge, pickups x distance from strings, etc etc.

[Spivonious]

hail again guys thanks for the responses and thanks to whoever moved the thread!!

Should probably have mentioned that i do know how to set a guitar up, been playing music long enough to intonate one by ear, etc, I just want it set up *REALLY, REAAAALY* nicely and i dont have the patience to do it, and im not confident that i can get it 110% perfect myself.

Are the shops really that shit? Theyre not COMPLETELY hopeless here, but i certainly wouldnt trust them to get the absolute best out of me dinky. Might have to take a trip down to exeter if thats the closest place

Shops won't do anything better than you could do it yourself. But it's your money.

[Dreamland_Rebel]

the problem with guitar shop setups is the guy doesn't take the time to stretch the strings out real good before setting them up. if the string isn't stretched out properly when its first strung to tension, your intonation will drift and not settle until the life of the string's tone is long gone. you'll also have issues with you bridge tilting on tremolo equipped guitars.

[dirtyroadie]

been playing music long enough to intonate one by ear, etc,

If you've got a tuner, why go through setting the intonation by ear?

I've got relatively good ears and I'll ballpark intonation without a tuner, but for fine tuning, I always use my Peterson.

[Pez]

i dont own a tuner so not an option anyway :P

well i re-intonated it in D, put the action as low as possible. im quite happy with it now really. The action isnt quite perfect but im not pissed off enough with it enough to fiddle with the truss rod at the risk of fucking it up. i guess the best thing to do if i want liquid action is to buy a better jackson

[Scooter]

If your action is still too high, you might consider a shim in the neck pocket, I did it, and my DXMG plays beautiful.