Can’t Seem to Set up Jackson Dinky Pro

[Verminator25]

I recently bought a very nice Jackson DK2QM Pro for a steal. I was upgrading from an LTD KH-2 and I love everything on my new Jackson except I can’t seem to set it up like I had my other guitar. My LTD was set up PERFECTLY; very low action, very little buzz, a little bit of truss rod bow, and none of the top strings fretted out during bends. Basically the action on this LTD was almost the same at the 24th fret as it was at the nut. However, I can’t seem to achieve this on my $1200 Jackson. Both are Floyd equipped guitars but the Jackson has an OFR while the LTD was licensed. I have tried (seemingly) every possible combination of adjusting the height of the FR, the float angle, the truss rod bow, everything, but I still can’t get the top strings to the height that I want them without a full step bend fretting out. I even have a compound fretboard radius but it still happens for some reason. I’m hoping you guys will have some answers.

Thanks

[Verminator25]

One more thing, it seems that when I tighten the truss rod the whole neck doesn’t bow, the bow starts around the 14th fret and goes down to the first but frets 15-24 seem straight.

[JacksonPyro]

I had a simiar problem with my older Jackson. and i put some flat metal inserts in under the saddles at the low and high E strings like someone recommended here in an old post. apparently the radius . was flatter than the Floyd rose was.

I recently bought a very nice Jackson DK2QM Pro for a steal. I was upgrading from an LTD KH-2 and I love everything on my new Jackson except I can’t seem to set it up like I had my other guitar. My LTD was set up PERFECTLY; very low action, very little buzz, a little bit of truss rod bow, and none of the top strings fretted out during bends. Basically the action on this LTD was almost the same at the 24th fret as it was at the nut. However, I can’t seem to achieve this on my $1200 Jackson. Both are Floyd equipped guitars but the Jackson has an OFR while the LTD was licensed. I have tried (seemingly) every possible combination of adjusting the height of the FR, the float angle, the truss rod bow, everything, but I still can’t get the top strings to the height that I want them without a full step bend fretting out. I even have a compound fretboard radius but it still happens for some reason. I’m hoping you guys will have some answers.

Thanks

[metalhobo]

are you getting the fret out on the top string all the way up and down the neck or just at certain spots?

and yes, the floyd has a fixed 12" radius which will not match your guitar. you could shim the saddles to the correct radius, but this would mainly just enable to to get a lower action on the middle strings and shouldn't affect the issues you're having on the top strings

[blackhatch]

One more thing, it seems that when I tighten the truss rod the whole neck doesn’t bow, the bow starts around the 14th fret and goes down to the first but frets 15-24 seem straight.

15-24 are bridge height territory..

[xenophobe]

15-24 are bridge height territory..

^ this. Problems in this area are lovingly called Fender Neck Hump. This is where you usually experience issues if the neck is warped or twisted. However, just because you're having issues doesn't mean your neck is twisted, warped or out of spec.

Adjust the neck so it's basically flat, with maybe 1/2mm-1mm @ 12th when you fret the string at the 1st and 22/24th. If you can get the higher registers to clear with little buzz but not the lower ones, you should probably try shimming the nut.

[JacksonPyro]

sometime a change in humidity around my place causes weird stuff too .. just an idea

[Verminator25]

Ok wow that actually makes perfect sense. I didn’t realize that Floyd’s were set to a 12 inch radius. I just bought some saddle shims off eBay and I will let you guys know when I install them. Thanks a lot for all the answers!

[Verminator25]

Well I got the saddle shims in the mail and I experimented with them. I found that no combination of them made the problem any better. When I got the action for the upper frets right, the lower ones started buzzing. Bummer! I guess this is just inherent with a compound radius fretboard...