Help, my KV1 needs medical assistance!

[Grahf]

Hey guys my KV1 has never had a great setup, I took it to my local music store and asked for a setup and they did a horrible job so I took it back and they did a slightly better job, but the action was still too low. well it's been about a year since then and now the action is so low that the guitar is not even playable on the first 5 frets or so. it's pure buzz. the high E string buzzes on every single fret, and i'm not talking the note rings out with a bit of buzz, there's no note whatsoever. just a *chunk* sound.

anyway, I know i probably just have to turn my truss rod to fix this, does anyone know which way (clockwise\counterclockwise) will bring the neck back and make the action higher again? you can visibly tell the neck is bent while playing the guitar by the way.

thanks in advance

ps. anyone know what size allan wrench I will need?

[T@rgetDrone]

You have a PM Sir.

[Axewielder]

Are you saying there is backbow to the neck? Yikes. Those old KV's have one-way truss rods. If this is the case, going with heavier strings is about the only option.

[Dred]

Shim the nut. Will work wonders. Might not be a complete fix, but will help ya out tremendously.

[Jacksons Shred]

Bring it back, you paid money for a setup. Any reason why the guitar is unplayable is unacceptable.

[toejam]

Shim the nut. Will work wonders. Might not be a complete fix, but will help ya out tremendously.

How do you shim the nut on a KV1 (Dave Mustaine sig) when it has a regular nut and not a Floyd nut?
I'd just loosen the truss rod and see if that helps. Look down the nut from the top of the headstock and turn left (counterclockwise).

[Grahf]

Are you saying there is backbow to the neck? Yikes. Those old KV's have one-way truss rods. If this is the case, going with heavier strings is about the only option.

Um, it's more like.. front bow? haha. I've definately set up guitars before, but it was about 3 years ago before I was any decent at playing, nowadays I have 100% focused on playing and forgot most of what I knew about setting them up.

[Grahf]

Bring it back, you paid money for a setup. Any reason why the guitar is unplayable is unacceptable.

Well, I already did, but they argued with me over and over that it was a fantastic setup, even though I showed them that the action was so low I couldn't play pinch harmonics, bend without crashing all the strings together, or basically get a good tone in general.

They also tried to convince me my kahler fixed bridge was a "floyd rose" which are harder to setup, therefore I shouldn't get my money back. Finally I convinced them to tweak the truss rod a little bit and make the action higher, but it still wasn't a very good setup

*face palm*

[Grahf]

How do you shim the nut on a KV1 (Dave Mustaine sig) when it has a regular nut and not a Floyd nut?
I'd just loosen the truss rod and see if that helps. Look down the nut from the top of the headstock and turn left (counterclockwise).

I'm just really scared I'm gonna use one size too small allan wrench and strip the nut

sorry for the triple post. should've edited

[Brian]

How do you shim the nut on a KV1 (Dave Mustaine sig) when it has a regular nut and not a Floyd nut?
I'd just loosen the truss rod and see if that helps. Look down the nut from the top of the headstock and turn left (counterclockwise).

Hehe, yeah. Not sure how you shim a phenolic nut. :think:

I have read that if the nut height is too low on a non-locking glued in nut you can fill in/build up the slots with super glue if you don't want to go the route of replacing the nut altogether. Never done that though, and it sounds like it might be a bit messy.

Front bow? The tech did this??

[Brian]

Well, I already did, but they argued with me over and over that it was a fantastic setup, even though I showed them that the action was so low I couldn't play pinch harmonics, bend without crashing all the strings together, or basically get a good tone in general.

They also tried to convince me my kahler fixed bridge was a "floyd rose" which are harder to setup, therefore I shouldn't get my money back. Finally I convinced them to tweak the truss rod a little bit and make the action higher, but it still wasn't a very good setup

*face palm*

Jesus...

DO NOT bring your guitar back there. Sucks you spent money there, but heh... eat the money and walk away. Insisting these people who don't know their asshole from their elbow continue to work on your KV1 doesn't sound like a good idea.

Considering they don't even know what kind of bridge it is, I seriously doubt they know how to adjust it. My guess is they didn't even adjust the height of the saddles on the bridge. Sounds like they just kept turning the truss rod to make adjustments.

[Grahf]

toejam, are you sure I shouldn't turn it right? I turned it left and it made it worse. Cause I think turning left tightens it

[toejam]

Turning left loosens it and should bring the strings away from the board. You look down into the nut from the top and turn left (towards the high E/counterclockwise).

First adjust your action at the bridge, then hold the low E string down at the first and last frets and check for a slight gap somewhere between the string and frets 4 through 9. You probably won't have a gap, since you say the strings are too close, and will need to loosen the rod. If there's a gap more than the size of between a 9, 10 or 11 gauge high E string (give or take), then you'd tighten the rod to bring the strings closer to the board.

[AK47]

Sounds like what Brian says about the Kahler saddles need adjusting. If the guitar had a bad back bow it would have been from the factory like this not after a setup...unless they fucked up the neck by over tightening the truss rod...

[StukaJU87]

toejam, are you sure I shouldn't turn it right? I turned it left and it made it worse. Cause I think turning left tightens it

Counter clockwise!!!!!