'Fret out' and action height dilema

[moon_monster]

Hi People
Thanks to you guys and the info files i have got my new UV7BK trem floating and fluttering well. I added a three fold card shim, and highered the trem from the low depths of the body!

The problem i have now is that the action is 2mm from top of 24th fret to bottom of low B and just under 2mm on the high E, if i bend 4 frets at 17th fret it frets out, but i want the action a bit lower (like my strat). That is my 'catch 22'

What do i do?

[Dr_Guitar]

Experiment with the neck relief, Im able to get really low on the new Pretige necks. Also check the nut height, Im finding them to be too high from the factory.

[Rich]

If I'm reading this right then only when you big bend the E at the 17th it's choking, in which case the 18th is a micro level out right where the E crosses it under the bend. If you haven't trimmed frets down or tapped them into line I would leave that to somebody else. Adjusting the relief is only effective if all the frets are choking under bends, and of course the nut is too high, they all are, but that won't affect playing at the 17th in the least. You can set the action with the strings laying right on the frets, you just have to be able to live with the amount of buzz and choking you'll get in that type setup.

[Paul Secondino]

Unfortunately, you don't get Anderson/Suhr quality fret jobs from Ibanez.

THe RG2020x I bought from Rich plays extremely well but it happens to be one that was done well at the factory. THe RG 2120x I jsut bought (NOS) was almsot as good but not quite.

When I buy any Ibanez, I buy it with the knowledge that it will need a fret level by my tech to play 100% its best.Then I can make the action extremely low and not get any buzzing anywhere.

If oyu have a good tech that you trust, invest $150.00 to $185.00 for a professional level and polish.

Like Rich said.The nut should have nothing to do with playing at the 17th fret.

[Dr_Guitar]

Originally Posted by Paul Secondino

Unfortunately, you don't get Anderson/Suhr quality fret jobs from Ibanez.

THe RG2020x I bought from Rich plays extremely well but it happens to be one that was done well at the factory. THe RG 2120x I jsut bought (NOS) was almsot as good but not quite.

When I buy any Ibanez, I buy it with the knowledge that it will need a fret level by my tech to play 100% its best.Then I can make the action extremely low and not get any buzzing anywhere.

If oyu have a good tech that you trust, invest $150.00 to $185.00 for a professional level and polish.

Like Rich said.The nut should have nothing to do with playing at the 17th fret.

I have to dissagree, Ibanez's fretwork is really quite good, I can usually get the action as low as a Jackson. A good fret level with sting tension applied to the neck will make for a great playing guitar, but Ibanez's rarely need this. I agree with Rich, its a minor problem on one fret.

[Dr_Guitar]

Originally Posted by Paul Secondino

Unfortunately, you don't get Anderson/Suhr quality fret jobs from Ibanez.

THe RG2020x I bought from Rich plays extremely well but it happens to be one that was done well at the factory. THe RG 2120x I jsut bought (NOS) was almsot as good but not quite.

When I buy any Ibanez, I buy it with the knowledge that it will need a fret level by my tech to play 100% its best.Then I can make the action extremely low and not get any buzzing anywhere.

If oyu have a good tech that you trust, invest $150.00 to $185.00 for a professional level and polish.

Like Rich said.The nut should have nothing to do with playing at the 17th fret.

I have to dissagree, Ibanez's fretwork is really quite good, I can usually get the action as low as a Jackson. A good fret level with sting tension applied to the neck will make for a great playing guitar, but Ibanez's rarely need this. I agree with Rich, its a minor problem on one fret.

[MicJustMic]

Back in Dec 2002 I bought an RG 520 QSTB. It is a 1999 model and had been sitting in the store for some time.

My point? I'll get there . . .

The guitar, while dusted and polished (after it came out of storage) simply sat near a plate window, sun shining on it most days, never set up, I was told it was almost never touched, still had the stock strings on it.

The guitar kind of called to me, I'm sure some of you understand this . . . but being it had been in a store-room for a couple of years, then set on a shelf and never really checked over, I expected MINOR problems with setting it up, if going from a cold store-room to having the sun shine on it daily wouldn't cause some problems, I think the only other thing would be tossing it into a wall . . .

My point . . .

After a proper set up, I could have gone with 1mm action across the board with (almost) no buzzing or choking, the frets were VERY well set and level. Totally stock AND after sitting all that time, cold/hot/sun.

My 1990 RG550, while I don't know it's history before I bought it (pretty much picked it up right after they put it on the rack) it too had almost perfect frets. Back then all I cared about was low action and would go as low as I could without choking and, if memory serves, I had it at about 1mm across the board. Of course it's 14 years old now and I've never leveled the frets, but I have my action much higher now so as long as it's not choking anywhere, I'm not going to go through the work.

I've set up quite a few guitars for friends, and usually manage to talk them into Ibanez when they are looking for something "different". Actually it's the guitar that sells them on it, not me, I just suggest it . . . but I digress . . . and all of them have had pretty much good fretwork. Only a few times (in about 25 or so guitars) have I had to file a fret or two because of choking.

Of course Rich does this MUCH more often than I do, so he'll have more to do since you WILL have some slip through with a high fret or three, but I digress again . . .

Check out the frets on a Mexican Strat . . . I've also set up a few Gibs that REALLY needed good levels, beyond my skill to do as the entire board had to be done . . . I'm NOT doing that on a $2500 guitar with binding on the neck . . .

Mic