Guitar setup rant

[Severinsteelsmith]

I am so sick of buzzing frets, truss rod adjustments, measuring relief, lowing bridges... I'll get the neck nice and straight, get the action where I want with the bridge, but the open strings will buzz like crazy. So I give the neck some relief but then I fret out in the higher frets. Agh! And when I compromise and raise the action a bit; I find that my 5th fret on the B string frets out no matter what. Crap! I just have to come to terms with the fact that no guitar I have tried can give me the low action and tone I want at the same time. Is there a guitar out there that gives you low or stupid low action but doesn't buzz?

[Algiman]

Listen to the man:

You canna break the laws of physics .......

You can only get away with a stupidly low action if you have a very light touch.
Seems to me that (assuming there is nothing wrong with the guitar) you're either not setting it up very well or trying to do something that is just impossible. How low do you want the action?

[Severinsteelsmith]

Yes, you are correct about the laws of physics. That is a great point actually. I don't have a light touch at all really; I have just gotten really pissed at having to set up a bunch of new guitars recently. For years I have played on a Les Paul that had stupid low action, to the point of a lot of buzzing actually, but it never showed up through the amp much (if at all) so I pretty much accepted it. After buying three Ibby's in the past 2 months, and setting them up myself, I realized that I can't get away with stupid low action on them without sacrificing some tone; they aren't quite as full sounding as far as sustain, etc as the LP because of the floating trem. I am cool with compromising because a super strat isn't supposed to feel like a set neck Les Paul, especially considering the scale length difference. So, I know I am wanting the impossible.

[Homebake]

wow, this is for a hardtail?

i just get the neck with the right amount of bow (i know what to look for), lower the action to my taste, then intonate. and that's on a floating bridge.

i keep my action like..."pretty low" but not as low as i can make it go, because then you sacrifice sustain and stuff.

[Severinsteelsmith]

Actually, this is for a floating trem. Actually, I am just frustrated in finding the optimum median point between low action and sustain.

[forest4]

My two cents, stop twisting it to and fro! Personally I think it's crazy to mess with adjusting the neck. One or two small tweaks is all I allow myself, then it goes to my guy. He is a genius, and he sets the action too low! It's straight, intonated and I could pretty much fret the strings by blowing on them. He just installed stainless frets on it, and I almost want to sleep with it and hug it all night. Find some one good who knows what there doing.

[forest4]

Oh, and if the tone changes, back the pups down a little. Small changes in location can make a difference.

[nickcoumbe]

Not trying to be insulting, but try taking them to someone else.

I actually can do setups to a point, but I take most to my guitar tech because he is better and in general set it up to how I describe.