S1220 WNF Prestige

OCSk8Brdr · #1 10-13-2003, 08:34 PM

Good afternoon folks. I've got an S1220 WNF. I love it to death, but I have some nagging string buzz and it's starting to drive me crazy! I've got it strung up with D'Addario 10-46s, dropped down to D. I've tried a lot of different things, like adjusting the bridge height and increasing the amount of neck bow. I'm trying to find the happy medium between no fret buzz and decent, low action. Most of my fret buzzing is occuring between frets 1 and 7 or 9.

I've got the bass side of my Edge higher than the treble side (the bottom of the knife edge on the bass side is flush with the top of the body, and the top edge of the knife edge the on treble side is just barely above the top of the body). Also, the nut seems to be ok, as far as height. It came with a shim when I bought it. The 6th string is about 2.5-3mm from the 22nd fret. If I try to loosen my truss rod any more than it already is, it feels like it's completely unscrewed. It just spins around. Obviously it's not the actual rod that is spinning, but it feels like the nut part just came unscrewed from the rod. I don't know if this is possible. Does this sound like a problem a neck shim would fix? I've never done a neck shim, but I think Jemsite and Ibanez Rules has better instructions than I'll find anywhere else.
Thanks in advance for your help...this forum is a godsend!

OCSk8Brdr

OCSk8Brdr · #2 10-14-2003, 02:33 AM

*bump* Anyone?

Rich · #3 10-14-2003, 06:32 AM

It's just a nut, you can screw it off the rod if you want. I can't imagine 10's not having enough pull to put some frontbow in any wizard neck [even if it is a step down]. What strings are buzzing? Can you "sight" the neck and tell what it looks like? [nice smooth frontbow, too straight, backbow, etc.]

OCSk8Brdr · #4 10-14-2003, 01:01 PM

Thanks Rich...
The strings that buzz the most are the 5th and 6th strings. When I look down the neck, I can see that there is a fairly even frontbow. It's definitely not too straight. I've got the Edge set so that the treble side is lower than the bass side, and when I bend strings, they don't get choked out. When I fret the 6th string at the 1st and 22nd frets, there's about 2mm or so between the string and the 7th fret. But when I play chords anywhere between the 1st and 7th or 9th frets, I get fret buzz on those wound strings.

By the way, you're up at 4:32am posting to Jemsite?? That's an hour and a half before I get up for work!

Rich · #5 10-14-2003, 02:01 PM

I'm going to assume you missed a decimal point and you meant .2mm, which isn't a lot.

OCSk8Brdr · #6 10-14-2003, 02:08 PM

Well, I'll have to check my ruler again when I'm at home with my guitar. But it doesn't seem like there's THAT much space. Maybe I'll upload a photo so you can see what I'm looking at. I don't have a lot of experience setting up guitars, so I'm not sure if the string is too close to the frets.

I'm gonna have to do a major overhaul of my Jackson next, because it has even worse fret buzz.

Rich · #7 10-14-2003, 03:30 PM

There's a huge difference in .2 and 2

OCSk8Brdr · #8 10-14-2003, 03:38 PM

I'm pretty sure it was 2mm. 0.2mm seems ridiculously low, and I think that would be so low that all the strings would choke out if I pulled back on the trem. But I will double check to make sure. I don't even have a ruler that measures in increments smaller than 1mm.

Rich · #9 10-14-2003, 03:53 PM

The only way you could get 2mm is if you're measuring to the fretboard, not the fret

OCSk8Brdr · #10 10-14-2003, 04:13 PM

Interesting...well, like I said, I'll measure again when I get home tonight, and I'll take a picture and post it.
Anyway, I get minimal fret buzz on the 6th string open (only when I strike it fairly hard), but I get more noticable fret buzz when I'm playing bar chords on the lower end of the neck. Does that sound like something a neck shim might fix?

Rich · #11 10-14-2003, 04:31 PM

Neck shim only controls how much pull-up range the trem has.