What to adjust for better action?

[Jupiter]

Hey guys!
Okay, here's my situation... i'm trying to change the setup on my green Dillion 7-string. It has a Floyd on it that's kinda similar to the LO-TRS. My action on the 24th fret is a tiny bit over 2mm.... perfectly playable, but i KNOW it could be better. However, on my low B and low E strings, i have some pretty audible buzz going on in the lower portion of the neck { for the low B, it's from about fret 1 to 9, and on the low E, about 1-7 }. Those strings don't rattle when played open, so the nut probably isn't to blame. Basically, i want to eliminate the buzz on the low strings on the lower frets, and lower the action in the upper register of the neck. As of now, the neck is pretty much straight { i.e. no front or backbow }, and i don't think the neck is shimmed. I think what i may need to do is tighten the truss rod { causing the neck to pull away from the strings in the middle area of the neck }, and lower the bridge on both sides. Am i right? Please help!
Ben

[big h]

You should loosen the truss rod to help buzzing from frets 1-10, and to lower the upper fret action lower the bridge studs.

[dcord]

Standard setup: Adjust bridge height to allow for lowest possible action on frets 12-24. Adjust truss rod to relieve buzzing on frets 2-11 (if you have buzz on these frets, you need to LOOSEN your truss rod), then adjust nut height as low as possible without open string buzz.

Sometimes I'll adjust nut height first to get in the ball park, then go through the steps above. Ibanez has a bad habit of putting shims under the nut that are far too large. I know your guitar is a Dillion, but I'd check it just in case. I always hold the string at the first fret and measure just in front of the fret with feeler gauges to determine "optimal" nut height. You want your locknut to act as a "zero fret" with the same height as all the rest of the frets for the best possible action all over the neck.

Good luck!
~d~

[Rich]

Setting nut height is more "aproximate" with Ibanez, the fret radius is usually just a little smaller than the nut radius. Before you can get the low E down as far as it would need to be a true 0 fret you're getting some open string buzz on the D and A. I'll compensate by raising the High side to relieve the middle nut buzz and have compromised higher low and high E's to keep it clean and keep everything as low as possible. Besides, you don't feel a slightly high high E like you feel a high low E

[dcord]

I generally adjust the action to be equal high and low at the nut, by adjusting for "perfect"* action on the 3rd and 4th strings.

~d~

*There's no such thing as perfect action.

[Rich]

Just makin sure we're on the same page

[Jupiter]

Well, i took your all's advice, and i now have a great-playing guitar!
Thanks a million, guys!
ben

[dcord]

Cool beans Jupiter. Enjoy!

Setting up a guitar is incredibly easy. Once you've learned how, you'll never need to take your guitar to a tech for the simple stuff again...

~d~