Setup question - What comes first: Truss rod or saddles?

[PoppyPoo]

Trying to setup a Strat following the Fender guideline found here: http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster.php

 

I first adjusted my truss rod to make sure the neck was straight, then set up the action using the saddles, but that threw all the truss rod measurements off.

 

To be more clear, because I lowered my action, the gap between the 6th/7th fret and the string isn't what it should be when pressing down on the 1st and last fret.

 

Not sure how to proceed from here and would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[jelloman]

adjusting the saddles should not affect the truss rod...

 

My system:

tune to pitch

set truss rod

tune to pitch

set saddle height

tune to pitch

set intonation

tune to pitch

 

repeat as necessary

 

you will always need to tweak some, but not appreciably...

[The Bear]

To check the correct relief on a Strat, get the guitar tuned & setup first.

Capo the first fret and then measure your relief at the 7 fret.

Using a feeler gauge is the easiest way.

 

By the way, what do you mean by correct.

Neck relief is also a personal liking, not just the factory spec.

i.e. I like my necks with a little less relief than Fender specs.

[Prages]

The saddle adjustment shouldn't effect the truss rod adjustment.

 

No matter where your saddle is, if you press the first and last fret, the gap in the middle should be the same.

 

So, if you adjust your truss rod so there's .01" of gap in the middle of the neck with the first and last fret pressed, then the height of the saddle shouldn't change that gap.

 

So, I'd adjust the truss rod first, then adjust the action at the saddle.

[ashasha]

I always tune and then do the truss rod and then the saddles.

 

Reason being that if there is some back bow then it can screw up the saddle adjustment right off the bat (because I usually go for low as possible with no buzz and then raise it a bit). Backbow will prevent you from getting the lowest action possible without buzz.

 

No big deal, but then I'd have to readjust them and I'm lazy and don't like doing things twice.

[Citizen Cain]

Truss rod before saddles

[noisebloom]

When I do a setup I always check the neck relief first, and find out if I need to turn the truss rod. If I adjust the truss rod and I'm finished with that, only then do I move on to checking intonation or saddle height. It keeps me from having to adjust the saddles a second time.

[Electric Blues]

Here ya go buddy...

 

http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_3535_fender-stratocaster-electric-guitar-setup.html

[Toadroller]

I've found an interesting, related phenomenon resulting from fret levelling.

 

When you level the frets on a neck, you usually begin by adjusting the truss rod such that the un-strung neck has no relief; is flat. You do this so the leveling process is uniform along the fretboard.

 

Every time I've restrung a flat, level neck, the relief turns out to be just where I like it. From there, it's a small matter of playing around with the action then intonation.

 

Long story short: in my experience, a flat neck with no tension curves to a wonderful amount of relief when you string it up.

 

I'm sure the next neck I fret-level will prove me wrong.

[MahaloVision]

For most of the guitar's existence, that's been true to some extent. On classicals, there is some taper to the fingerboard so that the bass strings can vibrate in a wider loop. Since they exert less pressure than on most steel string acoustic and electric guitars, the strings don't pull the neck into relief as much.

 

(edit) If you follow Cumpiano and Natelson's book, you'll see that before fretting the neck they introduce a slight backbow into the fretboard, then plane it level. That way they can introduce more relief later if the string tension is insufficient to pull it itself.

 

But with electrics and some styles of playing that require little fretboard relief, you can get a lot of benefit from doing a fret leveling with a Neck Jig. Some builders do "downhill" fret jobs where the frets are higher near the head and lower near the body. Some do a combination of both.

[PoppyPoo]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'll put em to use and hopefully not mess it up

[Electric Blues]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I'll put em to use and hopefully not mess it up

 

Go slow, be patient and pay attention.

You won't fook it up.

[headless]

Did I miss the mention of "Nut Action" (string slot depth) adjustment?

[Darkstorm]

Truss rod first. Then bridge saddles. If adjusting bridge saddles causes neck to then bow either way you got serious problems that arent normal. Adjust action to taste, I prefer lowest possible which certainly isnt what mfg normal specs are for so of course I dont pay any attention at all to mfg specs for action since such have nothing to do with my preferance for action.

[Belva]

 

Did I miss the mention of "Nut Action" (string slot depth) adjustment?

 

I think I missed it too. I always check my nut before moving to the rod. The saddle work is the last thing. Oh wait, we were talking about guitar setup........