[heffergm]

So I bought a JS1000 recently. Knowing it's a heavily radiused board (9.8" !) I wasn't really expecting to have super low action. And in fact, after doing my usual setup work, I'm running a hair under 2mm at the low side and somewhere around 1.8mm or so on the high side at the 22nd fret, which is where I like things. It still feels quite a bit higher than my Carvin, but the board on that is just about flat, so no surprise there.

Anyway, I got curious as to how Satch's guitars are setup, and stumbled across this tidbit from Joe's tech:

[i][i]Low and even, that's how Joe likes his string height. The measurement from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of each string is just over 2/64". There are reasons for this (See Joe's Set-up Ideas)
This is low!

The final setup goes like this:

I arc the bridge saddles so the string height matches the fingerboard radius. Now strung to pitch I tighten the truss rod until the neck is perfectly straight.

At this point I adjust the bridge as low as possible and still allow 2 things: clean string bends above the 10th fret and a clean low e from the 10th fret up to the 22nd fret. Joe's touch is light so low works out fine.

Next we loosen the truss rod to create a very slight bow in the neck. I cannot say how much, each guitar has its own place that it wants to be. What we are trying to do is clean up the low strings from the 1st to 7th fret. I find this out by playing and experimenting.

There is a very tight tolerance in adjustments for the guitars to play well. Before the final intonation the nut must be lowered to the correct height. In Joe's case very low about .010 on the high e string to about .013 to .015 on the low e string.

Now, I realize that the resemblance between my JS and Joe's stops at the shape of the body. I believe he has his boards multi radiused so they flatten out at the upper end, and fretwork to match of course. I also don't want my action anywhere near that low, but holy crap... 2/64" at the 12th fret?!?! That's about 0.8mm. I'm likely around 1.5mm at a guess.

Anyway, just thought that was interesting.

[frank falbo]

The fretwork doesn't just "match" the flattened radius in the upper register, it also has a bit of compounding in the fret tops as well. In other words, if you measured the fretwire, it would be shorter in the center of the neck. I get that kind of action all the time if I do the refret, and many times if I'm just dressing the frets, because I put that custom fallaway into the fret tops. You'd be surprised at how much you can do with fret tops.

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Having it that low, in conjunction with a light touch makes the instrument incredibly responsive. Noting Joe's use of dynamics, it makes sense to have the action so low, in addition to him using 9's instead of 10's.

If you hit the strings hard with your picking hand, then yes, you would definitely want higher action. If your fretting hand comes high off of the fretboard each time you move your fingers (see old Ratt vids) then you'd definitely want higher guage strings.

[Grendel]

I'm happy to see a good thread like this for all of us that are new to re-fretting.

I have a few questions.

1. How do you know when the bridges of a floyd match the fingerboard radius, as the tech indicated he does? I'm assuming he's using shims.

2. When the tech says, "..clean low e from the 10th fret up to the 22nd fret..", what exactly is her referring to? eg, no buzz when the strings are open, or no buzz when the strings are fretted? I can't imagine anybody would be able to avoid complete buzz of fretted notes with action this low.

3. Frank, can you clarify what you mean when you say, "..if you measured the fretwire, it would be shorter in the center of the neck." I'm interested in using this approach in my re-frets and fress dressings.

Thanks.

[Benzesp]

Originally Posted by TonyFlyingSquirrel

Having it that low, in conjunction with a light touch makes the instrument incredibly responsive. Noting Joe's use of dynamics, it makes sense to have the action so low, in addition to him using 9's instead of 10's.

If you hit the strings hard with your picking hand, then yes, you would definitely want higher action. If your fretting hand comes high off of the fretboard each time you move your fingers (see old Ratt vids) then you'd definitely want higher guage strings.

His legato shit is so fluid and squishy, no doubt due to his setup. If I played a guitar with action like that it would buzz like crazy and drive me insane. I imagine its quite hard to maintain that type of action, I mean temperature\humidity alone could screw the whole setup.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by frank falbo

The fretwork doesn't just "match" the flattened radius in the upper register, it also has a bit of compounding in the fret tops as well. In other words, if you measured the fretwire, it would be shorter in the center of the neck. I get that kind of action all the time if I do the refret, and many times if I'm just dressing the frets, because I put that custom fallaway into the fret tops. You'd be surprised at how much you can do with fret tops.

His board isn't actually multi-radiused, as I recall, but rather the fretwire is. Or, if his board does have a bit of a multiradius, then it's also augmented a bit in the fretwire.

Myself, I couldn't bend with action that low, lol.

[frank falbo]

AFAIK Joe's board isn't multi-radiused from Ibanez, but from what I understand Gary Brawer pulls his frets and flattens the board a little (10-10.5" radius on the upper frets) and then flattens the fret tops even more during the fret dress. So the fret tops probably taper to a 10.5 or 11" radius by the 22nd fret.

[ibznorange]

Originally Posted by Drew

Myself, I couldn't bend with action that low, lol.

Enter the glory of a compound radius. It makes it WAY easier to get super low action without sacrificing bends.

[Drew]

No, I mean, with action that low, I wouldn't have trouble with strings choking - I'd have trouble simply getting enough leverage on the string so it wouldn't slide out from under my fingertips. I need to get "under" the string a bit to really bend with control.

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Tall frets, or a scalloped fretboard are a godsend when bending at low action.