Question about my S series

[Jackrat]

I was wondering about my truss rod. I've switched gauges and tunings but I haven't done anything to it except for adjusting the spring tension to compensate. Is my neck going to go out of whack eventually? Right now Im tuned to B with a set of 12-54's. Any opinions advice or rules of thumb?

Also I think I need to lower my action a bit, not sure how to go about that on this guit.







Oh and what kind of binding is this??

[MrHelloGuitar]

You might have to make some truss rod adjustments to compensate for some forward bow if that's what's happening. I'm pretty sure the neck binding is just plastic on those models.

[Jackrat]

After reading up a little I believe its Ivoroid.

[asher]

Can we see a picture of the bridge to see saddle height setting and how flat it's sitting?

[Jackrat]

Sorry for the shit pictures

[Jackrat]

[Pav]

As far as your truss rod goes, as long as you take care and pay attention to the setup of your guitar whenever you change strings/tunings, the tension should sort of balance out in the end. My main guitar for the past 10 years has been a Jackson DKMG with a less-than-stellar Jackson LFR and I've never once had to adjust the truss rod. I actually just double checked my action when I saw this thread and the neck is still totally straight, having never adjusted anything but the spring tension to compensate for a change of string gauge.

It's hard for me to tell how your bridge looks based on those pictures...your guitar has a reflective finish. Plus I'm no expert on Ibby's FR variations, so I'd want to see both the bridge and the nut before I tried to give you advice...but just off the top of my head, by guessing based on the angle of depression of your strings from the saddles, I'd say it shouldn't take more than some spring tension adjustments to drop the action a little. Lowering the entire bridge looks like you'd fall into fret buzz pretty quickly, but like I said, I'm kind of just spitballin' based on what I can see in those pictures.

[asher]

Is that as level as it's supposed to sit? I don't know where the "zero" line is for that trem but it seems like it's sitting forward a little.

Paging Max!

[Jackrat]

Well its a ZR, the saddles might look like theyre sitting forward a bit because of where I keep my fine tuners. The part of the actual bridge from what I can tell that is supposed to be parallel to the body is the piece right underneath the third layer of metal under the fine tuner wheel. I just am not 100% on that. And like stated earlier I feel like if I lowered it much more I would have fret buzz. I guess I'm basically asking if my guitar is setup in proper working order but I know that is almost impossible to judge by some shitty cell phone pics :\

[Jackrat]

Also I've discovered this little crack on my neck pocket. Is this anything to be concerned about??

[Pav]

Originally Posted by Jackrat

And like stated earlier I feel like if I lowered it much more I would have fret buzz. I guess I'm basically asking if my guitar is setup in proper working order but I know that is almost impossible to judge by some shitty cell phone pics :\

There's sure as hell one way to find out. Adjust the springs to drop your action a little more. If you get fret buzz, re-adjust and raise it back up. Honestly, part of a guitar's setup is subjective in that not every guitarist likes the exact same level of action. If you feel like your action is high, there's no harm in trying to lower it a bit. Some people make fiddling with a floating trem out to be a death sentence, but with a little common sense, some trial and error can go a VERY long way.

And the crack looks like nothing to be worried about. At worst it's probably just something unsightly in the finish.

[Demiurge]

Originally Posted by Jackrat

Also I've discovered this little crack on my neck pocket. Is this anything to be concerned about??

NJFC (neck joint finish crack): so common, it has an acronym. See how thin the body wood is at that side of the neck pocket- with a tight fitting neck and the inevitability that the woods shrink and expand at different rates, that thin wood at that point will flex a little bit and many times cause the hard finish over it to crack.

Now, if you see a crack starting there and going further into the body-proper, take it to a tech.