Lowering action

[TheMiko76]

Hi all.

I'm trying to learn how to perform a set up on my Les Paul. I purchased the necessary gauges and found the stock specs.

After setting neck relief and action at 12th fret, the action is still to high. Is there a way to correct this? Its high on all frets. I tried lowering the bridge but it buzzed. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Roxy13]

What's your neck relief at? The straighter the neck, the lower you can get it. I like very low action and set my necks to about 0.004" at the 7th fret (capo at first fret and holding down string at the 17th).

There can be more to getting the set up dialed in though like adjusting the nut slot heights and making sure the frets are level.

 

[TheMiko76]

This is the guide I followed. https://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/how-to-set-up-a-les-paul-7-essential-tips

Set relief at .012 inch. Couldn't go lower as the truss rod bolt stopped at a certain point.

 

[TheMiko76]

Just looked up how nut height affects action. Seems to regulated to the frets on the lower end. Correct?

 

[Roxy13]

The nut slots should be closer to the fret height on the treble side (I think that is what you are asking).

But, often Gibson leaves the slots all a little too high.

 

[TheMiko76]

Here's the video I watched. Please let me know if its reliable for lowering action. Thanks for your time

 

[danzego]

What did you set neck relief at and what height action are you shooting for?

 

[Roxy13]

I think Gibson specs neck relief between 0.004 and 0.007", but there are people who like more than that, and that is fine.

But, knowing what your goals are on relief and action would help.

 

[TheMiko76]

Just set to .010" via truss rod. I just remembered I put new strings on this morning and maybe thats what causing the buzzing.

 

[TheMiko76]

Would like to go to .007" if possible. Just don't know how to considering the truss rod bolt is all the way to the right. Won't go any further

 

[Roxy13]

Ok, if your truss rod is maxed out, you might want to take this to a professional. The fix is to put a washer or two under the nut, but I don't want you to mess with something when you don't have a lot of experience doing it.

Do not keep tightening it as it will possibly pull the rod up the neck and then fixing it can involve all kinds of hell if it bows up the neck near where it joins the body.

 

[TheMiko76]

Yea, sounds like too much for me to handle. I'll have it looked at in that case.

 

[Roxy13]

I bought a guitar from an auction in Japan that was then shipped to me in the US that had a severely overtightened truss rod. I had to do all of this to repair it, which is why you don't want to continue trying to tighten it more:

The wood in the cavity was so compressed it actually bent that half moon washer into a C shape. I had to take off the nut and get that washer out, punch the rod back into place, shim some wood that was harder than the mahogany in there, new half moon washer and nut. Then the fretboard needed to be planed and re-radiused, which meant the guitar then had to be refretted.

The seller of the guitar, of course, never mentioned any of this and I had no idea until it got here. So unexpected and I wasn't happy about it but I added a couple of new skills. Luckily I had already done several refrets so it was just the truss rod repair and fretboard planing that was new to me.

So yes, this is one I wish someone had stopped trying to tighten when the rod became maxed out. It would have been a much simpler fix probably.