electric guitar adjustments

electric guitar adjustments

My guitar Sounds real bad, the new strings are not touching the frets, the neck is straight , need advice???

Just bought this guitar at a garage sale, it is an electric Squier, Did I buy a messed up guitar
I raised the bridge adjustments , as far as they will go. I think it helped a little

If you raised the bridge and it helped, I must assune that it sounds bad because of Fret Buzz
. Do you mean the strings don’t touch the frets, when at rest and you look at them , but are they hitting when you strum the strings hard .
Then are the strings hitting a fret and making a nasty buzzing sound.

First check the nut !!!
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the strings should not be loose enough to wiggle around in the grooves of the nut, sometimes a nut will wear out and crack.
If the nut is worn , you must replace it or the guitar will never sound right, and you won’t be able to get it to hold a decent tune, for more than a minute/
Test
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Ho;d the strings down at the third fret with a capo. You should be able to slide a piece of paper under the strings at the first fret, or you should hear a tick when you tap on the string over the first fret. That shows the nut is high enough.

truss rod
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You seem very proud of the neck being straight .I’m guessing that you did a truss rod adjustment along with the bridge adjustment,.
I applaud your enthusiasm..

However
A guitar neck is not supposed to straight, it is supposed to have a slight concave bow in it. This is called the ” neck relief”.

The strings vibrate with a larger amplitude in the middle , then at the ends.
There must be a greater distance between the frets and the strings at the middle of the strings, which is at the 12th fret

To adjust the guitar properly:

Fix
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1) Move the bridge (saddles on a squier) back down to where they were..

2) Tune the guitar, as best as is possible.

3) Loosen the truss rod , about 1/8 of a turn.
The strings will pull the headstock forward. The tuning should go flat, so

4) Re-tune the guitar,- very important, everything you do must relate to a well tuned guitar, so to fix this you must constantly retune it , or none of the tests are arcurate.

5) Check to be sure the neck has a slight bow , with the apex at the 12th fret . The distance between the “Top” of the 12th Fret and the bottom of the E bass string should be between 2/16″ and 3/16 “.This is with the capo on the first fret , to eliminate any varience due to the nut.

6) Make sure you keep tuning the guitar after every adjustment. If you do not keep re-tunimg it , you will be wasting your time with the measurements.,

7) When every thing seems right , then
remove the capo , Test each string at every fret to be certain the strings are not buzzing on any frets.

8 ) IF just one string is buzzing adjust the saddle, if several strings are buzzing , loosen the truss rod another 1/8 of a turn

9) If you also adjusted the pickups, then move them away from the strings, Adjust them closer, while plugged into the amp. Strike the strings . find the distance that gives you the most output, for the longerst duration.
The small strings will be closer than the larger strings.
Too close and you lose sustain as well as volume. The magnets will damper the strings,.

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