Guitars Seem The Same But Feel Different? Options

[yoncopin]

I have a few guitars and find myself wanting to play different ones on any given day. Feature wise they are all fairly similar, but I find some much easier to play than others. For example, my Strat with a Warmoth compound radius neck and my Ibanez S671. Both have a very similar fretboard radius, fret size and neck width/profile. They are both 25.5" scale and I have the Strat trem blocked, so it's effectively the same as the Saber's fixed bridge. They've both been setup the same, by me, using the same measured neck relief and string height.

Despite all that, the string tension still seems different to me, and it's much easier to bend and get clear sustaining notes out of the Ibanez on high strings/high frets (as an example). Obviously, these are two separate instruments and have other differences too, but sometimes it frustrates me that I can't get the Strat to play as well. This leads me to think there's something "wrong" or needs fixing on the Strat, because it seems that it really should be able to play as well.

I pretty much always reach for the Ibanez, because it feels the best, and sometimes it makes me wonder why I even own the others. Does anyone else have this feeling? Am I being too much of a perfectionist?

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[Mertay]

Something I do (to only my guitars) is right after bought I adjust the neck pocket angle, its funny I don't read about this much anywhere else.

I lower the bridge (or/and saddles) to the lowest and make the angle streight enough for the strings to either touch super light or barely to the lest fret. After adjusting the angle raise the bridge again (naturally it ends-up being lower than before) and do the intonation or any setup needed. The feel to me is then improved.

Also the nut height, the lower (without buzzing) the better. Give me a 100$ guitar and (if there is no fret issue) the neck/strings will feel as comfortable and a super expensive guitar.

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This post has been edited by Mertay: Aug 2 2017, 04:13 PM

[yoncopin]

I understand what you're describing and I had researched that idea a bit. My question is, how do you know if that's going to help and what should the angle be? I thought the neck angle was about giving yourself enough range of adjustment at the bridge saddles, how would that affect playability?

Something I do (to only my guitars) is right after bought I adjust the neck pocket angle, its funny I don't read about this much anywhere else.

I lower the bridge (or/and saddles) to the lowest and make the angle streight enough for the strings to either touch super light or barely to the lest fret. After adjusting the angle raise the bridge again (naturally it ends-up being lower than before) and do the intonation or any setup needed. The feel to me is then improved.

Also the nut height, the lower (without buzzing) the better. Give me a 100$ guitar and (if there is no fret issue) the neck/strings will feel as comfortable and a super expensive guitar.

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[Mertay]

I understand what you're describing and I had researched that idea a bit. My question is, how do you know if that's going to help and what should the angle be? I thought the neck angle was about giving yourself enough range of adjustment at the bridge saddles, how would that affect playability?

For starters you can get the strings lower, the only good curve on the neck is around the 5-7th fret where we adjust the truss. But if the neck pocker angle is too much then the lowest frets of the neck won't follow the strings angle well. We're talking angles hardly visible to the eye but as you know its always the small things that matter. This in theory also helps us to adjust the truss-rod's angle a bit streighter.

Also the strings angle coming out of the saddle changes, this is where the least info is exchanged on the web. Similar to adjust a floyd-rose angle a bit high or lower and even after intonation setup everyone agrees the feel of the guitar changes...think of it rather than adjusting the trem., we do it subtly by adjusting the height of the trem. after the neck-to body is streighter.

Last time I did this was to my cheap jackson js11, it cured buzzing and simply felt better to me. Problem was the tiny 2 saddle screws on each saddle were hightened and was very uncomfortable after a while so keep an eye on that.

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[yoncopin]

Ok, I'm looking at it now. It would make some sense on the Strat that it needs to be adjusted because the neck is a replacement. I lowered the saddles all the way down and the strings are resting on the last fret, no gap. So when I make my shim, do I want to raise the body side of the neck pocket or the headstock side?

For starters you can get the strings lower, the only good curve on the neck is around the 5-7th fret where we adjust the truss. But if the neck pocker angle is too much then the lowest frets of the neck won't follow the strings angle well. We're talking angles hardly visible to the eye but as you know its always the small things that matter. This in theory also helps us to adjust the truss-rod's angle a bit streighter.

Also the strings angle coming out of the saddle changes, this is where the least info is exchanged on the web. Similar to adjust a floyd-rose angle a bit high or lower and even after intonation setup everyone agrees the feel of the guitar changes...think of it rather than adjusting the trem., we do it subtly by adjusting the height of the trem. after the neck-to body is streighter.

Last time I did this was to my cheap jackson js11, it cured buzzing and simply felt better to me. Problem was the tiny 2 saddle screws on each saddle were hightened and was very uncomfortable after a while so keep an eye on that.

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[Mertay]

Ok, I'm looking at it now. It would make some sense on the Strat that it needs to be adjusted because the neck is a replacement. I lowered the saddles all the way down and the strings are resting on the last fret, no gap. So when I make my shim, do I want to raise the body side of the neck pocket or the headstock side?

Its probably a sign that the neck angle is not far off, which is good.

Now raise the saddles till the tiny screws won't bother when you rest your hand on the trem. , basically the bridge screws shouldn't be like this; http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/122493745572-0-1/s-l1000.jpg but goal is still trying keep the saddles as low as possible.

After that if the strings are buzzing, instead of further raising the saddles try a thinner shim on the neck pocket. Its normal to make 2-3 tries to get it as perfect as possible but don't be a perfectionist (also don't over squeeze the bolt too hard). In the end if an ever slight raise of saddles are needed so be it cause remove+screwing the neck can be very exausting.

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[yoncopin]

So the goal is to get lower saddles which have a looser feel? Because my strings are slightly touching the last fret I'm guessing it means i need to raise the headstock side of the neck pocket just a hair right? I'm at the hardware store now getting some thin wood, thanks for your help Mertay I'm excited about this working.

Its probably a sign that the neck angle is not far off, which is good.

Now raise the saddles till the tiny screws won't bother when you rest your hand on the trem. , basically the bridge screws shouldn't be like this; http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/122493745572-0-1/s-l1000.jpg but goal is still trying keep the saddles as low as possible.

After that if the strings are buzzing, instead of further raising the saddles try a thinner shim on the neck pocket. Its normal to make 2-3 tries to get it as perfect as possible but don't be a perfectionist (also don't over squeeze the bolt too hard). In the end if an ever slight raise of saddles are needed so be it cause remove+screwing the neck can be very exausting.

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[Mertay]

So the goal is to get lower saddles which have a looser feel? Because my strings are slightly touching the last fret I'm guessing it means i need to raise the headstock side of the neck pocket just a hair right? I'm at the hardware store now getting some thin wood, thanks for your help Mertay I'm excited about this working.

Yeah thats right, when finished also don't forget to intonate.

My guess is after adjusting the saddles if the strings are touching the last fret, the shim should be thinnered about a nicely folded piece of paper thickness. But thats just a guess, getting the right thickness being so sensitive can be hard so take your time and let me know how things go

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