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Post subject: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 7:23 pm
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Hobbyist
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Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2013 7:15 pm
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Hi everyone,

I started learning guitar about a month ago. I bought myself a Squier Bullet Strat to goof around on last week.

Something I've noticed. When fretting, if I push down on a string lightly as to just touch the string to the fret, it makes one pitch. But, if I press down a little harder, I can make the pitch higher (maybe even a half-step). When I played on my acoustic, this didn't seem to be the case. I could push down as hard as I wanted, and the pitch basically was the same. On the electric, I can make some vibrato effects simply by doing this. Is this normal?

One idea I had was that the strings are just too high off the fingerboard. Any ideas?

Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:14 pm
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Roadie
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Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2013 12:57 am
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if you are not familiar with how to setup a guitar you have a couple of options, youtube can be a valuable resource for how to setup and intonate a guitar, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself you could take it to a tech and pay a ridiculous amount of money for what equates to about 20 minutes of work, Watch a few guitar setup videos on youtube, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself take it to a tech and get a proper setup done, your guitar will play and sound better with a setup


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:15 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:59 am
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normal.


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:16 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:59 am
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Kreature wrote:
if you are not familiar with how to setup a guitar you have a couple of options, youtube can be a valuable resource for how to setup and intonate a guitar, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself you could take it to a tech and pay a ridiculous amount of money for what equates to about 20 minutes of work, Watch a few guitar setup videos on youtube, if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself take it to a tech and get a proper setup done, your guitar will play and sound better with a setup


+1 to this. Youtube is amazing for stuff like this.


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:56 pm
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2007 1:08 pm
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You have taller frets, so when you push past the fret height it makes the note go sharp. Normal.


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 11:31 pm
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Joined: Mon Dec 23, 2013 7:15 pm
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Thanks everyone. I've watched a few videos on setup and I'll give it a shot. Looks like it's not too difficult, other than messing with the neck perhaps. I appreciate the response.


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 5:15 am
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Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
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Location: Province de Québec, Canada
Wich frets ? If only the first frets , nut may need some adjustment. If on all frets , normal .

That it is one ( of many ) reason I do set up myself : Have all my guitars setup to my playing habit


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 8:43 pm
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Rock Star
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If you don't like it, you can always file the frets down. But that's a job for a luthier, and is likely going to cost you a fair bit - for a Squier, it's likely not worth it.
Get ued to playing with a lighter touch, and use the fret height for vibrato and as you get better, to compensate for equal temperament thirds being slightly off.


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 9:00 am
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:53 am
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Your acoustic also probably has thicker gauge (& different type) strings than the electric.
I'd agree with stratele, and say the situation is normal (even desired) if that finger vibe is about the same on all frets.

If you try a setup yourself (I don't think it's needed, see above), start here: Stratocaster Setup Guide
And: take measurements before you start & write down your changes - that way you can roll back to previous settings if needed.

Kreature wrote:
take it to a tech and pay a ridiculous amount of money for what equates to about 20 minutes of work

The youtube (and numerous other www-) sources are great. And yet, this and other guitar forums are filled with questions obviously rising from defective setups. Plus, a whole lot of pro guitarists pay a whole lot of money to pro luthiers to keep their axes in shape. Just guessing, but I'd say they don't share your view on the ridiculousness of luthier work... 8)


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2013 4:57 pm
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If you are playing open chords. (1,2,3) frets it may be your nut height is too tall. Try this: While holding string down on 2 fretwire top. If you can slide a piece of typing paper under the string at the first fret wire then your nut probably is too tall.


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Post subject: Re: Are my strings too high?
Posted: Wed Jan 01, 2014 5:34 am
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rolloman wrote:
If you are playing open chords. (1,2,3) frets it may be your nut height is too tall. Try this: While holding string down on 2 fretwire top. If you can slide a piece of typing paper under the string at the first fret wire then your nut probably is too tall.


Actually it's just about the opposite: that old rule of thumb goes: if you can't slide a piece of paper (= about 0.1 mm or .004") under the string, the nut slots are too low...
A standard (or: one of many) recommendation for the string clearance (pressed on the 3rd fret, clearance from the top of the 1st fret to bottom of string) is 0,25 mm (.010") for low-E and 0,15mm (.006") for high-E.

But, as said (a couple of times before) above, the nut slots may be too high if the symptoms are worst on the 1-4(5,6) frets.


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