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Post subject: Stringing Question On Classic Vibe Tele
Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 3:34 pm
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Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:24 am
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I purchased a Classic Vibe Telecaster about one month ago, and have mostly been quite happy with the instrument. The butterscotch finish is beautiful, and feels like a piece of glass. The sound is quite good, and I was pleased with the action when I first got it. However, it came from the factory with light gauge strings, and I thought a heavier gauge would sound better.

So I strung it with some Ernie Ball Slinkies (not the super slinkies) Although I preferred their sound to the lighter gauge, the action was much worse. There was a little bow in the neck, which I removed with a truss rod adjustment. I tried lowering the bridge saddles, but wasn't able to make much of an adjustment without causing lots of fret buzz problems. So, I've got the saddle heights as low as possible without buzz, but the strings are pretty high off the neck.

I think that only leaves adjusting the nut, which is beyond my level of experience. I'm actually pretty new to electric guitars.

At any rate, I really like this guitar but am unhappy with the string height. Is my only solution putting on the EB Super Slinkies? Or does anyone else have any other string suggestions?


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Post subject: Re: Stringing Question On Classic Vibe Tele
Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 12:26 am
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:53 am
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First things first; a part of the "action" (I read this as "playing feel", not string height alone) change you experience is because of the string gauge and string brand change.
On buzzing, one part of finding the cause is where the buzz occurs - open strings/low (~1st -6th) frets/high (12th and up) frets, all strings or just some, etc.
One possible culprit in your case may be the truss rod setting - if you tightened it too much, the neck may have back bow, or just be too straight for your playing style. (A symptom of this would be that the buzz happens on the first frets area).

But, since that is a new guitar, let's go through the whole process:

Conclusion: if the guitar played fine with original strings (.009-.042 gauge), but buzzes with EB Regular Slinkys (.010 - .046), the guitar is fine but the setup is wrong for the .010 set.
Solution: Give it a full setup.

First thing to do is to see if the strings sit properly in the nut grooves - thicker strings may at worst cling to the slot edges, and not touch the bottom at all.
The quick home fix (if needed, and if you DIY) is to loosen one string at a time, just enough so you can take it from the slot, and use a piece of folded wet/dry sanding paper to reshape (=widen) the slot. Shape with coarser (180-240), polish with finer (600-1200) grit, and don't overdo it; you don't need many strokes.

Check all srews, nuts, bolts (...) on the guitar, so they are tight (= nice and snug, but again: don't overdo it).

Then do a normal full setup, according to the Tele Setup Guide. Measure the critical dimensions (like relief, action, pickup height), and start by going with factory specs - you can tweak those to your own preferences later.

I'd be very surprised if a CV Tele would not play clean and buzz free with a .010 string set (any brand) and set to factory specs.


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