Hi guys,

I took apart my squier guitar to refinsih it. Got all of that done, went to put the strings on it and it sounds like something is blocking it. The strings son't ring they just sound dead. I've looked at the bridge, the screws in the back are fairly tight, so I am not sure what is going on! Any advice?

Thanks!

Is the neck back on the guitar properly? Are the pickups too high and touching the strings?

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No no and no

do a full set up, step by step, and see from there. there a tonne of ways for an assembly to go south, so it's hard to diagnose blind. I would maybe completely disassemble again, and work very carefully, then once put back together go through the full set up, check everything from the integrity of the neck join, and it's angle right down to pick up height, string height etc.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Well, this could be caused by a large number of things. Assuming the guitar sounded good before you took it apart and did the refinish, the first thing I would check would be the neck to body connection....make sure your neck is -tight- into the neck pocket on the body. Now I don't mean just tightening the neck screws here...I don't know your level of experience or competence so let me explain. On many guitar bodys, the holes where the screws go thru for the neck are also a bit threaded. As you thread those screws in, if you do not have the neck tight against the body you can end up with a bit of a gap between the neck and the neck pocket...the screws can still be tight but the neck won't be tight in the pocket and that gap will kill your sound completely.

Second to that, I would double check EVERYTHING you did at the bridge and then the rest of the instrument. You said you "looked at the bridge, the screws in the back are fairly tight, " are the screws that mount the bridge to the body tight/secure as well? Do you have the same tension on the springs as you did before? You did use new strings instead of putting the old strings back on right?? What about your pickup height? Since you clearly had the pickguard off, did you accidentally knock any wires loose? When you put things back together, you did a good job with the soldering right...no cold/sloppy solder joints? After you re-assembled the guitar, you did a full and complete setup on it right?

This is going to be a process of elimination for you...start with the obvious and work from there.

Good luck,
Jim

Thanks for the help. I will look at the neck to body fit again. I put everything back on as it was. I made sure to mark pickup height and spring tension on the back. I did also put new strings on, the same gauge that was on it before. I had my father, who is an electrician take of and put back on the pickup and wire assembly, so everything was marked to assure that it went back properly. But I think the neck to body fit might be the problem.

Thanks!

Dont tighten the screws that secure the front of the bridge. Their not actually screws but 6 pivot posts. They need to be raised slightly so the bridge can sit against the body. If you tighten them all the way you end up with a trem thats permanently raised as if you were dipping the trembar.

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No no and no

Good advice Niki, It sounds to be a neck thing. He don't have to worry about any threaded piece in the neck itself that would be a strange thing he very well could have over tighten things and now it may not be holding tight enough.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Did you mask off the neck pocket when you painted it?
A little paint in there can change the neck angle if your nor carefull.

I got it fixed. I took the neck off and carefully made sure to line everything up properly. I also loosened the screws on the bridge, still a little tweeking left to do, but everything is much better! Thanks for the help everyone!

good news, phew...