i've been practicing for about 11 months and now adding more practicing of improv & dynamics into my schedule.

my strings are 4/64 in height type 0.010's. when bending i seem to ring a string or two above on full bends. half bends are fairly good.

much of this is technique and more practice, yet i would think string height comes into play a bit, just like neck size, string size, fret size, etc per player for particular playabilities.

is there a general consensus regarding bends that string height needs to be higher or lower than 4/64? this being subjective and all...

thanks

Good questions,

First , is your guitar have neck curve properlerly set ? The truss rod adjustment ?

Is the action is properly too ; Where and how you mesure 4/64 " ?

My Strat have 3/64 " string height at 17 th fret WITH string fretted a first fret. You know you must always fret string at first fret to cancel nut height.

the curve/relief is close to .017 at the 8th fret with capo on first fret and fretting last fret. its a 10-16 compound radius. is that too much of a relief?

i've never fretted the first fret when i measure string height at 17th fret. that doesn't make but a very slight difference when i measure my string height at 17th fret.

of course i'm the one with the issue here so what do i know. LOL

thx

i put the relief back to .009 and adjusted the saddles a bit more. i'll let it adjust for a few days. this is probably something i'll just have to tweak & play. i will say this guitar seems a bit temperamental which just might be how she is always going to be.

0.017 is too much and .009 is little bit too straight for "standard" use. But it can work well for you. Mine are 0.010 to .011 at 8th fret or the one having more height 7, 8 th fret.

In one hour you go from .017 to .009 !!! You do it too fast. I'm sure your neck is .001 this morning. Too straight.

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Why we should fret string at first fret for mesuring action :

Yes there are not big difference. But if we want to exchange some information we have to be standard. It is one of many the mistake many people do.
Nut height are not the same on all guitar , we must cancell nut for talking about the same thing; just the neck.
All guitar builder use the same standard to show you how the set up.

have no idea how the relief got to .017. maybe i tinkered with it and forgot.

i'll remember that about the first fret and string height.

[this morning]
neck relief = .008 @ 8th fret
str low E = 3/64-4/64
str hi E = 2.9/64 "slightly under 3/64", bass side a bit higher than treble side


this is a compound neck so relief can be low and these frets have been dressed nicely. i.e., from what i've read, compound necks can have very low relief from what Dan Erlewine mentions.

i'll give it a few more days to settle in and tweak the str height. i'll raise em a bit for my bending

Frankly, I think people are way too often, way too technical with this stuff. Premising your neck is straight, simply set the height of your first two or three strings to where your bending of them is not only efficient, but comfortable; then set the rest of the strings to follow with similar heights while mirroring the curvature of the fingerboard. You've now developed an action that works for you without all sorts of gauges telling you what works and what doesn't.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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IMO , if you know how to take some mesurements on your guitar, you can set it up fastly than by eyes and ears and have a more easy playing guitar. I admit some mesurement are a matter of taste and your playing style.
What I mean is, If you have the proper neck curve, the neck can move, little bit with damp or dry season without buzzing .
Maybe Martian you have lots of experience an you can easely do that by your way.

i'm working my way towards this. i haven't been playing/practicing very long so the numbers and such helps with my lack of experience/feel for the guitar's playability respective to me. though, the more i tinker with it the closer i'm getting to instinctively knowing my "sweet spot" for this guitar. thanks for your input

Any time!

_________________
You dig?

Here's some tips on bending that may or may not be helpfull to you.
Unless it just a quick wiggle, always bend with two fingers. It's much easier to control getting to the proper pitch and controling the release, which is probably where your getting the unwanted noise.
I try to do my bends with my 2nd and 3rd fingers, which leaves my 1st finger free to rest on top of the bended strings and the one above it, which lets you mute the one above so that you don't accidentally pluck it with the release. This has helped me to clean up my bends.

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I agree. When i do setups for customers, I follow the setup guidelines, but because I have to. We have these damn sheets we have to fill out, and enter all heights and measurements, and they have to be recommended ones. On my guitar, i do it all my feel and sight. I dont even worry if im following the radius of the bridge or fretboard. I set the Low E for the optimal height, then move onto the A, D and so on. Any string that buzzes gets lifted, just small amounts until the buzz is gone. When Im done, even though i didnt use a radius gauge, i check wiht one when im done, and its usually dead on.

Just set the height for YOUR playing. Obviously; SRV would have had to have his strings higher than EVH, or Steve Vai, so the heights should ALWAYS be looked at as a GUIDE, and starting point, not gosple. Same with the relief yoiu dial in with the truss rod. At the shop, i use rullers and feeler gauges to get to the stock heights. Then i have them play it infront of me so i can see their attack, and in general how they play. I instantly know when i need to adjust my truss rods, like lately when its been cold and the heat's been kicking on; i had to adjust the truss rod on all my guitars last weekend. The wood in the neck shrunk because of the dry air, but i dont need a ruler to do it. I just hold the string down at the 1st fret with the pinky, or thumb of my left hand, hold it at the last fret with my right hand, then push down on the 8th fret with either my thumb, or pinky of my left hand (whichever one I didnt use to fret it at the 1st fret). I want to make sure there is a little gap between the string and fret.

Point is; VERY rarely is the recommended measurements the ones that work for most players. But they are a very good starting point. But, you really should buy a ruler that gives you at least 32 of an inch, 64ths would be better. This is something, along with a digital mutli reader for electronics that EVERY guitar player should own, even if they only restring their guitars, and bring them to a shop for any work or maintainence. The rulers come in handy when you set pickup height, and very handy if you, like me, adjust every pole piece on humbuckers. Plus, every once in a while, we fiddle with the heights, and sometimes, we find a magic setting. It'd be good to be able to find that setting and record it for future use.

yep, most of the time with the unwanted noise is on the release.

ah, i have my index finger usually free to pivot off of but haven't used it to rest/mute the strings above. gonna try that, cool!

have the ruler and gauges. i need them at this point. and maybe during the summer the dry heat got to the neck, dunno, but i fixed that. basically flat now, and i like it. keep practicing my technique and find that sweet spot for me and e,b,g strings.

i've printed out this thread and put it on me wall above the work bench. hope i don't forget to look at it the next time.

thx for all the advice