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Post subject: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2016 2:13 pm
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Hi,

I have a Fender Tele FSR Japanese made - George Harrison re-issue, the one played on Abbey Road album.
And that's how far as the excitement goes. The guitar is not well setup. As a guitar player I invest in regular maintenance of my guitars however even after taking this guitar to the luthier, its still giving me some issues. I believe its all due to a bad setup and incompetent luthiers around where I live who don't know how to remove fret buzz.

So, several days wasted and loss of ££s I have decided to take matters into my hands. I have setup my acoustic guitars before to the likes of Martins/Taylors, doing shims etc. when needed so I am not a virgin in setups but Fenders are whole different beasts and I don't want to break this baby of mine.

The issue - The strings 'buzz' on several frets. Especially the bottom 2 bass strings. I have tried adjusting the height etc. but to no avail.

I need a starter here if anyone can help. I don't even know what is the neck radius of my guitar, is there a link on Fender website? I can find one for American made replicas of this guitar but not one for Japanese made ones. Are they the same specs? Do I need to setup the truss rod here?

Any help is appreciated and may George Harrison send you some memorable licks in dreams!

Thanks,


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2016 10:25 am
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Can you hear the buzzing through the amplifier?

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 4:23 pm
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Navin wrote:
...I have a Fender Tele FSR Japanese made - George Harrison re-issue, the one played on Abbey Road album.
....The guitar is not well setup...
....I have setup my acoustic guitars, doing shims etc. when needed so I am not a virgin in setups but Fenders are whole different beasts and I don't want to break this baby of mine.
The issue - The strings 'buzz' on several frets. Especially the bottom 2 bass strings. I have tried adjusting the height etc. but to no avail.
Any help is appreciated and may George Harrison send you some memorable licks in dreams!

Hi Navin,
Don't be afraid of breaking your guitar......; just don't do anything stupid, and you will be fine.

The first thing you should do is examine the sides of the neck for relative straightness.
You want the neck to appear relatively straight on both sides, viewing up the neck, with a possible slight degree of "relief" or concave curvature, which is minimal.
Let's assume that it passes the eyeball test.

You didn't say where on your neck it is, where the fret(s) are buzzing,
It is somewhat unusual that the low "E" and "A" strings are the strings with fret buzzing problems.
You stated that you adjusted what I assume is the bridge height.
The bridge saddles height at the string contact points, should generally follow the radius curvature of the neck (higher in the middle and lower on the ends).

Have you adjusted the truss rod?
You may wish to adjust the truss rod 1/4 to 1/2 turn counter-clockwise, adding relief, and then readjust the bridge if necessary.
I don't get into measuring string height gaps with a feeler gauge, using a capo, so I won't address the Fender traditional setup approach which can be found on line at the following link.
https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/art ... -properly-
Rather, I prefer to adjust the bridge saddles and truss rod by eye and by string feel.

If this does not correct your problem, you may next wish to search the internet on how to determine if your frets need to be leveled.
You should find many web pages on this subject, and find some relatively inexpensive fret leveling kits to test if your frets are level, or need to be leveled.
If you determine that the frets need leveled, you may want to leave this to an expert guitar repair tech.

Finally, if you determine, or believe that your frets are level, and you can't seem to find any combination of bridge saddle and truss rod adjustment that works for you, you may wish to try shimming the neck in the following manner.

Loosen your strings and unbolt your neck.
You may wish to masking tape your loose strings at about the 12th fret to keep everything in order.
Unbolt the neck and place one (1) strip of masking tape about 1/4" wide just above the top screw holes in the neck, and reassemble and tune the guitar.

Image
Shim the neck with only one (1) strip of masking tape at a time.
Retune the guitar and readjust the bridge saddles, lowering all of the saddle screws and string height proportionately, relative to the fret board radius, and see if you have eliminated the string buzz at the desired string action height.

Hope this helps.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2016 5:06 pm
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Easy ;

1- You should have the right neck relief first . With wrong neck relief, nothing will work on the set up.

Neck relief on Fender guitars or most electric guitar are the same or very close ; 0.010 to 0.013 inches at 8 or 9th fret. And it is a matter of taste ; you playing style

2- Next, adjust action if needed with saddles height screw.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 1:19 am
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First things first; diagnose before anything else - no use taking medication if you don't know the disease.
So: where (= on which frets) do the strings buzz, or buzz worst?

You write: "The strings 'buzz' on several frets. Especially the bottom 2 bass strings."
That may indicate (at least)
- too little relief, or
- too much relief, or
- high/low/loose fret(s), or
- string height, or
- pickup height,
etc.

PS: If you don't trust the setup made by the pro, check the critical measures. Nut slot height, relief, action; all should be close to factory defaults; intonation should pass without problems. MJ and I have different views on "eyeballing vs accurate measuring", I strongly recommend the latter.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:49 am
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jmattis wrote:
MJ and I have different views on "eyeballing vs accurate measuring", I strongly recommend the latter.



+1000.
Measurement is the best way IMO.
And it is a must if you are not a pro on guitar set-up


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 6:40 am
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stratele52 wrote:
jmattis wrote:
MJ and I have different views on "eyeballing vs accurate measuring", I strongly recommend the latter.

Measurement is the best way IMO.
And it is a must if you are not a pro on guitar set-up

Yes, and no. Eyeballing is great for finding problems. It is useless for excluding problems.
If you sight along the edges of the fretboard and see that one side dips more than the other or some frets are higher than other, then you know there's a problem. If you do not see a problem, then it's time to break out the calipers, feeler gauges and straightedge.
Do eyeballing. But do it first, to catch problems severe enough to be found through eyeballing. It saves a lot of time, and directs you to focus on major problems first.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 6:58 am
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With mesurements you don't guess.

If you neck relief is nice with 0.013 inches at 9 th fret and 6 month later, the strings buzz and new mesurement show relief at 0.008 .
You find it. No guess
Turn truss rod to reach 0.010 :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 9:20 am
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stratele52 wrote:
With mesurements you don't guess.

If you neck relief is nice with 0.013 inches at 9 th fret and 6 month later, the strings buzz and new mesurement show relief at 0.008 .
You find it. No guess
Turn truss rod to reach 0.010 :wink:


That's binary thinking. You don't have to do one or the other, you can do both. Doing an eyeballing first doesn't make your later measurements less accurate, but can help you quickly detect many severe problems. Including some that may take a lot of measurements to discover through measurements, like if a fret is too tall at one point.
1: Eyeball, and address what the eyeballing uncovered, and that addressing includes measurements.
2: Measure, and address what the measurements uncovered.

(And it's not like you're not eyeballing first and measuring later anyhow. When you turn the truss rod, do you use a protractor and measure exactly how many degrees you twist the truss rod?)


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 12:54 pm
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It takes experience to eyeball. As I wrote on a previous topic where the question came up, the advice on the forum is mostly to people who have little experience on setups - and that is not meant as an insult or doubt on anyone's skills.
Just an example: I've seen (too) many guitars where the neck curve was "just fine" for the owner's eyeballs, measuring at over 1mm/about 3/64" and buzzing as hell on upper frets.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:12 pm
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arth1 wrote:
stratele52 wrote:
With mesurements you don't guess.

If you neck relief is nice with 0.013 inches at 9 th fret and 6 month later, the strings buzz and new mesurement show relief at 0.008 .
You find it. No guess
Turn truss rod to reach 0.010 :wink:


That's binary thinking. )



To me it is scientific thinking.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2016 2:14 pm
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jmattis wrote:
It takes experience to eyeball. As I wrote on a previous topic where the question came up, the advice on the forum is mostly to people who have little experience on setups - and that is not meant as an insult or doubt on anyone's skills.
Just an example: I've seen (too) many guitars where the neck curve was "just fine" for the owner's eyeballs, measuring at over 1mm/about 3/64" and buzzing as hell on upper frets.



+1

I've see that too ;

" I've seen (too) many guitars where the neck curve was "just fine" for the owner's eyeballs, "


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 10:12 am
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jmattis wrote:
It takes experience to eyeball. As I wrote on a previous topic where the question came up, the advice on the forum is mostly to people who have little experience on setups - and that is not meant as an insult or doubt on anyone's skills.
Just an example: I've seen (too) many guitars where the neck curve was "just fine" for the owner's eyeballs, measuring at over 1mm/about 3/64" and buzzing as hell on upper frets.

No, it takes no experience to eyeball. Even a beginner can find many problems that way, like the aforementioned problem with a fret being too tall, or the neck having a backbow, or being warped.
Someone experienced can find more problems with eyeballing, but that doesn't mean a beginner can't find any.

And as I said earlier, eyeballing is great for finding problems, but useless for validation. Your example is of someone using eyeballing as validation for things being right. That's stupid. Eyeballing is not useful for that, but it's damn useful for quickly finding many problems.
Not spotting a problem with eyeballing is not a stamp of approval. Nor does it show that eyeballing doesn't work. It does, when used for what it's useful for: a first step in spotting problems.

Or put another way, if you see that your car tire is flatter than it should be, do you disregard it because you haven't actually measured the tire pressure? Walking around the car and eyeballing the tires every now and then does no harm. And neither does eyeballing your guitar to see if there are any obvious problems.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Sat Nov 12, 2016 11:18 am
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arth1 wrote:
Or put another way, if you see that your car tire is flatter than it should be, do you disregard it because you haven't actually measured the tire pressure?

No, but my wife does.
(Trying to make a point here...)


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Post subject: Re: Fender Tele FSR Japan - Setup
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:10 am
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OMG, so glad to read so many good pointers. Thank you ALL. I wasn't receiving any alerts so thought no one replied but hey, there's plenty on this thread. I will come back with more info soon and add pics/vid if needed!

Kindest Regards,


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