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Guitar strings suddenyl start touching fretboard? (mander.xyz)

submitted 1 year ago by DozensOfDonner@mander.xyz to c/guitars@lemmy.world

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Hey guys, i've got a weird thing that I might have fucked up a bit, but any tips are welcome.

I've got an old cheap guitar which I though I'd improve a bit with some other pickups I had. Installed the pickups, also got some new strings. So weirdly enough, for some reason the new strings touched the first few frets. I could adjust this at the bridge but it really needed to be lifted a lot, which screws up the action in my opinion. Didn't screw with any other part of the guitar besides pickup, the only reason I could imagine was that the neck was warped from sitting around without strings for a bit (but it wasn't even that long I believe? But maybe cheap guitar = cheap materials?).

The neck doesn't seem warped to the eye, but have to admit that I'm starting to doubt the straightness of my references for straightness. It feels as if the neck is ever so slightly crooked on the body (like leaning forward a bit), but again I can't imagine this suddenly happening when changing the pickups?

I know some might say "just take it to the shop" but I like DIYing and I really want to learn more about this stuff, and especially what the hell is going on. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

(Could post some pictures but on pictures nothing really stands out).

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[–] ashok36@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, Truss rod would be my first guess. If OP went with thicker strings then that's going to put more tension on the neck and could cause the issue.

OP, if you see this, look up videos on youtube on how to properly set up your guitar for neck straightness, string height, and intonation. Stew Mac has a ton of videos so I would start there.

[–] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago

Truss rod was my immediate and almost certain thought as well.

I picked up a little diy guitar book a few years back. Went from having everything in tune at 1st fret and horribly out of tune at the 7th to an in tune everywhere, solid sounding, easy action, no buzz, and glorious sustain.