Lenfrok wrote:I have a Kingston electric guitar I bought in an antique shop that was it pretty bad shape when I bought it. I took it apart, sanded and repainted it, put it back together, and now the strings are too close to the fret board which causes the strings to be muted. I have tried adjusting the nut, adjusting the bridge, and adjusting the truss rod, but with no effect. What should I try next??? Thanks
Is this a problem with all of the strings, or only one or two? Have you identified where they are fretting out?
John Hall has a video on setting up an acoustic guitar, which would be helpful to you, even though you have an electric guitar. It's worth watching.
The truss rod's only purpose is to straighten the neck while the neck is under stress from the strings. It's not used to raise or lower the action. If you tightened the rod (most likely turning clockwise), then you may have inadvertently bent the neck too far back. Put a ruler, on edge between the strings, to see if the neck is straight. If not, then use the truss rod Ron straighten it. This nay may alleviate, or at least get you closer to solving your problem.
After verifying that the neck isn't over corrected, if the strings are fretting out on the first fret, then your nut slots are too deep. If they are fretting out further up the board, you may have to adjust the height of the saddle.
However , if it's only one or two strings, you could have a high fret. This is how you test:
Assuming that none of your strings are fretting out on fret 1:
Fret each string, starting with fret 1, and fret each fret, going up the board, until it doesn't fret out. This is your problem fret. Make a note of it. Do this with each string.
You may find that you have one fret that's causing the problem. If so, almost all, if not all strings will fret out on one fret. Take a look to make sure that it's seated and not moving up and down.
If you find find a fret that's moving in the slot, you can reglue it and clamp it down. Depending on the situation, I use thin CA glue to wick into the slot. If the fret is really loose, I remove it, clean the slot, then reglue with titebond or cold hide glue.
If the fret is properly seated, yet too high, you'll have to file it down until it's the same height as the rest of the frets. Use a sharpie marker, and mark the top of the fret. Using a crowning file, file it until the mark disappears. Recheck the height of the fret, using a fret rocker. Repeat until it's level with the neighboring frets.
I think, given the condition of the guitar, you may want to think about leveling the frets, crown, and polish them anyway.
But, first we really need to know where it's fretting out and if all the strings are fretting out in the same place.