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).

    • @[email protected]English
      1•1 year ago

      Sorry if I’m late to the party… Once a guitar is set up properly, the only adjustment you should really ever have to make is the truss rod unless you make a major change ir some sort of event (fell over, etc). OP says they (possibly) changed to a heavier gage string, if your action was already set low, this could be the culprit as some truss rods are more stout than others. Over time this will cause the “bow and arrow” effect, but in the short term the gage of the strings might be enough to cause buzzing. Some other possibilities-

      If it’s a bolt-on neck, is the neck plate screwed in tight?

      If it’s a Fender with that horrid “tilt” option, maybe back that adjustment screw out AFTER loosening the neck plate, then tighten the neck plate back down

      Is the guitar now in a more humid environment? This could cause swelling of the wood, possibly pushing some frets slightly out of their seat and may need to be pressed and glued in.

      Does the guitar have a trem? Then the heavier gage strings might ultimately be the issue as the stronger pull as it’s tuned to pitch would pull it lower. If it does and you look at the trem, it should sit at the same level/angle as the body. If it’s tilted forward toward the headstock, there’s your issue.

      I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve set up all of my guitars and probably another 12-15 for friends and have had no complaints. If you really want to be pointed in the right direction for guitar setups on YouTube, look for DWOFS (Dave’s World Of Fun Stuff). If he hasn’t set up your exact model he’s definitely done one similar enough where you should be able to figure out what’s going on.

      As always, take everything you read on the internet with a grain of salt, a lot of helpful posters in this thread but we’re all trying to triage sight unseen.