I woke up and the action on my Strat is magically lower by itself. ????

[guitarman3001]

Do I have a luthier gremlin running around my house at night? Yesterday I got a new Deluxe Lonestar Strat. I spent some time trying to set it up and was not able to set the action as low as I like without some of the strings buzzing. I use a very strict scientific method to measure the action -- I use a quarter and slide it under the high E string at the 12th fret, if it slides in easily, the action is too high, if it just barely makes it, that's about where I like it -- and last night when I went to sleep the quarter would slide under the string without barely even touching it.

I put the guitar on its stand, it's an Ultimate stand where the guitar hangs by the neck, then this morning I measured the action and magically, the quarter doesn't even fit under the E string now, and there's no buzzing on the strings.

What happened???

 

[Luke]

The guitar accommodated to the humidity level within your home.

 

[gigs]

Change in seasons sometimes requires me to reset my strat and tele necks. Seems to happen overnight, then settles down again. Humidity rolling back in after a long, cold winter?

Doesn't affect my les paul for some reason that I do not know.

 

[muletrane]

The wood is just adjusting to the change in its environment.

 

[smakked]

This must be a Strat thing, i bought a American standard a few weeks ago, had the same sort of issue, anyway put it on a stand for 2 days, picked it up to have a play no more buzz at all.

 

[Average Joe]

I feel nuts admitting it but it's always felt to me that adjustments have to settle. At least if I touch the truss rod, then it seems that the neck will correct itself a bit over the course of a few hours

 

[guitarman3001]

This must be a Strat thing, i bought a American standard a few weeks ago, had the same sort of issue, anyway put it on a stand for 2 days, picked it up to have a play no more buzz at all.

After playing it for a bit, I'm still getting a little buzzing on the G string so I'm going to have to raise it a hair but it's still a lot lower than it was last night.

 

[kiwicanuck]

As part of your set up did you adjust the truss rod? Necks can take a while to settle from that. Otherwise humidity is my guess. Falling that a ninja luthier.

 

[Dereksslide]

You're welcome...

 

[ant_riv]

If you adjusted the truss rod, that could be the reason if it took a while to "settle".

Picture the physics of what is happening and it will make sense.
A curved metal rod is under tension inside a wooden tube with hundreds of pounds of tension (strings) opposing the curve.
Then you turn that rod to compensate for a desired change that is the thickness of a dime.
Sometimes it "sticks" a little and the full effect is not immediately realized.

I think that might be the "gremlin effect".

Congratulations on the new guitar! HNGD!

 

[dezb1]

action fairies...

 

[guitarman3001]

I didn't do anything to the truss rod.

 

[ballhawk]

Was it still in tune? Maybe a combination of string stretching and humidity changing neck tension?

 

[buddastrat]

??? Any guitar does this, especially around weather/season change. It's made of wood.

What's more shocking is getting a guitar that doesn't do that.
Usually a neck that's 1/4 sawn or rift sawn is most stable, and tends to not move as much. But wood can be unpredictable.

 

[monty]

My local shop gives a free set-up on any guitar you purchase and I always take it home for a week before getting any work done. As was mentioned, it takes a bit of time for the guitar to get adjusted to the climate at home. I believe you said it was shipped to you so that would be the case even more.
I'd stop messing with the action for a bit if I were you.

 

[tjmicsak]

Your house is more humid than the store it was bought from. As wood absorbs moisture it swells. As it swells it creates incresed force against the truss rod- which stays constant. The increase in humidity does the same thing as if you tightened the truss rod.
This is why truss rods need to be loosened as seasonal humidity levels increase into summer, and they need to be tightened as fall and winter cause the wood to dry, which will relieve truss pressure requiring the rods to be tightened.

 

[rrhea]

I am constantly adjusting truss rods on my guitars during seasonal changes (especially during seasonal changes). This is normal and it's well worth learning how to do your own setups. They are shockingly easy to do once you've got the nut just right (depending on your skill level you may want to take that to a pro). But once the nut is slotted to perfection doing your own setups (relief, action, intonation, trem float, etc) is just basic maintenance and quite simple to do with a little practice.

After all, who could possibly set your guitar up better than the person who's going to be playing it?

RR

 

[CubanB]

If it's floating, just loosing the trem screws a little and retune until the feel is the same. Takes 2 mins. If it's not floating.. harder to fix. And more frustrating.

The action is always going to vary slightly, especially with floating guitars. When the strings are new there is more tension, as they age there is less. A good reason to keep the back cover off and always keep a screwdriver handy. It takes so little time to adjust it and the good thing is you can always have your action just the way you like it.

 

[straightblues]

Yes the environment plays a part. Whenever I get to a gig, I get my guitars out first and tune them up. Then let them set until the show starts. I find if I just pull them out of the bag and play them right away, I have tuning issues. If I get them out early, no issues.

 

[guitarman3001]

Jesus...I went home for lunch and now the strings are even lower, so low that now they're buzzing. I guess I'm just going to have to let it sit there for a couple more days before I adjust it again. It's definitely going to need a pro setup at some point though. That G string seems to be unusually higher than the other strings. I think the nut slot may need to be filed down a little.