The ESP Guitar Company

I have no idea about these things.

Can you take the guitar to an expert to look at it?

It's tough to tell from the photo, but your strings look like they're essentially sitting on the frets.

I'd give the guitar a bit more relief (loosen the truss rod.) I stick with .012" or .305mm at the 7th fret. When measuring, be sure to capo the 1st fret and hold the low E at the 15th fret.

Then remove the capo and adjust your string height to around 1.5mm at the 12th fret on the low E and 1.0mm on the high E.

If that doesn't get rid of any buzzing you're running into, you may need to shim the neck.

These (or something similar) are the tools I use when doing basic setups on my guitars.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HM8SNHY

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XHXJG31

If it bugs you that much, you can put a shim in, but you'll have to adjust the setup to account for the new neck angle.

If you can play the guitar as it is, without buzzes or dead spots, I'm not sure I'd do much to change it.

Pushead wrote:

If it bugs you that much, you can put a shim in, but you'll have to adjust the setup to account for the new neck angle.

If you can play the guitar as it is, without buzzes or dead spots, I'm not sure I'd do much to change it.

hi

about a shim , i don't know make a shim , i guess I should bring to a guitar luthier or are there good pre-made i can find in europe ?

to know the angle should i use a ruler ?

it was my first guitar ,i bought when i as a kid

it does not buzz and I have found dead spots (for sure it has some but i can't hear them)

do you think i  could fix working with the truss rod ?

or loose slightly the 2 plate scews (the most close the the body)

is your neck dead straight?

thanks Pushead! Appreciate you help

At this point, yes, I'd suggest bringing it to a local tech with a good reputation to take a look at it and to do a full setup. Especially since it seems you don't have a lot of experience with tweaking your setup.

I really try to avoid using shims unless it's just not possible to get the correct string height across the entire neck without it.

I've learned a lot about guitar setup and over the years from different books and lately, people on YouTube. Among my favorites are:

Steward MacDonald: They're a store, so they do a lot of "selling" of their branded tools, but the guys who do the videos really know their stuff. They tend to be very technical and precise, sometimes a bit more precise than I feel I need for my stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/user/stewartmacdonald

Dave's World of Fun Stuff: He's pretty much the opposite. He does simple repair and setup work with a very practical approach. He's not a fancy tool kind of guy. My approach to working on guitars more closely matches his style.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOXNPo7CtnzzZ9A4GyQ6Tog

There are literally dozens of other sites that show this type of stuff.

I'll try to snap some photos of my KH-2 setup to give you an idea of how mine is dialed in.

I suppose if you think of it this way, yes, the nut is "higher" than the body of the guitar. That's because of the relief in the neck (controlled by the truss rod and the string pull.)

I've tried to show the amount of relief I have in my neck (on this guitar it's .010" or 2.5mm) and how that relates to the issue you're showing. I think the photos can be misleading, and the best way to tell is to take it to someone who knows what he/she is doing to take a look at.

Direct links:
https://i.imgur.com/b0m3bam.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/sWm9hqv.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/XQ2Srkf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/LO4okgs.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/1kfenCI.jpg

Pushead wrote:

I suppose if you think of it this way, yes, the nut is "higher" than the body of the guitar. That's because of the relief in the neck (controlled by the truss rod and the string pull.)

I've tried to show the amount of relief I have in my neck (on this guitar it's .010" or 2.5mm) and how that relates to the issue you're showing. I think the photos can be misleading, and the best way to tell is to take it to someone who knows what he/she is doing to take a look at.

Hi

i have the same tools ,and my relief is just like yours 0.25mm ,my action 2mm on the low and high E, and in the photos i can see the nut (the first fret ) is higher comapared to the 24 fret just like mine , maybe it's normal

without relief , is you neck dead straight using the ruler?

thanks man, really appreciate you help

I don't know. I'm not going to mess with it to see because the setup on my guitar plays great. You should take the strings off and release (loosen) the truss rod and see if that makes you feel like the neck is straight.

I think you're worried about nothing. But if it bugs you, you can put a neck shim in (or have one put in) and raise the bridge so the nut is sitting in line with the body.

I think you are talking about the neck break angle. It has something to do with the relation of the nut to the last fret. Some guitars have the break angle incorporated into the body prior to routing the neck pocket like Les Pauls. Others like Strats are straight and require shims or adjustment screws to adjust. You can tell if your neck is bowed or convexed by using a notched straight edge on the fret board not the frets themselves (like Pus shows). If the fretboard is flat your neck is likely correct and the angle is in the design of the guitar. Based on your pics I do not see much of a problem personally. If you do not like the playability of the guitar it is best to seek out a qualified tech to help set it up to your liking.

With a Floyd guitar it is not as simple as just changing the string gauge and moving on. Often the setup needs to be completely redone as the neck tension changes. The Trem spring tension needs adjustment so it will float properly again. Most likely a truss rod adjustment is also in order.