Help with Jazzmaster bridge/action adjustment

[blackbox]

I researched for months to find a luthier to help me put together my partscaster Jazzmaster, and found few options for the Sacramento area. I was recommended Kauer guitars, but I'm assuming he's very busy as he didn't respond to my emails. I finally found a guy who seemed good but, after I dropped it off, email exchanges made it clear that he didn't really understand offsets very well. Still, I let him finish the assembly and paid him a fair price for the work. What led me further to believe that he hasn't worked much on offsets was how poorly the vibrato was setup. It was extremely high and stiff. When I asked him about this, he said that's just the nature of this system, and I should look into replacing it (and he would be happy to do the work). Of course, my AV65 Jag has a classic Offset vibrato tailpiece and works perfectly. When I got home, I looked up on the internet how to set up an Offset tailpiece, and 30 minutes later had it working as well as my jag just by carefully and methodically adjusting the tension screw. So...I think even after my research, I didn't choose very well when I picked a luthier to do the work.

But my real issue is the action and the bridge height (or lack thereof). It's not that the action is abnormally high, but rather, it seems too high for having the bridge lowered literally as far as it can possibly go. The staytrem on my Jaguar has lower action, with the bridge pretty far up off the guitar.

So, any ideas on what, if anything, is wrong here? I feel like even if the action isn't abnormally high now, I'm in for trouble down the road, and I feel like having the bridge this low isn't allowing for ideal vibrato rocking.

I'm using an MJT body with an AVRI 62' neck, USA parts and a staytrem bridge.

[_nash]

There's probably nothing "wrong." Just shim the neck if you'd like the action lower.
It doesn't seem like he set the pickup height well either. But that's silly of me to judge on appearance.

[Francer]

As nash said, I think your only option to raise the bridge is to add a shim, i can't think of anything else you can do.

That bridge does look super low, i guess it's fine if you can use the full range of the trem and it's not rocking enough to hit the pickguard but it looks like it might - you can eyeball this yourself to see what happens.

It's a relatively easy task to fit a shim if you want to try it yourself, easily reversible. Just cut a sliver of business card or something and fit it in the back of the neck pocket. I think the only gotcha can be when removing the neck if it's really snug in the pocket, the neck taper will mean the base of the heel is the widest part so with your guitar flat on the bench lift it out upwards out of the pocket very carefully. Don't pull it outwards, separating the guitar and neck horizontally, so the taper prises the pocket open slightly as it's removed as this can crack the lacquer around the pocket- i think i've laboured that point enough now

And don't overtighten the screws when you replace the neck

Youtube has tutorials on all this stuff of course.

[mike fried]

Given the current height of the action at the lowest bridge setting, it looks like the neck will indeed need some shimming (a very common situation with Fenders). I think it would likely need more than one thickness of business card stock; cut two or three (or more) strips about 1/4" wide to stack at the pickup end of the neck pocket. Use however many it takes to get the last frets up to where the strings sit at that lowest bridge setting - that will also give you a good reference for adjusting the bridge saddles to match the neck curvature while you're at it. You'll now have a good starting point for raising the bridge to the appropriate height. Observe the aforementioned cautions re. removing the neck, and do raise (and level) the pickups as well. It really irks me when supposedly qualified "techs" take money for work that they're unqualified to perform... Good luck, you CAN do it yourself!

[blackbox]

Helpful stuff, thanks guys.

[Embenny]

Agreed. You need to shim the neck to increase the neck angle. Simple fix.

FYI, action is measured from the string to the top of the fret - not the fretboard. That's why guitars with big frets "look" like they have higher action (just commenting because you showed the coin touching the fretboard, so it looks like you were measuring string to fretboard).

[Larry Mal]

Ah, you got the Graco Dream Suite, I see...

[blackbox]

Graco dream suite, major pain in the ass to assemble.

So, took the suggestions on this board, shimmed the neck. Just took my time and through trial and error have it playing 100x better. Adjusted the pickups, now it sounds 100x better. Thanks all. I don't know why I didn't just do the entire job myself...still kind of sad that a total layman who has never done this before can do a better setup than a professional with his own shop.

[Steadyriot.]

Graco dream suite, major pain in the ass to assemble.

So, took the suggestions on this board, shimmed the neck. Just took my time and through trial and error have it playing 100x better. Adjusted the pickups, now it sounds 100x better. Thanks all. I don't know why I didn't just do the entire job myself...still kind of sad that a total layman who has never done this before can do a better setup than a professional with his own shop.

Welcome to the wonderfull world of Fender guitars!

[novamax]

I know this has been discussed controversly, but I there are several professionals who strongly advise using rather a full pocket neck shim rather than folded business cards or such.

While it is true that Fender themselves didn't seem to care much, and several users report using credit or business card chips for a partly shim for decades without problems, I can mechanically follow how the screw pressure on a neck heel with a hollow support might cause warping over time. A StewMac neck shim costs like 6 bucks, which is much less than a new neck, so even if it's just for the peace of your soul, I would do that… other than those 6 bucks, I see no advantage in using short shims. YMMV, of course.

[eternal learner]

Novamax, i agree with you on the piece of card shimming method, but it's a quick and cheap way to judge if the neck needs shimming and how much, then order a stewmac shim for keeps.

[eternal learner]

Graco dream suite, major pain in the ass to assemble.

So, took the suggestions on this board, shimmed the neck. Just took my time and through trial and error have it playing 100x better. Adjusted the pickups, now it sounds 100x better. Thanks all. I don't know why I didn't just do the entire job myself...still kind of sad that a total layman who has never done this before can do a better setup than a professional with his own shop.

Likewise it was an experience with a well regarded luthier charged me a hideous amount of money for a few minutes work on a jazz master i bought 4 years ago that started me on the path of d.i.y. guitar work. You tube and a ready supply of neighbour's kid's abandoned beater guitars has me doing re-frets, set ups etc. To date i have not charged anyone a cent, even materials, i pay for fret wire, bone nuts, acoustic pins even strings, i really enjoy the process of turning a lousy guitar into a good one. If anybody in sydney australia wants to know the name of the earlier mentioned luthier i am only too happy to supply his name and whereabouts so as you don't get financially $corched by this clown.

[novamax]

@ eternal learner: sounds like the way to go!

[dougk]

Sorry I missed your email. I think I remember reading it just before NAMM but forgot to get back to you.