NGD :-) stoptail/bridge setup question

[Mrjones2004x]

Hey guys, picked up a epiphone es339 today which feels real good to play and the electrics really are pretty good even tho they darken on rolling back the volume.
I have a question tho regarding setting up the tail piece height.
The bridge is set pretty high and I have a medium action at the moment. The stoptail was screwed down to the body making the angle between the two pretty steep. Is there a set height which will work best or a correct string angle I need to set it at?
I will take it for a full setup within the next month but for now I want to try and set it myself.
I have set a nice bit of relief in the neck which feels good to play and stop string buzzing etc.
As the bridge height is angled a little too woith the bass side slightly higher should the tail piece sit at the same angle?

Here she is

[northern_dirt]

Love that Marshall cab.. What is it?

[mr_william]

yeah, that's a cool guitar!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Early-1970s-M ... 3ccf31e9aa" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

theres a similar cab on ebay. it's a 70's pa cab.

[Mrjones2004x]

Indeed its a 70s pa cab. Don't know the model tho.
Has a g12m and g12h inside. Both from the mid seventies.

[Les Paul Lover]

if you think that you have set the neck relief right, I would try to set the rest of the guitar myself.

It is time consuming (proabaly plan for 1 or 2 hours the 1st time you do it) and is a very good excuse to have some time on your own, doing something I personaly find very therapeutic.

I believe you;ve done pick swaps yourself in that past, which is more technical than setting up relief/action/intonation.
There are lots of very good guide on the web too.

I like doing that myself, it feels like extra bonding with your guitar - and you learn as you go along too. I;ve set the action on my vigier really low recently - won't do that again, it's too low for me. I'm not sure techs will take these preferences into accounts - for one to remember your prefenreces, you'd have to bring him lots of guitars!!!!! I can getty pretty enthusiatic when playing (read: bloody heavy handed for no reason whatsoever), so very low action means lots of fret buzz for me.

Of course, I could try to leanr to play proper right...... but........


By the way congrats!
Oh, and for the treble loss when rolling down the volume, you probably need a treble bleed mod. I need to do that to my LP at some point too.

[Randy Bass]

Thanks to the wise folks on this Forum, I prefer to lower the stopbar all the way down and wrap the strings over it to reduce the break angle. You just have to feed the strings through the other way first and wrap them over the bridge on their way to the headstock.

Once you have made sure that the truss rod is adjusted correctly, adjust the bridge height at each side separately in small increments. Trial and error is the best way to get a feel for setting up guitars if you have the time and patience.

[Mrjones2004x]

Thanks for the reply.
I've just restrung after oiling the board and cleaning the frets and not sure if the strings will be long enough to try the wrap over method. Will try it next time tho as the tail price is about 7 mm of the body now to reduce the angle.

[Ronnie Robinson]

Thanks to the wise folks on this Forum, I prefer to lower the stopbar all the way down and wrap the strings over it to reduce the break angle. You just have to feed the strings through the other way first and wrap them over the bridge on their way to the headstock.

Thats also how Joe Bonamassa strings his Les Pauls and it looks pretty cool

[alanbama]

I also have an Epi ES339 and I love it. Congrats on yours! Here is a Gibson link with some setup tips.
http://www2.gibson.com/Support/Tech-Tip ... Setup.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I hope it helps.

[Mrjones2004x]

Took it for a full setup, plays lovely now.
It needed the nut cutting, 4 frets to be removed and re-seated and all levelled, crowned and polished etc. One saddle was a bit sharp too.

Great guitar after setup. Def needed it tho.