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Changing action of Shuriken Variax


MAnderson93
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Hi guys, I just purchased a Shuriken SR270 (unfortunately I have to send it back to get a replacement because one of the piezo pickups is faulty).

I've had a bit of a play around with the guitar, and I figure the replacement will likely be the same in terms of action, and need adjusting.

 

The higher up the neck you go (toward the body), the further away the strings start going from the fret board (first few frets the strings are very close to the fret board, and there is some fret buzz on the low E especially). Bends are also very difficult with the amount of tension, especially higher up.

 

I noticed there's no way to adjust bridge height. I can only move the saddle forwards/backwards, up and down, or adjust the truss rod in the neck.

How would I go about changing the setup of this guitar? (Fixing fret buzz, the strings being far away from higher frets, and making bends easier)

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On 5/1/2020 at 12:52 PM, MAnderson93 said:

I can only move the saddle forwards/backwards, up and down, or adjust the truss rod in the neck.

 

This is all any fixed-bridge guitar ever has...

 

Set-ups, while not particularly difficult to do, will require a basic understanding of a guitar's mechanics. It's a balancing act between several different adjustments, each of which affects the others, to a greater or lesser degree:  string tension, truss rod tension (neck relief) , the vibrating length of each individual string (intonation), and string height (action) ... the latter being adjusted by raising or lowering the entire bridge, individual saddles, or both depending on the design.

 

It's likely that your guitar will require multiple adjustments... most do when things get out of whack, hence the balancing act. If you're totally unfamiliar with what to do, take it to someone who is, otherwise you're likely to wreck something. Any competent local tech or luthier will do.

 

If you want to learn to do it yourself, there are numerous books on the subject, and/or YouTube tutorials that can walk you through the basics... but I'd experiment on a guitar that you don't care much about at first, just in case. It's a good skill to have, and in the long run will save you a small fortune in repair costs... but regardless, telling you what to do from afar without actually seeing the instrument really isn't possible. I know you want lower action on the higher frets, but:

 

A) There's more than one way to get there, and

 

B) Without knowing what else is going on with the guitar, guessing at what adjustment(s) to make could easily cause more problems than it'll solve.

 

No two set-ups are identical, and the wrong guess sight-unseen may cause irreparable damage, particularly over-tightening a truss rod.

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  • 1 month later...

One thing I would like to see is:

When you lower the saddles on the Shuriken, you don't get the two little grub screws poking up from each saddle. They really irritate my palm! 

 

I am thinking about ordering some spares off ebay and cutting them in half so they don't sit higher than the saddle itself.

 

Unless anyone has another solution?

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2 hours ago, JamieCrain said:

One thing I would like to see is:

When you lower the saddles on the Shuriken, you don't get the two little grub screws poking up from each saddle. They really irritate my palm! 

 

I am thinking about ordering some spares off ebay and cutting them in half so they don't sit higher than the saddle itself.

 

Unless anyone has another solution?

 

Beyond resting your palm a bit forward of the bridge saddles, there's not much that can be done about it. And those screws are longer than you think... you just don't see what's inside the saddle itself. If you bought replacements and cut them in half, you'll likely find that they're not longer enough to do their job, and I can easily see one getting wedged in there, stripping the head, and then having no way to get it out.

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