Guitar Action: Lowering with Neck Relief

Are you looking to lower you guitar action but finding it impossible due to fret-buzz/string choking? Adjusting your neck relief could be the answer.

I have a 10-year-old Squier Telecaster Custom with P90s (full review here). A fantastic guitar with a fabulous neck, and, sadly, some wear on the first few frets, which has hindered my quest for a super-low action…. until now!

I’d always been under the assumption that increasing neck relief (the bow in the neck from the first to the last fret, measured at the 12th fret) always meant a higher action, but a little experimentation has changed all that.

First of all, whenever you’re making truss-rod/neck relief adjustments, never adjust more than a quarter turn at a time. Clockwise for less relief (more truss-rod tension), anti-clockwise for more relief (less truss-rod tension). The neck can sometimes take time to settle in, so adjust and experiment with the new settings and go from there.

Step 1. Kill the fret-buzz by increasing the neck Relief.

If you have issues with buzzing over the first few frets, as I did, increase the relief to the point where the buzzing stops. At this point, the action will have increased. Don’t worry we’ll fix that.

Step 2. Lower the Action.

Sounds crazy I know, but with the additional relief, you’ll now be able to lower your saddles beyond there previous level. Try it!

Step 3. Re-adjust your Intonation.

As neck-relief, action and intonation are all interactive, you’ll need to check your intonation and adjust where necessary.

And that’s it! I now have a far better feeling, better playing instrument with about 10 minutes work. Notes are ringing out clearer, there’s more sustain, and I’m gliding across the fretboard unhindered.

Of course, this isn’t the end of the story. You may be experiencing fret-buzz on the higher frets. This is actually solved by less neck relief. All I can say is experiment yourselves!