650 Setup finally resolved

[profjeff]

Hi fellow Rickenfreaks:

As I have mentioned a few times in this forum, my new 650 Dakota was giving me fits on several fronts, thus making it difficult for me to bond to this guitar. I finally solved all of them and I thought some of you may be able to relate.

First, and foremost, the fret ends were shredding my left hand. They were hanging over the end of the fretboard just enough to make it quite painful to play the guitar. This is not a manufacturing fault...it's simply that the wood was contracting in our low humidity climate exposing the fret ends.

I corrected the problem by wet sanding the edge of the fretboard starting with 360 grit and working my way up to 600. I was careful not to sand upwards which may loosen the frets. I sanded the entire length of the fretboard and...wow, what a difference. The fret ends are no longer an issue. I'm sure that the luthiers who contribute to this forum may have something to say about this process:-)

I spent some time setting up the guitar using Pyramid roundwound 10s. The string height at the 17th fret is 4/64ths for the bass strings and 3/64ths for the treble strings. The standard (non-tremolo) bridge is a JOY to work with. Intonation is perfect.

Finally, I discovered that the humbucking pickups are EXTREMELY sensitive to string proximity. I messed with my pickup height for quite a long time until I arrived at a sweet spot. This simple procedure, I discovered, was the KEY element in getting good sound from this well-constructed instrument. Minute adjustments of 1/64" made a huge difference in sound. My final settings are as follows:

With the string fretted on the 24th fret:

Low E string is 3/32" from the center of the neck pickup. High E string is 3/64" from the center of the neck pickup.

Low E string is 4/32" from the center of the bridge pickup (just about as close as I could get it). High E string is 2/32" from the center of the bridge pickup.

I was thinking about selling this guitar, but it has finally earned a spot as a full-fledged member of my growing collection, and this great looking Dakota has been promoted to my regular gigging arsenal.

I really like the way it sounds through my Marshall JCM 2000 tube amp with lots of saturation. I am sure that this guitar would sound great through any high gain amp.

--Jeff

Pictures and sound files can be found at:

http://home.attbi.com/~drjeffreyb

[corey]

I'm glad everything worked out for you. Good for you as well for sticking with such a fine instrument instead of ditching it at the first sign of trouble.

[eatswodo]

I have the same fret issue with my 650, although it's more irritating than painful, and pretty much confined above the 12th fret. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to tackle this myself, but I would imagine that any competent luthier could take care of it pretty easily.

I would try the pickup setting suggestions myself - but my pickups barely move in either direction. I have at most a millimeter of travel up and down. It's almost as if the pickup cavities are too tight - I suppose that this could be a humidity issue too?