Multiple string problems - help please

Hi,

I've just strung up my guitar...

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f68/dr5euss/000_0007-1.jpg

And I have a few questions, mainly concerning the neck.

1) My string tree (wasn't put on when photo was taken) is places between the low A and low E tuners - most I've seen are near the G tuner, but I found that the string was still liable to slip off the nut in that location. Is that ok, between the A and E?

2) I believe the neck is very slightly skewed. Up at the nut, the high E is around 3.5mm from the edge of the fret end, but down at the end of the fret board, it's around 2.5mm, and on the low E it's the opposite - more room at the bottom than at the top. The difference is small, but still noticable when I play up the top of the neck on the high E. How do I correct this?

Thanks,

You should be able to fix the skewed neck by loosening the neck retaining screws a little bit and pulling the headstock one way or the other to shift the neck in the pocket. Then tighten the screws again. From your description it sounds like you'll have to pull the headstock toward the bass strings. This should move the low E closer to the edge of the fingerboard on the higher frets and move the high E farther from the edge.

The string tree locations varied during the years so yours will probably be okay if that is what it takes to make the strings stay in the slot. If there is too much downward pressure you can always make a new spacer to shim it up a little bit.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I've tried pulling the neck, but it's such a tight fit in the pocket there's literally no movement at all. :sad: