Charvel Pro Mod DK 24 HH HT E Setup Help !

[riffermadness]

I have gotten a brand new Charvel Pro Mod DK 24 HH Hard Tail bridge with an Ebony board guitar yesterday..This is my 4th guitar within the last month and I don't want to send this one back..it may just be me but the other 3 guitars had hard tail type bridges and have sent them back trying to find "The One".

What is happening is when I play on the first high E string in the 3-4th fret position going from the 3rd to 4th position holding the 3rd fret position down then going to the 4th fret I hear this awful kind of fretting out sound..and this happens going from the 15th fret position to the 16th fret position holding down the 15 fret to the 16th fret position..same thing an awful fretting out noise.

I have done some measurements and know the action is a little higher than I like and checked the neck for any kind of bowing and slightly gave the truss rod a little relief as in loosening it up and just seems like I am doing more harm than good..I have not lowered the action on any of the saddles yet but looks like the string height at the nut may be a little higher than it should be...I know it's a combination of factors doing this but I am looking for a starting point to see if I can get this setup to my liking and hopefully getting rid of some of this buzzing I am hearing..unless I am just "hearing things".

I have seen some videos about setting up guitars and I have mainly done the setups on my Floyd Rose equipped guitars but this is driving me crazy...I have checked and tightened up all the necessary screws on this guitar and checked and tightened the posts of the staggered Charvel branded locking tuners and everything on the guitar is tight.

I have not changed out the stock strings yet since this is only day 2 of having this guitar and wondering where everybody starts with their checks...like #1) the nut #2) neck relief etc...we all like our guitars setup to our own liking but just looking for some help trying to avoid sending this one back and just giving up..

I want or need 1 hard tail bridge and hoping this one gets to stay..it's in perfect overall cosmetic condition and of course I like the neck and guitar..I mainly use .009-.042 guitars tuned to regular E standard tuning. Thanks for any and all comments !!

 

[riffermadness]

I do want to add that there is no fret sprout or lifting of any of the frets..and I am about to lower saddle(s) to see what happens..I like fairly low action and it being a hard tail bridge I should be able to get it...also I have read about bypassing the stock 2 string trees and have tried that as well and still the same.

I did happen to find a guy that does guitar work about 50-60 miles away from me and he told me he could set my other guitar(s) up prior to me returning the last one..I just didn't take any to him thinking I might get it set up and it still buzzes..so maybe it's just me but I had somebody that knows nothing about guitars listen and heard the same noise..thanks again.

 

[PDC]

Here is a link to the original 'Fret Rocker' by Stew Mac. It is pricey, but an invaluable tool to determine if you any any high frets that need to be knocked down a touch and re-crowned.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/types-of-tools/straightedges/fret-rocker/?mtm_source=google&mtm_medium=cpc&mtm_campaign=|+GOO+|+SHOP+|+NBR+|+AllProductsUSA&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8MG1BhCoARIsAHxSiQmrO9hwU9cwBUHBb4RIEAywvRw-ls0po3auEyGtAijQoNUl3sFBrQ4aAmBnEALw_wcB

Here is a cheap knock-off on Amazon that probably wrks just fine:

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Le...bdbe9e36637f342fa091ebb522110501&gad_source=1

Here is a short little video showing how the Fret Rocker works: