Ever play a guitar with action that’s sky high or buzzes too much? It’s a fact, a guitar with poor action will stifle your playing and quickly rob you of enjoyment.

How do you fix it? And what tools and methods do you use to get it where it should be?

This guide explains how to make critical adjustments for most common types of guitars and the principles behind achieving great guitar action.

Editor’s Note:

This article explains, in a wholistic way, how to adjust the action on your guitar for maximum playability and enjoyment.

In order to keep the details as concise as possible, major points of adjustment are covered in broad terms first, then explained in detail further on.

What this means for you as the reader, is that you may find yourself moving from section to section in order to gain the information that fits your current situation.

I sincerely hope this guide makes sense for you and supplies the information you need to get the most out of your guitar’s action.

Steve B.

What is Guitar Action?

Guitar action refers to how the guitar feels when you play it. A guitar with good action should have the strings set at the optimal height for your instrument, match your playing style and allow you to express yourself freely.

From a physical standpoint, the word “action” also fits the context of how you manipulate the guitar. As you play, your fret hand is literally where most of the action is.

Adjusting the action on a guitar refers to changing the distance between the strings and the fretboard. Moreover, it can be a delicate process as it requires precise measurements and careful handling of the instrument.

Setting Guitar Action: An Overview

By now you should have a good idea of the target measurements you’re aiming for, the tools you need and how to make the adjustments to get you there.

To adjust the action on a guitar, there are three main points you need to focus on:

• The nut
• Neck relief
• The bridge

By raising or lowering each element, you can find the perfect balance of playability for both the instrument and the player.

Why Action Matters

If your guitar’s action is poor, it’s not only annoying, it’s distracting. In other words you’re not getting the most out of your playing time or enjoying the experience as much as you could.

In my experience, well over 90% of guitars suffer from high action. For new guitarists this can be a deal breaker – the struggle is very real. Plus they usually don’t know what good action is supposed to feel like.

Conversely, if the action is too low, the strings may buzz against the frets when played, resulting in poor sound quality.

If your guitar doesn’t play the way you’d like, what follows is the remedy to curing your poor action woes.

The Tools You’ll Need

The tools required to adjust virtually any guitar’s action are really quite modest and certainly won’t break the bank. A few of the most common tools you’ll need include:

• An appropriate truss rod adjuster for your specific guitar
• Screwdrivers and allen keys to make bridge saddle adjustments
• A fine measuring tool to determine string height
• Feeler gauges or similar reference tools
• And ideally, a set of radius gauges

Depending on your instrument you may need additional things like files or sandpaper for trimming things like acoustic saddles.

For a complete list of the essential tools for setting guitar action and further setup adjustments, check out our Guitar Setup Tools Guide.

How to Measure Guitar Action

Start With an Assessment

Assessing the current state of your guitar’s action is your starting point. Sometimes you can easily see with the naked eye that the strings are too high or low to begin with.

Look at where the body meets the neck, do the strings seem excessively high? Or are they too close to the frets?

Now sight down the edge of the neck from just behind the nut looking towards the bridge. Do the strings seem to rise too quickly? Or are they nearly touching the tops of the frets.

Strings that are too high will seem hard to play. Strings that are too close will tend to buzz or even fret out in the upper register when you bend them.

Make some mental notes about what you observe.

As for neck relief, the neck may also look like it has a bit too much “bow”. Too much relief will make the strings in the middle of the neck feel particularly spongey or little too hard to manipulate.

The neck may also look pretty straight or even have a bit of an up-bow or a slightly rounded (humped) curvature. If this is the case, once again you’ll find the strings a little buzzy.

Commit what you’re feeling to memory. It’ll come in handy as we work through the process of adjusting the truss rod and setting the action properly.

Typical Factory Specifications

Here’s a generalized chart of factory setup specs for common brand-name guitars.

Keep in mind these measurements are not absolute and subject to many different variations such as playing style, string gauge, condition of the instrument etc.

All string heights measured in inches at the 12th fret:

Measure String Height

Measure String Height at the Nut

String height at the nut is measured by assessing the air gap at the first fret. This can be done using feeler gauges, or by eye if you have enough experience.

To use feeler gauges, pick a gauge that seems appropriate and measure the air space between the top of the fret and the underside of the string.

Keep in mind that neck relief and bridge height will influence this measurement. Therefor it is essential these factors be within a reasonable range before you commit to cutting any string slots at the nut.

The following measurements can be used a general guide for most guitars to at least get you in the ballpark. You can then tweak them to your own personal preference. Keep in mind that once a string slot is cut, it’s cut.

All string heights measured in inches from the bottom of the string to the top of the 1st fret:

If you think the nut needs attention, here’s an in-depth tutorial on how to cut nut slots to the ideal depth every time:

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Measure String Height at the 12th Fret

Using your preferred fine measuring tool, here’s how to measure your string height:

1. Hold the guitar in the playing position.
2. Starting with the low E string, measure the distance from the bottom of the string to the top of the 12th fret. (Coins work really well as a quick reference).
3. Record the measurement.
4. Next, move to the high E string and repeat the same measurement technique.
5. Record the measurement.

Note: The 12th fret this is a common reference point as it’s the middle of the string between the nut and the bridge.

If you want more precision, use the 8th and 14th frets. This technique will also allow you to account for effects of relief.

Don’t worry about measuring all the strings in between, setting the outer strings will give us a guideline for the remaining strings.

Lastly, move to the end of the neck at the first fret. Does it take a bit too much pressure to push the strings down? Or do they buzz when you play them open?

In either case, it means we’ll have to make one or more adjustments to get the strings to ring out properly and feel right at the same time.

Measure Fretboard Radius

Radius gauges are an indispensable tool for coaxing the maximum playing potential out of a guitar. By matching the radius of the fretboard with the radius of the strings at the bridge, it’s possible to achieve superior guitar playability.

Chances are your fretboard radius is fairly common if your guitar is manufactured by a popular brand. Here’s a table listing some of the most typical radii used by larger manufacturers:

Common Fretboard Radius Measurements

Of course, if you’re unsure or have a more unique model, it’s a pretty quick process to find the factory specs for your particular instrument’s fretboard radius through the manufacturer’s website. Or you can refer to this excellent list of radius measurements organized by manufacturer here.

In practice, ALWAYS measure the fretboard radius of service instruments to verify you have correct information.

Radius gauges come in a variety of styles and price points. In general, they all do the same job and won’t break the bank.

Types of Guitar Radius Gauges

How to Measure Fretboard Radius

To measure neck’s fretboard radius, follow these steps:

1. Pick a notched radius gauge you think is the right one.
2. Make sure it matches the wider spans of fretboard close to or at the body joint (14th – 18th frets) without any gaps.
3. If it doesn’t match, move to the next size up or down and repeat step 2.

To measure string radius at the bridge, follow these steps:

1. Pick a solid curve radius gauge that matches the fretboard.
2. At roughly 1/2″ ahead of the saddle(s), rest the gauge against the strings with as little pressure as possible.
3. Check that all strings contact the gauge by gently picking each string in turn. Each string should buzz slightly if it is contacting the radius gauge.

If any strings do not touch the gauge you’ll have to adjust the saddle(s) to match. Because different instruments require different approaches to making these adjustments, I’ll cover them individually in the section on How to Adjust the Action on Different Types of Guitars.

Measure Neck Relief

There are a number of ways to measure or “read” neck relief. My preferred method involves measuring the gap under the 3rd string around the 7th to 9th frets.

If there isn’t a gap it means the neck is too straight or may have a back bow. We’ll address this later in the article in the section: “How to Adjust the Truss Rod“.

How to quickly and accurately measure neck relief:

1. While holding the guitar in a playing position, press the G string down at the 2nd fret with your fret hand, and at the same time, the 14th or 15th fret with your pick hand.
2. Now look at the G string at the mid-point of this span – around the 7th to 9th frets.
3. Look for a gap of light between the top of the frets and the underside of the string itself. The gap should be somewhere between .006″ and .018″ or .15 mm and .46 mm respectively depending on the instrument.

For quick reference, the gap should look about the same thickness as the diameter of the 1st or 2nd plain strings.

If the gap is more than described, or not there at all, we’ll have to adjust the truss rod.

These initial measurements will give you an excellent idea of where your guitar’s action currently sits. Depending on how you want the guitar to feel as you play, you can increase or decrease these readings to match your style.

Now that you have your reference points, you can begin the most important process of setting your guitar’s action: balancing string height with truss rod relief.

Know Your Truss Rod

Neck relief should be set so that it’s not too straight – which can cause excessive buzzing, or have too much air under the strings – which causes the neck to feel spongey and harder to play.

Depending on the manufacturer, there are basically four different types of truss rod adjusters:

How to Adjust the Truss Rod

Regardless of the type of truss rod adjuster or which end of the neck it’s located at, they all work the same way:

• Tightening the adjuster increases pressure which straightens the neck. This brings the frets and the strings closer together.

• Loosening the adjuster decreases pressure which adds relief. This adds air between the frets and the strings.

To set the relief that’s perfect for your how you like your action, make small incremental bridge height and truss rod adjustments until you’re satisfied with the results.

Make Preliminary Adjustments

Now that we’re armed with the basic knowledge of how to measure action, it’s time to make preliminary adjustments. This step gets us in the ballpark and helps us better determine what the final adjustments should be. It also helps us control problems that can pop up if we commit to a setting prematurely.

For example, if we cut the nut slots to an optimal depth then straighten the neck, the nut slots will be too low causing the strings to buzz. The only remedy then is to repair or replace the nut.

To use an analogy, let’s write a rough draft before we commit to the final copy.

Additionally, try to make preliminary adjustments using the old strings if at all possible – especially if the guitar hasn’t been adjusted for a while.

Why? Because new strings will quickly get trashed from repetitive tensioning during the adjustment process. Save the fresh strings for the last few steps to maintain their full integrity.

To begin setting the guitar’s action, follow this series of preliminary adjustments:

1. If possible, lower or raise the bridge or saddle(s) to get them in the ballpark. It’s ok to be conservative, we want to “creep” the individual adjustments gradually towards the ultimate goal.
2. Read the neck relief and make a quick adjustment if necessary.
3. Make sure the nut is cut properly. If it seems ok, leave it alone. If it has issues and needs to be re-cut, check out the quick tutorial on re-cutting a nut here. If it needs to be repaired, check out this article on nut repair.

Next, we’ll look at the fine adjustments we need to coax the most playability out of your guitar.

Action and Different Types of Guitars

Different types of guitars, electric and acoustic for example, have different types of action adjustments. Nonetheless, they all follow the same basic principle of getting the string height and neck relief to work together.

I must stress that, as we go from instrument to instrument, we’re going to assume the nut is in good shape.

Why? Because regardless of the type of guitar, the nut is a fixed point and shouldn’t need further adjustment once it’s set. For help on setting the nut height, refer to the links in the Preliminary Adjustments section.

Otherwise, the truss rod and bridge are the areas that really need the attention – the vast majority of your work will involve setting the bridge or saddle height and adjusting neck relief.

Author’s Note: Getting the greatest possible action out of a guitar relies heavily on all critical adjustment points being within acceptable limits. If you’re in doubt or think these adjustments are beyond your comfort level, take your guitar to a qualified tech.

Steve B.

Acoustic Guitars

Whether you like your action a little higher or as low as possible, great action on an acoustic guitar, like any other guitar, involves finding the perfect balance between the nut height, neck relief and saddle height.

Most acoustic guitars come with a one-piece saddle made of natural or man-made materials. The most common being bone, plastic or graphite.

As mentioned previously, you should have the neck relief at least in the ballpark to minimize re-adjustments.

In my experience, acoustic action is usually set too high – either from the factory or due to the stresses of aging. Achieving comfortable low action on an acoustic involves trimming an appropriate amount of material from the bottom of the saddle – not the top, to bring the string height down.

During the trimming process, it’s not uncommon to have to reinstall the saddle and strings a couple of times to check the action. This is where keeping the old strings on really comes in handy

How to Adjust the Action on an Acoustic Guitar

To adjust the action on your acoustic follow these steps:

1. Measure neck relief and adjust to within your own acceptable limits.
2. Make sure individual nut slot heights are set properly. Adjust if necessary.
3. Remove the strings.
4. Carefully remove the saddle.
5. Check that the saddle slot is clean and make sure there are no pre-existing shims.
   • If the strings are already too low and you do need to install a shim, use a piece of stiff material with a thickness of roughly .025″ (0.635 mm) cut to the appropriate length and width. An old credit card works perfectly for this.
   • Once you’ve installed the shim, skip to step 8.
   • If you are removing saddle material, continue to step 6.
6. Mark a straight line along the bottom edge of the saddle, roughly .025″ from the bottom is a good start. Note: a little goes a long way. In other words, removing a small amount of material can make a big difference in how the action feels. Plus it’s better to creep towards your target rather than overshooting it.
7. Remove the excess material from the bottom using a sander, file or sandpaper. Aim to “split the line” and at the same time, make sure the bottom of the saddle is perfectly flat.
8. Reinstall the saddle and strings.
9. Tune to pitch.
10. Check neck relief again. Adjust if necessary.
11. Check for playability. Pick a few single notes and strum a few chords up and down the neck in multiple places. The action should feel comfortable and the notes should ring true without the strings buzzing.
12. If necessary, repeat steps 3 through 11.
13. Install new strings and tune to pitch.
14. Check neck relief and playability. Adjust if necessary.
15. Fully stretch the new strings and re-tune to pitch.
16. Play and enjoy!

You’ll notice there’s a lot of reference to checking neck relief. Why? As you remove and reinstall the strings you’re also removing and reapplying pressure. This can cause neck relief to change as compression is redistributed.

You’ll also notice new strings have slightly less tension and are more elastic. This will cause the neck to relax a little. Therefor keeping a constant close eye on neck relief is an important part of the process.

Note: Sometimes the an acoustic’s saddle radius doesn’t match the fretboard radius. whether you decide to adjust it or not requires careful consideration.

On some guitars this mismatch is intentional, the saddle radius will read flatter compared to the fretboard. A common trait with Martin guitars, this is due to either the use of a compound radius (a gradual flattening of the radius along the neck) or extra height added to the bass side to allow room for thicker string vibration.

Conversely, you may find the saddle has an overly rounded radius. This is usually due to overly-standardized production that has neglected the finer points, preferring quantity over quality.

Lastly, all the steps regarding action described above are exactly the same for a twelve string acoustic – the only difference is in the number of strings you get to deal with!

Electric Guitars

For the most part, adjusting the action on an electric guitar follows the same procedures as previously mentioned – but with one significant exception: electric guitars are inherently designed to be more adjustable in order to fine tune string height, radius and intonation length.

Though the goal of adjusting the action at the bridge is the same, the type of bridge your electric guitar has will greatly affect the types of tools and processes you use.

For example, adjusting the bridge on a typical Fender-made product will be very different from adjusting the bridge on a Gibson Les Paul.

Additionally, make sure you keep a close eye on string tension. Making these adjustments will definitely affect string pressure and potentially cause misreads. To maintain accuracy, good practice is to continually check the condition of your strings and keep them as close as possible to normal tension.

That said, let’s have a look at how to adjust the action on some of the most common types of electric guitars:

Fender Style Electric Guitars

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How to the Adjust Action on a Stratocaster

Stratocaster guitar bridges come in two basic forms according to the type of bridge mounting screws: the classic six-point and the modern two-point systems.

Overall bridge height can be adjusted by means of the bridge mounting screws:

Though each type of tailpiece is originally designed to be floating, it can also be “hard-tailed” or set flat to the body.

If the bridge is set to be hard-tailed, the process of setting your action is fairly straight forward.

If the tailpiece (ie: the bridge) is set to be floating, adjusting the amount of rise off the body surface will affect the overall height of the strings.

Therefor, when adjusting the claw-plate springs in the back, be sure to re-check your string height – more spring tension brings the strings closer to the fretboard and vice versa.

Stratocaster bridge systems feature individual saddles that are fully adjustable in three aspects: height, radius and intonation length.

Each saddle has two forward-mounted grub screws that can be used to set the string height, and at the same time, match the radius. The screw at the rear of the bridge plate is used to set intonation length.

Typical US (Imperial spec.) models use a 1/16″ allen key for the grub screws, whereas import and many MIM units use a 1.5 mm allen key driver.

Steps to Adjust a Stratocaster Bridge:

First and foremost, we’re going to assume you have a fresh set of strings on, the nut and neck relief have been adjusted, and you are ready to go!

1. Adjust the bridge mounting screws:
   • Relax string pressure until the back of the bridge plate contacts the body surface.
   • If necessary, adjust all bridge mounting screws to make sure the bridge plate is reasonably flush with the body.
   • Starting with the outermost screws, adjust the bridge mounting screws until the back of the bridge plate just begins to rise off the body surface.
   • Back off each bridge mounting screw equally an additional 1/4 to 1/2 turn.
2. Tune the strings up to pitch.
   • If floating, adjust the claw plate spring pressure until the back edge of the bridge measures 1/8″ or 3.18 mm off the body surface at pitch. Note: This height can be adjusted to better match your playing preference.
   • If hard-tailing, continue to step 5.
3. Check neck relief. Adjust if necessary.
4. Adjust the 1st string saddle height to its lowest acceptable limit. Note: individual string heights are set by adjusting the two grub screws at the front of each saddle
5. Adjust the 6th string saddle height to its lowest acceptable limit.
6. Using the appropriate radius gauge, set the remaining string heights to match.
7. Stretch the strings out fully and retune to pitch.
8. Double check for ease of action and playability.
9. Enjoy!

Author’s note: When setting up a Strat to be floating, the bottoms of the saddle plates should ideally be level and in line with the trajectory of the strings when at rest.

How to Adjust the Action on a Telecaster

The beauty of a Telecaster lies in its simplicity. Originally designed to be a working musician’s guitar, the focus was on the balance of utility and performance.

For the most part, achieving great action on a Telecaster is the same as previously mentioned instruments. But once again, the main difference lies in how you deal with the bridge components – namely the saddles.

Adjusting a Telecaster bridge with modern individual saddles is essentially the same process as on a Stratocaster – but without the need to adjust any bridge mounting screws.

Here’s a quick video about setting action on a Vintage 52 Reissue Telecaster:

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Adjusting a vintage style Telecaster bridge with three barrels is slightly different in a couple of aspects. For one, you may need a fine slot screwdriver to adjust the grub screws.

Secondly, it’s important to understand that adjusting one side of the barrel influences the other side slightly. Therefor it’s important to constantly re-check the overall height and radius measurements you’re aiming for.

Steps to Adjust a Telecaster Bridge:

Let’s assume (again) you have a brand new set of strings on, the nut and neck relief have been checked and adjusted to your satisfaction, and you’re ready to go!

1. Tune the strings up to pitch.
2. Check neck relief. Adjust if necessary.
3. Adjust the 1st string saddle height to its lowest acceptable limit.
   • Note: Whether the saddles are individual to the string or the two-string barrel type, string height is set by adjusting the two grub screws at the front of each saddle.
4. Adjust the 6th string saddle height to its lowest acceptable limit.
5. Using the appropriate radius gauge, set the remaining string heights to match.
6. Stretch the strings out fully and retune to pitch.
7. Double check for ease of action and playability.
8. Enjoy!

Gibson Style Electric Guitars

Adjusting the action on Gibson style electric guitars once again follows the same basic process as any other: we want to start by making sure the nut height and neck relief are set according to your preferences using the methods described above.

Next, assuming you have a new set of string on to work with and the appropriate tools, let’s have a look at how to make action adjustments at the bridge.

Gibson tune-o-matic type bridge adjustment points:

Steps to Adjust a Gibson Style Bridge:

1. Make sure the strings are tuned to pitch.
2. Double check neck relief. Adjust if necessary.
3. Using the appropriate tool, adjust the treble side of the bridge to its lowest acceptable limit.
4. Check string tension making sure it’s at least close to being in tune.
5. Adjust the bass side of the bridge to its lowest acceptable limit.
6. Once again check string tension.
7. Double check string height and readjust the bridge if necessary.
8. Stretch the strings out fully and retune to pitch.
9. Double check the action throughout the neck is to your liking.
10. Play away!

You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned anything about using a radius gauge. This is for good reason.

The interesting thing about Gibson tune-o-matic type ABR and Nashville bridge design is in the fact that the bridge unit itself acts as a unified carriage – the individual saddles are not height adjustable themselves.

Because Gibson type saddles are not height adjustable, setting the radius may require cutting the saddle slots. This process is not to be taken lightly as there are significant consequences.

Why? Well for one, older bridges, particularly those found on older and vintage instruments, suffer from what’s called a “collapsed bridge” or “bridge sag”. This is a condition where the bridge loses its original radius over time due to continuous pressure from the strings.

And two, if you cut one saddle slot too low, you have to adjust the others to match. In other words, you must be precise in your measurements and careful in execution – once it’s cut, you can’t undo it.

In this respect, Fender type bridge design has a significant advantage in the ability to fine tune without alteration.

Either way, recutting the saddle slots is a destructive process requiring careful consideration, especially when dealing with an older bridge that’s already compromised.

Tools Required:

If you do decide to refine the radius by cutting the saddle slot depths, you can use the same tools for cutting nut slots.

Additionally, you should cut the saddle slots BEFORE you set string height. If you try to do it afterwards, you’ll have to re-set the bridge height all over again.

Should I Top Wrap or Not?

What does top wrapping a stop tailpiece have to do with action? Well, the answer lies in why it’s adjustable in the first place.

According to original Gibson advertising literature, there was an intentional benefit baked into the design to begin with: the, “Tailpiece can be moved up or down to adjust tension”.

To this day, there is a highly polarized debate as to whether the strings should be oriented one way or the other. One side claims, “If it’s good enough for (insert guitar hero name here), it’s good enough for me.” versus “If it was designed that way, then that’s the way it should be done.”.

It really comes down to a matter of preference. If you do happen to favor one or the other, which side are you on? By all means, feel free to leave a comment in the comments section below.

Guitars with Locking Systems

As a group, guitars with locking systems are purpose-built for fast action. When build quality and material components are good, these guitars perform like thoroughbreds being nearly effortless to play.

Due to the nature of the locking system, these guitars also fall into a category all their own. Along with other features, the locking system also affects the process of setting the guitar’s action.

Many players find the process of working on a locking system incredibly frustrating. For good reason: you’re dealing with a host of mechanical points that have to be locked or unlocked while at the same time work with loaded springs under tension.

In reality, the process of adjusting the action on a guitar with a locking system is really not that complicated. You just need the appropriate tools, and follow a logical method to get the guitar’s action where you want it to be.

The Most Common Issue – The Bridge is Too High or Low

One of the most common pain points associated with locking systems is the change in bridge height when you switch string gauges. The bridge will get “decked” – that is, pulled back into the body with lighter strings, or rise sky high when going to a heavier gauge.

To correct a locking bridge height that is too high or low, refer to steps 4 thru 7 below.

Common Locking Bridge Adjustment Points

Adjusting the bridge to level is done by adjusting the claw plate screws located in the spring cavity.

When the spring pressure is equalized with the string pressure, the bridge plate should be relatively flush with the plane of the body.

Similar to Gibson style and modern Fender Strats, locking system bridges use a two-point adjustment system to raise or lower the entire bridge unit.

Locking Nut Shims

Shims of different thicknesses can be used to adjust the height of the locking nut.

Locking Bridge Saddle Shims

Steps to Adjust the Action on a Guitar with a Locking System:

For the sake of popularity, we’re going to use a standard Floyd Rose type locking system for reference.

1. Make sure the bridge is in as level a position as possible. See step 4 below for instructions on how to do this.
2. With the strings at tension, carefully asses neck relief is within tolerance. Adjust if necessary.
3. Check string height at the nut.
   • How to adjust a locking nut if it needs to be raised or lowered:
     • Remove the pressure pad bolts, pads and any nut mounting screws. Note: string tension will keep the nut in place.
     • Place a suitable block such as a tongue depressor under the back of the locking bridge. This will stop it from collapsing into the body.
     • Starting with the first string tuner, carefully back off each string 2 or 3 turns to reduce overall string tension.
     • To further reduce spring load on the guitar, carefully remove 1 spring from the cavity in the back of the body.
       Spring load should now be reduced enough so that you can either add or remove shims from underneath the locking nut.
     • Insert one of the 3mm locking pad machine screws 2 or 3 turns into the center position on top of the nut. Using the screw as a handle, you should now be able to gently pull the nut up vertically to add or remove shim material underneath. If the nut seems to still have too much pressure on it, back off the tuners a bit more and / or remove another spring if necessary.
     • Add or remove shims underneath as required. Note: If, after removing all shims, the locking nut needs to go still lower, the nut seat will have to be re-milled. If this is the case, take it to a pro as this is a highly specialized process and beyond the scope of this guide.
     • Using a stepped approach, carefully bring the strings back up to tension and reinstall any tremolo springs previously removed.
   • Recheck that the nut is at an acceptable height. If necessary, readjust using the method previously described.
   • Recheck that the neck relief and bridge are also within acceptable limits. Readjust if necessary.
   • Reinstall the nut mounting screws. Note: It is not necessary to reinstall the pressure pads just yet.
4. With the strings at tension, check that the bridge plate is level with the plane of the body. Alternatively, the bridge plate can be lined up with the trajectory of the strings.
   • How to level the bridge:
     • If the back end of the bridge plate is too high, tighten both claw-plate screws equally 1/2 to 1 full turn each.
     • If the back end of the bridge plate is too low, loosen both claw-plate screws equally 1/2 to 1 full turn each.
     • Retune the strings to pitch.
     • Check that the bridge plate is level. If not, repeat the above steps according to the condition of the bridge until it is level.
   • Double check the strings are at pitch.
5. Adjust the treble side fulcrum stud up or down until the 1st string height is set to its lowest acceptable limit.
6. Adjust the bass side fulcrum stud up or down until the 6th string height is set to its lowest acceptable limit.
7. Recheck that the bridge is level and that the nut height and neck relief are still within acceptable limits. Make refining adjustments if necessary.
8. Using the appropriate radius gauge, check that the radius of the strings indeed matches the radius of the fretboard.
   Important Note: Whether the saddle radius matches the fretboard radius or not is highly dependant on the quality of manufacture. In my experience, locking system saddles rarely match the fretboard radius and require shims to get a perfect match.
   • How to adjust string radius on a locking system bridge:
     • Remove tension from the string you want to adjust.
     • Record the intonation point for future reference.
     • Loosen and remove the saddle lock down screw attached to the saddle you’re adjusting.
     • Carefully lift up the saddle to expose a gap under the front portion. Pulling the string up vertically usually works well for this.
     • Insert the appropriate size shim under the saddle. This can be anything between .005″ to .015″ or .127 mm to .381 mm depending on the amount of radius gap you need to compensate for.
     • Realign the saddle to its original intonation point.
     • Reinstall and tighten the saddle lock down screw.
     • Tune the string up to pitch.
     • Check that the string height now matches the radius. Readjust if necessary.
   • Check that all strings are at pitch.
9. Recheck that the nut height, neck relief and condition of the bridge are set to your liking.
10. Line up and level the fine tuner adjustment screws making sure there’s enough room for adjustment after lock down.
11. Double check that the saddle lock down screws are secure.
12. Reinstall the nut pressure pads and pad bolts, and lock them down.
13. Recheck that the guitar is tuned to pitch. Fine tune if necessary.
14. Play!

For most systems, the above method works very well. But variations between manufacturers will require adapting some principles to make things work for the particular unit.

Floyd Rose vs Kahler Systems

For example, adjusting the locking nut for a Kahler system works exactly the same as described above, but adjusting the bridge is a very different animal – more like that of a Strat but on steroids. Plus there’s no true locking mechanism for the strings.

Archtops, Jazz Guitars and Semi-Acoustics

Adjusting Action on Archtop, Jazz and Semi-Acoustic Guitars

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Setting the action on archtop, jazz and semi-acoustic instruments is very similar to that of acoustic guitars – with some interesting exceptions.

Many traditional archtop jazz guitars come fitted with a pre-intonated, height adjustable bridge system. The saddle component is a typically a single piece of hardwood or metal set atop of a base plate fitted with adjustable thumbwheels.

With these instruments, adjusting string height for better action is a simple matter of raising or lowering the saddle using the thumbwheels.

Interestingly enough, even a straight metal bar, as used in Gretsch’s 7576 Country Club, can be remarkably effective and musical when adjusting the action on a jazz-box.

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Putting a wedge in the door of the future, more “modernized” instruments make use of tune-o-matic type bridges and are thus, fairly straight forward.

Setting the action on these guitars is essentially the same as with Gibson type instruments.

Classical Guitars

Adjusting Action on a Classical Guitar

For the most part, adjusting the action on a classical guitar follows the same process as steel string acoustics, but with a few very important differences:

• Classical guitars traditionally have a flat fretboard, therefor there’s no need for measuring or adjusting a radius.
• Due to lower string pressure, many classical guitars are not equipped with a truss rod – no adjustment is necessary.
• Action on a classical guitar will be a little higher due to the higher elasticity and tendency of the strings to vibrate more aggressively. This means both the nut and the saddle must be set fractionally higher.
• If you have to remove the saddle to make adjustments more than once, it’s not very practical to un-weave the strings at the bridge. Instead, loosen the string tension and carefully insert a suitably sized wedge just ahead of the saddle. This should allow you enough lea-way to remove the saddle, make an adjustment and reinstall it.

Basses

Adjusting the Action on a Bass Guitar

Adjusting the action on a bass guitar typically follows the same process as electric guitars. Most of the “action” is set using the bridge components.

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Depending on the architecture, the adjustment points and methods are essentially the same, just on a larger scale (no pun intended). For example, larger strings means a little more string height is needed along with a touch more neck relief.

From a player’s point of view, one major consideration is in whether you use a pick, fingers or combination of both. These various techniques have a substantial influence on how the action is set which is heavily dictated by the player’s style.

Should Action Be High or Low?

Whether you like your guitar’s action high or low depends on a number of factors:

• The type of instrument you play
• Your technique or approach to playing
• Your tolerance for string buzz
• Your general taste in music
• Your level of experience – or even age

Considering the range of musical styles and instruments, these factors suggest an incredibly wide range of variations in how action should be set.

How to Set the Lowest Action on a Guitar

Before setting the lowest action your guitar will allow, make sure you have covered the preliminary adjustments and general action adjustments for your specific type of guitar listed above.

Next, you’re going to check the neck in multiple areas. Checking these multiple points magnifies your sense of how the guitar sits. It also lets you determine the limits of your guitar’s action and helps balance it with your playing style.

Here are the specific steps to measure for the lowest action your guitar will allow:

1. Hold the guitar in the playing position.
2. While looking at the Low E string around the 12th to 15th fret area, make a mental note of or take physical distance between the tops of the frets and the underside of the string.
3. On the same low E string, play a few notes up and down the neck in between the 10th and 17th frets. if there’s too much resistance, the strings are too high. If the string buzzes, the string height is already set too low, or one or more frets need attention (which is common where the neck meets the body).
4. Again on the same low E string, move to the third fret area and play a few notes up and down the neck to make sure it doesn’t buzz or feel too spongey. If it does, most likely the neck still needs a truss rod adjustment (or less likely, you may need some fret work).
5. Now move to the high E string. Again, make a mental note of (or measure) the string height above the frets around the 12th to 15th fret area.
6. In that same area, play a few single notes up and down the neck. There should be no buzzing and very little resistance under your fingers. Each note should ring true and clear.
7. Now do at least a full tone bend (more is better) on every fret from the 10th to 17th frets. If you find the string buzzing or fretting out, the action is already set too low or one or more frets need attention.
8. Lastly, using a similar method as the described for the low E, move to the 3rd to 5th fret area on the high E string. Play a few notes in that section and check for any buzzes, sizzles or excess “air” under the string. If there are issues, once again it suggests the truss rod needs adjustment, or a fret or two may need attention.

The best and lowest action you can achieve will be a direct result of following this process. Moreover, this same process can also be used for the vast majority of guitars.

Acoustic Versus Electric Guitar Relief Measurements

Measuring nominal action on an Ovation acoustic and super low action on a Telecaster

You’ll notice nothing is mentioned about the inner strings: 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. This is because we’re using the outer strings to determine our lower limits. The remaining strings will fall in line as we make fine adjustments later on.

There are a few other subtle hot spots that will manifest depending on the strings and instrument, but the fret areas mentioned above are those that tend to be extremely consistent.

The reality is, whether you prefer your action high or low or are still trying to figure it out, the best guitar action sticks to a straight forward principle: it should feel right.

The Pros and Cons of High Action vs Low Action

Contrary to most opinions, high action is not necessarily bad. Higher action will allow an instrument to “speak” a little better; it produces more volume, but you have to work for it.

One of my local clients, Ian Crichton of the prog rock group Saga, likes his action a little higher. He wants to hear the notes ring loud and true with a good amount of “ping”. His comment about high action was, “You get used to it.”.

Conversely, a guitar with low action requires less energy to manipulate the strings.

For instance, many metal players prefer their action very low in order to accommodate lightning fast shredding techniques such as sweeps, arpeggios, pivots etc.

Compared to higher action, the trade-off is that the lower you go, the more you sacrifice the instrument’s acoustic value. Notes will become stifled and choked because the strings simply don’t have enough room to vibrate and reach their full potential.

For most of us, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle.

Do New Guitars Have Good Action?

Depending on build quality, new guitars may or may not have good action out of the box.

The fact is the vast majority of production instruments are set to factory specs. Though they tend to be within playable limits, they often need to be further refined to fit the player better.

Well known brands such as Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Fender and a host of others set very high standards for their instruments. This minimizes the chances of you getting a new guitar with poor action and playability.

On the other hand, there are an endless number of off-brand instruments that cover every conceivable level of quality.

At one end of the spectrum you’ll find new guitars that are literally unplayable, all the way over to those that play very well with great action, and everything in between.

Generally speaking, the better the grade of the guitar, the better your chances of it playing reasonably well directly from the manufacturer – or at least with minimal adjustments.

Why Does Action Change?

Over long periods, wood moves in ways you can’t see. The effects of time, pressure and humidity change the very nature of the guitar, this is why guitar action changes.

The effects of weather can have a very negative affect on instruments, particularly in extreme environments. Wood, the most common guitar material, expands and contracts with relative humidity which in turn causes structural issues such as cracking and joint separations.

Changing string gauges also changes the amount of compression or pressure on the guitar – which directly affects how the guitar plays.

For instance, going to heavier strings will pull the neck up which raises the strings creating a higher action. The reverse can be true if you change to a lighter gauge as well: the neck relaxes and the strings start to buzz requiring an action adjustment.

What’s the Difference Between Guitar Action and Guitar Setup?

Guitar action is the term used to describe how well a guitar plays, how easy it is to manipulate.

A guitar setup is more of a wholistic approach to the entire instrument. In other words, a setup covers all operational elements of the guitar from the tuners to electronics and everything in between.

For more information on all the elements that go into setting up a guitar, check out this guide.

How Much Does it Cost to Lower the Action on a Guitar?

The price to lower the action on a guitar – no matter what kind of instrument, will depend on how much effort has to go into making it right for the player.

Some guitars, especially better high-end brand name instruments, are fairly easy to get to play with nice low action because they’re just built better with better materials.

Consequently, lowering the action on a cheap guitar will likely cost more because of the extra work involved to get it to be more playable.

That said, a decent guitar setup will cost you somewhere between $50-$100 (USD) depending on your region, the amount of work required and the experience of the person doing the work.

Other Factors That Influence Action

Sensitivity to String Buzz

Along with simply being out of adjustment, other factors that influence guitar action include your own sensitivity to string buzz.

For example, an electric guitar that buzzes when played acoustically may not sound the same when plugged in. In other words, the buzzing doesn’t manifest through the amp.

Whether you can tolerate it or not is up to you.

On the other hand, an acoustic guitar with bad string buzz is outright annoying. For most players, whether acoustic or electric, this is the tipping point for an instrument that needs an action adjustment or complete setup.

Common Problems that Limit Action

Time, age and general build quality have a huge impact on how well a guitar plays. Sometimes, due to these same issues, a guitar’s action can be severely limited.

Moreover, a guitar that has underlying material or structural issues will be aggravated by an overly aggressive playing technique. Does this mean you should lighten up and change your style? Not necessarily.

You can have the guitar looked at or try to adjust it yourself, but best results will definitely be hampered by poor build quality.

Otherwise, common factors that cause a guitar to have compromised action include:

• The condition of the frets
• Distortions in the neck
• Distortions at the body joint or poor neck angle
• Poor quality, maladjusted or no truss rod
• A lifting or cracked bridge on an acoustic guitar
• Seized parts that should otherwise be adjustable
• Mismatched factory parts

I would say the most common culprit would be the neck to body angle, followed closely by a neck condition that’s out of whack.

Luckily, electric guitars with bolt-on necks can have the neck-to-body angle corrected with a simple shim in the neck pocket. Some manufacturers, such as Fender and Peavey, even offer a micro-tilt feature to account for this – a small grub screw adjuster accessible at the base of the neck plate.

Why this feature is even necessary these days is beyond me. Considering the current state of precision manufacturing, surely a neck pocket can be milled to accommodate the compensation offered by an adjustable bridge – yes? (End of rant.)

On the other hand, acoustic and electric guitars with traditional set necks are another story. The only cure for these instruments with compromised neck-to-body angles is a costly neck reset.

Luckily, more forward-thinking manufacturers such as Taylor, Godin and others, design their guitars with this upcoming distortion in mind. They know pressure will eventually take its toll over time and allow for their necks to be relatively easily reset at a minimal cost.

The net effect? Better and more consistent action over the long term.

Mental and Physical Fatigue

Ever find yourself going in circles trying to chase perfection? Like when you’re trying to coax the most out of your guitar, and you wind up second guessing you work asking yourself, “Should it be this?.. or that?..”.

Not a good deal. Too many kicks at the can and you’ll lose sight of the goal.

Take a break, it’s good advice.

What to Do When Parts Don’t Match

Before I close out this section, I’d like to pass a long a curious, yet all too common situation that came across my workbench recently.

A regular client of mine had just purchased an electric guitar he wanted set up – a beautiful new Fender Vintera ’60s Jaguar in stunning Sonic Blue.

As much as he liked the guitar, he said it just didn’t feel right, even after a few well-practiced adjustments.

As soon as I picked it up I knew exactly what the problem was, I could feel it – a severe mismatch between the bridge radius and the fretboard radius.

As soon as I put it on the bench my suspicions were confirmed: the fretboard radius measured 9.5″ whereas the radius of the factory supplied bridge measured 16″!!…

There was no way the action on this guitar was going to be satisfactory by merely adjusting the bridge height. Either the inner strings would always buzz, or the outer strings would always be too high with respect to the middle strings.

Ultimately, the bridge saddles needed some serious tinkering to get things to line up and the action where it needed to be.

After cutting the saddle slots and making the other critical action adjustments, the guitar played ridiculously well.

More importantly, the owner was extremely happy.

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Not to bash Fender, but it would seem even the best of manufacturers have their blind spots. In this case, the negative effects of selecting over-generalized “off-the-shelf” parts is fairly evident.

Sadly, this is not the only time I’ve come across situations where mass production and end usage diverge – a beautiful Japanese-made Gretsch comes to mind.

I guess the point is, regardless of what a manufacturer says, check for yourself and don’t take anything for granted.

Common Items You Can Use for Measuring Action

There’s something to be said for keeping it simple. Not to downplay the importance of proper tools, but using materials at hand in a practical way does offer a certain convenience.

For instance, you probably have some spare change in your pocket or on the dresser, and every guitar player uses strings which come in specific gauges.

Both coins and strings can be used as tools for fine measurements. You just need to know their thicknesses.

Here are a couple of charts you can make use of for handy reference:

Coins: USD sorted by thickness

(Keep that spare change handy!)

	Half Dollar	.085″	2.15 mm
	Nickel	.077″	1.95 mm
	Quarter	.069″	1.75 mm
	Penny	.061″	1.55 mm
	Dime	.035″	1.35 mm

Guitar Strings: Common gauges and types in inches, sorted by thickness

(The next time you change your strings, keep the tag ends!)

Summary of Key points

Regardless of the type of guitar, most instruments will follow the same general procedure to maximize action:

1. Determine the current action of the guitar. This can be done by measuring the distance between the strings and the fretboard at the 12th fret.
2. Decide on the desired action. This will depend on personal preference, as well as the type of music being played and your playing style.
3. Adjust the truss rod to alter neck relief. The action through the middle of the neck will raise or lower depending on the amount of curvature.
4. Check and adjust the nut height. The depth of the string slots will raise or lower the action at the headstock.
5. Adjust the saddle for height and fretboard radius. Saddle height will raise or lower the action at the bridge.
6. Fine-tune the action by making small adjustments to the truss rod, saddle, and nut as needed.
7. Test the action by playing the guitar and observing any issues with comfort or sound quality.

Adjusting the action on a guitar can be a time-consuming process, but for any guitarist, it’s important for achieving the best playability and sound quality.

Personal Thoughts, Notes and Observations

Just as there are many different kinds of people and sensitivities, there are that many interpretations of what “good action” could and should be. The type of guitar you play, the style of music you try to push out, your approach to playing etc.

My point is, there is no one perfect type of action thats serves everyone and every guitar. It’s very much a matter of personal preference. This is why I continually used the phrase “acceptable limits” in the adjustment procedures.

Should Action Look Right, or Feel Right?

From my own experience, and doing considerable additional research for this article, I found an overabundance of reliance on the technical aspects of measuring action.

Don’t get me wrong, you gotta have and make use of good tools. But at the end of the day, the ultimate judge in how well a guitar plays is the feedback that comes through your fingers – either it feels right or it doesn’t.

You don’t play with your eyes, you play with your hands. Think about it, which “sense” makes more sense when it comes to playing? Sight – or touch?

When it comes to setting a guitar’s action, I’ve been fooled by tools. Then I set them aside and let my hands, that tactile sense, tell me what’s really going on.

Feel never fails.

Want to continue to improve your skills?

The purpose of Guitar Niche is to help people exactly like you. Those who share a passion for guitars and want to know how to keep them working perfectly.

Without you, the whole endeavour is pointless.

Come back and check out the site regularly, we’re always adding new articles and how-to’s.

Whether you just want to maintain your gear, or be the best guitar tech in your area, or the world! Guitar Niche will be here to help you along the way.

Thanks For Reading!

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The Problem: G String Tuning Stability

For decades guitar players have been plagued with various tuning issues with respect to strings – particularly the G string.

Some of these tuning problems are an easy fix, such as simply changing your strings, others require a bit more work such as making detailed adjustments or repairing parts.

If you guitar’s G string (or any another string for that matter) is giving you grief, what’s the underlying cause? And what can you do about it?

If you’ve had the luxury of setting up thousands of guitars, you may have a pretty good idea of what the most likely root causes may be ;)

If not, you’re in luck, the answers to why your electric guitar’s third string is not staying in tune can be found right here:

Why Does the G String Go Out of Tune?

Body heat

Unless you’re cold blooded (or not among the living), there’s not much you can do about body heat. The simple fact is the heat from your fingers will affect the pitch and stability of guitar strings.

Here’s an interesting video that illustrates just how susceptible your G string is to body heat:

The same goes for the other strings, but for most guitars the amount of deflection from pitch is nominal and you probably don’t even notice it. Until you do!

Improper guitar setup

Anything that causes the G string to hang up and not return to its original pitch will ultimately cause tuning problems.

If your guitar isn’t set up properly, you may have loose parts or contact points that bind. For example, nut slots that haven’t been properly dressed out.

Any major point of friction, like the nut or the bridge, or anchors like the tuners are all very common sources of tuning issues.

Old strings

Without a doubt, old strings can be the cause of a whole host of tuning issues – and not just the G string alone.

Finger junk, rot, rust, corrosion and micro-fractures (metal fatigue) will all work against any string’s ability to stay at pitch.

Poor quality strings

Poor quality strings can have a number of negative attributes towards tuning stability.

Most common would be the lock winding at the ball end. If this isn’t done properly by the manufacturer the string’s pitch will continue to drop due to slippage as it gets played – often in a relatively short time.

Improperly installed strings

Any string that’s not wrapped around the tuning post enough times is a prime candidate for slippage. Of course the same could be said for the other strings.

Similarly, tuning problems can stem from having too much string wrapped around the post. The pitch will tend to drop over time as each successive wrap slowly stretches out.

The mass or gauge of the G string

String mass has a huge influence on tuning stability. Just as a string that’s too thin for a given pitch can be unruly, a string that’s too fat is just as bad.

Because a typical third string G has the largest diameter for a plain string, strange things start to happen once it gets past a certain thickness, for instance .020 gauge and up.

In a nutshell, as the linear density (mass) increases, the more the string will warble. This is especially evident in the upper frets. You’ll hear the pitch flutter inconsistently as it starts to compete with its own vibrations and the pull from the magnetic field(s) of the pickups.

Excess mass will also make a G string virtually impossible to intonate accurately.

Finger pressure

The amount of finger pressure you use and your general playing style can affect a string’s tuning. If your instrument has high or tall frets, and you play aggressively with a tight grip you will literally push the string out of tune.

If you’ve ever played a scalloped fretboard, you know just how critical finger pressure is in keeping the guitar sounding in tune.

The environment is too cold

Imagine you’re playing live on an outdoor stage in sub-zero temperatures (I’ve experienced this). That’s a minimum temperature differential of 67 degrees fahrenheit or 37 degrees celsius.

This difference between the cold instrument and your body temperature is pretty drastic. Without taking some kind of precautions, the cold will definitely have an affect on the stability of your instrument’s tuning.

String tension at pitch

For most players, the 3rd string regardless of pitch is usually referred to as “the G string”, yet the pitch has a ton of influence as to how the string reacts with the guitar.

For instance, a drop-type tuning will reduce tension causing it to react “wildly” or “wrangley” as it becomes more elastic.

In other words, the lower the string’s pitch goes, the more prone it is to tuning issues.

Headstock design

For tuning stability, a straight-pull string design is always going to be better.

Ideally, the string should span directly from any contact point to its anchor with little or no deflection.

The tradeoff though can be loss of tone because the amount of pressure needed to transfer string energy through the main contact points, the nut and bridge, is lower.

It’s well known that the design of the traditional Gibson headstock with its tilt back and angled nut slots is prone to tuning instability.

This double whammy of string pressure may be great for tone and sustain, but has to be dealt with carefully if you want to rely on it to stay in tune.

Stable Pitch vs Being in Tune – There’s a Big Difference

Pitch stability and being in tune are very closely related elements in that they’re both based on frequency, yet their ideal conditions are completely different.

Pitch stability implies any single string on its own whereas being in tune includes the other strings as a group.

A G string that can return to its original frequency after a generous under-the-chin bend is called stable – and extremely desirable.

A G string that is in complete harmony with respect to the other strings across the entire neck is called in tune – which is an entirely different thing.

Tuning Compensation

The vast majority of mass produced guitars use what’s called equal temperament tuning. In other words, each fret represents 100% of a semitone for every note on every string across the entire neck.

The problem is, this is not necessarily an ideal musical or harmonious relationship between notes or intervals on separate strings. We can thank Pythagorus for figuring all this out eons ago.

When we compared a guitar to a violin for instance, violin intonation is a product of precise finger placement whereas on a guitar, the intonation points are fixed.

Suffice to say, with the help of compensation systems such as modified fret placement (microtonal adjustments), compensated nuts etc, your chord work and in-tune-ness is much more pleasing to the ear.

String Theory

If you really want to get your hands dirty with the science of guitar strings, check out the incredibly in-depth article “String Theory – The Physics of String Bending and Other Electric Guitar Techniques” by David Robert Grimes who uses math to explain the virtuosity of artists such as Eddie Van Halen, David Gilmour, Steve Vai and others.

Solutions To Keeping Your G String In Tune

Get your guitar set up properly by a professional

Considering the cost of a professional setup, it’s a small price to pay for a guitar that is reliable and stays in tune – G string included.

A good technician will be able to address any concerns you have regarding the sloppy G and other issues that keep you from enjoying the guitar to its fullest.

Use a wound 3rd string instead of a plain G string

Replacing a solid, plain G string with a wound or “composite” string will help stabilize the string’s vibration.

Because a wound string is made of two parts: the core and the wrap, it’s also thicker. This added thickness and construction (linear density) lowers the string’s fundamental frequency which makes it vibrate slower.

While the higher tension of a wound G is normal on an acoustic or jazz guitar, the trade off for electric guitar players is in less flexibility. Pushing around a wound 3rd string requires considerable knuckle power.

It’s also important to note that the nut also has to be re-cut to keep the thicker string from binding in the slot.

Use locking tuners

Installing locking tuners is a superb way of dealing with tuning instability. By eliminating the wraps and thereby extra string length required for traditional tuning machines, tuning stability goes up significantly.

It’s no wonder locking tuning machines have become a popular upgrade for guitarists, and often offered as a standard feature on better instruments.

Use a lubricant

Whether you’re just playing vibrato or doing serious bends, strings have to slide back and forth discretely through the nut slots and across the bridge.

Lubricants, whether pencil graphite or specialty products, help to decrease the friction that can cause strings to hang up at these main points of contact.

Use quality strings

Better string manufacturers will use overall better materials and have high quality controls in place. String consistency in thickness and finishing processes such as secure lock twists at the ball end will help ensure reliable tuning.

Make sure your strings are fully stretched out

Any string that’s not fully stretched out will drive you crazy. All your strings must be fully stretched to allow their pitches to normalize or return to zero, especially after a bend.

Fresh strings should get at least three significant stretches before you can rely on them to stay in tune. Waiting an extra day afterwards is even better.

Make sure your strings are properly installed and trimmed

A simple thing like the uncut tag end of a string wagging off the end of the headstock could be the cause of why your G string is always out of tune.

As mentioned, too little or too many wraps around non-locking tuner posts should be avoided. And whenever possible, use a luthier’s knot to make sure the strings are good and secure.

What About Fender-style Non-locking Tremolo Systems?

The #1 reason the G string is even more problematic on a vintage style Fender-style tremolo system is because the nut isn’t cut and dressed properly.

How the strings are installed at the tuners, and the type of tuners themselves (locking is always better), can make the difference in whether the guitar stays in tune as a whole.

It’s also good practice to lubricate the pivot points at the bridge as well.

Understand the Personality of Your Guitar

If your guitar’s pitch is just naturally prone to wandering a little regardless of all the fixes, you can save yourself a lot of aggravation by accepting that it’s just the personality of the instrument.

Some guitars are like that. Maybe the G or B strings take a second to fall into place when you first up the guitar.

Either way, it helps to anticipate the changes, and a little expectation goes a long way.

The post Why Is The G String Always Out Of Tune? (Mystery Solved!) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Do Guitars Need Maintenance?

The short answer is yes, guitars do need maintenance. Guitars can suffer damage if they are neglected or simply not maintained properly over time.

To do regular guitar maintenance, you don’t need be a specialist, you just need a little bit of direction and good information.

Let’s start with a short list of major factors that take the greatest toll on a guitar’s health:

• General wear and tear
• Lack of cleanliness
• The environment they’re kept in
• String compression over time

Any one of these conditions on its own is fully capable of destroying an instrument, and your investment.

But when allowed to combine, they’re even more efficient at turning your beautiful, perfectly playable guitars into nothing more than wall hangers.

Even though some of them, such as general wear and string pressure are unavoidable, we can still take some simple actions to minimize the impact of all negative forces, and maximize long term value.

How Often Should You Maintain Your Guitar?

Overall, how often a guitar needs maintenance will depend on the amount of use the guitar gets.

Generally speaking, your guitar should get a good cleaning and string change every 3 to 6 months.

If you play the same guitar regularly, you can expect it to need attention sooner than an instrument that’s played relatively infrequently.

Interestingly enough, the more guitars you have, the longer the maintenance terms can be. The trade-off is that you’ll have more guitars to maintain.

But like the saying goes:

“How many guitars do you need?..”

How Can I Tell If My Guitar Needs Maintenance?

Other than the regular string changes and cleanings, and unforeseen accidents, there are a couple signs that your guitar needs maintenance:

• The guitar isn’t working right
• The guitar just feels wrong

These signs can be fairly obvious, especially if you play the same guitar all the time.

It’s also important to keep in mind that guitar maintenance is a fairly easy job anyone is capable of doing.

What’s the Difference Between Guitar Maintenance and a Guitar Setup?

As mentioned, guitar maintenance can be done by just about anybody, but a full guitar service or setup involves solving more serious guitar problems – such as fret wear.

Think of it like guitar maintenance on steroids.

it’s very important to realize there are some jobs better left to a pro. The trick is to know when a problem comes up, and you think you can handle it – admit to yourself that you shouldn’t.

For a detailed look at guitar maintenance that goes along with complete in-depth service, check out this article on guitar setups.

How Do I Keep My Guitar in Good Condition?

As mentioned, keeping your guitar in good condition is a matter of staying on top of the forces that cause it to develop problems.

The good news is the tools needed are very cost effective, and the maintenance procedures themselves are pretty straight forward.

The Basics of Electric and Acoustic Guitar Care

Guitar care starts with understanding these fundamental maintenance points:

1. Store the guitar properly
2. Clean the guitar regularly
3. Change the strings when needed
4. Use the right tools for the job

How to Store a Guitar

Storing a guitar properly isn’t rocket science, but there are a few things to keep in mind that will ensure the guitar stays in good shape over time.

Keep the guitar stored in a good quality guitar case. Whether it’s a molded hard shell or nicely padded gig bag, modern guitar cases are excellent at protecting instruments.

Additionally, guitars do not like massive changes in temperature and or humidity. They also don’t like to be stored in these same conditions for extended periods of time.

The effects of too much or not enough humidity can destroy a guitar in no time if the effects are not taken into consideration.

In northern parts of the world, seasonal changes can produce dramatic swings that range from summer’s hot humid days to winter’s long cold and dry, nights.

Compared to an electric guitar, an acoustic guitar has a relatively thin wall construction. Therefor winter is the worst as many acoustic guitars will suffer “winter cracks”.

Regardless of whether the guitar is electric or acoustic, using a humidifier in the winter, and keeping a guitar safe from excessive humidity will help maintain the instrument throughout the year.

How to Clean a Guitar

When it comes to cleaning a guitar, there are a few key points to keep in mind:

• Use scratch-free cleaning materials
• Use the right cleaner for the job
• Clean the body, fretboard and hardware

The Guitar Body: use a good detailing solution to easily pick up surface dirt bring the shine back.

Guitar Hardware: use a suitable cleaner such as MusicNomad’s Guitar Polish, which will do just fine.

The Fretboard: since finger junk tends to build up on the playing surface, using a good fretboard conditioner will definitely help maintain it.

I’ll make a point here about cleaning electronics. Since electronics cleaning solutions contain some nasty solvents, it’s best to leave this kind job to your friendly neighborhood guitar tech.

Otherwise you run the risk of seriously damaging you guitars finish.

Believe it or not, a good quality paper towel, combined with an appropriate cleaning solution, is the best way to control the dust and dirt that comes off a guitar.

After initial use, it goes right in the garbage along with the potential of creating additional scratches due to it being loaded up with contaminants.

Lastly, make sure you have a reasonably clean and stable surface to work on while doing maintenance on your guitar.

Change Your Guitar Strings

For some players, changing their guitar strings is a nuisance, for others it’s a joy. Either way, a periodic string change is an absolute necessity when it comes to keeping your guitar properly maintained.

As for tools, all you really need for most instruments is a string winder, a guitar tuner and good set of side-cutters.

Rather than diving deep into exactly how to change guitar strings (there are plenty of tutorials on the web for that), let’s just say it’s a very good idea to do so on a regular basis.

Unless your tone is based specifically on the dull sound of aged strings, changing them out also refreshes and revitalizes your sound.

Not only do you regain the hi-end transients which are needed for good intonation, removing the strings also gives you unrestricted access to the fretboard for cleaning.

On another note, the type of strings you use will not only be a matter of preference, but a way to extend the life of the instrument itself.

For example, if you have a significant collection of instruments, you may want to choose a coated string that will last longer than an untreated string. This way, the guitars will sound and play consistently after longer times in storage.

Is it Safe to Take All the Guitar Strings Off?

In a word – yes. Unless you need to keep loose hardware in place during a string change, removing all the strings is perfectly fine – and great way to relive excess compression from constant string pressure.

Think of it like this, the pressure of the strings between the headstock to the bridge on a typical guitar is about the same as a full grown person standing on your shoulders.

Temporarily removing this pressure gives the instrument a chance to relax. For a guitar, it’s like going to the chiropractor – “hot spots” of tension and compression get released.

How to Maintain a Guitar Step-By-Step

1. Gather your cleaning and guitar maintenance materials together
2. Prepare the work area so that the guitar is stable
3. Take note of any little issues that may need special attention
4. Remove the old strings
5. Address any issues that don’t require the strings
6. Clean the fretboard
7. Clean the guitar body, back of the neck and headstock
8. Restring the guitar
9. Check for good action and playability – adjust as necessary
10. Check electronics if equipped
11. Give the guitar a good final wipe down
12. Play Away!

Final Thoughts on Guitar Maintenance

In closing, let’s just say a guitar that’s played regularly should be maintained regularly.

Over the years, I’ve personally had to tell too many players that, due to a lack of basic guitar care, their prized possessions were beyond help – and that sucks.

On the whole, guitar maintenance is pretty straight forward and easy to do. But remember, when in doubt, do have a pro check it out.

The post How To Maintain A Guitar, And Save Your Treasured Axe! first appeared on GuitarNiche.

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You’ll also learn some of the tricks of the trade that help you achieve superior results, and guarantee a fantastic playing instrument.

This particular build was requested by a very good customer of mine, Ryan B., who supplied all the necessary goodies. As for the build process, I’ve listed the steps in point form wherever possible to keep things moving along.

Building an SRV Replica Guitar

List of Primary Parts

The primary parts for this build were purchased through a number of sources. Small hardware parts were supplied, meticulously aged, by Ryan the owner:

Klein Epic Series Hand Wound Pickups: https://www.kleinpickups.com/default.aspx

Schaller Tuners: https://schaller.info/en/

Musikraft Custom Neck: https://www.musikraft.com/

MJT Custom Aged Alder Body: https://www.mjtagedfinishes.com/

Attaching the Neck

First priority on this SRV guitar is attaching the neck. This will give us a read on the basic geometry and provide stability on the workbench.

The entire structure of the build will hinge on how well the neck marries with the body; from how well the neck sits in the pocket, to it’s lateral and horizontal positions.

As I inspected the neck and body, I took note that both pieces were predrilled for the neck bolts. With the two parts being supplied by different manufacturers, this could be an issue.

• The body and neck holes were checked for alignment. They weren’t perfect but should work fine with right approach. Also noticed the bolts themselves, which the owner had taken the time to treat, were a bit oversize.
• Using a slightly larger drill bit, the body holes were then widened to make sure the bolts wouldn’t bind.
• Checked the truss rod adjuster for smoothness and operation, then tightened it using moderate pressure – just enough to feel positive friction.
• Installed 2 neck bolts temporarily, just enough to bite and stabilize to get things started.
• Measured combined body & neck bolt depth.
• Marked that depth on drill bit with tape.
• Primed the remaining 2 holes by pre-drilling.
• Applied wax to the bolts to help them seat and seal.
• Installed the 2 remaining bolts with firm pressure.
• Removed first 2 bolts and primed those holes.
• NOTE: The last 2 bolts will not be reinstalled until later on to allow for adjustments without compromise.

Prepping the Spring Cavity

Before we move forward, we need the bridge in place to check neck alignment. And before we can install the bridge, we need to turn our attention to the spring cavity.

Because the spring cavity on this body is raw with no holes pre-drilled, we’ll first align then instal the claw plate:

• Marked out the claw plate screw positions using the plate centred to the back wall of the cavity.
• Used a 1/8″ aircraft bit marked to depth to drill out screw the holes.
• Waxed the screws and installed the claw plate.
• Checked for overall alignment – good to go!

Aligning the Neck

Moving back to the business side of our SRV Stratocaster, time to finish getting the neck properly situated:

• Temporarily installed the bridge using the outer two bridge plate screws. The bridge on this instrument will ultimately be set up non-floating or hard-tailed as per the client’s preference.
• Installed one trem spring in the back to keep the bridge flush to the body.
• Checked the neck for general alignment:
• Tied a piece of thin white string to the third tuner and stretched it over the centre of the bridge (exactly between the third and fourth saddles) to simulate string height and check lateral neck alignment.
• String height checked good.
• Lateral position checked good.

NOTE: If there’s any sloppiness in the neck joint that will affect this geometry, the extra pressure from installing the last 2 screws will tell the tale.

TIP: You can set the bridge plate screw depth by turning the screw in to the point where the back edge of the bridge plate just comes off the body. Then back the screw off 1/4 turn.

• Double checked the neck bolts to make sure they were tight and that the neck was seated firmly in the pocket. Things can change very quickly once the last two bolts and string compression come into play.
• Rough cut and dry-fitted a bone nut blank to help with scale length and intonation measurements.

• Double checked that the scale length was in the ball park by measuring from the forward face of the nut to the crown of the leading edge of the third string saddle. The third string saddle must be close to the midpoint of adjustment capability (intonation screw travel) in order to continue. If not, there are serious underlying issues which will require corrective action.
• Scale length and adjustability checked good!
• Rough set the intonation using a predicted scale length of 25 9/16″ for the B string and 25 5/8″ for the A string. These preliminary compensations are a matter of experience. See the Electric Guitar Intonation Pattern reference diagram below. The fourth and sixth strings will relate to the A string setting, the third and first strings will likewise relate to the B string setting. Keep in mind we are simply trying to get in the ball park to minimize adjustments later on.
• Glued the nut using a couple small dabs of carpenter’s glue in the slot.
• Applied an adjustable Shubb capo using light pressure on the nut for one hour.

NOTE: The nut blank was previously fitted to match perfectly flush with the sides of the neck before it was glued in. Personally, I prefer to commit to a set nut early on. This forces me to be hyper-focused on slot cutting and finishing processes. Not for the squeamish for sure, but that’s the benefit of experience.

Installing the Electronics

First job is to take stock of the electronics components, their layout, and develope a plan for installation.

The Klein pickups were already clearly marked for their respective positions: neck, mid, and bridge (nice!). Plus the leads were nicely trimmed for length.

After a little more deliberation, I proceeded as follows:

• Installed the pickups starting with the neck position.
• Installed the pre-wired controls hand tight.
• Seated the jack in the jackplate making sure it was tight and oriented properly so as not to bind in the cavity or ground out.
• Checked the jack and electronics for function:
• Once the jackplate was screwed to the body, I plugged it into a my test amp and quickly checked that the electronics were indeed working by lightly tapping on each pickup and going through the controls
• Installed the pick guard temporarily using a screw in each corner to hold it in place

At this point the electronics are essentially done. Still, I would rather only have to remove four screws, rather than the full monty, should there be a problem later on.

Knowing the controls are working properly, I used an open end wrench to tighten up the outer pot nuts.

TIP: Tightening the nuts should be one of the last things you do when installing the electronics (other than pick guard screws and knobs). If the nuts are torqued down prematurely, heat from soldering can expand the the pots thus loosening them up.

Prepping the Nut

• Marked the string slots on the nut starting with the outer strings (1 + 6) about 1/8″ inch in from the edge of the fretboard, then eyeballed the rest. There’s no trick to this as the human eye is remarkable at picking up discrepancies – either the spacing looks even, or it doesn’t. The nut also has excess height material to work with so I can “walk” the strings into position if I need to.
• Rough cut (notched) the nut slots just deep enough to hold a string in place. At this point, I’m more concerned with having a rudimentary carrier for the strings more than anything else.

Installing the Strings

• Installed the remaining four bridge plate screws to finish up the bridge installation.
• Installed the strings and snugged them up but NOT TO PITCH! That comes later.

TIP: Improve the angle over the nut by adding a little extra wrap. Because this instrument only has one string tree for the first and second strings, a little extra string length was added to the 5th, 4th, and 3rd strings to wrap around the posts. Specifically:

5th + 1/8″

4th + 1/4″

3rd + 3/8″

The extra wraps increase the angle over the nut which reduces string chatter and improves tone.

• Chances are very good that the strings won’t have to be removed entirely so the tag ends were cut off.
• Tweaked the string spaces on the nut slightly to make sure they looked even and were directly in line with the tuners.
• Taking a visual note from an original photo, marked the string tree position with an awl.
• Drilled a 5/64″ pilot hole 3/8″ deep and installed the string tree

Preliminary Bridge Adjustment:

• Took note of string height around the fifteenth fret area.
• Adjusted the treble side to the width of a nickel – .077′′ or 1.95mm.
• Adjusted the bass side the width of two dimes – .1′′ or 2.7mm.
• The remaining saddles were then adjusted to match this custom SRV Number One’s twelve inch fretboard radius.

Cutting the Nut

• Cut the string slots to near final depth. The actual final cuts will be made when the strings are at pitch and the neck is under full compression.
• Dressed out the nut by removing excess top material, chamfering the sharp edges, and removing tool marks using fine files. The fine files are a matter of preference as they tend to provide a more positive feel compared to sandpaper. The nut will also be left with a slightly rougher finish to match the aesthetic of the guitar.

Setting the Action

With all the handling, it was time to double check the general condition of the instrument:

• Checked neck condition and lateral alignment – good.
• Checked string tension – just snug – good.
• Checked string height – good. Well within saddle height adjustability – not too high or too low.

With the checkup out of the way, on to setting up the action:

• Installed two more trem springs, for a total of three, to make sure the bridge wouldn’t lift.
• Tuned the guitar up to one tone below A440

Because these strings are 11’s they’ll have a good bit of pressure. Better to apply compression gradually, checking relief and action along the way.

At one tone down, we have very slight relief as measured using the third string between the second and seventeenth frets.

The strings are starting to feel a little “mushy” along the neck. This is normal – as compression takes effect, the geometry of the setup will change and the guitar will feel different. Learn to anticipate this!

The bridge is still flush with the body but I know three springs will not keep it in place as we move forward.

• Installed the remaining two trem springs.
• Set the claw plate 1/2″  back from the rear wall of the spring cavity.
• Lowered the saddles just a touch, about one full turn per grub screw, to anticipate the increase in string height as pressure increases.
• Checked the string height at the nut. The little bit of relief made a big difference in slot depth. The strings are riding higher at headstock which is influencing the overall feel. This is entirely expected and part of the reason we approach a new setup in stages rather than committing to final adjustments early on.
• Relief looks like it’s very close to the sweet spot, but more on the straighter side. With the strings sitting proud at the nut, the slots were recut to keep the action feeling as normal as possible.
• Finally brought the guitar up to pitch and plugged it in to check operation.

Checking the Electronics

To test the SRV Strat’s electronics, my highly modified Traynor YSR-1 amp was set on “shiny dirty”. A little bit of gain helps to get a handle on the dynamics of the controls and output of the pickups.

Working through the controls, the trick is to be objective, taking stock of visual cues and sonic deficiencies.

• Everything works but the pickups are set too low, output seems a bit light.
• Raised the pickups to about an eighth away from the strings and checked again.
• Output is waaaaay better, much more lively. The guitar’s output is dynamic and sounds like what it’s supposed to sound like, but it is horribly out of tune. Again this is a byproduct of intention as the strings have not been stretched in order to maximize their playable potential.

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Setting the Intonation

Re-tuning the guitar up to pitch, time to check the relief again, and it looks perfect!

Since I’m happy with the overall setup at this point, I gave the strings one good stretch to help them settle in and prep for intonation. If the strings are not seated at least once, they’ll be too elastic to give you stable readings, and eventually drive you mad!

For a more detailed look at setting up guitar intonation, check out this article: How to Set Up A Guitar

• Double checking the overall action again, the nut slot depth is holding it’s own, string height is good, relief is good, and the guitar feels great.
• Each string was checked for intonation across the scale length.
• The intonation process basically involves using a fretted note near the headstock end of the neck, and cross referencing that note with it’s octave counterpart closer to the body in the upper register. The two notes must read exactly the same on the meter. If there is a discrepancy, such as the upper register reading sharp, the string needs to be lengthened to compensate. The reverse is true should the note read flat. Compensation is achieved by adjusting the string’s intonation screw.
• While checking intonation points, the A, D, G, and B strings were found to be spot on. only two strings were off-tolerance. The hi E was a tad sharp in the upper register, and the low E was a few cents flat in the upper range as well.
• After adjusting the offending strings, intonation for the entire instrument was double checked for accuracy.
• Results? Good to go.

Final Adjustments

Electronics:

Time to give a good listen and get a sense of what our custom Stevie Ray Vaughan Number One reproduction was capable of sonically:

• First impressions of tone – really good.
• 2nd and 4th positions sound killer.
• The Klein pickups are very sensitive to gain, very dynamic in a good way.
• The bridge pickup comes to life with great presence and body, but the neck gets a little muddy at full tilt. By backing off the gain at the amp a little bit, it was easy to find a sweet spot where everything worked in harmony.

At this point the guitar is virtually done. But I’ll go around and check the screws etc, and let it sit for a day to let pressure and compression set in.

Note there are still only two neck bolts in place – for good reason. Should things go sideways for whatever reason (Murphy’s Law), I want to be able to expedite disassembly to make corrective adjustments.

Remaining Work:

• Check action for integrity.
• Check the nut for final depth and apply some lubricant if it’s set.
• Instal the remaining neck bolts if everything is ok.
• Give the strings their final stretch.
• Take the guitar for a test drive :)

The next day I noticed compression has impacted the setup a little, not much, but enough to warrant removing the neck and make a truss rod adjustment.

TIP: Use a capo over the nut to keep the strings corralled when you need to make adjustments like this.

After removing the neck, I snugged up the truss rod about a quarter turn and felt the adjuster engage a bit better as it seated.

NOTE: Assuming an instrument reasonably well made from quality materials, a simple truss rod adjustment may only impart about 85% to 90% of the desired effect. That is to say, you may not see the full effect of an adjustment right away. It may take many hours, a day or two, or even weeks before the neck is fully influenced. Keeping this in mind, try to anticipate this extra movement by being a little conservative in your approach.

• Reattached the neck and installed all four neck bolts. As mentioned previously, this is a moment of truth. Any sketchiness in the marriage between the neck and the body will become evident once the pressure of all four bolts is in place.
• Tuned the guitar up to pitch, checked the alignment and general action again. Everything was spot on.
• Gave the strings a good stretch and checked the setup again – still good.
• Checked the nut for slot depth and operation. There was a little sizzle in the fourth string at the nut which required a little back cut to remove.
• Checked the nut operation again which was good to go, and applied a little lube to finish it up.

Test Drive & Soundcheck!

The final play and sound check was very rewarding and a lot of fun. The instrument was responsive, easy to manipulate and felt very solid.

Watch the Stevie Ray Vaughan Number One Strat Soundcheck Video!

When I shared my opinion about the final result with the client, he informed me that he had made it a point of buying high quality parts specifically for this build. In doing so, his decision had ultimately paid off in spades!

Overall, the freshly minted SRV Number One Stratocaster replica sounded and played fantastic!

In Conclusion

Assembling a guitar from scratch, whether for yourself or someone else, is an awesomely rewarding experience. Putting together an instrument that honours one of greatest instruments and iconic players of all time is doubly so!

Though this build was dedicated to one guitar in particular, it should serve well as a compass for assembling a Stratocaster style instrument of any pedigree. For you dedicated Telecaster style guitar lovers out there, you may also like: How to Build a Jeff Beck Inspired ’54 Esquire Custom Guitar

I hope you enjoyed this article, and perhaps picked up a nugget or two of knowledge along the way.

Cheers!

Steve B.

. Click Here For A Discount!

P.S. If you’re a Stevie Ray Vaughan fan, or love his prized Number One Stratocaster, you gotta have this t-shirt! The perfect tribute to one of the greatest blues guitar players to ever grace the planet. Also makes an excellent gift! Order One Today!

The post How to Build a Stevie Ray Vaughan Number One Strat! [Complete Step by Step Guide] first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Whether you decide to learn the process for your own interest, or for compensation, or to keep your own sanity, this easy guitar setup guide will help you achieve great results in no time.

Easy Guitar Setup Guide

Introduction: How To Set Up A Guitar

What This Guide Is, and Isn’t

This guide is based on a collection of skills and insights gained from decades of professional technical experience. It covers the most common tasks, presented in a logical progression, that apply to the vast majority of guitars going through the setup process.

You will also benefit from learning fundamental concepts and time-saving techniques gained from years of experience that help you spend less time fiddling, and more time playing.

What it does not cover are topics related to intensive repairs, replacing electronics and personalized guitar modifications. Such tasks are, for the most part, not directly related to the setup procedure and are therefor beyond the scope of this text.

Finally, to say this guide covers everything there is to know about guitar setups would be a gross overstatement. I would also add that the methods described are not necessarily the last word on how to get a particular job done.

To say so would satisfy the ego, but deny the benefits of learning better techniques.

Should You Do Your Own Setups?

In a word – yes. But before you begin buying tools and tackling a job with new found wide-eyed zeal, let’s make a couple of things very clear:

If you are not mechanically inclined, it would be foolish to fight your nature. You may be comfortable changing your strings but find troubleshooting other guitar problems far too intimidating.

If you believe you fall into this category, please feel free to read on. The value of understanding the process will help you communicate better with someone you trust to do the work.

On the other hand, there are those of us who have no problem picking up new mechanical skills and are perfectly willing to learn how to set up our own instruments – we just need a guide to help us along the way.

Still, should you wind up in a situation over your head, it’s a far better decision to get an instrument into the hands of someone with experience.

That being said, let’s reinforce a positive attitude on the subject. With the right mindset and working environment (which can be incredibly modest) you can achieve remarkable results, and that is the true purpose of this guide.

Typical Guitar Problems

Guitars follow the same basic structure whether they’re acoustic, electric or electrified. They all involve the manipulation of stretched strings spanning two nodes – namely, the nut and the bridge.

Because of this similarity, they’re also prone to the same problems.

These problems also extend to orchestral instruments such as violins, violas, cellos, or culturally diverse instruments such as balalaikas, ouds, bouzoukis, banjos and mandolins.

From the point of view as a guitar player, here are a few common problems we all deal with at one time or another:

• Buzzing, rattling
• High action
• Tuning issues
• Breaking strings

And many more of course.

What’s the Difference Between a Guitar Repair and a Guitar Setup?

The difference between a repair task and a setup task is a matter of perception.

For example, the guitar contains so many mysteries for beginners that the replacement of a broken string constitutes a “repair”.

For seasoned players, a “guitar setup” is perceived as more of a technical endeavour related to maintenance.

Although there are some crossover elements which would qualify as repairs, there is a clear difference between heavy duty guitar repair:

… and guitar setups which qualify as general service. Another way to differentiate the two is by job description: a luthier is one who builds or restores instruments, and a technician is one who specializes in the performance of an instrument.

In this guide we focus on dealing with the normal wear and tear conditions that are part of every instrument’s journey through time. They are an absolute inevitability regardless of pedigree, and the primary focus of service tutorials on this website.

The Basic Rules of a Guitar Setup

“You should play so that if your mom hears you on the radio, she knows it’s you.”

– Les Paul

Granted, the reference to radio is dated, but the sentiment is the same: you should be able to express yourself freely through your guitar without the instrument’s condition holding you back.

Taking the ten thousand foot view, there are a few simple rules representing the fundament principles of an organized, educated approach to achieving your ultimate goal – setting up your guitar to its maximum potential.

These fundamental rules are:

1. Use Fresh Strings
2. Use the Right Guitar Setup Tools
3. Follow a Good Setup Process

Those three little phrases work as a team, they depend on one another, if you neglect any one of them I guarantee your final result will be sub par.

Rule number three, using your head, is by far the most important as it leverages knowledge, logic, procedure and technique.

Let’s have a closer look at why these principles are so important:

Use Fresh Strings

While this may seem mundane, I can’t stress how important it is to use fresh strings as the very first step to a perfect setup.

Simply put, if you try to do a setup with old strings you will fail.

Aged strings will give you all kinds of grief as they mask underlying problems and are virtually impossible to calibrate.

So the question is: “How old is new?”

It’s a fact that untreated new strings will start degrading virtually from the moment you put them on. As soon as you touch them, the amino acids of your body chemistry will start reacting with the metal in the strings.

The vast majority of us can make use of a new set of strings for what I would say is a reasonably long time.

But for some others, this chemical reaction happens very quickly turning a fresh set of strings into a rusty mess in a matter of minutes – I’ve seen it first hand. Thankfully, the invention of coated strings makes all the difference in the world in this situation.

Regardless of your physiological impact on strings, it’s easy to justify the expense of a new set in order to guarantee an accurate setup.

Use The Right Tools

There’s a hard cost to obtaining the tools you need to get the job done, but you don’t need to break the bank. Not to mention you probably have some of the more common ones, screwdrivers and such, already kicking around in your toolbox.

Using the right tool for the job will save you time, and potential grief from having damaged a critical guitar part.

Follow a Logical Process and Use Common Sense

Let’s put it in perspective:

You can read a book on sex, but it’s not the same as doing it.

Fair enough, but you have to start somewhere.

Having a guide to follow (such as this one) will help to organize tasks in a logical order. This makes the whole process easier and will ultimately save you time and frustration.

Still, as an individual who needs to test their own capabilities, you’ll need to figure out where your comfort level lies. The only way to do that is get in there and get your hands dirty.

You may make mistakes, I’ve made many – it’s all part of the learning process. But without doing, there is no knowing.

If you find yourself stuck, take a short break, think the problem through, and pierce the fog of indecision.

Understanding Guitar Action

Guitar action can be thought of as the three points of a triangle: the bridge, the nut, and relief. When all three points are in agreement, that is, when they are in harmony and properly working together, we can consider the result comparable to a perfect triangle.

Another way to think of it is like this: when all three elements are aligned to both the instrument and the player, you have a perfect, balanced setup.

If any one point is out of adjustment, it automatically affects the others, creating an imbalance. The result is compromised guitar action, and a frustrated unhappy guitar player.

“How Do You Fix the Action on a Guitar?”

In order to answer that question, let’s try to understand exactly how each point affects the others in a bit more detail:

Fundamental Points of Guitar Action:

The Nut

When the nut is cut properly it becomes essentially a fixed point and won’t need to be dealt with except for issues of wear or damage. In other words, set it and forget it – that’s good. But it’s sweet spot is wholly dependant on how the other two points are set.

The Bridge

Raising or lowering the bridge streamlines the overall action and is directly affected by neck relief. If the bridge is set too high, you’ll have too much “air” under the strings where the neck meets the body – a major contributor to “high action”.

Too low and the strings will buzz – not enough “air” or string height in the same area. Remember, adjusting one point directly influences the others. The aim to achieve balance!

Neck Relief

This is by far the most controlling element of the lot. Setting good relief is a matter of compensating for string compression and accommodating the player’s style – some players like their action higher or lower than factory-set averages.

How well the neck responds to truss rod adjustments is often dependant on how well the instrument is made. Generally speaking, better quality instruments will allow very fine adjustments in relief through their use of better truss rod materials and engineering.

Because strings need room to move, controlling the amount of relief in the neck is absolutely critical to achieving a perfect guitar setup. The nut and the bridge settings will ultimately be limited by how well the truss rod works, or doesn’t.

Relief is also influenced by the general condition of the neck – whether it’s straight and true or has compromising distortions. If these distortions are significant, they must be dealt with first to level the playing field.

If they’re minor, it’s not uncommon to wind up working around them to achieve a point of “least of all evils”.

Through practice, you will be able to tell immediately if a guitar will come around properly, or in the worst case, realize it’s best use is to look pretty hanging on the wall.

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Guitar Setup Tools and Products

What tools do you need to set up a guitar?

Here’s a shortlist of recommended guitar setup tools:

Examples of Setup Tools and Accessories

Dunlop NC65 Maintenance Station Neck Cradle

Grizzly T25450 Nut Files, Set of 3

StewMac Understring Radius Gauges, Set of...

MusicNomad MN103 Guitar ONE All-in-1 Cleaner...

Snark SN5X Clip-On Tuner for Guitar, Bass & Violin...

D'Addario Accessories Pro-Winder Guitar String...

Kyser Quick-Change Guitar Capo for 6-string...

D'Addario Acoustic Guitar Strings, Phosphor...

A much more detailed list of recommended guitar setup tools can be found here.

Overall, the list is pretty modest. By way of contrast, a custom guitar builder’s tools would include jigs for bending, presses, sanders, templates, finishing chemicals, highly specialized tools for a very specific craft.

And yet, even the finest hand made instruments need a setup! – cool.

How to do a Professional Guitar Setup

The guitar setup process can be broken down into nine distinct phases. Use the quick links below to jump to any section you’re interested in:

1. Assessment
2. Teardown
3. Cleaning the Guitar
4. Installing New Strings
5. Preliminary Adjustments
6. Action, Intonation and Fine Adjustments
   6.1 Adjust the Truss Rod
   6.2 Set the Bridge Height and Radius
   6.3 Recut the Nut
   6.4 Adjust the Pickup Height
   6.5 Check and Adjust the Intonation
7. Stretch the Strings
8. Check for Functionality

The setup process follows a logical progression from the assessment phase on through to the final checks with a brand new set of strings.

As you work through each step, you may find the order of some fine detail tasks may work better before, or after others in the sequence. This is absolutely normal and can be dictated by the nature of the instrument itself.

The important thing to remember is, there is a logical hierarchy to the tasks themselves – one naturally leads to the next. For example, once the action is set, then you set the pickup height.

To do so beforehand means you may have to set the pickup height again because the string height has changed.

The less time you spend readjusting your work, the more time you get to spend playing :)

For further insight into some of the finer details, be sure to check out the Authentic Guitar Setup Video Series for the full one-two punch.

A Word on Locking Systems

Because of the uniquely refined nature of locking systems and their departure from traditional guitar setup processes, references to such thoroughbred instruments are kept to a minimum, otherwise this guide would be double its size!

Nonetheless, when it comes to action, string height, cleaning, playability, and general principles of a good setup, they are no different.

Assessment

To know where you want to be, you must know where you are:

• Play the guitar and get a fresh feel for where the problems are. If it’s an instrument you’re intimately familiar with, this is a no-brainer, you’ll already know where the trouble is.
• If you’re going to service someone else’s guitar, make sure you ask the owner about any issues they’re concerned about, And take notes! –  especially about a preferred tuning as this has a huge impact on the end product. Better yet, get them to play their guitar a little bit while you watch. Their approach to playing and body language will speak volumes.
• Check the operation of any controls, output level, scratchiness, check for rattles, buzzes, squishiness in the action (yes, squishiness), stiffness in playability, and any other stuff that just doesn’t seem right.
• Again, and I can’t stress this enough, take notes of owner preferences and any other problems that need attention – the weakest ink is stronger than the best memory.

Typical problem areas or “hot spots”

• Loose tuner keys or bushings
• A worn, damaged or “creaking” nut
• Strings that are too high or too low
• Uneven, loose or worn frets causing buzzing
• Neck distortions of any kind
• A truss rod out of adjustment
• An improperly adjusted bridge
• Loose hardware or small parts such as strap buttons and output jacks
• Dirty electronics
• Most importantly: old strings

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Here’s an example of how uneven frets look when sighting down the fretboard:

Teardown

The teardown is sort of like reverse engineering the guitar. Think of this part of the process like going backwards, that is to say, we have to deconstruct the instrument before we can reconstruct it.

• Remove any cover plates that you need to get under:
  • Truss rod cover
  • Suspended pickguard
  • Backplate
  • Remove the strings
    • Chop all the old strings off in a bunch with one neat snip of the side cutters. Consider it a challenge, see if you can do it in one shot.
    • Toss the old strings in the trash right away, they’re a liability around the guitar. Gather up the dead string scraps and get them into garbage away from your workspace.
  • Remove any loose hardware that might fall off. Tape it down, or use rubber bands to keep things in place.
  • Tighten (do not over-tighten, just snug up) the hardware:
    • Threaded headstock bushings (typically a 10mm wrench)
    • Tuner key buttons
    • Neck bolts
    • Strap buttons
    • Any other loose screws
    • Output jack nut
    • Electronic controls

• NOTE: With the guitar “denuded”, this is the perfect opportunity to address any minor fret issues. But since fret work is highly specialized and can become a repair process very quickly, we’ll leave the intense work for a more involved tutorial. With that in mind, we can still take care of small issues quickly and efficiently – namely high frets:
  • If you do have such minor fret issues, you would have made notes about where they are right? Of course you did! But just in case you forgot, use a small straight edge (or fret rocker) around the fretboard to check for said high spots.
  • Use a lightweight hammer, or even the butt end of a substantial screwdriver, to lightly tap the offending fret down. One or two taps should do, then re-check the high spot.
  • If the fret won’t settle in, it falls into the realm of a loose fret. At this point we’re getting beyond our intended scope as the remedy will require glueing the fret down. The dangers of ruining a finish are too great, thus we’ll leave it for the separate tutorial mentioned previously.

Video: How to Setup a Gibson Les Paul – The Teardown

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Cleaning the Guitar

While most dirt is really just dust and pretty easy to deal with, nasty caked-on stuff can be taken care of with a bit of elbow grease and patience.

Note: There are some who think paper towels are abrasive, and yes, the cheap ones are. Instead, stick with a high quality branded product.

You won’t have to worry about scratching the finish, plus any potential contamination from dirt goes straight in the garbage.

I would also add that I do not recommend the use of steel wool. Though I love it’s convenience in producing good results quickly, and I’ve used it many times, I’ve never been comfortable trying to clean up after it.

Those leftover steel fibres get absolutely everywhere! All it takes is one little piece to destroy a pickup, or contaminate your cleaning cloth leaving hairline scratches in the finish.

Whatever the nature of the grime, feel free to use any of the recommended cleaning products and have at it.

Recommended Guitar Cleaning Products

MusicNomad Premium Pro-Strength Guitar Polish for...

MusicNomad F-ONE Fretboard Oil Cleaner...

MusicNomad MN100 Premium Guitar Cleaner for...

As you work your way around the instrument, keep in mind the fretboard will need special attention. In general, start at the top of the guitar and work your way through these major areas:

• Headstock
• Body area under the strings
• Pickups
• Hardware
• PRO TIP: use an old toothbrush to remove loose surface grime.

• Fretboard and frets

  • Use a few drops of light soapy water or recommended cleaner to lift surface gunk. Be sure to work quickly to keep fluids from soaking into an open pore fretboards.
  • Rub it around the whole board for a few seconds to loosen up surface grime then quickly wipe it off with a paper towel.
  • Repeat if necessary.
  • Polish the frets with extra super fine sandpaper, 2400 grit or finer, then dribble on a couple of drops of lemon oil.
  • Spread the oil around the fretboard for a few seconds then quickly and completely wipe up the excess. There, all shite and briney!
  • NOTE: When polishing the frets, consider masking off coated fretboards with low-tack tape to prevent finish hazing. They still need a clean and polish but you can skip the lemon oil step. Just wipe up any polishing residue with a damp paper towel when finished.

• Body & finish

  • As most finish grime tends to be finger junk, a good quality detailing product will clean the surface just fine – that is unless you like to eat fried chicken and play your guitar at the same time. Heavier deposits will need a little more elbow grease.
  • Apply a small amount of cleaner to a fresh piece of high quality paper towel, just enough to damp it, and start working the finish.

Video: How to Setup a Gibson Les Paul – Cleaning the Guitar

Check out the whole series plus many more video tutorials here.

Installing New Strings

Taking strings off is easy. Installing new strings is just as easy, provided you have a method. Keep in mind, there’s more than one “right” way to instal strings.

In this example, we’ll follow a string installation technique that “traps” the tag end of the string between a top wrap, and successive under-wraps.

When installing fresh strings, work through the strings in order – heaviest to lightest or vice versa. New strings tend to be packaged in order, use this to your advantage to stay organized.

• Start by threading each string one after the other into the bridge or tailpiece.

• Next, install each string into its corresponding tuning post accordingly:
  • Start with the post that’s closest to the nut then work towards the end of the headstock.
  • Run the free end of the string through the post and pull it just snug.
  • Using your other hand, measure off about an inch and a half, then run the string backwards through the post until your fingers butt up against the post.
  • While still holding the tag end, use your other hand to wrap the slack string once around the top of the post in the direction the string will normally travel.
  • Now give the tag end of the string a sharp right angle bend against the post. This results in a nice kink which helps the string from backing out as you start the winding process.
  • Wind the string up keeping the following wraps underneath the tag end.

• The trickiest part of this whole process is controlling the slack in the length of the string. Keep things under control by using your first finger as a downward tensioner, just behind the nut, and draw the remaining slack up with the rest of your fingers.
• Finally, wind each string up so that it’s just snug – not to pitch!, that’s for later.

• Once you have all the strings installed in their respective posts, then give the tags ends a “hair cut”. Grab them all in one hand, so you can toss them in the trash in one shot, and cut each one in turn with side cutters right at the top of the tuner post.

Video: How to Setup a Les Paul – Installing New Strings

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Preliminary Adjustments

This is where the true magic of a good guitar setup starts to become a reality. For easy reference I refer to small measurements using common items such as a dime, nickel or quarter. To remain inclusive, imperial and metric equivalents are provided for extra convenience.

• Snug up the strings

  • Bring the strings up close to tension but not to pitch. This helps to keep their elasticity as we get the ten thousand foot view.
  • Check that the action is in the ballpark. At this point some adjustment points may be way out of whack. What you’re looking for are these key points:
    • Check the general string height. The bass side should be off the frets about the width of two dimes around the twelfth to fifteenth fret area – the gap should measure about .1″ or 2.7mm. Likewise, the treble side should be about the width of a nickel – .077″ or 1.95mm.
    • Check the neck angle. The neck should be in line with the hardware at the bridge. By sighting down the neck from the headstock to the body, the neck angle (the plane of the fretboard) should be such that the top of the saddles are neither too high or too low.
      If the instrument has a bolt-on type neck, this is your opportunity to correct any misalignment issues. Remove the neck and instal a thin shim – sandpaper works great for this – until the neck angle looks correct to you.
      Set neck instruments are of course non-adjustable, but are usually engineered to have enough adjustability at the bridge to compensate for slight offsets.
    • Examine the nut. The nut slots should be even in depth. No individual string should be either too high or too low.
      If the strings are too high, the amount of deflection needed to play at the first couple of frets will be uncomfortable plus it will cause intonation issues. Conversely, if the slots are too low you’ll have string buzz at the nut. In either case the nut will need to be repaired.
    • Check the bridge height. The bridge should be adjusted such that it puts the overall string height in the range of reasonable playability at the twelfth to fifteenth fret area. We’ll fine tune it later.
    • Check general neck relief. Again, neck relief is one of those elements that dramatically affects playability.
      A neck with too much relief will feel spongy through the middle and mask underlying problems. A neck that’s over-straight will be sure to have buzzes and sizzles along it’s length.

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• Begin making preliminary adjustments as necessary

Assuming the nut is in reasonably good condition, start with small bridge height and truss rod adjustments to begin homing in on the perfect triangle of action. If the nut is way out of tolerance, only address the major issues to bring it into an acceptable range.

• Check electrical operations

  • The output jack. One of the most common electrical issues is a simple loose nut at the output jack. Check it and tighten it up if necessary.
    If there’s visible surface corrosion in the input sleeve, remove it by rolling up some fine sandpaper, 360 grit or finer, into a tube and spinning it inside the input sleeve.
  • Volume and tone controls. If they’re scratchy, try spinning them back and forth really quick. If that doesn’t work, you’ll have to use an electronics cleaner or replace them.
  • Switches. An intermittent blade switch can be a fairly easy fix. A thin piece of doubled over 600 grit wet-dry sandpaper can be used to clean the contacts.
  • Battery condition. If a battery is questionable at all, just replace it and be sure to write the date on it for future reference.

Action, Intonation and Fine Adjustments

The following sections describe the finer points of adjusting the action on a guitar. Remember, the strings should be just snug enough to apply a little bit of pressure – not up to pitch and certainly not stretched out yet!

• Adjust the truss rod

  

  Which way do you turn the truss rod?

  • Think of the truss rod adjuster like a nut on the end of a bolt. Tightening the adjuster straightens the neck, loosening it induces more relief.
  • Start with a straight neck that agrees with the other two points of the action triangle – the nut and bridge height.
  • Use the 3rd string to get a general idea of where the relief sits for the whole neck. Holding down the string at the third and fifteenth frets, you want to see a gap of light about the thickness of the string itself between the fret top and string at the seventh to ninth fret area.
  • Adjust the truss rod as necessary until the neck feels right to you, maybe a little, maybe a little less.
  • Be patient as adjustments may need a day or two to fully settle in. Don’t be surprised if you have to readjust it later if the neck was really out of joint.

Video: More On How A Truss Rod Works

• Set the Bridge Height and Radius

  Whether your guitar is an acoustic, bass, or electric, the principles described here apply to all of them. The bridge should be slightly higher on the bass side to allow extra room for the heavier strings to move freely.

  • With acoustic instruments, the saddle should be trimmed from the bottom if too high, or have a shim installed underneath if too low. Keep in mind a little goes a long way. That is to say removing or adding a small amount can feel very different once the saddle is back in place
  • At this point in our setup process, it’s perfectly ok to remove the strings at the bridge since we haven’t stressed the strings through stretching yet.
    • Measure the current string height at the 12th fret and determine how much lower or higher you want the strings to be.
    • Loosen the strings completely.
    • Pull the bridge pins and take the strings out of their respective holes.
    • Remove the saddle and draw a pencil line along the side to mark your cutoff point if it sits too high. .020″-.025″ is a good starting point.
    • Sand or grind off the excess material making sure the bottom is absolutely flush – especially if you have a pickup system!
    • Conversely, cut a thin strip of shim material, suitable hardness and thickness, cardboard or plastic, and instal it in the saddle slot.
    • Reinstall the bridge, then the strings and snug them up.
    • Check your work and determine whether you should readjust or carry on.

• • On electric instruments with adjustable bridges, start with the treble side. The first string should be off the frets about the width of a nickel (.077 inches or 1.95 mm) around the fifteenth fret area.

• • The sixth string should follow the same methodology to set the height. Ideally it should measure about the height of two dimes (.1″ or 2.7mm) at the fifteenth fret.

• Set the tailpiece

String Thru vs Top Wrapping Stop Tailpieces

There is constant debate as to which method is better: factory-style string through? or top-wrap string installation.
Is there a difference in sustain? – Yes. The tighter the tailpiece is to the body, the more energy is transferred.
Is there a difference in play-ability? – Yes. The less angle there is across the bridge, the more elastic the strings feel. The other benefit is that the bridge will resist sagging over time due to the decrease in pressure.
Is there a difference in tone? – Absolutely! But it’s subjective.

There is a happy medium for stop tailpieces like those found on Les Pauls

As mentioned, the tailpiece does not necessarily need to be plastered to the body. There’s a sweet spot that produces just the right amount of pressure for virtually any taste. It’s a matter of adjusting the angle of the strings as they pass from the tailpiece over the bridge. The height of the studs should also be set to match the relative height of the bridge posts.
In the image below, you can just make out the knurls of the bridge height thumbwheels. Notice the tailpiece follows the same plane of the bridge from bass side to treble side:

Adjusting the string height of a floating bridge plate

Whether your trem system is fully locking or vintage style floating, there is a delicate balance between the height of the bridge plate and the corresponding height of the individual string saddles.

The optimal bridge plate setting is controlled by the tension of the tremolo springs found in the back of the instrument.

These springs are attached to a claw plate with two adjustment screws which increase or decrease the spring tension by moving the claw plate forwards or backwards within the cavity.

Depending on the type of floating system, the bridge plate should be set level with the plane of the body (modern systems and hardtail setups) or tipped 1/8″ off the body at the rear end of the plate for a vintage style setup.

• • Simply adjust the two claw plate screws in or out equally to achieve your ideal bridge plate setting.

• Set the string saddle radius

Watch How To Setup A Fender Telecaster Part 5 for an idea how to do this.

• • Acoustic saddles can be reshaped to conform to a more ideal radius. Keep in mind the bass side should have a tiny bit more lift.
  • Les Paul type saddle heights are more or less fixed, but, using the right tools, can be re-cut to accommodate an improved radius.
  • Fender style saddles were designed from the get-go to be fully adjustable. This is where your fine allen keys come in handy.
    In every case you want to achieve a graceful curve across the top of the saddles that matches the natural radius of the instrument you’re working with.
  • Some of the most common radius dimensions are:
    • 16″ – Martin
    • 12″ – Gibson and Epiphone
    • 10″ – Off-shore Fender and Squier including knock-offs
    • 9.5″ – Fender USA
    • 7.25″ – Vintage and Reissue Fender USA

• Fine tune the action

Use the principle of the Perfect Triangle Of Action. Throughout the preliminary and fine adjustment phases you should be checking the balance of these three elements regularly:

• • Nut height
  • Bridge height
  • Neck relief

Any one of the above points can shift during the process. Keep a constant eye on them!

• Re-cut the nut

  • Recutting the nut, if necessary, is a highly specialized job I can only cover the most critical elements.
  • Always judge string height with a straight neck.
  • Be mindful of string deflection. Wherever it changes angle, lightly push the string into place to help seat it.
  • Judge the gap of light at the first fret for each string.
    Looking side on at the nut, you want to see a gap of light about the same thickness of the sixth string between the bottom of the string and the top of the first fret.

• • Carefully cut each slot to depth using hobby blades and select needle files.
  • If a slot is already too low it will have to be repaired, or the entire nut may need to be replaced.

• Adjust the Pickup Height

  • Start with setting it 1/8″ or 3.18mm (about the thickness of a nickel and dime together) away from the strings.
  • If possible, carefully adjust the pole-pieces to match the fretboard radius.

• Preliminary string stretch

  • Hold the instrument in your lap either in a playing position or lying flat. Keeping your thumb extended to both control and force pressure into the string, give each string a good yank in sections along its entire length. Remember, batch your processes!
  • Stretch all the strings in turn
  • Bring the guitar up to pitch.
  • DO THIS ONLY ONCE! Otherwise the strings may become compromised if you need to back up a step or two in the process.
  • PS, want to know how much is too much for a given string? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by literally trying to break them. I would suggest using a cheap set of strings and attempting this test on an instrument you don’t mind beating up.

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• Check and Adjust the intonation

  How do you Intonate a guitar?

  Let’s start with the concept first: if a high note registers sharp, the scale has to be longer. The opposite condition will follow suit automatically.
  Luckily, there are predictable patterns saddles fall into depending on the type of instrument and type of strings. These visual cues come in very handy when you want to verify intonation is indeed in the ballpark:

• Acoustics for the most part have a non-adjustable fixed intonation (but they can be modified).
• Electrics, both basses and guitars, have had fine intonation capabilities for decades.

• • • Semi-acoustics still incorporate a somewhat old-school bridge system (sometimes referred to as a floating bridge because it’s not secured to the guitar)
  • The technique:
    • Using moderate finger pressure, start with the fifth fret on the fifth string, a D note, and take note of what the tuner registers. Go up an octave on the same string to the seventeenth fret, a D again, and see what the tuner tells you.
      If the octave note is sharp, lengthen the scale. If it’s flat simply adjust in the other direction.
    • Repeat the process for the other strings.
    • For a a more comprehensive guide on the subject, check out my article: “The Ultimate Guide to Guitar Intonation” at GuitarChalk.com.

Video: How to Setup a Fender Telecaster – Action and Intonation

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• Check for issues

Time to make those fine tuning adjustments and tweak out things like:

• • Fret “hot spots”. Sizzling frets are usually due to the bridge being too low, the neck being too straight, or a combination of both.
  • Neck relief – sponginess or over-straightness. Readjust as necessary.
  • Sympathetic buzzes. Rattles from vibration and loose parts can make themselves annoyingly evident.
  • General operation. The guitar should really be coming together and start to feel like a superior instrument.

Stretch The Strings

Stretching the strings is a key subject because of how important it is to the guitar’s tuning stability.

Speaking of tuning, installing a new set of strings always involves repeated adjustments until the strings settle in. A great way to minimize this type of redundant process is to develop a better sense of pitch – it’ll save you a ton of time!

To help improve this essential skill, you can find an excellent guide on ear training at StringKick here.

With our preliminary string stretch out of the way, we can now get down to the business of getting them fully settled in enough to rely on.

• Perform a secondary string stretch using the same method described previously, give the strings a good going over but be a bit more vigorous.
• “Pinch” the strings to set them in place wherever they pass from one angle to the next. This slack will eventually straighten out causing your strings to fall out of pitch.

• Tune the instrument up to pitch.
• Repeat the stretching process one more time.

The strings should now be pretty much at their tensile limit for their respective pitches.

Check for Functionality

Congratulations on reaching the finish line. Just a few more steps and you’re in guitar nirvana!

• Check mechanical stability

  • Check the tuners for smooth operation.
  • Listen for “tinks” at the nut or bridge. This indicates a point which will need smoothing out or a small tweak to set it right.
    For instance, there may be a hard “v” at the bottom of a nut slot, or a side wall may have a sharp edge. It’s a pretty easy fix with the right size nut slot tool or a small dab of lube.

• Check tuning stability

  • Play a bit to heat up the strings.
    This is a great test to see how stable the instrument is going to be in the real world. Body heat transferred through your hands can be surprisingly problematic.
  • Get aggressive with string bends and chord changes across all strings to make sure their pitches stay true.

• Double check electronics

  • Plug the guitar in, make sure that all controls are doing what they’re supposed to do.

• Check the guitar’s action – sponginess or “feel”

  • Intuition plays a huge part in how you feel about the final product – either it’s right or it’s not. The trick is knowing exactly what the problem is that’s keeping the guitar from being “happy”.

• Tweak again if necessary

  • It’s not uncommon for gremlins to show up at the last minute. Hunt them down and kill them.
    Your goal? A super fine playing guitar that’s a joy to play.

• Reattach any remaining hardware

  • Parts such as floating pickguards and backplates can now be reattached if you’re confident you’ve accomplished all the fine adjustments.

• Finish up with a final polish and detail

  • Wipe the instrument down with a recommended guitar polish or premium finish detailer without abrasives. I’m still a big fan of paper towels – bye bye dirt – forever.
  • PRO TIP: Wrap the tip of a bamboo skewer or similar sized wooden dowel in the paper towel to get into those tight spots and ninety degree angles.

… aaaaand we`re done :)

Time To Play Your Newly Setup Guitar!

In closing…

What can I say?… Only that once you get the hang of it, you’ll find most guitars will need less attention over time because much of the heavy lifting has been done. It may take a few sessions. but you will have the satisfaction of knowing how to maintain your own guitars properly.

Get to it! And enjoy playing your awesomely setup guitar!

Want to continue to improve your skills?

Come back and check out the site regularly, we’re always adding new articles and how-to’s.

The purpose of Guitar Niche is to help people exactly like you. Those who share a passion for guitars and want to know how to keep them working perfectly.

Without you, the whole endeavour is pointless.

Whether you just want to maintain your gear, or be the best guitar tech in your area, or the world! Guitar Niche will be here to help you along the way.

Thanks For Reading!

DOWNLOAD A FREE PDF OF THIS GUIDE HERE!

The post How To Setup A Guitar [Complete Step by Step Guide] first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Building a Custom Electric Guitar

There are literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of combinations in the variables when putting a custom guitar together. A few tried and true DIY guitar models tend to be the workhorses for building personalized guitars and reproductions of famous instruments.

The Telecaster, or as in this case, the Esquire, is no exception. Let’s see what happens when we assemble an inspired guitar using high quality parts, common sense, and a bit of time.

Inspired by Jeff Beck’s ’54 Fender Esquire

Jeff Beck’s battered, bruised and historically significant ’54 Fender Esquire was the driving inspiration for this very cool opportunity.

This was a custom guitar build for a good client of mine who not only has great taste in guitar projects, but also likes to use great quality guitar parts.

That alone makes a huge difference in the end product. The instrument will typically be easier to put together, setup and play. The guitar will as a whole will have fewer issues, and generally be more stable over the long term.

Not to mention have killer tone.

Parts Supplied:

• Seymour Duncan STK-T3 Vintage Lead Stack Pickup
• Callaham Vintage Telecaster Bridge
• Rhoadhouse Electronics / FSG Guitars
• Musikraft Tele neck
• Heavy relic Telecaster ash body from ebay
• Custom made vinyl record pickguard

Getting Started: Inventory and Assessment

The first order of business was to take an inventory of the custom guitar parts and discuss any concerns with the client. I already had a fair idea of what to expect, but like any custom electric guitar project, there can be hiccups unless you get a good idea of the guitar parts you’re working with.

One of the first potential issues was with the heavy relic ash body which was purchased on ebay. The Telecaster style body itself looked well done but there were no pre-drilled holes for mounting the bridge plate.

Not that this was a huge issue, it just meant the approach to building the guitar would also include setting the intonation and lateral alignment points – critical elements that required a good amount of pre-planning and a bit of extra time.

Next were the electronics. The Seymour Duncan pickup was a no-brainer, but I had some concerns about the unusual electronics configuration: a 5 way switch and a one-pickup guitar – all prewired and a supposedly solderless installation.

Manufacturers understand that not everyone is comfortable with a soldering iron, plus the added expense of the equipment. Therefor, solderless kits and prewired harnesses are becoming more common.

This also makes it easier than ever to customize your own guitar. While I agree with the solderless option from a convenience point of view, I have admit I’m more a fan of traditional soldering installations.

We’d have to see how it went together when the time came to install the electronics.

Other than my concerns over the pre-wired harness and a missing string tree, there seemed to be a complete electric guitar kit on my workbench.

Putting the Guitar Together

Setting the Neck

First task: connect the neck to the body to stabilize the work. Having a working blank gives the project a sense of intention and keeps the largest components from being knocked about.

A dry fit looked pretty good, the neck and body mated up well, the centre line looked good, and sighting down the neck towards the bridge area revealed no surprises – not too high or too low. Keep in mind,

I’m anticipating the height of the bridge when adjusted plus the compression from the strings that would pull the neck up a bit. All in all, the dry fit gave me a good impression.

Because this was a bolt-on type of construction, as is common with many custom built guitars, we have the luxury of getting the neck-to-body alignment just right with minimal effort. The trick here was to start with only two bolts to allow for adjustment as we go.

Committing to all four bolts right off the bat would drastically limit the ability to compensate for things later on. The neck seat could potentially be compromised by wanting to stay in a position that’s off center.

Once the strings are on we’ll have a far better idea of the neck-to-body geometry and will be able to align the neck permanently with confidence.

This temporary technique is especially critical when you have parts from different manufacturers. You never know if they’re on spec or not, or where they’re getting their working dimensions from.

With this particular body, I had to drill out the bolt holes as they were a bit undersized. If the neck bolt bites into the body wood as it passes to the neck, it will bind creating a poor fit.

It also puts too much strain on the screw head as you try to torque it down. Believe me, the LAST thing you want to see is a screw head come off during this process.

Using one of the stainless steel neck bolts supplied, I first measured it against the dry fit neck and body joint, just to make sure it was the correct length. I then used it to set the depth of the 1/8” drill bit I used for the first two neck holes to prevent drilling too deep.

Holding the neck firmly to the body, I committed to drilling the first two neck bolt holes. Thankfully, I didn’t have to worry about the lateral position too much as the dry run showed the fit to be true, reliable and solid.

If it had been an issue, I would have used a clamp to make sure the neck was aligned to center. Next, I put a bit of wax on the screws to help them set into the fresh holes smoothly. The wax (or even soap) also helps to seal up exposed wood and prevent moisture from penetrating.

With the first two bolts in place, the guitar was officially “together”. At this point, you can get an excellent indication of what the end result promises. Hold it up by the headstock and knock around the body with your other hand.

You’ll hear it’s acoustic voice right away. And with this one, it was obvious right off the bat – it was going to to be awesome. With just two bolts it felt extremely solid and cohesive.

The body was light and a strong mid-voiced resonance rang loud and clear with just a few exploratory knocks.

Mounting the Bridge

Before I started to mount the bridge permanently, I wanted to make sure the bridge and pickguard would both be happy in their new home together. The custom pickguard made by the client was pretty cool and fairly accurate.

A dry fit confirmed that they should both line up without any problem. The pickguard was then temporarily mounted to make sure everything would line up cosmetically as I moved along.

To get the very finely engineered Callaham Vintage Telecaster bridge positioning started, I first wanted to confirm the scale length was accurate and would agree with where the bridge was supposed to sit.

I measured from the forward face of the nut slot to the center of the twelfth fret which was 12.75”. This confirmed and conformed to the standard 25.5” (648 mm) Fender scale length.

With compensation in mind, we need to understand the 1st string will be forward and the 6th string will be further back (longer) than this measurement.

Therefore, I tend to use the 3rd string saddle as a reference point as it fairly represents the median point across all six strings.

I roughly measured where the intonation point would be on the body. Putting a wide strip of green low-tack masking tape across the general area,

I then re-measured for scale length and temporarily set the bridge so that the scale length lined up with the third string saddle’s intonation point.

Now I could mark off where the bridge would sit with respect to the string-through holes. Since I couldn’t move them, I needed to make sure all measurements agreed with that one fixed point.

Using the same green low-tack masking tape in 1/4’ width, I marked out the lateral edges of where the bridge would sit with respect to the edges of the neck. I did this using a ruler to extend the plane of the fretboard edge.

With intonation length and lateral position marked out, I could now anticipate with accuracy where the bridge would sit. Using a couple of small allen keys through the body holes to keep the bridge stable, I set about pre-drilling for the bridge mounting screws.

After double checking alignment and measurements, I installed two screws first, then committed to the rest after I was sure everything still lined up properly.

t’s also good practice to look at the bridge in terms of it optimal adjustments. You want the saddles to sit in such a way that you’ll have enough screw travel to move them forward or back to compensate for intonation.

Making a few adjustments for radius, plus anticipating intonation length goes a long way when it comes to the fine adjustments later on.

Installing the Electronics

First order of business was installing the non-standard jack cup. This one had a threaded center and used two mounting screws through the outer edges of the fixture. Quite a bit easier than dealing with the traditional binding clip and pressed cup combo used on most Telecasters.

Before permanently mounting it in place, I threaded the prewired output jack to the cup making sure it sat flush with the outer face for a clean look. A couple of lock washers did the trick nicely.

Assembling the rest of the electronics was pretty straight forward, and went a good bit quicker thanks to the solderless prewired harness.

While using a prebuilt unit limits flexibility interns of component selection, the savings in frustration and time can be a very good thing if you’re not handy with a soldering iron. The choice is yours.

After mounting the Seymour Duncan pickup to the bridge plate, connecting the it was easy – though the colour codes had to be converted from the supplied DiMarzio references.

I also took the extra step of adding a grounding wire from the bridge cavity to grounding point on the control plate to ensure noise reduction.

Once all the connections were made, it was a matter of plugging in and making sure something was coming out. If you’re hearing changes in ambient noise as you go through all the control changes without strings on, that’s a good thing. It means there’s a very high probability that you’ve done a good job.

Using a small metal screwdriver, I also double checked electronics operations by tapping on the pickup and going through the controls once everything was buttoned up.

Installing a New Guitar Nut

Having the choice to do so, I elected to go with bone for the nut material. It’s long lasting, self lubricating, and imparts a certain tonal character that seemed to fit with the project in general.

Considering all the materials available, we have to consider one very important fact: the points at which the strings come in contact with the instrument become filters for the string’s energy.

The nut and the bridge are two primary nodes for that energy, therefor, whatever materials they are made of will greatly influence the instrument’s sustain, tone and output.

The “right” choice for the instrument will often be a matter of intuition and experience, often at the expense of many hours of experimentation.

The neck slot for this project had typical standard measurements, 1/8” x 1-11/16”, so I was able to select a pre-radiused blank to start. But the slot itself had to be cleaned of excess finish trued up, which was easy enough as the finish was fairly thin and the milling was clean.

Without getting into too much detail on the processes, I’ll summarize the steps of fitting a new nut.

The blank was first trimmed to it’s basic geometry once it had been fitted to the cleaned slot. The outer edges were detailed to fit perfectly with the neck width.

The top was brought down to the point where it could be worked with a reasonable amount of extra material to compensate for small adjustments during the slot cutting steps.

Once the blank was roughed in, I marked out the string positions by eye in pencil. I left a bit of space on the outer edges and evened out the spaces as I went from sixth string to first string positions.

The eye is a remarkable tool for measuring straightness and proportion – either it looks right or it doesn’t. I simply laid out the marks until they looked “right”.

It’s easy enough to get an idea of how much “air” to leave on the outside edges simply by comparing another instrument. The other condition being on how the strings line up with the tuners.

If the headstock is engineered or reproduced properly, the strings should travel in a dead straight line as the pass over the nut on their way to their individual tuners.

Next, I cut a small starter notch at the back edge of the nut for each pencil mark in turn. That little notch will be enough to hold the strings true as we cut the slots to the correct depth.

Now that the nut was roughed in to satisfaction, I glued it in place using a couple of small drops of Crazy Glue. You can choose to glue the nut at this point or do it later on, it doesn’t matter much other than you run the risk of the nut shifting around if you leave it too late.

The final cut and finishing will be done once the guitar is a bit further on.

Installing Strings and Making Preliminary Adjustments

The strings used were Ernie Ball Cobalt Skinny Top Heavy Bottom Set, 10 – 52 supplied by the client. They were similar to gauges Jeff beck had used and therefor fit the vibe of the guitar, plus they had a descent pull on the neck.

Keeping pressure on a “green’ neck that has never known compression is important. Using an overly thin set of strings, something like .008 – .038, can cause a new neck to over straighten prematurely due to a lack of pressure.

When installed, I also left a bit of extra string length on the D and G strings at the vintage Kluson tuners. The extra wraps help improve the angle of the strings as they pass over the nut which then increases pressure and improves tone.

The strings were only brought up to mild tension, one half step down from standard A440 and NOT stretched. Stretching the strings and bringing them up to pitch at this point would kill their viability and make them stiff.

Because the traditional style truss rod adjuster was a the butt end of the neck, I knew the neck was going to come off at least once or twice. The main idea was to use the strings as guides for the setup process – they just needed to be on and induce a bit of pressure.

Turning my attention to the bridge, I made some adjustments to approximate saddle intonation using the 12th fret as a guide. If the bridge was indeed set correctly, the G string saddle should be double the length of that measurement or 25.5” – and it was.

With the intonation verified, I made further adjustments anticipating the radius and general string height using experience and visual cues.

So far so good.

Time to lock the neck body joint down. The lateral position of the neck looked excellent, a nice even space on each side of the outer strings along the full length of the neck.

If it was off one way or the other, it would be easy enough to pull the neck to one side before the last bolts. Speaking of which, the last two bolts were installed using a modest torque (I knew they were coming out again) and the the overall position checked again.

The string height was good – not too high, not too low, and the lateral position was spot on.

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Now that the neck had had a bit of pressure on it, I knew the truss rod was ready for a check. The neck was removed and the truss rod was tightened up using modest pressure – about three quarters of a turn from loose until it engaged with a reasonable amount of friction.

Now the neck was checked for straightness by sighting from the headstock down along each fretboard shoulder. The neck looked nice and straight and was again reinstalled using only two bolts to accommodate adjustments later. The frets themselves were good and level requiring only a cursory quick polish and cleaning.

Bringing the strings up again to half-step down tension, it was time to check the electronics and begin finessing the nut.

The electronics had no issues whatsoever. Everything functioned brilliantly: no odd scratchy sounds in the pots or switch, no out of phase issues, and the jack was tight and solid when plugged in.

This was a custom configured and fully loaded Tele control plate the client ordered from an eBay store in the UK: Rhoadhouse / FSG Guitars

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/FSG-Guitars

Considering this was a single pickup guitar with a five way switch, the output tones were actually pretty diverse. The electronics switching was configured to use a four conductor pickup such as a DiMarzio DP389 Tone Zone or the Seymour Duncan STK-3 installed.

Output Configuration from back to front:

1. Normal Single Coil
2. Both Coils in Parralel
3. ‘Arlo Cocked Wah’
4. ‘Eldred Mod’ cap.
5. Full Humbucker

All said, a pretty impressive array of sounds from a seemingly simple setup. It’s obvious that with such a wide range of diverse suppliers selling guitar parts online, it’s become very easy to customize your own guitar.

You can build a guitar using any one of the complete electric guitar kits or build your own guitar kit from scratch – the possibilities are literally endless considering the variables in cosmetics and electronics.

Now back to the nut. Again, I can only summarize here as the complete process has far too many details and therefor warrants it’s own attention in another post.

The first cut for the string slots was carried out using my trusty nut slot files. As the slots were deepened, any slight variations in spacing were corrected by “walking” the cuts one way or the other.

The near-final depth was dependant on the string gauge and how I saw the gap of light at the first fret for each string in turn. I say near-final because once the strings are up to full tension the neck relief will influence the string’s final depth.

There are many ways to judge string slot depth, but this is the process I’ve always used and it works for me. After more than a couple of decades of installing and cutting nuts, you kind of get the hang of it and what to look for.

You may decide to approach it in a more technical fashion and that’s fine, as long as the end result looks professional and functions properly.

The string tree was the final touch for the headstock. I selected a round vintage style retainer that matched the vibe of the guitar and installed it according to visual references from photos of the original ’54 Esquire.

Final Setup and Test Drive

Note: it takes at least a day or two for the neck to react to compression induced by string pressure. You must keep that fact in mind as you near the end of making adjustments. Compression and relief determine the final nut slot depth and saddle height.

Whether you make a custom electric guitar from scratch, or build a guitar from a DIY kit, the steps to making it fully playable are always the same. The guitar building process is fun in itself, but if the instrument is hard to play it will need further tweaking through a proper setup, and that’s essentially the focus of this site.

After one day there was a bit too much relief in the neck. It was removed and the truss rod adjusted one quarter turn. Remember, there were only two bolts installed which made the process much easier, and took less toll on the instrument and the hardware.

The neck was reattached, again using only two bolts, and this time tuned up to full concert pitch A440. The strings were given a primary stretch to remove initial elasticity so intonation and string height could be checked accurately.

Without this first stretch, the strings are way too rubbery – they’re all over the place. They have to be reigned in to start the settling process.

String height looked within tolerance and to my lucky surprise, intonation was spot on!

All the preliminary measurements, adjustments and many years of experience paid off in a massive time savings – although, it could have just as easily gone the other way. The lesson here is to measure, prepare and anticipate the job instead of rushing in and hoping for the best.

After setting the action and radius of the strings at the bridge, I took the guitar for a short test drive enjoying the interesting variations produced by the single pickup and five-way switch combo.

What a great instrument: resonant and lively, just a joy to play even with a few adjustments left to do. Definitely a keeper.

Now we wait and let the guitar sit for another day to let nature, time and pressure take their course.

After 24 hours the neck was in great shape, just the right amount of relief and felt great. Keep in mind compression will continue to accumulate which will require another truss rod adjustment after a period of time.

How much time will depend on the neck itself – primarily the stability of the wood and the amount of humidity in the environment it lives in.

Note: I checked with the client three months after the build. He reported the instrument was holding up perfectly. Considering the guitar had by then gone through a significant seasonal change, that was a very good sign that it would continue to be stable.

I would anticipate an adjustment or two over the next year and a half, but other than that we had a winner.

Knowing the neck was stable and relief was in a good place, it was time to finish up the nut. The final nut slot depths were cut, and the top level filed down to finished height. The edges and corners were also dressed out to feel more comfortable.

The last step was to apply a little Graphitall lube to the nut slots to make sure they wouldn’t bind and creak as they wore in.

Total build time, not including the days waiting for the neck to settle in, about 5 hours.

At last, I took the finished guitar for a final test drive to check playability and functionality. Everything was working perfectly, it played and sounded great.

Closing Thoughts

Personally, I’ve always found the building process the best part of creating custom electric guitars. Whether it’s from a DIY guitar kit, or a collection of hand picked custom guitar parts, being able to assemble something that will ultimately create music is always, and always has been, an awesome and extremely rewarding experience.

If you’re so inclined, pick a project and get started today. Shop around for parts, remember to patronize your local guitar shop, and enjoy the journey of building your very own custom electric guitar.

I certainly hope you were able to glean a few nuggets of guitar building knowledge out of this article. Feel free to leave a comment or question, I answer them all.

The post How to Build a Jeff Beck Inspired ’54 Custom Esquire Guitar (Complete Step by Step Guide) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

How to Repair a Guitar Nut

Improved sound, playability and intonation are all benefits of a properly cut, well fitted guitar nut. String height, spacing and nut material all play important roles in producing a nut that, together with a good setup, will allow the instrument to perform at it’s peak.

This page contains tips and techniques on how to repair a guitar nut that has relatively minor flaws, wear or damage.

We’ll focus on economical ways of maintaining an original part to get it back in working order, plus look methods used when the damage starts to become more involved.

Use these quick links to jump to the two major sections: how to repair an existing nut and how to properly remove an old nut.

In contrast, the decision to fully replace an existing nut depends on many factors and requires a different process. Therefor, installing a new nut is covered in more detail in related articles. But with a little patience and the right tools, you’ll be able to repair or replace a guitar nut like a pro!

Please understand this material is for those who consider themselves handy and are interested in learning more about the next level of maintenance of their instrument.

If you don’t have any previous experience with this type of work, get yourself a cheap guitar you can experiment on until you gain confidence in your own skills, and leave your favorite prized axe in the care of a qualified guitar tech. (Note to novices: my own ‘ 70’s U.S. Strat would be worth a heck of a lot more money today if I hadn’t “tinkered” with it years ago.)

IMPORTANT!: Before doing any work on an instrument, make sure the guitar is situated on a stable bench of some sort with appropriate support and padding, and under lots of light.

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Refitting A Loose Guitar Nut

First, remove the strings or position them out of the way to provide free access to the nut area. Make sure the nut is securely in place to begin with. If it isn’t, gently pull it out, clean off any excess glue and try dry-fitting the nut to see if lines up properly or not.

You might find the nut centers nicely – that’s a good thing. At this point you can put a couple of small drops of Titebond, Krazy Glue (if you want it done quick) or a decent quality wood glue on the bottom and reset it.

Replace the strings and snug them up to apply pressure and give the glue a chance to set – anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours.

Due to seasonal changes and wood tending to dry out, even the best guitars, both acoustic and electric, can suffer from a “slipped nut”. It’s a very common occurrence and also one of the easiest to fix.

Dealing with Excess Material

Flaws. Overhangs, excessive top material and sharp edges are usually cosmetic in nature and fairly easy to remedy.

If the nut has excess material sticking out each side and is solidly in place to begin with, it’s best not to try and remove it unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Mask around the nut using a low-tack masking or painter’s tape to prevent damage to the surrounding area. Use a small, fine-cutting file and carefully remove excess material – using upward strokes from the bottom of the nut to the top, away from the neck – until the nut ends are flush with the neck surface.

Check your work often. Some types of cheap soft plastic nuts can cut very quickly compared to other harder nut materials such as bone or Tusq. If you’re not careful, you can wind up scratching or gouging the neck finish.

Excessive top material can feel uncomfortable especially around the edges. You can use a flat file that’s a little more course, or a sanding block with 200 grit sandpaper to bring the material down to an acceptable level.

Be cautious of the surrounding area, make sure it’s masked off – one bad slip and you’re into neck refinishing.

Without getting into exact string height just yet, let’s say an acceptable level is when there’s a little room, say the width of a plain G string, from the top of the string in the slot to the top of the nut.

Next, with your fine file, trim up the corners at each side of the fretboard so they’re smooth with the curve of the neck. To finish up and remove any scratches from rough filing, polish the nut starting with 400, then 600, and lastly 1000 grit sandpapers.

Sand lightly around the corners to smooth uncomfortable sharp edges. Remember, different materials produce different results so take it easy.

Repairing Worn Slots

Wear. As guitar nuts age, they can feel quite comfortable but the slots can become low enough to cause an irritating buzz on the open strings and produce a loss in tone.

It’s pretty easy to determine which ones are the culprits, they’re the ones that buzz when you give them a good open pluck and sometimes you can actually see them riding the first fret.

Usually it’s only one or two strings which show these symptoms and to keep things simple, we’ll deal with rebuilding string height on a limited level.

A standard remedy for this problem is to use Krazy Glue and baking soda. The recipe works fine, but I’m a fan of using the same material the nut is made of.

I keep a handy supply of bone dust available as it tends to cover most instances of string slot repairs nicely. We’ll also need something to cut the slots with.

A good set of nut files will go a long way, but a fine-toothed hacksaw blade ground down to the right thickness will do, as will an X-acto sawblade. For a more comprehensive list of guitar setup tools check out our guide here.

After identifying the bad string slots, get the strings out of the way and mask off the work area. Using one of the fine cutting blades, carefully clean out the old slots to expose new material.

Have a small flat-bladed tool like a screwdriver handy, and all the other materials you’ll need laid out for quick access.

PRO TIP: Keep a small jewellers screwdriver ground down to a nice point on the business end, this makes a great awl for lots of small tasks around the guitar in general.

For nut slot repair, use the sharp tip to “prime” the bottom of the nut slot by pushing it into the slot at three or four points along it’s width. This helps the new material grip the bottom of the nut slot and resist breaking free prematurely.

Put a tiny drop of Krazy Glue in the freshly cleaned slot, careful not to let it run. Immediately scoop up a fair bit of filler material and drop it in the glue. Compact it into the glue by rolling the shaft of the small screwdriver in the slot – try to work quickly because this stuff sets up fast!

Follow the same procedure for each worn slot. Give the filler a couple of minutes to set up then carefully remove any excess material from the top surfaces by either filing or scraping it away.

Now that you’ve got a newly rebuilt nut-slot, it’s time to cut it to the right depth.

Re-Cutting a Guitar Nut

There are lots of ways to re-cut a guitar nut and it can be a little tricky. The most important thing to remember is if you go too low, you’ll have to start over. I’ve developed my own particular ways of determining when the slots are deep enough through years of experience.

For more info on cutting a new nut – check out this article.

After the slot’s been filled you should be able to see where it originally was through minor color variations.

Take your slot cutting tool and make sure there’s at least enough of a groove to grab the string tuned near to pitch. Loosen the string off a bit and move it out of the way.

Carefully work the slot deeper until the string, near pitch again, seems to be sitting at the right level. This is really going to be a matter of feel or intuition for now until you gain a little more experience and information.

When you’re satisfied with the results, polish up the nut, put a little bit of Teflon oil or pencil lead in the slots for lubrication, tune the instrument up to pitch and away you go!

Repairing Minor Cosmetic Damage

Cosmetic damage is more unsightly than anything else. Small chips that don’t affect the integrity of the nut aren’t much of a problem. Whereas cracks, severe chips and missing chunks will warrant a total replacement. If the nut isn’t structurally sound, it must be replaced.

Minor chips can be filled and buffed out using the methods described in this section. And please remember to mask off the area around the damage.

Using a similarly colored filler material, build up the damaged area using successive applications of glue and filler until the material is slightly above the contour you want to recreate. Level it out with a fine file and polish it up.

You might find small pits and or discoloration when your finished but at least the nut is uniform again – and it’s a relatively fast, economic alternative to installing a new one!

How to Properly Remove an Old or Damaged Guitar Nut.

Time, wear and tear and unfortunate happenings can warrant a guitar nut replacement. Once you’re sure it’s time to remove an old or damaged nut, well… it has to come out! It can be as easy as a simple tap or rather like pulling a tooth – Nurse?… pliers and a crowbar please.

In a best case scenario, the nut’s already loose or just sitting cleanly in a right angle slot with no back edge.

If there’s finish on and around it, take a sharp knife and score all around the edges to avoid chipping. On some older necks with maple fingerboards you’ll see the finish, usually yellowed, layered on pretty thick. Be very careful around the finish, too much pressure can induce chipping particularly on vintage instruments.

It’s also good practice to score along the back edge of the nut. The key here is to break the surface tension of any finish that might be attached to the nut itself.

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Typical Fender and Gibson style nuts sit in a square u-shaped slot requiring a little more care and patience in removal. The same principals apply in protecting the finish as above.

Many other types of guitars, acoustic and electric, North American and offshore, have nuts that sit in a simple right angled shelf. These tend to be the easiest to remove.

Right Angled Nuts

To get the job done, you’ll need some tools to extract the nut: larger screwdrivers and a pair of end nippers.

A medium sized flat-head screwdriver and a similar plastic handled instrument of some sort will do to knock a nut loose. Rather than using a hammer, these lighter tools will provide a little more control over the force applied to the nut.

Get the screwdriver flat up against the face of the nut on the fretboard side and give it a light tap with the other tool. If you’re lucky the nut will pop right out. If not, give it a couple more light taps.

I have to stress this because you could wind up tearing out some of the wood underneath or behind it creating a nasty problem and extra repair work.

Sometimes well-fitted original nuts can be tough to remove, it pays to be patient – and careful.

With a few taps from either side, you should be able to see the nut shift slightly when it’s loose. If it’s really being stubborn and will not come out freely, use the end nippers to carefully try to pull it up and out of the slot; grip the nut at it’s mid point and gently rock it back and forth while pulling upward.

Splitting A Nut For Removal

On some Fender type instruments with thin nuts, none of these efforts may seem to work so we’ll try a different approach.

Use a fine saw such as an Exacto Precision Saw or a Japanese Razor Saw and carefully cut the nut in half along it’s length, then collapse it in upon itself by squeezing the two halves together.

Of course this technique totally destroys the nut. Be sure to keep the fragments to help determine the original string spacing later on.

Cleaning The Nut Slot

There are some fine specialty tools available from various suppliers for cleaning and squaring up the nut slot, but the same job can be done quite easily with some basic tools at hand.

A sharp 1/4″ chisel and a small mill file will do fine. You can use the chisel to scrape off any leftover glue and the file to square up the slot.

Be careful when filing not to oversize the slot or create an uneven width from one side of the fretboard to the other. A good set of needle files will also help square up the surfaces and get tight into the right angles.

TIP: You can grind down the tang end of the mill file to create a chisel point – one tool two jobs!

As a final comment, the intention of this page is to give do-it-yourselfers a kick-start in basic guitar repair. If you’re not 100 percent confident in your abilities, or are concerned about wrecking a prized possession, play it safe and take your instrument to your local guitar tech.

Shimming A Guitar Nut

When done properly, shimming a guitar nut can extend the life of an original guitar part dramatically.

The first step is to determine what thickness and type of material to use. Relatively thin cardboard makes an excellent shim material when treated properly.

It’s an extremely common product making it very easy to select something with the right base color and thickness. Plastic materials will work just as well, but they tend to be a bit too thick and harder to find in the right shade.

By saturating a piece of cardboard with Krazy Glue beforehand, you can essentially create a piece of plasticized material to work with that will do the job just fine.

Look for something in the range of .015 to .020 inches, the equivalent of a medium G string on an electric guitar. It might not seem like a great thickness, but a little goes a long way as most shim jobs tend to require a marginal height adjustment.

Let’s assume you already have the nut extracted and any remaining old adhesive has been removed. The mating surfaces on the guitar should also be cleaned of debris and trued up.

It’s imperative to note that in order to achieve a good, solid shimmed nut, all elements must rely on thoroughly cleaned and prepare surfaces.

Scuff the bottom of the nut with sandpaper or a file to prep the surface. Set the nut on top of your selected shim stock to check for relative position, in other words make sure you have enough material to work with and anticipate positioning.

Apply a couple of drops of Krazy Glue to the bottom of the nut, then stick it to the shim material holding it firmly in place for a few seconds until the glue sets.

Once the glue has hardened, take a sharp knife or tool of your choice and carefully remove the excess material that doesn’t constitute the new base of the nut.

Trim up the surfaces with a fine file or fine sandpaper and you should have a rejuvenated nut worthy of a few more years of use.

The only thing left to do now is check for fit and glue the nut back in place.

Final Thoughts

Once the nut itself has been repaired, it becomes an integral part of an overall great setup. You can find more detailed information on cutting and finishing a nut on the How To Set Up A Guitar page, and in other articles on the site.

The post Guitar Nut Repair [Tips and Techniques] first appeared on GuitarNiche.

What is Fret Sprout?

Fret sprout happens when the wood of a guitar neck or fretboard shrinks from dryness leaving the ends of the frets sticking out.

So your guitar frets are sticking out of the side of your fretboard shredding your fingers – is that a bad thing?

Let’s just say, it’s not as good as it could be.

Northern winters can be nasty! As we roll into a cooler season at this time of writing, November in the Great White North to be specific, furnaces are coming to life spitting out all that warm dry air.

Being that a guitar fret is literally a metal wedge in the fretboard, you have two different elements reacting against each other with this seasonal change – guitar frets respond just a hair whereas wood is much more lively.

Did you know, a solid spruce top on an acoustic can expand and contract as much as an eighth of an inch over the course of a season?

Amazing, and no wonder we suffer “winter cracks”.

What does this mean for those “budget friendly” guitars coming in by the ship load?

And how does it affect your favourite axe that cost you a pretty penny?

Cheap Guitars and Fret Sprouts

Just a few short years ago we started seeing off-shore manufacturers flooding the market with very inexpensive GSO’s (guitar shaped objects) designed to capture the rising tide of interest generated by games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Very much akin to the wave of cheap Japanese imports we saw in the 60’s and 70’s capitalizing on the “new” rock and roll phenomenon with one big difference; the wood used during the first invasion was at least better seasoned and therefore less prone to the ravages of drastic changes in environment.

The raw materials used in some guitars in this latest assault on the entry level guitar market are produced at a new lower standard. They are pumped out for one reason only – to turn a buck.

Within weeks of entering northern north America, the necks start shrinking back and frets start popping out.

A friend of mine liked to call these overly green flash-seasoned instruments – bologna slicers.

What Causes Fret Sprout?

Fret sprout is caused by the wood of the guitar neck drying out leaving the fret ends exposed beyond the fingerboard.

Even the best custom shop and hand-built boutique instruments aren’t immune the effects of this excessive dryness.

Once a guitar arrives at your home, the amount of humidity in your living environment will have a direct impact on the instrument.

The structural integrity of the guitar can easily become compromised if it’s too dry or too humid.

Instruments that have lost too much natural moisture, particularly acoustic guitars, can start to develop the following problems:

• top cracks

• side splits

• lifting bridges

• finish checking

• neck humps, bulges

• uneven guitar frets

• and… fret sprouts

On a bound neck Les Paul the nibs start to split as evidenced by hairline fractures that develop on the side of the binding.

Sometimes if left unchecked, the protruding frets will push the binding clean off in chunks!

Other instruments without bound fret ends will show evidence in that the finish starts off where the fret ends meet the edge of the neck.

Does this mean the instrument is bad? No, not necessarily. But it will need attention.

Of course you could have avoided the whole problem of fret sprouts by buying an instrument such as a violin, fretless bass, or even a fretless guitar. But you love guitars, guitars with frets.

Fret Sprout Fix – What can you do about it?

Let’s start with preventative measures, guitar humidifiers:

D'Addario Guitar Humidifier - Acoustic Guitar...

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D'Addario Guitar Humidifier System - Humidipak...

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Oasis Guitar Humidifier OH-1 - For Soundhole

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For acoustic instruments, purchase a good quality guitar humidifier such as a D’Addario Acoustic Guitar Humidifier to help combat seasonal dryness. These things are particularly necessary if you have a nice acoustic and want to see it survive the humidity swings.

For electric guitars, the best thing you can do is keep the instrument in a stable environment free from drastic changes in temperature and humidity. Rough attics and unfinished basements are a big no-no.

The best way to get these proud fret ends removed is to take your guitar to your local guitar service professional. It’s a pretty straight forward job for someone who knows what they’re doing.

Regardless of the grade of instrument, the fix is relatively easy, a variation of a fret levelling, and a nominal cost to you the owner. It usually doesn’t take much more than a half hour depending on finish polishing.

In a nutshell, a flat file is used with great care to gradually remove the offending fret ends down to the neck surface.

The freshly squared off ends will then usually benefit from a nice rounding over or bull-nose treatment with a fret end file and then a fine polish to make them more comfortable under the players touch.

Then the next seasonal change comes and with the increased humidity, frets shrink back – they literally turtle up into the neck a bit. Not a problem though if you take good care of the instrument

Your fingers will thank you for it.

The post What Is Fret Sprout (And How Do You Fix It?) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Why Should You Get A Pro Guitar Setup?

Even if you’ve made a modest investment in a single guitar, a pro guitar setup can help curb the effects of wear and tear that eventually take their toll on your instruments and your patience.

Eventually you’ll experience breaking strings, going out of tune, scratchy electronics, and the list goes on.

Before we get to that little detail, here’s a top ten list of benefits that come from the relatively minor investment in a professional guitar setup.

Let’s just say, it’s well worth the money.

Performing a professional setup on a Fender Telecaster

1. The Instrument Retains It’s Value

Better made guitars and antique instruments, like anything in the collectible world, are simply more desirable if they’re in better condition. While an exceptional painting may hang for years not needing any significant maintenance, things that are mechanical – cars are good example – need regular maintenance to keep them functioning properly.

Food for thought: given the condition of an instrument that is in tip-top operating condition versus an identical one that’s got problems for the same price, which one is likely to sell?…

Regular trips to the guitar mechanic will help keep a significant investment from going south, and I’m not talking about your ex heading off to Brazil with the proceeds from selling your ’62 Tele on Reverb because you got caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

Keeping that axe in as cherry a state as possible will maximize your investment – and perhaps even fund your divorce proceedings.

Detailing a Les Paul bridge during a Professional Guitar Setup

2. The Instrument Lasts Longer

Things wear out, no doubt, and getting a problem fixed early will save you grief and dollars. Time, friction and particularly pressure take their toll on guitars in an insidious way.

The imperceptible creep of the constant pressure from the strings is as about as nasty as it gets in debilitating a guitar. You might put a guitar away for a couple of months only to bring it out and find the strings high enough off the fretboard to consider finding an arrow to see if you can use the guitar as an archer’s set.

Or maybe the instrument has sat in a humid basement long enough to start seeing the tell-tale brown fuzz that forms around screw heads and small metal parts. They’ll seize up tighter than a camel’s butt in a sandstorm.

3. Full Functionality

Bee stings are nasty, but have you ever been stung by a string? Snapping strings will easily pierce flesh or slap you so hard you’ll think you’ve been stung by a wasp. The shock is often followed by the most wonderful blue streaks of creative profanity. Not to mention you can have an eye taken out – no goggles please.

Professionally Setup Fender Jazzmaster

The solution?.. change your guitar strings regularly, a minimum of a couple times a year. Save the air!

Then there’s sketchy electronics.

Do you know what a loose guitar jack does to a speaker with a couple hundred watts behind it? Nothing remotely good – sometimes we call it “catastrophic failure”. I’m sure you’ve heard it before.

Get that thing fixed!

4. Better Adjustability

Modern instruments are designed to be adjustable to accommodate variations in players styles and to cope with changes in environment. This does not mean it’s a “set it and forget it” luxury that’s been designed into your guitar. They’re there for a reason.

An instrument left to it’s own without attention to the little gremlins that take roost over time will develop sticky bits, and those sticky bits will add up to frowns due to extra service costs. As mentioned previously, seized parts like fine adjustment screws are often found in bunches and are no fun for anybody.

As luck would have it, while writing this article I received a call about the sale of a bass that had exactly that problem – a seized saddle screw. The buyer was concerned about it affecting the cost of the deal. My response? Of course it would. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a tiny little thing like that turn into a major pain. So I had to defer to experience and advise him that it may be an issue, and an indication of other potential problems.

The point? He has a decision to make which could ultimately sink the deal – over a little detail that the owner could have easily had taken care of.

A well maintained guitar is not only a happy guitar, it’s also a joy to play. Keep things in good working order and keep that smile on your face.

If you’re interested in doing it on your own, you can find a comprehensive list of guitar setup tools here.

5. Superior Playability

Having your guitar fine tuned by a pro coaxes the max out of the instrument. By reducing the amount of effort it takes to physically play, your enjoyment level rises allowing you to fully experience what it is to just… play.

Entry level instruments?.. all over the map. If your local music store doesn’t offer to throw in a setup, demand it. It’s absolutely critical to give new players a tool that will not sour their first experiences.

Taking Measurements for a Pro Guitar Setup

Having said that even pro level instruments are not immune. Fresh out of the box, even the best made guitars need a little help to be fully tailored to the end user.

Virtually all major brands will be manufactured to a set of generalized tolerances which then need to be tweaked once they’re in the player’s hands.

This is good stuff to know especially if you’re considering stepping up to the next level of guitar goodness and investment dollars.

Loaded with tips and details, here’s a full-length video which covers the full setup process on a Fender Limited Edition Vintera 60’s Stratocaster:

6. More Volume And Sustain

Chattering, sizzling, buzzing, soul-sucking looseness will rob your guitar of the energy that’s supposed to travel from the strings, through the rest of the instrument and on out to the amplifier.

That energy you’re losing?… we call that tone.

Do you want a guitar that’s rock solid and dependable giving you everything it has to offer? Or will you settle for a clap-trap thin-voiced guitar shaped object that barely qualifies as an instrument.

Ok, that last statement might be a little harsh, but it’s a fact: maximum volume and sustain can only be achieved when all the parts have been nailed down, finessed and had the bugs worked out.

Not only will a loose part drive you nuts like a steel bucket full of cicadas in August, but the loss in transferred energy can destroy your guitar’s most beautiful voice.

Batten down the hatches and turn it to eleven!

7. Increased Stability

If you live in an area of regular seasonal change, you will have to deal with the natural changes in humidity that affect guitars. Neither acoustic nor electric instruments are immune to the swing of the seasonal pendulum.

And that’s exactly how you should picture it.

Now imagine being able to reduce the swing of that pendulum, gradually, over time so that it’s effects are minimal throughout the whole year.

When an instrument is first manufactured, it can be an uneasy marriage of wood, metal and plastic elements that have to come to grips with being in a new shape that we refer to as a guitar; more of a collection of parts than a cohesive unit.

With regular service, those heavy swings from one side to the other become less and less as the little variations causing all that grief get reigned in. Eventually the guitar becomes much more stable requiring less heavy lifting on the service end and only requiring trips to the clinic for general maintenance.

8. More Reliability

You’re in the middle of your second set, in the middle of a wicked solo and wondering if that high E is going to pop like it has been for the last few shows.

Totally unnerving.

A good technician will make that pain go away, and ease the worry of any other nags in your preferred axe.

As an aside, one of my favourite challenges is punk-proofing guitars for some of the local rockers. They are brutal on their instruments and they have to hold up.

Loose strap buttons? Nope.

Noisy, loose jack? Nada.

Scratchy pots? Uh uh.

Pickup ring chattering? Taken care of.

And the biggie? Tuning?…

That one’s SO big it get’s it’s own designation:

9. Stays In Tune Better

Tightening tuner bushings

Nothing, I mean nothing is more annoying than a guitar that won’t hold it’s tune.

The reasons can be many; tuners, saddles, strings, operator error… The list goes on.

They’ll all go away with a proper setup (well, at least most of them – operator error knows no bounds). The tuning gods will smile and there will be harmony in the guitar universe.

And finally,

10. Maximum Self-Expression

Beyond all the physical manifestations of having a guitar set up properly, one thing stands out in my mind as a clear winner – the why.

Why do we as guitar players even pick it up in the first place? Why do we want an instrument that’s trouble free?

To play.

To exercise our primary musical voice without restrictions, without the baggage of a compromised instrument.

The net result is a guitar that’s much more stable, predictable and dependable. and an extension of your true emotional self.

The Most Common Question: “What does a guitar setup cost?”

This is by far the most common question I get from those who I haven’t worked with.

For a tip-to-toe nuts and bolts setup you’re looking at an average fee of $85 (CAD) or so depending on the level of work involved, style of guitar etc.

For a full rundown on the cost of a guitar setup and other common repair fees, check out the GuitarNiche service rates page.

The post 10 Benefits Of A Pro Guitar Setup (And Why You Need One) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Through the use of a simple analogy, you’ll see first hand the basic principle behind the truss rod and how to adjust it according to what your guitar needs.

Video: How A Truss Rod Works

Let’s say, you know that adjusting a truss rod is supposed to make the neck move either up or down – that is – induce more or less relief along the length of the neck.

But really, the “problem” for most guitarists is either:

1. – “I don’t want to screw it up“… (fair enough, knowing your limits is a very good thing, but not trying is another…)

2. – “I’m not sure which way to turn it“

THE most common statements I’ve heard regarding truss rod  adjustments for years.

And the reason for this article; to shed some light on the basic principles behind what a truss rod is and does to help eliminate the intimidation of the great guitar voodoo unknown.

Sorry, no eye of newt or batwing here, just plain old fundamental mechanics.

Over time, the constant pressure from the strings, combined with seasonal changes in humidity, take their toll on the guitar’s structure compressing the span between the nut and the bridge enough to force the neck into the infamous “banana” shape.

The neck is then referred to as “warped”, “kinked”, “sprung”, “mushy”, “f****d”, etc… all meaning the same thing: it just ain’t right.

In 1921, Thaddeus J McHugh, being assigned by the Gibson Mandolinguitar Company of Kalamazoo Michigan, applied for a US patent: “To provide an improved neck for stringed instruments, which is so constructed that it is not likely to spring or warp under the strains to which it is subjected in use, and one which should warped, may be straightened.” – Source: Google Patents

So, we’ve had this little gem for almost a hundred years, not bad. It was such a good idea it’s become a staple in modern guitar manufacturing saving countless players the grief of a “sprung” neck (provided you know how to use it) – thank you Thaddeus.

Still, being a mechanism with only one visible moving part from our point of view, the truss rod seems… ambiguous.

Truss Rods and Age

Thankfully, even the most cost-effective truss rods are capable of providing some resistance against the ravages of time and pressure. But, there are instances of instruments being tucked away in attics and basements where they languish for years becoming GSOs (guitar shaped objects) permanently lock-jawed into an unplayable state.

A few years back, a cheap old acoustic came in for service that the owner told me was one such instrument – it had been stowed in his attic for years.

Knowing this and having the presence of mind, I warned that adjusting it might not go well; the first order of business being to adjust the badly warped neck.

I found the allen key that fit, give it a modest tug in both directions to try and free it up when it suddenly responded with a fateful “SNAP!” The adjuster had been seized and broken clean off the end of the rod – the only time this ever happened to me, and I’ll never forget it. I also remember how little force it took.

Chances are you’ll never have to experience that – which is a good thing.

Personal Observations

With so many clients posing the same questions on a regular basis, and so did I when I was starting out, I felt compelled to provide some insight on the subject to help pull back the curtain of confusion.

I vividly remember fumbling with my old Les Paul’s truss rod adjuster many, many years ago and not fully understanding the net effect: which way do I turn it?, and what’s supposed to happen?

After some careful research and practical application, adjusting a truss rod became a fairly routine process. Over the years I’ve encountered many different types and quality levels of truss rods. At the end of the day, they basically all work the same way by inducing pressure.

I’ve observed that for most players, simply knowing which way to turn the truss rod adjuster to achieve the desired effect is a good stating point. Hopefully this article has shed some light on how to do just that.

The post How A Truss Rod Works: A Quick Explanation first appeared on GuitarNiche.