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.

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.

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE COPY OF THIS GUIDE!

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.

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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.

If you’re interested in improving how well your guitar plays, you might be interested in improving how well YOU play! Get your chops tip-top with these excellent guitar courses:

• 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.

How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul Part 9: String Stretch, Tweak & Cleanup

What’s Covered:

• Stretching the strings

• Dealing with a sticky nut slot

• A quick test drive

• Final cleanup

Video: Les Paul Setup Tutorial Part 9

Transcript:

Stretching the Strings

All the strings have been intonated according to the process I just described, but it’s not necessarily in tune, and we still have a little bit of housekeeping to do.

First order is stretching those strings again. You want to get all the stretch out of those strings. I can tell if there’s any issue with the nut again, I can feel it make a little knock down here like something giving. Things might be moving into position or settling down. Once more, I’ll give the strings a good stretch again.

A little trick here, use a tuning fork, strike the 5th fret harmonic at the 5th fret, 5th string. Exactly the same pitch as the A440 tuning fork. How do you like that?

Back to the nut, heard a little “tink” on that 4th string. I’m going to deal with that. I have my amp set up so it’s a little bit gainy. It’s the way I like it. When I stretched the string. I could feel that 4th string is just sticking.

Okay, so that was essentially our last stretch, but this is a bonus for anybody watching.

Dealing with a Sticky Nut Slot

So we found a little kink going on there with the 4th string. It’s not quite doing what it’s supposed to do, so I’m going to smooth that out. I’m not trying to carve it down or anything, I’m just smoothing that out. I think I know what it is.

The winding is probably catching the back wall on this side face – very common. So we have our groove going this way, and the string is canted that way and is catching the back wall there.

If you hear that “tink” that’s what that is. It’s typically on three and three type tuners. You’re hearing the winding’s catching the back wall of the nut slot.

There, done. Cool. Just like that.

Back to the String Stretch

All righty. Stretching it. I’m tuning and tuning and tuning. I want to do it efficiently. Well that sounds just dandy.

I had the relief set at a nominal point before I got the strings up to pressure and all this. This is a wonderful example of what I’m talking about. I got the strings up to pressure to stretch out. The neck actually tipped just a hair.

The relief is in a sweet spot, it’s just in a wonderful position. I’m checking the high frets here. No fretting out. It’s not sky high or anything. Very, very, very comfortable.

Bass side is nice. There’s a nice little bit of air because bass strings need a little bit more height to do their work.

I’m going to give these another stretch. Just arbitrarily around the neck. Man, you can’t stretch the strings enough when you’re fresh. And then the next day, they’ll be perfect.

You can get them to settle down within a short time period if need be, but the next day, they’ll be really in good shape. That’s good. Beautiful.

I’m going to have to play it for a little bit to get everything to settle down to where it’s supposed to be. That bridge pickup, the controls nice and clean. Everything seems to be doing what it’s supposed to do.

Final Cleanup

The final part of this whole setup procedure will be taking some paper towels and a little bit of the polish and just going around it doing the back of the neck and the back of the body, the sides and everything really picking, cleaning house as it were. We don’t need to bore you with all of that.

Anyway, last thing, we put the truss rod cover back on. Tidy up house. Clean up after yourself. It’s all good. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that.

My name is Steve from GuitarNiche. Of course, we’re going to put that back on, all the necessary bits and call it a day. I hope you enjoyed that. It’s been a pleasure.

I hope you get something out of that, some tips and whatnot. Please stay tuned, there are tons of other videos that will explain in depth things like neck relief, how to cut a nut, and more in depth stuff like how to intonate in very, very fine detail and things like that.

Some real finesse stuff that we’re going to address are the most common problems, that we as guitar players face, string breakage, going out of tune, why does D sound great and G sound like crap. I’ll answer those questions. Anyway, thank you very much, and we’ll talk soon. Take care.

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The post How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul Part 9 (String Stretching, Tweaks And Test Drive) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Part 8: How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul. Relief, the Nut & Setting Intonation

What’s Covered:

• Assessing Neck Relief

• Assessing the Nut

• The Concept of a Balanced Setup

• The Intonation Process

Video: Les Paul Setup Tutorial Part 8

Transcript:

Assessing Neck Relief

We’re having a look at neck relief. I want to see a gap of light around the middle of the neck here around the seventh fret between where I’m holding the string down. A gap of light roughly the same thickness as the third string itself. Now that could be more or less depending on how you like your action, but it’s one of these things where you test it out.

As a general rule for me that’s a good starting point because this neck is pretty straight. It’s my medium. It’s my midline, it’s a great starting point. Always try to start with the neck a little bit straighter than ultimately where you want it. When you start to induce compression through string pressure, relief will come around naturally.

Assessing the Nut

So now regarding the nut, I recently replaced this nut, so I know it’s in great shape, but if it had an issue I could deal with that, if it’s with a string or two was buzzing, I can show you how to repair that. There’s a couple of videos I have on that.

In most cases the nut is going to need just tiny little tweaks. So you have at your availability, you can get nut files from Stewmac or All Parts. Personally I prefer AllParts. I find that Stewmac is all well and good, but they’re more in the business of hard selling products than I’m comfortable with these days.

Overall I’m pretty happy with the condition of the nut. I’d prefer to keep the whole nut thing as a separate topic on it’s own.

The Concept of a Balanced Setup

Let me say this, within the context of the instrument, this is very very important. We have a triangular set of elements that we want to keep in balance. Think of it (action) like a perfect triangle, one point is the nut, one is the bridge, two fixed points where the string attaches to the instrument, and then there’s relief itself.

If any one of those elements is out of balance, it automatically affects the other two. So in an ideal setup, all three of those elements are in harmony, and the instrument is happy, and it functions great – all good things.

As mentioned, the nut is a fixed point. If it has issues it has to be addressed so that the strings will go through it properly, etc, etc. So that’s kind of a fixed anchor point.

The other two elements being the bridge and the relief, have a little more adjustability. Nonetheless, they should all be in harmony when everything is aligned properly.

I don’t see any real issue with the nut, this one is just dandy, so I’m going to leave that.

Now down to the bridge end, the relief is good at hand, and it’s intonation time. I’m not going to spend a great deal of time on this as well because intonation is an art form.

Different instruments they all use basically the same principle, but the process can be a little bit different instrument to instrument. And there are many different ways of going about it.

I’m going to give you the short version of how this works. First off, we just installed brand new strings. They’re fresh, they’re really elastic, and there’s a lot of unrestrained junk living in every aspect of the string.

So the first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to stretch, give the strings a good stretch.

Okay, that’s the first pass. They all dropped about a semitone to a tone.

Fact – you want to keep your guitar in tune. One of the most important things you can do is stretch your strings.

I’ve had pros come in and say, “My guitar, it’s not holding a tune.” First thing I do is stretch their strings, and they’re dropping, and I’m going, “I’m sorry man, it was just your strings.” And they’re going,”Oh okay, all right.”

Point is, always make sure your strings are stretched out fully.

Back to our guitar on the workbench, that’s one degree of stretching let’s say.

Now we’re ready to intonate. The process is we’re getting that initial elasticity out of the strings, so that they are…put it this way, if you try to intonate with the strings being fresh and elastic, your pitches are going to drop.

You’re not going to get true reads because the strings are too wrangly and unrestrained. They’re just too happy, it’s the way it is.

Anyway, I’ gonna plug this in. Actually before I do that I’m going to clean up the jack.

This is simply a piece of 220 wet dry sand paper, that’s my preference. Coarse enough to be effective, but fine enough to not really do any damage. And roll that up, I’m going to put that in the jack, and twirl that around a little bit.

I can already see some, I don’t know if you can see that dust, but that’s actually it’s not the gold plate coming off, that’s a little bit of rust coming off, or not rust but corrosion.

It’s a basic process I suppose, so I just flip that around 180 using the other end, clean that up. Okay, get rid of that. So now I know that the jack is in good shape.

Now I’m going to make sure the outer nut of the jack is tight. Give it a little torque with an open end wrench, okay? There’s a trick to keeping that from spinning around which again I’ll share that at a later date.

I was looking for the correct size on that. This is a little sloppy because it’s metric, and not imperial like it should be.

Anyway, we’re going to plug that in, all is clean. Okay, I’m going to use my treble pickup.

For more on the entire process, check our complete guide on How to Setup a Guitar.

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The Intonation Process

Being able to get a clean signal to the tuner, the tuning device whether it’s a clip on or whatever, is very important. I’m going to give you the idea of how I go about this,

I’m not going to be absolutely specific about going through each, and every string, and what not, because once you get the initial process you’ll have the idea.

Okay, I’m not using open strings, and 12 fret, or harmonics or anything like 12 fret harmonics specifically. The reason is in every other situation, whatever instrument it is,

if you don’t know for sure is that nut is absolutely cut the way it’s supposed to, you can get misreads along the entire string length. You have to know beforehand that the nut has been cut properly, and you don’t know that until you address it.

So in order to eliminate the possibility of an improperly cut nut, this is how we go about it.

I’m going to start with the fifth string, fifth fret which is a D. I’m going to set my tuner, it’s just an old analogue tuner that needles just beautiful, it’s a fluid motion, it’s not sketchy or anything like that.

And I’m going to use a 12 fret harmonic from the fifth fret (which would be the 17th fret visually), so then I’m getting that D way up the neck.

I should get it in tune first. So I’m registering a specific point on the tuner, it doesn’t matter if it’s perfectly on center right, you don’t have to be that fussy about it. Just get it so that it’s in the ballpark, but register with your eyes.

Take note of exactly where the needle sits or where the registration point is for what you’re seeing. And then I’m going to hit the twelfth fret harmonic (from that point) just to filter it a little bit, just to double check.

That’s beautiful, now up here, that point I just saw a second ago is actually registered now. It’s a little bit on the high side, which means that the scale length is too short. So I have to lengthen it.

I’m going to throw in a little bit more length into the string. Pop the string, helps to seat it, okay? To get it to sit pretty. Now I’m looking at my point, it’s still off center, but it doesn’t matter, it’s within tolerance.

For a typical 6 string electric guitar (3 plain strings and 3 wound strings), your intonation pattern at the saddles should look like the image below:

I just want to see the exact same thing at the octave note when I do this. I’m using a moderate pressure to do this too.

Okay. That’s great. If I press I can actually get that to deflect like, “Whoa.” We’ve got to use like a reasonable amount of pressure. That pitch right there is exactly the same sound, and pitch as that fretted string.

So as far as the tuner goes, it’s exactly the same thing as reading, and it’s on the fret board.

So much of what we play on the guitar is on the fret board. Use the frets on the fretboard to intonate with. You want to do it properly as it gets around any discrepancies with the nut or silly things like that. Anyway, that is the short course on the intonation process as it works.

I can double check this by using a B.

I’m taking note of where my needle sits, and then I come up here (an octave away). And it’s bang on the same spot, that tells me the string is in tune, It’s awesome.

I’m going to use that same process, and go through all my strings, and use fretted notes down here, and then a 12 frets up an octave. For each string multiple notes,

I can use just my analogue tuner, it’s not chromatic or anything just the regular string means for the guitar, and it’ll do a fantastic job.

Anyway I’m going to carry on with that, I’m going to finish that up, and we’ll get back with the home stretch. Back in a sec.

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The post How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul Part 8 (Intonation And Cutting The Nut)) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Part 6: How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul. Beginning Fine Adjustments.

What’s Covered:

• Adjusting pickup pole pieces

• Preliminary truss rod adjustments

• Setting the string height

• Stop tailpiece adjustments

In the last segment, How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul Part 5, we tackled the rather menial but very necessary task of housekeeping. With that out of the way, we can now begin preliminary adjustments that bring the guitar to a state of maximum performance and dependability.

Video: Les Paul Setup Tutorial Part 6

Transcript:

Adjusting Pickup Pole Pieces

While trying to adjust the pole pieces here I noticed that this last screw head is just destroyed with corrosion. I’m going to dig that out a little bit with a small screwdriver, a jeweller’s screwdriver, of course being careful not to scratch anything in the process. You’ve got to be careful that you don’t damage any of the surrounding area.

I’m going to take that screwdriver again and go around and knock off any of the junk carefully that is any of the wax that popped up and what not. It’s pretty clean actually, I’ve seen a lot worse.

Adjust the pole pieces so that when you look across that pickup face you see a nice gradual arc that would match the radius of the fret board.

On to the next step, we’re going bring a little bit more tension into the instrument by tightening up the strings. Not up to full pitch, just inducing some pressure on it. Then we’ll look at the look at the end geometry.

Preliminary Truss Rod Adjustments

First we’re going to set the height after giving the neck a quick read. It doesn’t look too bad, I’m going to straighten it out just a hair.

We are in a bit of a hurry so I’m going to bring the truss rod adjuster towards me to tighten up the truss rod. There is a separate video I did about this that explains how that little mechanism works for you.

Just a small movement, not a quarter turn or anything, just a little judgment turn. You can feel the stiffness of the truss rod, whether it is engaged or not.

If the adjuster is loose and going chatter then you have got to snug it up to the end. If it is really, really tight, you might want to try backing it off and put a bit of 3in1 Oil on the threads.

Set the neck relief as it should be for the player. Different people want their strings at different heights. I’ll give you a bit of information so that you’ll be able to do that correctly for your own playing style.

Setting the String Height

I’ve set the truss rod in what I’d consider a good median position. At about the 15th or 17th fret on the bass side, in this case, its the 16th, I want to see is that the height is about the height of two dimes or 3/32″ (.085″ or a hair over 2mm). If you’re not sure, get two dimes and look at them. That’s your gauge. In our case here, the current height is going to come down a little bit.

And then on the treble side, I am going to look around the same area where the neck meets the body. It’s just an arbitrary point that works for me. You can tinker with this and try to figure out some way that may be more specific to the way that you like to get things done.

The 15th fret area works well as a general rule. On the treble side here, I am going to re-situate the string height by adjusting that thumb wheel. I want to see the thickness of a nickel or just a hair over a 16th of an inch (.075″ or 1.8mm).

Keep in mind these are guidelines for setting a starting point, and that point is pretty low. My approach is to start from an ideal low-action position, then compensate for the player’s tastes and the instrument’s limitations as I finalize setting up the action.

So I have adjusted the truss rod. I haven’t talked about the neck yet, but I will get to that. I have made some preliminary adjustments to the truss rod.

The strings are at a nominal pressure. It is not up to pitch or anything. If things are tight and bound up it makes it very hard to adjust these things properly.

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Stop Tailpiece Adjustments

Now the tailpiece, I have a preference for where I like to see these things. This is ballpark to the fine point. I might make a small incremental adjustment down the road. But this is very much where it is going to wind up as a final position.

Now there is a certain amount of angle break here where the strings transition from the bridge to the tailpiece. That amount of angle. If you tinker with this you will find a sweet spot that works really well for your playing.

Some people want the studs right tight to the body, That’s great because the theory is you’ve got the studs tight to the body and you get maximum transference.

That’s awesome. I personally don’t notice too much of a difference either way but what I have noticed is that the amount of angle over the saddle that angular break there to the tailpiece can make a really significant change to the overall feel of how the strings play under your fingers.

So it is really worth tinkering at, but be careful because you don’t want to wreck the studs, use a proper screwdriver. You can even use a coin that’s the right size for a pretty significant slot in this stud.

The treble side it looks good to me and I am going to work on the bass side actually. I am going to be very, very careful with this thing.

Control it. The stud can be under a lot of tension unless you loosen the strings. And watching a flat end screwdriver skate across the top of a guitar is no fun.

There are tools out there that you can use to make sure that you don’t slip off and what not. I believe if you are careful enough you wouldn’t have that problem to begin with.

I have those slots are in line with each other laterally. It is a nice finish. It just looks pleasant that way. Looking from the end of the guitar I want to see the same angle of the studs to the thumb wheels.

So I can actually see the bottoms of the studs of the tailpiece. I see the same amount of reveal on each side looking straight down the middle of the instrument so that I know that this plane is exactly in line with this plane.

That’s just the way I prefer to do it. I have never, ever had any issues with that. I think it works very, very well.

I am going to take a little break and we will come back and we’ll look at getting the strings up to pitch. We are going to address the nut and we are going to deal with setting the pickup height, okay. All right, I will be right back.

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The post How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul Part 6 (Preliminary Adjustments) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Part 5: How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul.

What’s Covered in the Video:

• How to save time cleaning the body

• Detailing the body and headstock

• installing a new set of strings

• How to batch your processes and save time!

Previously in Part 4 of How To Setup A Les Paul, we began the process of prepping the guitar for the next all important process. In this segment we carry on towards our ultimate goal – a clean, perfectly set up guitar that plays beautifully.

Video: Les Paul Setup Tutorial Part 5

Transcript:

How to Save Time Cleaning a Guitar

Well, not the most fun job in the world but absolutely necessary. Dunlop 65 polish, this is good stuff. This will help pick up the dirt and fingerprints. This guitar’s not really dirty so we don’t have to worry about getting really crazy with it.

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The cleaning process described in this video segment is organized and should save you a bunch of time with housekeeping.

I have a ’79 Les Paul Custom, it was in rough condition finish wise so one day I took it apart and spent four hours getting that sucker polished up like new, and it looked spectacular! It was awesome. That was a deep clean which was long overdue.

Detailing the Body and Headstock

I’m actually going to get tight to these sides of the headstock. That’s where a lot of finger junk builds up around, where your hands are always touching the side of the headstock when you’re tuning, so you want to get at that.

Again, back to my little wooden stick, it helps me get right tight to the corners all around. I keep shifting this thing around so I’m not just pushing dirt into the same spot all the time. I keep using different parts of the paper towel here.

We want to get around that pickup selector switch, and we’ll get around the bushings. Again, I’m not too worried about these bushings here or the adjusters/thumb wheels in this case and the end screws because the instrument’s in fairly decent condition to start.

But there is a little corrosion on them for sure. I’m going to hit that again. I will be making some adjustments down here, so I’m not worried about the position of them.

Now, I’m going to be handling this instrument quite a bit, so what I’m trying to focus on here is just getting the majority of the junk off, the real garbage, the stuff that’s been caked in for a while.

To begin with, the guitar’s fairly clean so I’m happy about that. If it was nastier, then of course we’d spend more time accordingly and whatnot.

Tell-tale sign of a pick guard on Les Pauls; that nut on the back always leaves a mark on the face. If you see that you’ll know what it is.

That is if the pick guard’s not on it. I’m just gonna do the face for now, because I’ll come back to the rest of it when we’re close to being done. And as far as strings go we’re going to put on some D’Addario 10’s. Get those bad boys ready.

As for the dirt, junk goes in the junk.

Installing New Guitar Strings

Now we’re going to start throwing some new strings on and have at it.

Starting with number six, the saddles of the bridge are canted forward. I’m gonna put the fifth string aside there for a second. let’s get this sixth string installed. Note, there’s more than one right way to install strings, and I’ll do another video series on that.

When somebody tells you got to do it this way, some stuff yes, but other stuff, it’s common sense. There’s more than one right way to do many things, so I want to keep that in mind. Anyway, a little quick instruction on this,

I’m keeping the slack end of the string under control, otherwise it will control me and that doesn’t exist in my guitar world, okay. I am the person in control of such things.

Batch Your Processes

Okay, so now all the guitar hardware is locked down and, that is it’s not going to fall off anymore. I’ve put the sixth string on just to hold things in place, you know. Again, I refer back to batching your processes.

In this case, when we have loose hardware, we want to keep it under control. So I put one string on to control the environment. Now I’ll go back and do the rest of the strings, just get them installed.

Some people like to install the strings backwards. That is, top wrapping the strings over the top of the tailpiece. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, it’s a matter of preference.

You have to experiment with different things, because it comes down to the angle at which the string hits the bridge. And there’s a trick to that.

There’s a sweet spot. I’ll give you some direction on that, but ultimately, it’s going to be what you prefer. Anyway, I’ll get back to this area in a second.

I’m just going to get the rest of these strings installed. Measure off about an inch and a half or so of string which will equate to about three wraps around the tuner post. In this case, one post to the next is a good indicator.

Switch my grip, pop the string through, give it a right angle bend that locks the string in place. Now again, there’s ways to get the string locked down and whatnot. I prefer to let the string induce it’s own pressure from one wrap under the next.

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I’ll deal with the specifics of re-stringing at a later date. With the first string I make an exception with because it’s fine and prone to slippage. So I’m actually gonna do a tag end wrap on that. I took the tag end of the string and wrapped it under the string itself, which locks it in place. That’s a very common thing to do.

One of my little things is that I only do that on the first string. I’ve found that the rest of the strings, there’s no real benefit to it in my opinion.

So we have all our strings on. Nothing’s really out of joint or down here, all the working guitar hardware is in the ballpark. It’s not sky-high or goofy or anything. Everything’s kind of within tolerable range.

I’ll get rid of that the excess string ends, I’m gonna give it a haircut. These freshly installed strings are not coming off. There’s no reason that they’re gonna have to come off again. I’m going to use side cutters. Using the flat face on top of each post, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. Remove the garbage all in one shot, nice and neat.

Once again I’m going to take a quick break and we’ll get down to the business of finessing the rest of this out. Okay, All right. Back in a second.

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The post How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul Part 5 (Cleanup And Reassembly) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Part 4: How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul.

What’s Covered:

• Cleaning the pickups

• Cleaning the hardware

• Cleaning the neck

• Polishing the frets

• Reconditioning the fretboard

Transcript:

Cleaning the pickups

We’re going to deal with pickups first. I’m going to use a little bit of polish on this piece of paper towel.

There’s other polish products and whatnot that we can use, and I’ll deal with those at a later date. I have some other videos that will discuss that. But you’ve got to stay tuned in order to see that.

This guitar hardware has got a gold finish on it and I’m not going to try to take off any of that gold or anything, obviously.

People will get a little concerned about the condition of the finish, such as rest and whatnot around pole pieces and stuff like that. And it really doesn’t hurt the sound or anything like that, it just looks ugly. Right?

And to tighten this up a little bit, I have a little wooden dowel. You can use a bamboo skewer or something like that, preferably wood instead of metal.

You don’t want to use metal. This will help me get tight into some of these corners and places. This pickup is not so bad, so the polish is helping to pick up some of that junk and whatnot.

There’s a lot of corrosion here which I could deal with, with a number of different methods. But in this case, I’m not going to get really hard-core with this. The purpose of our video here is to do basic housekeeping and whatnot.

This hard edge here really helps to get tight into the nasty bits. You’re not going to have to worry about scratching it or anything like that. So if that were metal, it would poke through.

You’d have a problem, you know what I’m saying? To get some of this extra junk off you’re going to use that tip there, and just nibble at it.

Now this is just making me cringe a little bit. The gold is so soft that it will come off very easily if you’re not careful with this, and you can see it’s evident in the top of the pickup.

I could maybe take the pickup out really have at it if I wanted to get it right – super clean again. But again, that’s not what this particular video is after. We are doing a basic set up. So I’m going to be brief about this.

Cleaning the Hardware

That’s a heck of a lot better than it was, for sure. All right, and I’m going to just turn that up a little bit and do a little bit more housekeeping here. While I’m at it I’m going to clean the tailpiece.

Do yourself a favour, don’t hold parts over the top of the guitar when you’re working them because they slip and they can fall down.

And the next thing you know you’ve got damage on the top of your instrument.

So stay away from the top of the instrument, good habit. How do you learn that kind of stuff? Well, let’s just say experience accounts for something, and some of those are hard-won lessons. Okay. That’s good to go. Now this is actually a really good shape.

And yeah, so this is a replacement. Often what happens is the gold is soft and it degrades, and a lot of bridges on Les Paul’s and other instruments will… Because your Palm is resting there so much, they just get chewed out and you wind up replacing the things. I would prefer to see that as being an original part.

You can get it from Gibson, but the price is going to be leveraged by the name. Or you can go directly to Schaller and get exactly the right part. Which is down here. Now, when I took this off it was mounted backwards.

I always like to see the saddles ramping forward. Okay, you can take it apart and turn it around. It’s a bit of a pain in the butt, but it is possible.

I’m just eyeballing this for intonation right now. I’ve got to pay attention to my own advice here, and not stay over top of the instrument.

I’m trying to make a visual point here, so I am expediting some things and not paying attention. Anyway, so here we are. Again, this is totally eyeballed.

What I have is a series of three ramps, and three ramps. Okay? So it’s like this, and then it shifts back about a sixteenth of an inch, and it does the same thing. So we have kind of a staggered sort of thing. Okay.

Three and three. Three wound strings, three plain strings. As to why?, that’s a whole other ball game which I’ll get to in another video series.

I forgot to mention another valuable tool. I have an old toothbrush, good to go. That’ll get right in there. This is thankfully pretty clean.

There are other tools and whatnot you can use to clean house with these bridges because all of those little voids and whatnot, those cavities, they’re just rotten for catching dirt and stuff, just nasty.

Video: Les Paul Setup Tutorial Part 4

I think this is… Yep. It says “Gotoh” right there. As I was suspecting that this was an aftermarket part because it was too clean. And the holes, those would be metric. They’re over-sized. It still fits and all that, but this is not the right bridge. For this era, ’93, it would be a Schaller part. It would say “Made in Germany” on the bottom.

Cleaning the Neck

I’m going to leave that off because we’re going to deal with the neck. This neck is actually in pretty good condition. If it was grungy, really grungy I would have at it more or less the same way.

But I’ll give you a quick lesson on how to deal with that. Okay, these pickups are recessed. I don’t have to worry about setting them to the right height yet.

I’m just going to take some painter’s tape here, and just mask off our work area. Low-tack. It’s got to be low-tack because you don’t want to see the finished coming up, right?

Very, very low-tack. Okay so we’re going to tackle the neck and clean the frets as well. There’s no real specific order to this, as long as the jobs are being performed in a logical sequence, it’s all good.

I have some Windex here. Sorry, if I keep adding some elements and whatnot, but as the situation arises I’ve got to keep using the tools that I need to get the job done.

I’m going to spray this on here. I’m not going to spray directly on the finish. I don’t want to get it anywhere near the finish because Gibson products will have a natural lacquer finish.

You can see the dirt coming off there, not to get it into the finish, like on the underside of the neck and stuff like that. And one thing I want to make really clear is I’m really not a fan of using steel wool.

Not a fan at all because those little bits of the steel get everywhere. They can get into your pickups, they can get on the finish, and create problems, and get on your work surface. It’s just ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly.

Anyway, there’s alternatives. All that did there was soften up the goo on the surface. You don’t have to worry about the ebony being really problematic.

If you have a lot of junk on there, you can just keep at it and eventually you’ll soften it up. The last process if you want to save yourself a step or so, dollar store brass bristles. Good stuff.

Polishing the Frets

You’ve got to be careful with polishing the frets. I’m going to use this to make a point of something. Okay. Very lightly, what this will do is get the junk out of the knees of the frets, and it will burnish the frets at the same time.

It’s not going to harm the ebony at all because ebony is so hard. This will actually give a light polish.

You can use this on the rosewood too, but you’ve got to be very, very careful with it. It still a hardy little brush, it’s metal okay? So that’s good to go, got a lot of the junk out of there.

This is 1500 grit micro mesh sandpaper, which you can find online on Amazon, stuff like that. Okay.

Or even a hardware store you can get 2000 grit, would be just dandy. Okay. Then I’m just going to give these frets a quick polish.

ou can use finer grains of course, and get a nicer shine if you really want to have at it. You can get some really good shine happening. I wasn’t pressing really hard, and I’m not worried about the ebony finish on that either.

In other words, I didn’t mask it off or worry about that because that was a pretty light buff, let’s say. Again, back with the Windex just to pick up the junk. See? Just a little bit of junk left over.

I’m not leaving it sit on there because that leaches up the oils in the wood. I want to get that off of there pretty quick.

There you go. That literally dries in seconds. I just put that on there and, seriously it’s dry. It’s already dry.

Reconditioning the Fretboard

Okay, fretboard reconditioning coming up. I’m going to dribble on a few drops. It can be a bit of an experience trying to get the lemon oil on without getting it everywhere, but this is what we do.

This works really well with rosewood and inexpensive offshore stuff. That wood can be so dry, it does suck up half the oil in no time.

All right, I’m just going to wipe off the excess. No need to let the oil sit on there because it’s not going to go anywhere or do anything because that ebony is really, really tight.

That is Housekeeping 101 on an ebony neck.

Different kinds of necks such as a clear coat maple, rosewood, stuff like that, you want to treat… well, rosewood is more or less going to be the same process, but clear coat maple is a different thing.

I’m just getting some of that extra oil off my hands. Okay so, that’s that. And then get rid of this.

Okay. I’m going to take a short break and will be back to do some basic body housekeeping, and get the rest of it done. Thanks!

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The post How To Setup A Gibson Les Paul Part 4 (Cleaning Hardware And Fretboard) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

Part 4 of How To Setup A Fender Telecaster

Getting down to brass tax and setting the stage for fine tuning.

What’s covered in the Video:

• A quick neck-to-body alignment and relief assessment

• General action setup

• Cutting the nut

• Tips to achieving a perfect guitar setup

Video: Telecaster Setup Tutorial Part 4

Transcript:

A Quick Neck Realignment and Action Check

i put a capo on here to keep these strings and everything under control. They like to pop out of the of the old school tuners if it’s not organized like that.

I took the neck off and I gave it a good tweak, it’s a judgment call. I gave it what I considered to be a good a good torque anticipating the amount of pressure it would it need to be in the state that I want it in. And then reinstalled the neck again, just two screws ’cause I might have to take it off again.

Now I’ll get that capo off there. Going to double check my alignment. Okay, that looks not too bad. This thing wants to be tilt towards treble side a little, so not doing any undo force or anything like that. That looks great.

I’m just going to set the screws again, modest pressure on your neck screws you know, you don’t torque the crap out of them. I’ve seen the screw heads just torque right down and it compresses all this wood – it distorts the plate. You don’t have to be gorilla man you know, just good moderate pressure on there and that’s dandy.

Assessing Relief

I’m going to bring this up to pitch – that was my a440 pitch fork by the way. Nice buzz there, wonder where that’s from. Well, we will find out.

Right, I’m going to take two seconds and see if I can locate what that little sizzle is all about – push the string around. Beauty, okay it was just a little softness down here little something was a little out a joint. Moving it around.

And my relief is pretty good, oh yeah, that’s real good, I like that.

At some point I will have, look around for it, I’ll have a very specific video on reading neck relief. I’ve always said I could write a book on neck relief. It’s a very interesting process involving compression, torque all sorts of interesting things and every instrument has its own little kind of thing where ,it likes this doesn’t like that or what not. It’s really quite remarkable.

Here are a couple of video examples on the subject:

Using a business card and a feeler gauge to reference neck relief for better action

How to avoid misreading neck relief

Just as an aside, I had a bass in, a brand spanking new top-of-the-line branded bass, really nice beautiful neck on it,and it was punched from the get-go. Punched. The neck was just like, I couldn’t find a happy spot on that. During the relief setup the neck would either bowed back here because of too much compression here, and it had a scoop up here. It was just… I mean this is a brand new instrument. I thought buddy, I said to the owner, take that back for warranty and he didn’t and that’s okay. That’s his choice to do that, but in my books I is a subpar instrument.

I have special tricks and things that I do to coax necks into better condition. When I see them like that, and I tried with this one, and it wouldn’t settle down – he’s got a compromised instrument that’s brand new, top end too, not cool. But it just shows even brand name stuff is not immune to the natures of force and the natural quirkiness of wood. Internal soft spots, could be whatever. It was unfortunate.

Back to our show here.

Cutting the Nut

This bit of relief looks good. The string height looks not too bad. I might work a little bit on that treble side but at the moment, I’m going to cut this nut. I’ll give you a brief rundown of how I’m going to do this. If you watchs ome of my other videos there’s a little more in-depth explanation of this process.

I have my way of doing it. It’s not the end all be all, it’s my preference. I use light and gaps let’s say, to do this, but I’m just going to make sure that we have these slots properly ramped.

The height on that low E is good. What I’m looking for is a certain amount of light gap between the string and the top of the fret using the ambient light that’s in here. When I first moved in here some time back, quite a few years now, compared to my old shop, this lighting was very different – I had to relearn the process but it only took a short time.

Anyway back cutting this a little bit to finesse the front edge of the slot there. I’m using my select files here. I’ll use certain files for certain strings. Once again, the whole nut cutting job is a story for another day.

Actually, I have some of it in another video that I got pretty in depth with it. Well, this one’s being fussy. I want to give you guys a real deep explanation on at least my process.

Here’s an example of how you can use light to cut the nut exactly the way you want it:

How to cut nut slots to the perfect depth every time.

f you can make use of it that’s awesome. Again that’s about a 50 thou needle file. This is a specific file a D string for acoustic. This is a, let’s see what is this is, this is a 16 thou, yes it’s a 16 but I’m going to look for a 20. There’s my 20. I like to use a 20 here just for starters just so I know that the walls are are good. Okay, that’s good.

It’s binding a little bit, and that’s not a problem. I’ll get in here with the 16 – just like that. Now I leave a little bit more height on the G string because it’s a wrangley string. It’s like, when you pluck it, it’s not doing this sort of thing. it’s doing this. We want to accommodate that.

Now remember this is all dependent on having the relief set up properly to begin with. On to the second string. I will use my 13. This one’s fairly high so I’m going to be a little bit more aggressive here. You can actually compensate for certain, say idiosyncrasies at the nut and your playing style if you take the time to study it properly and understand deflection, intonation and a bunch of other nifty little tidbits.

There’s more than one right way to tune a guitar. Some people will have a vice-like grip, they’re naturally heavy-handed and other people are very, very soft. Their approach is very light and the nut, the whole instrument can be set up to tailored to their particular styles, and that includes the nut. Okay, that’s dandy.

I’m going to finish up with my stubby 10 here. Notice that I don’t have it under the the button or the string tree here. That’s fine because I don’t want to wrestle with it. I’ll get a fair read with it as is. I’m being very careful not to nick the back end of the neck too, this back ridge here.

Sometimes they extend a little bit too far back during the manufacturing process and you can’t avoid but hit them, and that’s just the way it goes sometimes. Of course you don’t want to but so as I’m doing that if you can notice I cut slanted this way, slanted that way, few strokes and then back. I cut the back wall or the back, say, the trailing edge and then finesse it – just go across the slot itself at the last couple cuts.

Okay that’s really good. You can get the first string down pretty fine without worrying about any kind of buzz or anything like that so again I’m not going to get into too much more detail about that. That’s done, that is done. I know where the instrument’s sitting I won’t have to touch that again because I’m not taking the neck off at this point.

A Word on Customer Service

Funny thing might happen here, we might have some leftover compression from adjusting the trust rod which will force the neck up. I will make a point of telling my client that I had to use a couple good torques on that neck and and if it decides to move it’s not a problem, it’s just a matter of a readjustment – that’s service after the fact and that’s good business.

Okay, always, always throw that out there – that you don’t want to say, “Well, you know I couldn’t, I don’t know where it’s going to…” Yeah, don’t play that card, that’s just not cool. You want to make sure that your customer is cared for and that you’re knowledgeable enough to anticipate these natural changes, and help them to understand that it is natural and that they’re taken care of. You’re going to care of them okay, that’s a good deal.

Okay, so that being done, I’m pretty comfortable with getting those strings under there which is good to go. Give that screw up there a test – that’s good like that.

Now we’re down here, now we’re going to get into the final phase of the actual setup process which is dealing with the saddles and getting the actual action down here fixed up, or where where it’s going to wind up.

The main Factors of a Perfect Setup

I’ll relate this before I’m going to take a break, I want to relate this one thing which I come to over and over and over which is what I call the triangle of a perfect setup. That is you have three points that constitute, let’s say, the perfect setup and imagine it like a perfect triangle.

If any one of those points is out of balance the whole thing is skewed. One point is your nut, another point is the bridge, the saddles that whole area here, and the other point would be the relief in the neck.

All those things have to be in harmony to achieve the ideal setup. Once we deal with the nut, that is essentially done you should never have to worry about it again unless it wears or needs replacement through breakage or whatever. This and your relief, that’s really where the meat and potatoes is going to happen.

This, for the most part can be, once you have your your radius set you shouldn’t have to tinker with that anymore – except to maybe generally raise or lower things. You can do that like, the same amount of turns per adjuster here.

Your intonation once it’s set, unless you change the string gauges, you shouldn’t have to deal with that again either. And really, the hero in this whole thing is the relief in the neck because that will dictate how the whole thing is going to react under your hands.

I tend to to aim for a point where everything is moderate, nice, relatively easy action. I speak with the individuals. I watch them play and get a sense of how they approach the instrument and that sticks in my mind. Again, we set it up accordingly. I already have that information for this person.

Anyway, on with the show. I’m going to take a short break and get right back. Thanks.

The Telecaster: A Working man’s Tool

The beauty of a Tele is its simplicity. Originally designed for the working musician, Leo Fender’s brilliant concept included the very necessary element of serviceability.

If the instrument’s neck got damaged it was easily replaceable by removing the four neck bolts and installing a replacement neck.

While this is common for most production instruments today, back in the day it was a novel way of dealing with manufacturing an instrument for the masses.

Thanks to this component type of assembly process, the market for custom parts has allowed anyone to build their own dream guitar to their own specs.

Everything from inexpensive Telecaster guitar kits to bespoke built bodies and necks in every color, shape and style imaginable. I wonder if Leo saw that coming…

In the context of putting things together, or more accurately, back together in this case, reattaching a neck may need a bit of adjustment to sit perfectly.

Have you ever seen a guitar with the outside strings really close to one side of the neck? On the treble side this can be a huge issue as you’ll find your notes literally falling off the edge of the neck. Vibrato can be nearly impossible.

The cure is to align the neck laterally, which I cover in the first part of this video.

A Few Thoughts on Cutting The Nut

Being one of the most important elements of a great guitar setup and a key point of energy transfer, the nut always gets special attention.

In the case of our ’52 Reissue Telecaster on the bench, the material we’re working with is bone. Traditional, tonally effective and a very long lasting natural material.

If you’re curious about how to cut a nut to work in harmony with the guitar and the player, skip to the 5:07 minute mark. I go into great depth about the tools and techniques used to dress out a factory installed nut.

It’s important to note that any mass produced guitar is built within tolerances dictated by the company producing it. Fender products are no exception.

That’s not to say they aren’t a fine instruments, not at all, Teles in particular are one of the most versatile guitars ever produced regardless of region of manufacture. But the fact is, every guitar needs to be dialed in to match the owner’s playing style.

The nut happens to be one of the most critical points needing attention out of the box. Our “52 Reissue on the bench is no exception.

Check Availability! >>

PRO TIP: Individual files for each string gauge will ensure a perfect cut – but they come at a price. If you take your setup skills seriously, consider making the investment.

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Coming Up:

Everything you wanted to know about setting string height, maximizing acton and playability, plus the finer points of setting intonation.

Recommended Guitar Accessories:

Basic Guitar Tool Kit

26 Pc Guitar Repairing Tool Kit

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Best Guitar Tools Kit

27 Pc Guitar Tool Set

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The post How To Setup A Fender Telecaster Part 4 (Tweaks, Tips and Cutting the Nut) first appeared on GuitarNiche.

How to Choose a Good Beginner Guitar, and Keep Everyone Happy

A good guitar for beginners is an instrument that’s easy to play, looks good, and doesn’t break the bank.

In this guide we’ll look at these qualities and help you make the best decision for your own purposes.

Whether you decide to purchase a beginner acoustic or electric guitar, here are a few more questions to consider:

• Where do you start?
• What should you be looking for?
• How much should you spend on a beginner acoustic guitar?
• Who should you buy from?
• How do you know you’re getting a good deal?

We’ll unbox a brand new beginner acoustic guitar as an example to show you what to look for.

There are a number of things to watch out for to make sure you’re getting the best overall value in a new guitar.

And whether the instrument is acoustic or electric, the process of inspection and general setup are generally the same.

We hope you find this article helpful and unbiased. By using links on this page we may receive compensation at no extra cost. If you do, thank you so much!

What To Look For When Buying A Good Beginner Guitar

Here’s a key point:

They all need help out of the box.

For entry level instruments like the one featured in this video series – even more so. As a rule of thumb, the less you spend on an instrument, the more you’ll pay making it user-friendly for the player.

Do yourself a big favour, if you’re not familiar with the intricacies of guitars, stick with a brand name instrument such as this robust Fender FA-100 Acoustic Guitar Bundle to minimize potential headaches and reduce the chance of having to have it serviced.

A Good Beginner Acoustic Guitar Bundle

When you’re starting from scratch you have no reference as to what’s good or bad. From a beginner guitar player’s point of view, it’s a wooden box or a plank with a stick on it.

You have no idea what good guitar action is, or what a well playing instrument is supposed to feel like.

The difference for the beginner can be life changing – seriously!

Have you ever seen an acoustic with the strings ½” off the fretboard? Very typical of really cheap guitars and hand-me-downs.

Imagine trying to play your first few chords on a guitar like that – ouch! No wonder novice players get discouraged.

If you want more detailed information on specific types of guitars, be sure to check out our helpful buying guides.

Which type of guitar is best for beginners? Acoustic or Electric?

Typically the debate comes down to two major considerations: cost, and user friendliness.

An acoustic instrument is self-contained. The price will be a little lower on average, it’s portable, and you don’t need a lot of extras to get started.

On the downside, a new acoustic guitar can be a little tougher to play because of the heavier strings needed to produce volume.

Electric guitars are by comparison much more versatile, plus the volume can be controlled.

Because the strings are lighter compared to an acoustic, they’re easier on a new student’s fingers.

In contrast, the price points will be a little higher due to the need of an amplifier and other support materials like cables.

Here are two fine examples of better quality guitars that are budget friendly:

Fender FA-100 Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar...

Epiphone Les Paul Player Pack, Ebony

If possible, consider buying local and supporting your community. As previously mentioned, you should try to do business with an establishment that puts service first over sales.

Should you or your child need a head start on the actual business of playing a guitar, there are great beginner guitar resources available through HobbyHelp.com, GuitaristNextDoor.com, and of course, online video guitar lessons.

Check out GuitarTricks!
Over 11,000 Videos. Over 3 Million People Taught and 20+ Years Teaching Guitar Lessons

What about buying a good used instrument?

Sure, you will definitely save a few bucks on a purchase due to initial depreciation but you are among the wolves if you are without a guide.

The guitar’s condition can be terrible, it might look ok, but it can be buzzing or have serious underlying issues that can only be determined by a professional.

I can’t tell you how many times I had to break the bad news to people that essentially wasted their money on, for lack of better words, a piece of crap.

Without guidance, a new guitar player can be denied the joy of a lifetime of self expression through playing guitar and creating their own music.

It can be WAY better, it is supposed to be way better.

Why Should a Guitar be Set Up?

Straight out of the box, every new beginner acoustic guitar has to go through the setup process. The thing to keep in mind is you are entitled to it.

As a stand alone fee, a pro setup fee can run about $70 on average, you should be getting this service included FOR FREE.

FACT: Not all music stores have qualified or even competent staff on hand to set up every new guitar that comes through the door.

For some, their primary interest is turning inventory and trying to squeeze more money out of the sale with up-sells.

Instead, you should always have the sense that you’re being treated well from the get go. The best shops will always have this customer-centric attitude baked-in.

You can tell who they are because they flourish, they build relationships first, then sales naturally and organically.

Buying A Beginner Guitar Video Part 1

Are you getting an instrument that’s user friendly and doing exactly what it was designed to do? This is a HUGE issue with the very nature of the guitar when it comes to physical storefronts versus internet retailing.

Regardless of who made the instrument, the level of quality and who you purchase it from, even the best professional instruments – Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Fender, Paul Reed Smith etc. need to be adjusted to fit the player’s style.

That’s the nature of a guitar setup – to dial it in to the individual.

How to Choose a Good Guitar For Beginners and Save Money

Your better local music store owners will often have a wealth of information you can draw from, plus they’re there for you to talk to in person should you have a problem with a purchase.

Besides asking the obvious questions about warranty or any items that may be included in a package, here’s a few more to ask that will help make sure you’re getting the best deal possible:

• Has the guitar been set up?
• Is it easy to play for a beginner?
• If it’s not, will you make it better?
• What if I have a problem with it afterwards?

If it’s at all possible, take a friend with you who can play guitar well when you’re out shopping for that first instrument. They’ll have perspective and will help filter the dogs from the winners.

If you’re considering an electric outfit, give yourself a budget and stick to it. You should earmark about $200.00 for a reasonable student model package such as the popular Epiphone Les Paul Special II Guitar Player Pack, then factor in the cost of the guitar being fully set up.

A Good Electric Guitar Package

Be aware of the upsells, sales people can be very persuasive – it’s their job. If you do get some pressure to add items, ask if they can be thrown in.

The worst that can happen is they say no, often times they’ll say sure if it helps make the sale.

It’s all about value, both sides have to feel they win – the store owner needs to make a profit – heat, hydro and staff wages are not a matter of public service – and you want to feel good about making the purchase.

There are some very important points made around these issues in the included videos – be sure to pay attention. a little bit of knowledge will save you a ton of grief and quite a bit of money.

If you decide an online purchase offers the best option, make sure you read the reviews and compare products as mush as possible. Doing so can help you avoid making a purchase you might regret.

Buying A Beginner Guitar Video Part 2

The post How To Choose A Good Guitar For Beginners first appeared on GuitarNiche.