Guitar setup: help!!

[imaginarybooks]

I have finally decided that I am sick of sending my beloved guitars off to Techs and paying them a fat wad for it to come back playing worse. I must admit I know nothing about setting guitars up. I got tempted to clean the fret board on my Les Paul (stupidly) as the whole feel changed when the bloody bridge fell off and I couldn’t get it in the exact same position again. Not that it played that great with the fucking buzz and out of tune sounding neck sections prior to this. It seems to me that a guitar can sound in tune on certain places of the neck but then this compromises the tuning of other areas. This really bugs me. Is there some sort of special “happy” compromise in setting it up for being “in tune”? I play in standard E with standard gauge 10’s. I attempt to play mostly blues influenced classic rock stuff, but also thrash out from time to time. I have a few guitars all in different tunings but thought the Les Paul would be an easier place to start. I also have no idea how to check for a warped neck even though it seems obvious being a “warped neck” but I’m sure I’m paranoid as I think all my necks look warped. I’ve heard there’s a laser fret crowning company here in the UK; do you guys think it’s worth it? Any general setup tips, examples of where to start etc, the best tuner to use to intonate and fine tune with etc are greatly appreciated. :Smokin:

P.S The pickups also vibrate in their mounting rings when I get a little overzealous in thrash mode, obviously with this noise also emanating from my amp added to my noise, well lets just say it's not pleasant. Couple this with the fact the pickups are of the nickel covered variety and there really isn’t enough room to stuff a bit of felt around the edge between that and the mounting ring as a shock mount. Any tips on how to tackle this problem would also be of much help. Thanks again for reading this.

 

[Sloan]

Dude.
USE THEM THAR INTERNETS.

Do searches on setting up your guitar. It's easy as shit unless something is fucked up real bad and you have to re-fret or whatever.


1. PUT ON NEW STRINGS
2. STRETCH THOSE SHITS OUT REAL GOOD
3. TUNE IT UP TO DESIRED TUNING
4. SET BRIDGE TO DESIRED HEIGHT WHERE IT'S COMFORTABLE BUT NOT TOO BUZZY
5. ADJUST TRUSS ROD TO STRAIGHTEN NECK OUT
6. YOU CAN PROBABLY LOWER THE BRIDGE SOME MORE NOW AND GET EVEN FASTER ACTION
7. MAKE SURE CAPSLOCK IS STILL ON
8. TUNE IT BACK UP
9. WITH YOUR TUNER STILL PLUGGED IN, CHECK ALL STRINGS ON THE 12TH FRET
10. ADJUST SADDLE SCREWS TO MAKE 12TH FRET NOTE THE SAME AS OPEN NOTE
11. MAKE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO SADDLE SCREWS SO THAT NOTES ALL ALONG THE FRETBOARD ARE CLOSE TO BEING IN TUNE
12. PARTY

 

[Manicompression]

Dude.
USE THEM THAR INTERNETS.

Do searches on setting up your guitar. It's easy as shit unless something is fucked up real bad and you have to re-fret or whatever.


1. PUT ON NEW STRINGS
2. STRETCH THOSE SHITS OUT REAL GOOD
3. TUNE IT UP TO DESIRED TUNING
4. SET BRIDGE TO DESIRED HEIGHT WHERE IT'S COMFORTABLE BUT NOT TOO BUZZY
5. ADJUST TRUSS ROD TO STRAIGHTEN NECK OUT
6. YOU CAN PROBABLY LOWER THE BRIDGE SOME MORE NOW AND GET EVEN FASTER ACTION
7. MAKE SURE CAPSLOCK IS STILL ON
8. TUNE IT BACK UP
9. WITH YOUR TUNER STILL PLUGGED IN, CHECK ALL STRINGS ON THE 12TH FRET
10. ADJUST SADDLE SCREWS TO MAKE 12TH FRET NOTE THE SAME AS OPEN NOTE
11. MAKE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO SADDLE SCREWS SO THAT NOTES ALL ALONG THE FRETBOARD ARE CLOSE TO BEING IN TUNE
12. PARTY

+1 to all that, well put. I would add that you need to be carefull to use something like a lemon oil, or a orange oil rather than a polish (DO NOT USE A POLISH) on your fretboard, and also truss rod adjustments used to freak me out, but having done a few here there its really not a big deal. sometimes it feels hard to turn at first but unless your dealing with a total peice o shit it will loosen up and conform to your will. Oh yeah, and the better your tuner the better your results will be, petersons are really cool, however ive had good results with the mid priced boss ones. good luck.

 

[Pot]

basically them internet is your biggest friend.....search !!!!!!!!
the guys have allready said it and it is true...
i suggest this great site for you to look at, it covers a lot os things and it is a great source of info
http://www.projectguitar.com/

for anything else in particular i´m sure someone can help u out
Cheers

 

[Tommy Gun]

Here's a few to look through...

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial1.htm

http://www.musicyo.com/planet/elec_gtr_setup.asp

http://users.powernet.co.uk/guitars/setuptut.htm

 

[Metaltastic]

7. MAKE SURE CAPSLOCK IS STILL ON
12. PARTY

Hahahahaha, definitely the most important two steps

And on topic, when adjusting the truss rod, keep in mind you actually want the neck to have a little relief or else it'll buzz like all hell. The best way to determine this is to fret the first fret on the low E string with your left hand and push down the fret where the neck meets the body with your right hand, also on the low E string. Then, while holding those two down with each hand, look at the 6th-8th frets and see how much of a gap there is between the string and fret. There should be just enough to be visible, nothing more, nothing less (loosen the rod if there's no gap, tighten if there's too big of a gap). And small turns on the truss make BIG differences, so only go a quarter turn at a time!

 

[Metal Overload]

Is better to you to learn how to do it men, i have to learn myself because there´s no guitar tech where i live, and if my instrument gets fucked up, i rather to be my fault than another guy´s fault.
it shouldn´t be that hard, and once you learned, you´ll be very happy that how comfortable your instrument is, an better, because you set it up!

 

[Radd]

Youtube has stuff.

 

[STINNETT]

What these guys are describing is right on the money.

A few things I'll add:

Neck relief is a little bit subjective. Some people can play well with a neck that is basically perfectly straight, most people want about a business card thickness under the string when doing a check like described above.

If you decide to adjust the truss rod, don't get over zealous. Do perhaps 1/8 turn at a time and play the guitar a little while before you decide to touch it again.

If you adjust the intonation as described above and it still sounds out of tune here and there you could also have some excessively worn frets. Got any noticable flat spots? IF you do, give up on getting very accurate intonation.

For the pickup problem, why not remove them and stick a block of foam directly under them to keep em tight.

 

[imaginarybooks]

So, to sum up what I’ve learned so far. First thing to do is tune the guitar to the desired pitch and establish if the neck is over or under bowed. To do this I place a capo on the first fret, and fret the last fret in this case being 22. I then observe the distance between the bottom of the string and the top of the fret wire on the 12th fret. This distance is subjective, but I have heard the gap should be between 1-2mm (alternatively a business card in width). After carefully adjusting the truss rod in increments of 1/8th's of a turn (righty tighty, lefty loosey?) which means that if the neck is over bowed it needs tightening, under bowed - loosening (looking at the view of the guitar neck with the fingerboard head on, tightening is clockwise loosening anticlockwise) I should leave the guitar for around 24 hours and recheck the measurement the next day. Secondly, adjusting the string height, to do this I need to measure the distance between the bottom of each string and the top of the fret wire on the 17th fret, this should be 4/64's of an inch with each string in order to follow the fret board radius. To adjust this I use the thumbwheels on the fixed bridge and get it as close as possible. Thirdly I adjust the intonation, to do this I would tune the harmonics at the 12th fret to the desired pitch, then compare the fretted note at the 12th fret, sharper means the string needs to be longer and flatter means the string needs to be shorter. This concludes what I have learned so far about basic setups.

A few follow up questions that I have; Does lining your nut slits with the graphite from a soft pencil really help? Are the Tonepro’s locking fixed bridges a good replacement for standard Gibson parts? Are locking tuners really worth it? Which ones would be suitable for a Les Paul standard without having to drill any holes? What’s the best way to mute the strings behind the nut and the bridge saddle? I was thinking maybe the equivalent of a Velcro sponge capo. Lastly, wouldn’t placing foam under the pickups negatively affect the resonance?

 

[4 4 4]

Get a strobostomp. It really helps when it comes to anything guitar. It fucking rules. It even has a built-in active DI for Christ's sake!

 

[STINNETT]

Lastly, wouldn’t placing foam under the pickups negatively affect the resonance?

Resonance of what, the pickup iteslf? If the pickup is resonating, it's not contributing to the tone of the guitar. In fact, I would want to avoid any sympathetic vibration in the pickup....which is why I actually like solid mounted pickups...but it's still hard to tell a difference.
You won't notice anything.

 

[imaginarybooks]

Will have a crack at this tomorrow, let you guys know how I get on.

 

[JBroll]

A few follow up questions that I have; Does lining your nut slits with the graphite from a soft pencil really help?

If you have trouble with strings 'sticking' in the nut, yes.

Are the Tonepro’s locking fixed bridges a good replacement for standard Gibson parts?

They don't wiggle around as much. The bridges themselves are someone else's (Schaller, perhaps, DSS3 knows and he should pop in soon but I can't remember) but the locking studs are neato.

Are locking tuners really worth it?

If you have tuning problems and/or you're a trem user with no locking nut, yes. That's not the first upgrade I'd make, honestly - Grovers have always been fine for me.

What’s the best way to mute the strings behind the nut and the bridge saddle? I was thinking maybe the equivalent of a Velcro sponge capo.

Just get some foam from somewhere and shove it under there. Other options are getting those 3M velcro strips and velcroing the fuck out of as much as you can until it sounds fine.

Lastly, wouldn’t placing foam under the pickups negatively affect the resonance?

Negatively is subjective. Try it.

Jeff

 

[imaginarybooks]

Strangely enough I'm having problems finding a ruler that starts in 64th of an inch increments at the end rather than the 3rd inch in.

 

[::XeS::]

How do you set your action? How many mm. do you have on the 12th fret?

 

[imaginarybooks]

I don't know, not touched it yet out of fear. Any recommendations are welcome. All I know is that when I fret the first and last frets there’s no play between the string and the 12th fret suggesting the truss rod is too tight, and the neck is under bowed.

 

[Metaltastic]

I don't know, not touched it yet out of fear. Any recommendations are welcome. All I know is that when I fret the first and last frets there’s no play between the string and the 6th - 8th frets suggesting the truss rod is too tight, and the neck is under bowed.

Fixed That's the primary spot where the neck bows; the basic rule is that if it's buzzing below the 8th fret, the truss rod needs to be loosened, and if it's buzzing above, the bridge height needs to be raised.

Oh, and to check the truss rod, you don't fret the 22nd, you fret wherever the neck meets the body (usually more like the 18th)

 

[Metaltastic]

Secondly, adjusting the string height, to do this I need to measure the distance between the bottom of each string and the top of the fret wire on the 17th fret, this should be 4/64's of an inch with each string in order to follow the fret board radius. To adjust this I use the thumbwheels on the fixed bridge and get it as close as possible.

I don't bother measuring or even eyeballing; I just make it as low as possible until it buzzes, then raise in until it stops (and you can have the heights between the low and high strings uneven).

 

[JBroll]

Fuck measuring, lower it until it buzzes and then raise it a tiny bit.

Jeff