Post by ourclarioncall on Jul 12, 2020 15:15:27 GMT -5
Excited to share my experience with venturing into new territory, purely because I want other to experience it if they haven’t already....
As a young guitarist I used to take my guitars to the guitar shop to get a “set up”. There was a mysterious guy in a little back room area that I never met or saw or had an communication with but for £30 ? (Can’t remember) he made my guitar play a bit better and put on a new set of strings.
Then as the years rolled on I started to tinker myself , not really knowing what I was doing. Mainly with setting the action at the bridge as “low as possible without buzzing”.
I then got a bit bolder and started making adjustments to the truss rod , which was another great step forward (combined with action at the bridge) . I have adjusted many a truss rod on my own and student of mines guitars
and was able to make a poor guitar play good.
but it wasn’t until recently that I finally got to the last and I think the most important stages of the set up. Fret levelling and lowering the action at the nut . I’ve been watching the videos of a guy called Sam Deeks (reloved guitars) on YouTube and he walks you through the whole process. He is a great guy, very friendly and passionate and I can see why. i highly recommend you check out his stuff , sit back and relax and enjoy his blend of edutainment
back to setups —
I took the plunge and purchase a fret levelling tool from stewmac called the fretbar and some 400grit sandpaper to do the fret levelling and also bought some cheap needle files to work on the nut and bringing the bit slots down to a better height . These two steps have been quite eye opening to say the least as to how to make a guitar turn from a tractor into a Ferrari. I don’t think I’m exaggerating
i wish I had known sooner, but the mysterious luthier I never saw met or spoke too never told me my guitar could play so good 😊
well now I know and I have to tell EVERYONE that owns a guitar that with a little bit of money and a small learning curve you would be amazed at how good an already good playing guitar can feel.
here is where I ended up with the help of Sams recommendations
1st fret action is approximately 0.3mm
21st fret action is approximate 1.3mm
neck relief is approximately 0.3mm
i honestly don’t think I could make it play and feel much better than it is now . And this was an approx £100 guitar I bought for £20 . AND there is still tons of room for even more improvement such as a bone nut instead of my badly filed plastic one, better fret work as it was my first attempt, and a decent set of pickups . There are probably even more areas I can improve the overall sound and feel but it just shows you what can be done .
As a young guitarist I used to take my guitars to the guitar shop to get a “set up”. There was a mysterious guy in a little back room area that I never met or saw or had an communication with but for £30 ? (Can’t remember) he made my guitar play a bit better and put on a new set of strings.
Then as the years rolled on I started to tinker myself , not really knowing what I was doing. Mainly with setting the action at the bridge as “low as possible without buzzing”.
I then got a bit bolder and started making adjustments to the truss rod , which was another great step forward (combined with action at the bridge) . I have adjusted many a truss rod on my own and student of mines guitars
and was able to make a poor guitar play good.
but it wasn’t until recently that I finally got to the last and I think the most important stages of the set up. Fret levelling and lowering the action at the nut . I’ve been watching the videos of a guy called Sam Deeks (reloved guitars) on YouTube and he walks you through the whole process. He is a great guy, very friendly and passionate and I can see why. i highly recommend you check out his stuff , sit back and relax and enjoy his blend of edutainment
back to setups —
I took the plunge and purchase a fret levelling tool from stewmac called the fretbar and some 400grit sandpaper to do the fret levelling and also bought some cheap needle files to work on the nut and bringing the bit slots down to a better height . These two steps have been quite eye opening to say the least as to how to make a guitar turn from a tractor into a Ferrari. I don’t think I’m exaggerating
i wish I had known sooner, but the mysterious luthier I never saw met or spoke too never told me my guitar could play so good 😊
well now I know and I have to tell EVERYONE that owns a guitar that with a little bit of money and a small learning curve you would be amazed at how good an already good playing guitar can feel.
here is where I ended up with the help of Sams recommendations
1st fret action is approximately 0.3mm
21st fret action is approximate 1.3mm
neck relief is approximately 0.3mm
i honestly don’t think I could make it play and feel much better than it is now . And this was an approx £100 guitar I bought for £20 . AND there is still tons of room for even more improvement such as a bone nut instead of my badly filed plastic one, better fret work as it was my first attempt, and a decent set of pickups . There are probably even more areas I can improve the overall sound and feel but it just shows you what can be done .