How to Set Up an Electric Guit
Hey Remco mayer from (Mayer Guitars and Crossroad guitars )
I am a guitar builder and Luthier for over 15 Years in this blog I will talk you true to one of the most importend
things I think every guitar player should be able to do them self .
I know by showing this many music shops ,guitar tech 's and luthiers will not like me as for a setup I charge 75 as a startup fee.
Steps to Guitar Setup
Before You Begin:
I do not take any responsibility if you do any damage to your guitar but rest a shure there is not much that can go wrong.
Please be sure to read through all of the instructions below before beginning a setup. This will ensure you know what to expect. You will also want to gather all the tools necessary for performing the setup before you begin. Or watch the video as a step by step gyde
Tools
New string stick with a cauge that you want to use
Tuner ,lemon oil or fretboard oil Allan key , screw driver, 800 grit sandpaper wet and dry
tooth brush .New stanley Knife
Step 1—Remove Old Strings
With each new setup it is importend to start with new fresh set of strings as the old once are stratched out and will need more tenson to get them in tune this will change the tension on the neck.
The string tension and straighn you put on the neck is abouth 60 to 75 Kg between bridge and Nut
Step 2—Clean the Nut and bridge
Once you taken the strings of the guitar clean up the nut and bridge you will be surprised how much dirt builds up over time from playing
I use a tooth brush to give it a first rub and then I take a piece of the 800 grid sand paper and fold it double and gently clean up the fret slots as a lubricant you can use a oil base lube like Nut sauce I use bees wax as I have lots of it I do bee keeping and that is a nice by product
and on top of all the cleaning if you use a bare wood fingerboard so non fender maple fingerboard with laquar on it .
Its a good time to clean up your fingerboard to ,gently use the stanley knife and use it as a sandpaper to rub over the fingerboard between the frets and clean up the gungk follow this up with some 800 grid sandpaper
then put some lemon oil on the fingerboard with a old cloth and rub it in.
Step 3—Restring the Guitar
Choose a brand of strings and gauge that suits your playing style and stick with it. Even changing brands without a change in gauge will throw out a good setup. Once you have a new set of strings installed, make sure the guitar is accurately tuned, and the strings are broken in so that they’ll stay in tune.
Step 4—Adjust the Guitar Neck reliefe
After you have tuned up your guitar let it rest for a few minuts and have a coffee or beer
I will take the beer thank you.
Then comes the part were most of you will go like realy can I do that for some reason
there is this mith that the trussrod is some kin of holly and dangeres thing on a guitar the amount of times that I have heard people tell me that they are to scared to tough the trussrod because they are to scared that it will brake or that they can do damage to the neck.
Well let me tell you this in all these years I have never been able to break one.
So what do you do
you need a relieve between the frets and the strings the reason for this is
if the neck is to straight or is bowing upwards the strings will buzz on the frets
if the relieve is to much it makes it harder to play as you have to us to much preasure to push the strings down and you run the change of detunning the guitar all the time
Ok so How do you see if you have a good relieve
the easy way is this. I like easy ways live is to short to make it complicated and takes away time for the funn stuff rocking out on your Guitar.
Press the low E string at the first fret and at the 17 or 18 fret this is were most of the time the body and the neck join each other.
Then have a look between the fret and the string half way in between the two fingers and see how much space is there between the fret and the string as a gydeline if the High E string fits in between the two your on the right track.
Now if the string touches the frets you need to titen the trussrod by turning it Clock wise do this in small steps
rub the back of the neck to help it to move to its new position and do the same test again.
If there is a big gab between the string and the fret turn the trussrod counter C'lock wise again in small steps and rub the neck to help it
Step 5—Tune Again
If you have not done so already, make sure you re-tune the guitar. After even small adjustments to the truss rod, there can be a loss in a prior tuning. If the loss in tuning is small, you should not have to worry about re-checking the relief of the neck after re-tuning. If there is a large change in tuning, then you likely made a large adjustment to the truss rod, and thus should refer back to the last step.
Step 6
Now comes the most importend part do this more then once on your guitar so that you get fermiliar with doing this job on your guitar.
In most cases your guitar is build out of wood not if you own a Flaxwood guitar or a Aristides guitar these instruments are made by a different process.
Wood is a natural matarial and it will react to the weater conditions and humidaty it will put tension on the neck and body wood but more to that neck then Body for the simple faxed that the neck is thinner then the body this will make the neck straighten more or give it more of a bend.
Good luck with it and enjoy working on your own guitar
If you think that your guitar needs more work done then what you can do buy following these easy steps always go to your local repair guy but make sure he knows what he is doing there are a lot of cowboys out there.
Ok I got the go now to make some more noice on my guitar
Keep on rocking in a free world