Just got my new guitar and it badly needs setting up. One thing I hadn't really considered before is the optimum height from pickup to string. Are there any rules to work to?
Also I think the truss rod needs adjusting on this. Any tips on doing this?
Guitar Setup
What guitar is it?
If you give min 10 mins Me mate has got all sorts of charts, like string gauge to scale truss rod adjustment.
I know the pickups is your own prefarance.
I would not mess with the truss to start.
Tune to concert pitch and play with the action first. That all it could need.
I hate a badly set up guitar, makes them just feel wrong.
Are you going to review it?
If you give min 10 mins Me mate has got all sorts of charts, like string gauge to scale truss rod adjustment.
I know the pickups is your own prefarance.
I would not mess with the truss to start.
Tune to concert pitch and play with the action first. That all it could need.
I hate a badly set up guitar, makes them just feel wrong.
Are you going to review it?
Imagine if the words of Imagine ever came true.....
Found this...................................................
The trem should be flush or just proud of the body, in most cases. If it's too low, loosen the tension on the strings, and unscrew the trem posts a bit, until the height is correct.
If it's not holding a tune, you may need to increase spring tension a bit by turning in the screws which attach the spring claw on the underside. I would leave this until everything else is set up, though.
You can't get low action without fretting out if there is significant bowing in the neck, so you really need to get this right first. Truss rod adjustments aren't a big deal, as long as you work slowly and carefully. I use a two foot straightedge on the neck, to ascertain how much relief the neck is set with. I look for gaps under the 4th to 10th fret. If I see light, there is some relief, so I tighten the truss rod a bit until there is just a hair of relief, or none at all. Tightening or loosening, go no more than a 1/4 turn at a time (loosen the strings first), and give it a moment to settle.
Do the neck first, then adjust the height of the trem, then deal with string height. Fretboard radius isn't an issue, as each string's saddle has a height adjustment. So you can easily adjust each saddle until the string height is correct for you.
Check and adjust intonation once the rest is done, again by adjusting the saddles closer or further from the neck, as required.
Once all of this is done, if you're still going out of tune, increase the trem spring tension, retune, and try again. Some back and forth here is inevitable, the key being to finding the balance point where it does hold tune.
Hope this helps. I have numerous guitars with trems, and they do take some fussing to set up properly, but once done, I have zero tuning issues. Many resources on the web for adjusting trems - just google what you need.
The trem should be flush or just proud of the body, in most cases. If it's too low, loosen the tension on the strings, and unscrew the trem posts a bit, until the height is correct.
If it's not holding a tune, you may need to increase spring tension a bit by turning in the screws which attach the spring claw on the underside. I would leave this until everything else is set up, though.
You can't get low action without fretting out if there is significant bowing in the neck, so you really need to get this right first. Truss rod adjustments aren't a big deal, as long as you work slowly and carefully. I use a two foot straightedge on the neck, to ascertain how much relief the neck is set with. I look for gaps under the 4th to 10th fret. If I see light, there is some relief, so I tighten the truss rod a bit until there is just a hair of relief, or none at all. Tightening or loosening, go no more than a 1/4 turn at a time (loosen the strings first), and give it a moment to settle.
Do the neck first, then adjust the height of the trem, then deal with string height. Fretboard radius isn't an issue, as each string's saddle has a height adjustment. So you can easily adjust each saddle until the string height is correct for you.
Check and adjust intonation once the rest is done, again by adjusting the saddles closer or further from the neck, as required.
Once all of this is done, if you're still going out of tune, increase the trem spring tension, retune, and try again. Some back and forth here is inevitable, the key being to finding the balance point where it does hold tune.
Hope this helps. I have numerous guitars with trems, and they do take some fussing to set up properly, but once done, I have zero tuning issues. Many resources on the web for adjusting trems - just google what you need.
Imagine if the words of Imagine ever came true.....
Thanks James
This was actually quite helpful
I had to adjust the truss rod in the end. I had never done this before but it seemed relatively straight forward.
I held down the first fret, then the last fret and checked the gap at 12th fret. Initially there was zero gap so I adjusted unti I had a couple of mm max. Then I adjusted the action and bridge and it works well.
I will get a reveiw done after I have had a little more time to playaround with it but so far so good!
This was actually quite helpful
I had to adjust the truss rod in the end. I had never done this before but it seemed relatively straight forward.
I held down the first fret, then the last fret and checked the gap at 12th fret. Initially there was zero gap so I adjusted unti I had a couple of mm max. Then I adjusted the action and bridge and it works well.
I will get a reveiw done after I have had a little more time to playaround with it but so far so good!