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What is involved in getting your guitar "set up" anyway? I'm looking to get back into learning the guitar I bought a few years ago, and I mean it sounded fine

What is involved in getting your guitar "set up" anyway? I'm looking to get back into learning the guitar I bought a few years ago, and I mean it sounded fine to me when I brought it out to check on it, after a tuning, of course.

ibn_ibid 9y ago
Setting it up involves fixing the action (height of strings over the fret), tightening up the neck, making sure the electronics are all still connected
- criddell 9y ago
  I took mine to a guy that has a Plek machine which is basically a CNC machine for fixing neck issues. It made a huge difference on my (cheap Korean) guitar. I always thought my string buzz issues were due to my inexperience but since getting the guitar back, I haven't had anywhere near the problems with fret buzz.
fhood 9y ago
Honestly, it is worth it to have a professional set it up for you. Last time I had mt fender dialed in it only cost about 50 bucks.
- vkjv 9y ago
  Yep. And a lot of [non-chain] shops will do this for free when you buy a guitar, regardless of the cost of that guitar. They treat it as part of the cost of acquiring a lifelong customer.
beat 9y ago
Making sure the strings are the right height, all the way down the fretboard. Making sure each string is intonated correctly - that it plays in tune at every fret. (For mechanical reasons, guitars always have problems being in tune everywhere, even the best guitars. Have you noticed that the bridge is not straight, relative to the frets? That's because each string is a slightly different length, to help get it in tune better.) A good setup should also make sure the tuners are moving freely and accurately, that no more substantial repairs are needed (fretwork or major neck adjustments), etc. For a beginning player, these differences can be hard to discern, but they do help. For an advanced player, a poorly set up guitar is a pain in the butt to play.
ralmeida 9y ago
Basically: intonation and action. I'll explain. Guitars are made of wood, an organic material, which is very susceptible to environment changes (humidity and temperature). So, after time passes, the wood may expand or contract, which changes the physical parameters of the guitar. There are two forces at play: when tuned, the strings exert force pulling the fretboard "up". In most guitars, there's a long screw inside the fretboard, which pulls it "down". "Tuning" a guitar means that the strings produce the right frequencies when plucked "open" (i.e. no fret pressed). Correct intonation means that the notes are still "in tune" (producing the right frequencies) along the frets of a same string. "Action" is the height between the string and the fret in different places at the fretboard (so, if you want to be precise, you'd say "6th string action at the 12th fret"). Action is mostly a matter of preference - lower means it's easier to fret the notes, higher means the strings ring out more freely, and therefore the notes sustain better. Can't go too low, or you'll start to experience "fretting" - the strings hit neighbor frets while vibrating for a note, producing an unpleasant metallic buzz. The actual physical parameters which influence intonation and action are basically neck bow/relief and string length (via small metal pieces in the bridge of the guitar which can be moved, if you guitar has them). This is what the luthier (the professional who sets up instruments) interferes with. This is a general view - some guitars may have additional factors to consider. For example, in floating bridge electric guitars, you'd need to consider the bridge springs tension as well, for they will influence both string action and the whammy bar travel.
- flavio81 9y ago
  Great post, just to add some info: The 'screw' that counterbalances the pulling force on the neck exerted by the strings is the "truss rod" which sits inside the neck (on an electric guitar and some acoustics); this rod is adjustable. This adjustment influences the 'action'. But the 'action' is also set by the bridge saddles' height, which is adjustable. Most often this height is adjustable independently for each string. Each time the action is changed (raised or lowered), intonation should be adjusted again, accordingly. It sounds very complex but it isn't, it just takes a bit of patience and experience (for making a good judgement of what an ideal action would be). To be honest, much more laborious and difficult is to tune a drum set so it sounds great. There are more adjustment points...
jasode 9y ago
For acoustic guitars, "set up" mostly means turning the truss rod to adjust the curvature/straightness of the neck. Some people adjust it once as "set & forget" while others might change it twice a year (adjust in the summer counteract higher humidity and again in the winter to compensate for lower humidity). Acoustic set up can also include filing down the nut slots to make it easier to fret. The issue is that a mistake is not as easy to reverse as a truss rod adjustment. If one is not willing to do a DIY nut replacement[1], you'd have to pay a repair shop ~$100 to fix the mistake. Same pitfalls can happen if one tries to polish frets with steel wool and gets over aggressive causing unwanted buzzing. Electric guitars set up will include individual string intonation, string heights, tension on springs if it's a floating whammy bar, pickup height, etc. It has more hardware machinery to tweak. https://www.google.com/search?q=acoustic+guitar+nut+replacement https://www.google.com/search?q=acoustic+guitar+nut+replacem...
philbarr 9y ago
Something not mentioned so far is a fret dress. This is where the truss rod is completely loosened, strings off, and the neck clamped. The frets are then filed down to make sure they are all the correct height and then polished. Make sure when you ask for a set up it includes a fret dress.
yahna 9y ago
Setting the truss rod to ensure a properly straight neck, setting the action, cleaning, setting the intonation, setting up the tremolo system if the guitar has one You grab a guitar off the shelf and you can find it has buzzes, or the action is a bit high, or it sounds right open and with chords near the nut but sounds off as you move up the neck.

ibn_ibid 9y ago

Setting it up involves fixing the action (height of strings over the fret), tightening up the neck, making sure the electronics are all still connected

criddell 9y ago
I took mine to a guy that has a Plek machine which is basically a CNC machine for fixing neck issues. It made a huge difference on my (cheap Korean) guitar. I always thought my string buzz issues were due to my inexperience but since getting the guitar back, I haven't had anywhere near the problems with fret buzz.

fhood 9y ago

Honestly, it is worth it to have a professional set it up for you. Last time I had mt fender dialed in it only cost about 50 bucks.

vkjv 9y ago
Yep. And a lot of [non-chain] shops will do this for free when you buy a guitar, regardless of the cost of that guitar. They treat it as part of the cost of acquiring a lifelong customer.

beat 9y ago

Making sure the strings are the right height, all the way down the fretboard. Making sure each string is intonated correctly - that it plays in tune at every fret. (For mechanical reasons, guitars always have problems being in tune everywhere, even the best guitars. Have you noticed that the bridge is not straight, relative to the frets? That's because each string is a slightly different length, to help get it in tune better.) A good setup should also make sure the tuners are moving freely and accurately, that no more substantial repairs are needed (fretwork or major neck adjustments), etc. For a beginning player, these differences can be hard to discern, but they do help. For an advanced player, a poorly set up guitar is a pain in the butt to play.

ralmeida 9y ago

Basically: intonation and action. I'll explain. Guitars are made of wood, an organic material, which is very susceptible to environment changes (humidity and temperature). So, after time passes, the wood may expand or contract, which changes the physical parameters of the guitar. There are two forces at play: when tuned, the strings exert force pulling the fretboard "up". In most guitars, there's a long screw inside the fretboard, which pulls it "down". "Tuning" a guitar means that the strings produce the right frequencies when plucked "open" (i.e. no fret pressed). Correct intonation means that the notes are still "in tune" (producing the right frequencies) along the frets of a same string. "Action" is the height between the string and the fret in different places at the fretboard (so, if you want to be precise, you'd say "6th string action at the 12th fret"). Action is mostly a matter of preference - lower means it's easier to fret the notes, higher means the strings ring out more freely, and therefore the notes sustain better. Can't go too low, or you'll start to experience "fretting" - the strings hit neighbor frets while vibrating for a note, producing an unpleasant metallic buzz. The actual physical parameters which influence intonation and action are basically neck bow/relief and string length (via small metal pieces in the bridge of the guitar which can be moved, if you guitar has them). This is what the luthier (the professional who sets up instruments) interferes with. This is a general view - some guitars may have additional factors to consider. For example, in floating bridge electric guitars, you'd need to consider the bridge springs tension as well, for they will influence both string action and the whammy bar travel.

flavio81 9y ago
Great post, just to add some info: The 'screw' that counterbalances the pulling force on the neck exerted by the strings is the "truss rod" which sits inside the neck (on an electric guitar and some acoustics); this rod is adjustable. This adjustment influences the 'action'. But the 'action' is also set by the bridge saddles' height, which is adjustable. Most often this height is adjustable independently for each string. Each time the action is changed (raised or lowered), intonation should be adjusted again, accordingly. It sounds very complex but it isn't, it just takes a bit of patience and experience (for making a good judgement of what an ideal action would be). To be honest, much more laborious and difficult is to tune a drum set so it sounds great. There are more adjustment points...

jasode 9y ago

For acoustic guitars, "set up" mostly means turning the truss rod to adjust the curvature/straightness of the neck. Some people adjust it once as "set & forget" while others might change it twice a year (adjust in the summer counteract higher humidity and again in the winter to compensate for lower humidity). Acoustic set up can also include filing down the nut slots to make it easier to fret. The issue is that a mistake is not as easy to reverse as a truss rod adjustment. If one is not willing to do a DIY nut replacement[1], you'd have to pay a repair shop ~$100 to fix the mistake. Same pitfalls can happen if one tries to polish frets with steel wool and gets over aggressive causing unwanted buzzing. Electric guitars set up will include individual string intonation, string heights, tension on springs if it's a floating whammy bar, pickup height, etc. It has more hardware machinery to tweak. https://www.google.com/search?q=acoustic+guitar+nut+replacement https://www.google.com/search?q=acoustic+guitar+nut+replacem...

philbarr 9y ago

Something not mentioned so far is a fret dress. This is where the truss rod is completely loosened, strings off, and the neck clamped. The frets are then filed down to make sure they are all the correct height and then polished. Make sure when you ask for a set up it includes a fret dress.

yahna 9y ago

Setting the truss rod to ensure a properly straight neck, setting the action, cleaning, setting the intonation, setting up the tremolo system if the guitar has one You grab a guitar off the shelf and you can find it has buzzes, or the action is a bit high, or it sounds right open and with chords near the nut but sounds off as you move up the neck.