Complete Guitar Setup in 60 Seconds

[Music] I'm going to quickly take you through the basic steps as a guitar setup and end by sharing the single most important setup adjustment takes less than a minute and it might make all other adjustments unnecessary now how cool is that this is not an in-depth guide to setting up your guitar just a quick overview of the process all the adjustments that I'll be discussing affect both the length of the string and/or the distance from the top of the fret to the string this is commonly referred to as string height but it's accurately called the action guitar necks are manufactured with a slight concave bow otherwise if the neck was too flat the strings would rattle against the frets this bow is called neck relief there is a metal rod located just below the fretboard and that extends all the way through the guitar neck it's called the truss rod by adjusting the truss rod you can control the amount of relief bow in the neck it compensates for the tension of the strings by creating a convex bow when tightened which pulls against the strings loosening the truss rod allows the string tension to increase the bow it allows the strings to win the tug-of-war okay to quickly take a look at the bow in your guitar neck press the sixth string to the first n 17th fret like this look at the gap between the 7th fret and the 6th string that's the neck relief if there's no gap your neck is too flat or even worse convex the truss rod adjustment requires a feeler gauge and a straightedge you can purchase a feeler gauge at an auto parts store place the straightedge on the neck over top of the frets and I measure a gap at the seventh fret at point zero eight inches that's where the feeler gauge is necessary the straightedge placed directly on the frets works unless a fret is popping out higher than the other frets you must also be sure that the straightedge is resting on the frets not two pickups so be sure that there's not a gap on the highest fret inept means right here that is actually resting on the frets instead of the pickup once you've measured the 7th fret gap it's time to make the adjustment to flatten the neck to create less of a gap first loosen tension on the neck by the tuning the guitar it's a good idea to mark the truss rod so you'll know exactly where the original position was before you started adjusting it then loosen the nut a quarter turn just to get it moving then tighten it a half turn clockwise retune the guitar to pitch and don't touch it again until tomorrow it can take time for this adjustment to take hold and you're in no hurry tomorrow check the neck and make an additional correction if necessary it may take a few days to get this right but once again you're in no hurry if you need to increase the gap simply loosen the nut a quarter turn retune and check it again tomorrow go through the process again if necessary the next adjustment is for floating bridges if your bridge doesn't float this doesn't apply the bridge should be parallel to the guitar body be sure your guitar is tuned to pitch it should look like this if it looks like this the springs need to be equally tightened to bring the bridge back into place if the bridge looks like this the screws need to be equally loosened notice that these bridge positions affect those string lengths and action after performing this adjustment tune your guitar to pitch if necessary continue adjusting until the bridge is parallel to the body next we adjust the action most of us like this setting as low as possible to the frets as low as possible without string bus still this is personal taste play the sixth string to see if anybody amplifier if not turn the adjustment the quarter turn clockwise this lowers the strings to the frets retune the guitar and test again eventually you will hear some buzz and at that point raise the action a quarter turn retune the guitar and you're all set go to the first string and make the same adjustment retune and test the action by bending strings up and down the fretboard test all strings you may find that some bends are deadened by the threat if so you need to raise the action slightly the final adjustment is intonation which Tunes the note at the twelfth fret to the same note as the harmonic or chime at the twelfth fret it's a different octave but it's still the same note from nut to bridge the measurement on this guitar is approximately 25 inches the harmonic occurs in the exact middle of the string which is 12 and a half inches you don't need to measure this it's not part of the process but I am demonstrating this because most people have no idea that the twelfth fret harmonic or chime is in the middle of the string ok now plug into a tuner tune the twelfth fret harmonic to pitch [Music] now check the note at the 12th fret so the note at the 12th fret is slightly sharp of the harmonic if you need to flatten the note turn it clockwise you are lengthening the string which flattens the note if the note at the 12th fret is flat of the harmonic there's the bridge piece by turning the screw counterclockwise do this on each string chances are some of the notes don't match the harmonics the pitch is a harmonic can change as the bow in the next fluctuates and that's why you need to adjust the intonation as promised I will now share the most important set of adjustments the answer is the truss rod adjustment [Music] here's why the truss rod adjustment is so important when you purchase a new guitar or have an older guitar setup by a competent professional measure the gap between the string and the 7th fret as time passes the neck will bow slightly either concave or convex as the neck bows it affects string height intonation and the position of the bridge because the string length and height changes as the truss rod is adjusted to the original factory specs the neck returns to the original position magically intonation action bridge location and spring tension will return to their original positions or very close it's likely that you won't need to adjust the bridge action or intonation once the neck returns to the original factory specifications because the neck is made of wood and the strings don't pull with equal tension time and next stress can change these settings slightly if so adjust them in the order taught here be sure to subscribe to my channel and check out another one on my videos that's recommended here [Music]

Channel: Doug Marks

Views: 871,485

Rating: 4.8840299 out of 5

Keywords: guitar setup, guitar intonation, guitar string height, truss rod adjustment, metal method, doug marks

Id: in-ybc6wri8

Length: 9min 12sec (552 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 31 2017