There are a number of steps to a guitar or bass setup. Does the order these are performed actually matter?
Yes. Yes, it does.
Here's why…
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You've got a guitar you don't play much and you reckon you might use it for a bit of bottleneck. Wondering if you need to do anything to set it up differently?
Well, you could just go at it and persevere through the clunks of slides of frets until you're Duane Allman. That's definitely valid. Most of us will find things a little easier if we make a couple of adjustments.
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Continuing our Setup FAQ: Should you setup your guitar yourself or is it better you pay someone to take care of it for you?
Well, there are pros and cons, fors and againsts, plusses and minuses.
Before making the decision, consider the following…
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You've got a shiny new guitar and you're wondering why on earth you'd want to get it setup. I mean, it's new. Isn't it already perfectly set up?
Well, there's a chance that it is perfect for you.
And there's a really good chance that a setup might just be worth considering. Check it out…
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If you hang around with guitarists or bassists, you’ll probably hear them talk about setups. “I got my guitar setup and it plays great.” “I think my bass needs a setup.” “I think I’ll do my own setup on this one.”
Setups, setups, setups. From the time you start playing and hanging out with other musicians, you’ll begin to *absorb* the ‘setup’ thing. It’ll become part of the world.
I get a lot of questions on setup so this is the first in a series of Setup FAQ.
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From time to time I’ll have conversations with players about intonation issues. Often, they’re worried about weird tuning inconsistencies that have crept in to their guitar or bass. Maybe, they’ll even have done the 12th-fret intonation check and found that it seemed ok but the problems persisted.
Here's why you should consider your frets…
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Removing a neck to adjust the truss rod is a bit of a pain.
Some Telecasters, however have a channel cut between the neck pocket and the front pickup cavity. Because the neck pickup is often mounted direct to the body, removing the pickguard on those Teles is easy. And, if you're lucky, you'll have a little notched channel to get at the truss rod.
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Another case of hidden screws. Because these are the sorts of things that slowed me up in the past, when I come across one (and when I remember to photograph it), I'll pass it on and hopefully help others in the future.
The original Taylor Expression System used a pair of AA batteries. Usually, these are problem free but, sometimes, a battery can get stuck in its housing. Grrr.
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TL;DR: It depends. Ok, see ya!
It really does depend, though. Here are a few things to consider.
Before we get too far, though…
First up, and most importantly, is to get to know your current setup. Once you’ve got that starting reference point, you’ll be in a much better position to gauge when it’s time for some setup tweaks.
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“Dude, I can’t get that big bend. What’s the deal?”
That’s choke-out.
Choke-out is that ‘dying’ of a note. A note that failed to ring out, or one that dies off as you bend is said to have choked.
Choking is often experienced when a player tries for a biggish bend, and most often on vintage-style guitars.
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If you’ve read Sketchy Setups, you’ll probably have spotted that I mention the importance of using the right sized wrench for adjusting your truss rod.
Well, let me just mention it again:
IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO USE THE RIGHT SIZED WRENCH!!!
Seriously. Really important.
This is especially true of guitars and basses that use an hex/allen wrench.
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