In which I disagree with Steve Vai on setup

“…as low as possible without any buzzing…” says Steve Vai. That’s one of those phrases that really rattles my cage. Simplistic and missing an important nuance. Read me disagree with Steve Vai.

SetupGerry Hayes9 November 2018action, setup, guitar, bass, ibanez, steve vai

String Seating and Witness Points

Up until a little while ago, the term ‘witness points’ was not one I knew. Turns out, though, it’s a very useful concept to understand — especially if you’re having problems getting a string intonated before running out of saddle travel.

Check it out…

SetupGerry Hayes26 June 2018setup, intonation, string, witness points, guitar, bass, tuning, saddle, bridge, repair

A Truss Rod is Not for Adjusting Action

Rant time. Again. You’d think I enjoyed ranting.

Let me state this clearly: Truss rods are NOT for adjusting action. Let no one tell you otherwise.

Read on…

SetupGerry Hayes6 June 2018setup, guitar, bass, relief, bow, action, low, neck

An Old G and a New G

When it comes to compensation and intonation the change from a wound G string to a plain one caused a lot of hassle in sections of the guitar community. Get the skinny on G-strings…

Ball ends and good coupling

Your ball ends need firm contact for the best results.

For some good guitar advice (and just a little more innuendo), read on…

SetupGerry Hayes23 April 2018acoustic, guitar, bass, setup, string, restring, tone, bridge

The Truss Rod Wrench Mod

Fender-style truss rods that adjust at the body-end of the neck can be a bit of a pain. Sometimes (not often enough), manufacturers build in some concessions to those setting up instruments but even some of these can bring their own challenges.

SetupGerry Hayes9 April 2018telecaster, fender, bass, allen wrench, hex wrench, truss rod, guitar

Setting Saddle Radius on the Floyd Rose

A reader request, this one. Floyd Rose trems are less than straightforward in many areas and setting height and radius on the saddles is definitely one of those.

Get the info on how to change Floyd saddle height…

SetupGerry Hayes2 April 2018radius, fingerboard, bridge, saddle, floyd rose, locking tremolo, locking nut, setup, guitar, DIY

Wrapover Bridge Radius Mismatch

For the best playability, it's important that your string heights match the radius of the fingerboard. But what happens when you can't actually adjust each saddle height?

SetupGerry Hayes27 March 2018radius, fingerboard, neck, setup, guitar, bass, bridge, wraparound, wrapover, tailpiece, tun-o-matic, fender, gibson, tele

When you shouldn't setup your guitar

There are times that I will advise a player AGAINST having their guitar setup. There are times when every repairer/tech should do this.

Find out why…

SetupGerry Hayes15 January 2018frets, refret, fret level, setup, guitar, bass, action, relief, fret wear, intonation

Sketchy Setups on sale for Black Friday

All this talk of Black Friday sales has prompted me to do something too.

So, all Sketchy Setups guides (including the already discounted bundle) are 20% off for Black Friday. Just use code crazyblackfriday at checkout

Don't dilly-dally. That code is crazyblackfriday

Buy Now or read more.

Books, SetupGerry Hayes24 November 2017guitar, bass, setup, DIY, intonation, action, relief, truss rod, book, ebook, guide, sketchy setups

Should I Slacken String Tension For Storage?

Guitar and bass strings can exert hundreds of pounds of tension on a guitar neck. So, it makes sense to slacken off the strings when you're not using the instrument, right?

Maybe not…

SetupGerry Hayes30 October 2017guitar, bass, storage, hard case, flight case, truss-rod, string tension, strings, neck, relief, vintage

Balancing Pickup Output/Volume

Now that we've looked at individual string balance for pickups, and looked at the problems with incorrectly adjusted pickups, let's get each of the pickups in your guitar or bass balanced so they sound good.

Let's go…

SetupGerry Hayes24 October 2017guitar, bass, setup, pickup, les paul, sg, strat, tele, single coil, volume, output

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