guitar set up series Chapter 1

[tippie53]

when you get a guitar out of finish and you start this initial set up you need to take your time. The final assembly is the one chance to get it right. First set the neck. Here you can see I am using the floss technique of using a 320 grit ribbon to get the neck to look clean to the body. I want the neck's fret plane to be 3/8 in off the top at the point of the saddle. This is when you do the final tweaking so take your time.
You also want to be reasonable close to the centerline so the neck center line to the body should be at least within 1/8 in.

[tippie53]

With the neck adjustment dialed in you now want the bridge to be in the perfect position. The goal here it so set the bridge at a point so your intonation will offer the best for the action height.
I use about 1/10 in for a standard action. The higher the action you want the longer the compensation length required. Also , when setting this up you know the bridge will rotate over and in essence shorten the working length of the string. I like to see about 3 cents flat , so as the bridge rolls , this will pick up that difference . Also when playing is is easier to pull things in so being sharp is a no no.
Here you can see me placing the bridge and I use the line of the string to measure. I also want to see that my fret plane is just a touch over the top of the bridge.

[glasalle1]

These tutorials are awesome. I was thinking (yes, dangerous task for me) maybe it would be good to have a section called "Tutorials", and all these helpful tutorials can be in the one section - would it easy to find.

Just a thought.

Glenn

[glasalle1]

Actually, I just saw there is already a section called "Online Tutorial". Maybe we can move all these great threads there?


Glenn

[glasalle1]

Actually, I just saw there is already a section called "Online Tutorial". Maybe we can move all these great threads there?


Glenn