Help with guitar setup (it's more than just adjustments)
The difference between a great guitar and total junk is whether its setup is proper or not. But it is more than just adjusting a few things.
Here is a list of regular adjustments concerning guitar setup.
1. Bridge height and/or string saddle height
If you're playing a Les Paul style guitar, string height is adjusted by moving the bridge up or down. You can also choose if you want one side higher than the other.
If you're playing a Stratocaster style guitar, most (usually all) of the string height adjustment is done by adjusting each string saddle.
With some guitars, you have both styles of adjustments, such as a traditional Fender Jazzmaster or Fender Jaguar. Both of those allow both the bridge and the string saddles to be raised/lowered.
For guitars with bolt-on necks, if you "run out of" adjustment, a shim can be placed in the neck pocket to accommodate for that.
2. Pickup height
Generally speaking, this only matters when the pickups are too close to the strings. More often than not, you know the strings are too close if you hear weird "double notes" when playing the wound strings on the higher frets.
For example, if you play a "power chord" (i.e. 5th chord) on the 14th fret using the low-E and A or A and D and hear those weird double notes, lower the pickup and it will usually go away.
3. Truss rod adjustment
Many guitar players never adjust the truss rod in their guitar. This absolutely must be learned because it can mean the difference between a guitar that plays great or terribly.
I wrote a whole thing on that. It applies to vintage style truss rod adjustments at the butt end of the neck, but also applies to a rod adjusted at the headstock as well.
But are you done after doing that stuff?
Sometimes, but usually not.
The photo at top is me getting rid of some sharp fret ends on my Glarry GJazz bass...
...and this is where it's required to do the "scary" stuff, so let's talk about that.
"Perfect setup" usually requires filing stuff
If you want a perfect setup, sometimes you have to remove some metal or some plastic. Or both.
You don't need luthier-grade tools to do this. But you do need tools.
This is what you need:
- Masking tape
- Superglue
- Fret rocker
- Fret crowning file (a.k.a. crowning or dressing file)
- Guitar nut file set
- Sandpaper in grits 220, 400, 600 and 1000
- 0000 steel wool
When you have this stuff, you can then fix most problems with guitar necks. The majority of the time, what goes wrong is either a high fret or two, sharp fret ends and/or the need to fix the height of a nut slot.
There are plenty of YouTube videos on what I'm about to tell you, but here is some general information on what to do to repair common issues using the tools above.
Sharp fret ends
Find the fret that feels sharp. Believe me, if you have a sharp fret, you will know it because it will tear into your skin as you run your fingertip across its edge.
Mask off both sides of the fret.
Use your fret file to smooth out the fret end. Use light passes.
Take off the tape and run your fingertip across the fret edge again. If still sharp, re-tape and file some more. Continue doing this until the edge is smooth to the touch when dragging your fingertip across it. And remember, the tape must be off to test sharpness with your finger. When filing, tape on. When testing with finger, tape off.
When smoothness is achieved, re-tape again, sand lightly with 1000 grit sandpaper, then polish with 0000 steel wool. Remove tape. Done. Do this for all sharp fret ends.
Nut slot is too low
I suggest watching YouTube videos on this first so you can identify whether your guitar has this issue or not. Just search "low nut slot" and you'll find it.
My way of fixing a low nut slow however is different compared to most.
Note: I make no claim this is the correct way to do this. This is my way and it works for me.
Mask off nut both in the front and back.
Using superglue, put a very small drop in the slot. It will sink into it pretty much instantly. Excess will spill on to the masking tape. If any excess spills on top of the nut however, wipe away with a paper towel.
Let the glue cure for at least 30 minutes. Superglue cures a lot faster than that, but best to give it time just to be sure.
After curing, take off the tape and string up the guitar. If the slot height is correct, you're done. If it's still too low, repeat process. Tape the front and back, add more glue, let cure, try again until the proper height is achieved.
If the slot gets too high, this is when you take out your nut file set. File the slot down lightly, then string up again. Keep doing this until the proper slot height is achieved.
Fixing a high fret
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: This is my way of fixing a single high fret. If you're going to level a bunch of frets using a fret leveling beam, you need a notched straight edge to ensure the neck is flat before you do that. For fixing a single fret, you don't need the notched straight edge.
Take off the strings, then take your fret rocker and identify where the high fret is. If you don't know how to use a fret rocker, just search YouTube for "how to use a fret rocker". It's easy.
Mask off either side of the fret.
If the fret is really high and there's very pronounced clicking happening when using the fret rocker, give a few passes using the 220 grit sandpaper first. However, if there's just slight clicking, start with 400 grit instead.
Sand, and periodically test with the fret rocker. When the clicking is gone, you're almost done. Your fret is all nicked up now from sanding. This is when you give a few light passes with the 600 grit, then the 1000 grit, then finally polish using 0000 steel wool.
When done, take off the tape, string up and play happy.
Everything I just mentioned can make most cheap guitars play great
My Glarry GJazz was literally $85 new, and I did not expect it to have perfect build quality out-of-the-box. I was right, it didn't...
...but that was okay. With truly just a little bit of work, I was able to get that bass in fine playing condition.
When you know how to actually perform basic nut and fret repairs, you can pretty much make any guitar play wonderfully.
The neck is what counts more than anything else
In many instances it's true that the only two things keeping a guitar from playing great are the nut and the frets. You can fix this stuff. But you have to be brave about it.
Is filing frets scary? Yes. Is putting glue in a nut slot and/or filing it scary? Yes. But the fear only happens for the first time you do either of those things.
I would argue it's necessary to learn this stuff these days
More people are buying guitars online, meaning you can't try them out in person before purchase.
If the only thing keeping a guitar from being great was one high fret, a sharp fret end or one nut slot that needed fixing, wouldn't it be nice to be able to fix that stuff and keep the guitar rather than having to send it back?
Go buy a cheap electric guitar. It probably will need a little work to make it play great. Use that as your test.
When you can fix the cheap stuff, then you can fix the more expensive stuff afterward. It's well worth your time to learn.
Has tulip mania happened with guitars?
You've probably never heard of this, but you most likely already know what it is.
I'll first describe what tulip mania actually is and where it originates from.
Tulip mania originally happened in the Netherlands circa early 1600s. What occurred is that the prices of tulip bulbs (yes I am referring to the flower) got higher... and higher... and higher. At one point, the price of tulip bulbs sold for several times greater than what people made for income in a year. But then the price peaked and crashed spectacularly afterward.
What made the price of tulip bulbs go so high? A combination of them being fashionable and from speculators grossly overvaluing them. Some experts on the subject say speculators had little to do with tulip mania, but I disagree with that and believe it absolutely did.
Put more simply, the modern way to describe tulip mania is bubble. More specifically, a bubble bursting. You've heard this term used before such as with "economic bubble bursting", "real estate bubble bursting", and so on.
The last time tulip mania happened was with boutique guitar effect pedals. At one point in time not-so long ago, it was quite fashionable to use effect pedals that were hand-built, hand-wired, and so on. Did any of them sound good? Not really. The point to owning one was the whole "hand crafted" shtick, and things got ridiculous enough to where some were charging over $500 for a single-effect pedal.
What killed boutique guitar pedals was market saturation. As soon as it became "cool" to build junky single-effect pedals and charge hundreds for them, everybody did it. There were probably at least several hundred crappy distortion pedals on the market to choose from at one point - all priced too high, all awful.
The cool factor died, people wised up and stopped buying those crappy boutique pedals. Nobody spends $300+ on a distortion pedal anymore. They just get a BOSS DS-1 or SD-1 and call it a day.
Okay, let's get back to guitars.
How do I know tulip mania is happening with guitars?
I've been seeing this coming for a while now.
Right now, certain guitar companies are trying to convince you that $4,000 is a "normal price", $6,500 is "better", and $10,000 is "best".
No, I am not talking about the vintage collectible stuff. I am talking about new guitars here.
These certain guitar companies are trying to normalize high-four-figure and five-figure prices for electric guitars that literally are not worth more than $500.
And you know what? They're succeeding - for now. At the moment, there are people outright stupid enough to pay those prices. Granted, the majority of who purchases this stuff first are flippers, who then mark up the insanely high price and pass that on to the second idiot. It's the second idiot who's always the real loser.
What's happening right now is the same thing that happened with those boutique effect pedals. Market saturation. Unlike what happened with the pedals, the peak hasn't happened yet, but it will. When the market gets flooded with too many of these "custom shop" guitars, their value will drop like a stone.
The crash-and-burn moment will occur when the flippers are unable to flip their overpriced guitars. When that happens, flippers will stop buying. And when they stop buying, the party's over.
The party is still on, but there's a huge red flag in plain sight...
What's the biggest red flag that tulip mania is happening with guitars?
The biggest red flag of tulip mania with these overpriced guitars is the fact they're easy to get.
Have you noticed how easy it is to find and buy a $4,000, $6,500 or $10,000 electric guitar? A lot easier than you probably think it is.
"Custom Shop" guitars are grossly overpriced, but the fact they're so easy to acquire really devalues them in a big way.
Scarcity plays a big role where supply and demand is concerned. When there's too much supply, scarcity vanishes, demand diminishes and then ultimately just stops.
Let's say you actually had 10 grand to spend on a guitar. You would want that guitar to be super special, super rare and difficult to get. That's not what happens at all. What you get isn't special, isn't rare and is easy to acquire. All you need is the money. Money is the only barrier of entry, and that's simply not enough to come anywhere close to justifying the price. That means any other Joe Schmoe with cash can get the exact same thing you bought, cheapening your purchase big time. And it gets even cheaper every other time another Joe Schmoe buys the same thing.
If you're thinking about dropping a ton of money on a new guitar...
Option 1: Have a local luthier build one for you. Find a local guy who is willing to put the time and effort into crafting something special for you. Know that it will take many months for the build to get completed. Possibly up to a year. Worth it? Yes.
Option 2: If there is nobody local, seek out smaller guitar companies and don't be afraid to go international if you have to. If you're in the USA, start in Canada first. There are some seriously amazing craftsmen in maple leaf country. The same can be said for Mexico.
Option 3: Build the guitar yourself, either from scratch or from parts. Want the best stuff? Buy the best stuff. Your build, your way.
You have options. Don't fall victim to the tulip mania going on with guitars because it's just not worth it.
On a final note, also know there are many new guitars selling for well under $1,000 that are seriously good stuff. When you steer clear of the custom shop stuff, you have a lot more choice.
Why are so many guitar necks thin?
For whatever reason, this ergonomic nightmare continues.
A big reason I bought the SX Furrian guitar is because of its neck shape, as it happens to be one of the few electric guitars that has a neck with some thickness to it.
The proper term for guitar neck thickness is depth, although that's one of three things that contributes to how "fat" a neck feels. I'll talk about the other two in a moment.
Neck depth is typically measured at the 1st and 12th fret. On the Furrian (or at least on mine), the depth at the first fret is 22mm (0.866") and 25mm (0.98") at the 12th.
If you know neck depths at all, that is significantly more chunky than most guitar necks. The Furrian's neck depth at the 1st is where most necks measure at the 12th.
Some of you might recognize those measurements as being close to the neck measurements of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul. It's obviously not exact because the scale length is different as is the fretboard radius. But where measurements are concerned, yes it's close.
The second thing that contributes to how thick a neck feels is its shoulder. This is where the letter shapes of C, D, U and V come in. I'm honestly not sure if the Furrian is a C or D. Feels like a little of both but mostly like C. Definitely not a U or a V.
A neck that has one of the fattest feeling shapes is a "Deep U". The first fret neck depth measures 1" as does the 12th fret, the shape is U and has very pronounced shoulder. The one with slightly less pronounced shoulder is also a U, and Warmoth calls it a "Boatneck", a.k.a. a 1952 Fender Telecaster style neck shape.
The third thing is neck width. I interpret the "feels like a baseball bat" thing to be a skinny width with a fat back and pronounced shoulders. Wide width as far as I'm concerned doesn't make a neck feel thick, but rather the depth and shoulder. In fact, the skinnier nut widths with fat backs feel bigger to my fret hand.
What's "the standard" neck depth?
For most electric guitars, too thin.
First fret neck depth usually measures between 0.75" and 0.80", and twelfth at 0.82" to 0.85".
Where shoulder is concerned, too shallow. It doesn't matter what the neck shape is because most new guitars suffer from a distinct lack of shoulder.
And where width of neck is concerned, that's actually okay. Not too much of a problem here. Necks are certainly wide enough and string spacing isn't an issue.
Why does thickness and shoulder of a neck matter?
Ease of grip.
The best thing I can compare this to are steering wheels of pre-1980 vintage cars compared to modern. Most cars (regular cars, that is) made before 1980 had these awful skinny steering wheels. But then after the '80s began, a change was made to use thicker wheels because they just feel better in the hand, and it's pretty much been that way ever since.
Note that I didn't say bigger wheel. Thicker. A steering wheel with greater thickness makes good ergonomic sense. Easier to grab.
Similarly, a thicker guitar neck also makes good ergonomic sense. This is why so many guitar players - myself included - chase after electric guitars that have necks that are deeper and with more shoulder to them, as it allows for more comfortable grip.
So why are so many electric guitar necks so thin?
It's not for cost cutting reasons. Guitar makers don't save any money from making thinner necks. The wood waste made is negligible from thin or thick neck construction.
Originally, the guitar industry touted thinner necks as "fast" and easier to play. This started in the 1960s. But then when the 1980s came around, that was the Decade Of The Guitar Solo, so of course you had to have a "fast" neck for that (but not really).
Well, the '80s have been gone for over 30 years. Tastes have changed. And nobody wants to hear guitar solos anymore. I certainly don't.
But there are many guitarists who still believe the same b.s. guitar makers used to use in the '80s, even for those who were born well after that decade was over.
Yes, I'm blaming the guitar industry for this one. They are the reason so many new guitars have necks that are so stupidly thin. They need to get out of the '80s and start making necks that are thicker and feel better.
Am I saying to go back to the "baseball bat" shapes of the early 1950s? No. But it is well known that the '59 Les Paul neck measurements really work well, whether applied to a 24.75" scale or 25.5".
What can you do to find a thicker neck that feels better?
Specifically look up new guitar model listings that state the 1st and 12th fret neck depth measurements. That's a start.
As for the shoulder, that's not something numbers would give you good information on. But chances are fairly good that if the first fret has at least a 0.85" depth and the twelfth fret close to 1.0", that should feel pretty darned good to your fret hand.
Where the letter shapes are concerned, the vast majority will be C, D or U. I'd actually say go for the D first if you have the choice (again, that's the '59 LP shape), but a C with some good shoulder to it also feels great.
You may find that none of the guitars out there right now have that super-comfortable shape you want. If that happens, don't be afraid to just buy a neck outright (for bolt-on guitars, of course).
I got lucky with my Furrian. Rondo does list neck depth for many of their guitars, and the price is certainly good. But if you're looking for something more upscale, you'll have to do the research...
...but is it well worth your time to do so. Neck comfort is very important, and one thing is certainly clear. Where guitar necks are concerned, thin is not in.
What's a no-brainer way to get a fat neck?
A cheap Squier Stratocaster. NOT Classic Vibe. The low-tier one. Squier puts fatter necks on those. The tuners will suck, but those can always be replaced easily.
If you don't want to spend time researching and need a right-now answer for what's available with a fat neck on it, now you have an answer.
Nickel plated vs pure nickel guitar strings
Yes, there is a difference between the two. More so than you might think.
Let's first define what the difference is between these two string types.
Nickel plated guitar strings: Plain steel strings for the high-E, B and G, and wound strings for the D, A and low-E where the core is steel and wrap around the core is nickel plated.
Pure nickel guitar strings: Plain steel strings for the high-E, B and G, and wound strings for the D, A and low-E where the core is steel and wrap around the core is all nickel.
"Pure nickel", as far as I'm aware, never means the strings are absolutely 100% pure nickel. Rather, it is only applied to the wrap around the wound strings. That wrap is what gives wound strings labeled as "pure nickel" a different sound.
Yes, this means the pure nickel tone only concentrates on the D, A and low-E. The plain strings are still the same steel as they are in nickel plated sets.
Side note before continuing: If you want strings where the steel is truly different for the whole set (apart from the coated offerings many string companies offer), Ernie Ball makes two you can try, Stainless Steel and Cobalt.
What makes a pure nickel wrap different on the wound strings?
Answer: Less treble response from the wound strings.
This sounds like a bad thing, but for some it's exactly the type of sound they want.
Wound strings always ring louder than the plain strings because there's more metal moving around. It is typical for many guitar players to lower the bass side of the pickup and raise the treble side so the thinner strings are heard more clearly. But sometimes, no matter how much adjustment is made, those wound strings just ring too loudly.
This is an example of where pure nickel wrap can save the day. The nickel is softer and the decreased treble of the wound strings allows the plain strings to be heard more easily. The end result of this are chords that sound "fuller".
Good for everything but metal
Pure nickel wrap wound strings work for everything but metal. Metal guys want that "sounds like piano wire" level of brightness (such as from D'Addario ProSteels) that pure nickel wrap strings absolutely do not have.
If you play metal, pure nickel wrap strings are not for you.
But for everything else, the pure nickel wrap wound strings work quite nicely.
How to know if you want the pure nickel wrap wound strings or not depends on the answer to the following question:
Do your D, A and low-E strings ring too loud no matter what adjustments you make?
If you answered "yes" or "sort of", then give the pure nickel wrap strings a try.
Know that there is not a gigantic night-and-day difference in brightness between nickel plated and a pure nickel set. But it might be "just enough" to get the wound strings at a volume level that better agrees to your ears.
On a final note, yes, D'Addario also makes pure nickel sets if you'd rather use that brand.
Living with no tremolo
Hardtail guitars are always better.
I made the choice a while back to stop using vibrato systems altogether with my guitars, and this was a wise decision.
To note: Fender calls vibrato tremolo and that's the definition most guitarists go by, hence why I'm referring to it as such... even though I know the proper name for it is vibrato.
Every guitar player at some point realizes that tremolo is stupid and stops using it. It doesn't matter if it's the Stratocaster tremolo system, Jazzmaster/Jaguar system, Floyd-Rose system, Bigsby system or whatever it is.
Why is tremolo stupid? Well, aside from putting your guitar out-of-tune (there is no such thing as a tremolo system that always keeps strings in tune after use no matter what anyone says), it gets in the way of your playing.
Want to know why so many Strat players "block" or "deck" their tremolo systems, effectively disabling it? It's so they don't have to spend extra time getting the guitar ready-to-play after a new string installation. Disable the system and you start playing sooner rather than later. Problem solved.
There is however another reason why tremolo is stupid.
Nobody wants to hear annoying bendy notes in a guitar solo. In fact, nobody wants to hear guitar solos at all.
Many guitar players get tricked into thinking that a) you must solo, and b) your solos must have "crazy" bends to sound good.
Don't do crazy bends. Don't solo. You don't need to do that and never did.
Fun fact: Did you know that when you stop soloing and stop doing crazy bendy notes, you can lower your guitar action even more for more effortless play? It's true.
Living with no tremolo is easy regardless of what music style you play
When you don't use tremolo at all, the guitar becomes a lot easier and more enjoyable to use.
Hardtail guitars like the Telecaster, SG and Les Paul along with many semi-hollow bodies are way easier to set up, string up and play. Once set up, all you have to do it plug in and go. It doesn't get any easier.
I was at one point all about the tremolo with the Jazzmaster. But then I went all-in with Telecaster style guitars, and it's just better.
The end result of going no-tremolo was that instead of fussing around with a tremolo system, I play more. And that's the entire reason I even own guitars to begin with. To play them.