A guitar setup is a very underestimated art. Problem is that with the expensive guitar a lot of people, right or wrong, think it should not need any kind of setup and with the cheap or cheaper guitar the owner thinks it doesn't make sense to invest money in it. Then it also becomes tricky when you'retrying to decide who can you trust to do a high quality set up, especially as Tommy said seeing the guitar and trying to match your work to what you have sitting in front of you in order to improve it. But with a good setup a guitar can truly benefit in a very substantial way. The bridge, the neck, the frets, even the strings all play a large role in how the guitar feels and plays and sounds.
One thing to point out (recent discovery) your guitar setup can vary immensely depending on how humid the wood is. Recently mine was unplayable at the neck joint area and I thought about a fret levelling job, good I didn't do that. After discovering the humidity was quite low and fixing that, the strings height went back so high I had to remove the shims I've put under the bridge sides...it was quite a difference and now it plays fine again. It is incredible how water in the wood can actually apply so much force that the top of the guitar will rise. So...don't underestimate humidity, it should be around 40%, 50%... not more as it can dampen the wood.
hello christiaan !! thanks for sharing this!!! i´m gonna adjust my altamira´s bridge hoping it improve the sound! regards from buenos aires, argentina!!
Tx so much! I set ip the bridge similarlily and I am baffeled how the Sound changed towards Gypsy like! I used a Dremel Tool, best thing for such a job 🎈🎸😯
Hello, do you know what should be the action for a gypsy jazz guitar at the low - E and high - E string ? Also, which size of strings are been used in general by gypsy jazz players? .010 or .011 ? Thank you!
