Dude, this video is gold. I never even knew this was needed on a guitar. I just played a couple of Squires out of the box and wondered why it was such a pain.
I would simply add that if your pickups are too close to the strings then intonation is going to be a little off, so I would make pickup height and intonation one step.
I got a new bass with high action, even with the saddles all the way down. The intonation was also off at the 12th fret. I recalled this video, and sure enough, a small truss rod adjustment fixed both the action and the intonation. Thanks for the practical application videos!
Thank you for this Phil !! This 5 minutes can save a person many hours and frustrations !! Easy to understand explained in a straight forward way by an intelligent yet humble person. Love everything you do Phil !! You’re one of the greats on here bro !! 🤙🏼
Before I even bought my first Stratocaster, you taught me everything I needed to know, and I built my own perfect, custom guitar on your instructions. Best guitar I ever played, mine, because of you. Thank you so much.
I was learning by doing a setup on a Les Paul Copy I'd bought used. I picked up the tools for radius, truss rod and height as well I got a fret level check. After doing what I have seen I still felt like it was not playable to the degree that my pro setup Epiphone LP played. Then I found out the AHA! I missed something...and this was it. My Tunomatic Bridge was not matched to the fret board or neck radius. If you have a 12.75 radius neck, the bridge where the strings ride needs to be 12.75 radius! It requires radius Guage and Nut files tgat match your strings. After I got the Tunomatic's radius correct I rechecked the nutt height, then performed intonation, action height and pickup height. It was World's away better. So make sure your bridge radius matches neck radius. I have two LP's that play awesome! I just picked up a Firefly FFLP Elite and started setup. It's exciting when everything comes together! Good Shredding Everyone!!!
I would add change your strings before doing a setup, I remember spending like an hour on my brother's guitar trying to fix the intonation and it still sounded like crap above the 12th string. Strings looked clean but were super old. I just changed them and it turns out the setup was okay all this time 😂
I bought an almost new Gibson in Nov and this morning I finally got tired of the slight buzzes all over the place. I've been procrastinating big time. Just a slight tweak of the truss rod and it plays beautifully again.
This video and the older one where you use different picks to determine string height are the BEST quick guides to setting up your guitar. Thanks for the great content!
Its been almost 15 years since I stop playing and what started by a simple clean up and strings replacement is now a full overhaul. I realized that beginners guitars are cheap and doesn't sound well because no one gave them love. It's a really usefull video man!
Thank you. Great acronym to remember the setup order. There are a number of intonation methods. Not just on RU-vid but also in books. All methods depress 1st fret but some depress last fret vs others depress the fret where the neck joins body. Some compare open string vs note at 12th fret others compare note at 12 fret vs harmonic at 12th fret. Is there a difference?
12th fret harmonic and 12th fret note is just easier to more accurately measure since they are technically the same note, rather than using the open string which is an octave below the 12th fret note to be measured.
The part about 1st and last/19th/20th whatever fret is about relief though, and has to do with some guitars having fall-off...on some guitars, the frets taper off slightly on the top-frets so they arent completely flat. On a guitar with an aggressive fall-off, using the last fret can "hide" the relief as the last frets are lower by design. In my experience its not really an issue i have encountered in practice though. Both methods are fine.
Phillip - I want to say thanks. I've been repairing guitars for years, but the learning never stops. You've taught me a tremendous amount in a short time. Thank you. I have 2 questions for you: 1. How can I get some of your gear like picks, stickers, etc.? 2. Allot of great guitars are coming out of places like China and Indonesia. Sadly allot of them have cheap pots. Allot of my customers want new pots. I've some CTS metric pots that fit the body without drilling and the knobs fit. Have you tried these? Thanks again Sir!
Thank goodness for Phil being here so a novice like myself can figure out why the hell my guitar wont stay in tune and how to check this stuff, so I don't start stupidly blowing money on dumb unneeded stuff.
Thanks Philip 👌about neck relief, how much space should we see on the 12th fret while pressing first and last? If you could give us measurements thanks
I've never measured but for the lowest action you'll simply want the smallest distance above the fret without it touching as possible, I usually set mine very slightly higher than that but as long as it's close to the fret you're good.
Steven Chabot I’ve checked my relief and when I touch the string over the eighth fret I have a small gap and the string clinks against the fret. Is this correct? I’ve attempted to measure and it seems to be about 8 thou but it’s hard to get an accurate measurement with a feeler gauge.
@@hgvinyl4512 its as much about how you like it set as about measurements...some people who like their action superlow have the neck completely straight and ignore the buzz. I hate buzz but i never actually measure, i have kinda learned how much i like by feel...if it feels right, it is :) What you describe is within a range i would say is ok. If it feels right for you of course :)
Great video! Thanks! I followed this video to set up my new PRS SE Custom 24. I had to lower most of the saddles. Then after the intonation step I ended up with the D and high E string saddles touching the tremolo screw heads. The high E saddle was set there from the factory. Is this concerning? No adjustment left in that direction.
Maybe someone can help here... I changed strings on my epi es335, and i should adjust the truss rod, cause i have fret buff. But the problem is, that i cant put my gripper wrench in. I use the correct size. I read on some websites, that it can happen when someone is trying it with the wrong size gripper wrench and destroys it, but thats not the case, i bought the guitar brand new. I dont know what to do, its really frustrating. Is there anyone who has solution?
When do you adjust the action? You gave great detail about the R and N, and linked to the I, but said very little about and gave no link to the A. When and how to adjust the Action, please?
Thanks for revisiting this Phil. I have gone back to the video you made with Mr. Thorn and really enjoy seeing how he sets up guitars. Thanks again, have a great week and stay safe .
Thanks for the tip about the nut. I was not sure how to check that before. Mine only has maybe .002-.003 clearance on first fret using your instructions, so I am assuming that is pretty good.
Yeah, I get it. It's easy to remember the word train, but remembering wtf the letters stand for is another thing. Tweak, Readjust, Adjust, Intonation, Noodle. TRAIN. Ok, I got it.
I am Too new to buy, how do I go about connecting with ? a teacher, or? to find and examine a guitar to purchase a ready to play: NON-Lemon (a guitar built and set-Up well).
Considering that in this time and age, where guitar manufacturing goes out of control so much, which affects the guitars' quality control, learning how to set-up your guitar, is both time & money saver. Love your video, Phil.
Everything seems straightforward in this video. I'm just unsure where I should start my bridge height at. I've taken my saddle and pins off the guitar and have no idea what it was set to before. I understand how to change the relief, set the action and intinate. Again, is there a measurement off the body or bridge humbucker ring that can get me close? Then I can adjust my action accordingly? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks
New to the channel Mr. McKnight. I have a 2005 Ltd Ec1000 deluxe with the gibson style tone pros tail piece. When I got the guitar it buzzed quite a bit and the tail piece was close to flush against the body. I raised the tail piece and it seemed better, buzzed less. Then my truss rod needed adjusted to get the neck flat. Did I raise the tail piece too much and thats why I needed to adjust the neck? Or is that just a preference thing. Also ever recommend the string wrap over the tail piece method? Thanks for your time.
Over this summer, I purchased the Classic Les Paul limited edition, in Chicago Blue and they include a photograph of the very guitar and it looks like they are doing a set up on it. I haven't measured exactly the string/fret board/bridge/truss-rod/ specs but it plays and sounds great and all i did was put new D'addario strings on it.
I've recommended the original video several times in guitar groups on facebook and have told them to skip ahead to 9 minutes and whatever it was. Thanks for making it shorter and more easily accessible. You're the man!!
I need to replace my nut and Geartech is looking into this to see why they don't carry one for my guitar (or anything really close) but what order do I do if I need to replace the nut?
Not trying to be smart ass, but what about intonation of acoustic? I was always confused about which comes where and this settles it for me so huge thanks for that
Another Great video Mr. McKnight!!! Always doing setups!!! (Keep 'trying' different guitars.) Thanks for doing this video. Excellent as usual! I do have a request/recommendation video: Being that we are in what I consider to be the Golden Age of Guitars (plentiful good quality guitars at affordable prices)... What is the difference in levels of guitars today, and what improvements do you get as you move up in levels? $100 Chinese El Cheapo... Firefly, etc... Squier/Epiphone/lower end Yamaha... Entry level Fender/Gibson/Taylor/etc... and on up... I'm not specifically asking about these brands. They simply have some clear clear guidelines that I am familiar with. Thanks in advance!!!
Hi Phil, love these videos. I need to adjust the trem on my strat -does that come first/last or somewhere in the middle? (Sorry if this is a daft question!)
Great system - thanks for making it quick and concise! If we were checking for high frets with a fret rocker, would you recommend doing that first, making the necessary repairs and then checking the setup?
When do you do Fret leveling? Im' guessing you tune, play every note on the fretboard and paint the buzzing frets for each string. Then if most strings buzz between 1-5 strings it needs truss rod adjustment too. Also confirming with the method you show in this video of holding the first and last frets and tapping the 12th fret. If most buzz between 12-24 you need to raise the saddles. If you get random buzzing without any pattern, it just needs fret leveling on those spots. And after that you proceed with the Action, Nut and Intonation. Is this correct?
Also at some point you need to change the strings since changing the gauge will affect how much you can lower the action. And also cause rusty strings become thicker than new strings...
I've been using TRAIN on multiple guitars since seeing your video with Ron, and it's a lifesaver! With the addition of Nut, this should forever be an essential part of guitar ethos 👍
Love your channel! Thank you for everything! Would love a video of you setting up a cheap guitar following this order (+ maybe a few other maintenance tips)
Great video. My own experience has been that once you go through the TRAIN process (or get a tech to do it for you), you should have to adjust the saddle action any more. Do you find you need to check the nut very often?
@David Wang Sorry, David, you're right - I did mean "you should NOT have to check...". What I meant by "saddle action" is the height of the saddles. In a traditional Strat style bridge, you can adjust the height of each saddle, and that's the adjustment I was referring to. Of course, with a tune-o-matic or other bridges, you can just play with the screws on the sides of the bridge. Needless to say, a vintage Tele bridge is yet another animal with two strings sharing one saddle, which makes intonation a tad trickier. My point was that once adjusted (hopefully to correctly match the FB radius, which you have to be more careful with, in a compound radius FB, since you can't use a radius gauge). You're correct about nuts - they can pretty much be left alone if one sticks to the original string gauge, or lighter. (I would think).
