Basic Guitar Setup Tips
A good guitar setup is crucial to allowing a guitar to both feel and sound good when playing. While some things are best left to professionals (particularly with acoustic guitar setup), there are many aspects of electric guitar setup that are fairly practical for any guitarist to do with a few simple tools.
A few small adjustments can fix some fairly substantial corrections to certain issues without the need to wait on a guitar tech or luthier to take care of it.
Tools
For the kind of work that most guitarists will do, just a few simple tools are necessary. Some may alter from guitar to guitar depending on the type of hardware installed, but most will generally need a screwdriver, and floating bridges, such as a Floyd Rose, also usually will require allen keys, as well.
In addition, a good electronic tuner will save a lot of time, as well, preferably one that is at least accurate to +/- 1 cent (tuners will usually list this value on the box, the smaller it is, the more accurate the tuner is). For intonation adjustment, tuning by a reference pitch can be overly time consuming, and tuning by interval is unreliable if the intonation isn’t accurately set already. A soldering iron and solder is required for any electronics work.
Maintaining a Better Intonated Guitar
Intonation is crucial for a well setup guitar, because without properly set intonation, the notes in basic guitar chords will be out of tune with the other notes in the chord, and single note riffs, particularly ones high on the neck with not sound right because the notes will be off from what should be played.
This step of a guitar setup must be checked anytime the string gauge, guitar tuning, and action are changed, not to mention that it needs to be checked every few months to make sure it hasn’t shifted out of intonation. In this case, an acoustic guitar setup should be performed by an experienced luthier or guitar tech, but an electric guitar setup is fairly practical for a guitarist to do themselves.
The premise of what a correct setup should be is fairly straightforward
The note on the 12th fret of the guitar should be exactly one octave higher in pitch than the open string.
If the note is too high in pitch (sharp), the bridge saddle needs to be pulled further away, making the string longer. If the note is too low in pitch (flat), the saddle needs to be pushed closer, making the string shorter.
The string that is being adjusted should always be slackened before adjusting the intonation of the bridge saddle. The guitar owner’s manual should be consulted to check how the bridge intonation is to be altered, but it generally a screw or bolt either directly controls the saddle or holds the saddle down, and must be loosened to move the saddle.
Most wrap around bridges aren’t alterable, so intonation can only be adjusted by changing string gauges, altering guitar action, or by replacing it with a wrap around bridge with adjustable saddles. Acoustic guitar setups are different from electric guitar setups in this regard, which is one of the reasons why that type of guitar setup should be done by someone with experience to avoid damage to the guitar.
With a well intonated guitar, all the techniques and songs learned from online guitar lessons should come out sounding just like they should. If a guitar chord always sounds off, it is a good sign that the intonation needs to be readjusted.
