The best advice for setting up your guitar on the internet

And yes it is pretty much exactly what I do exactly with one exception .I like to reference the action at the twelfth fret.
 
I saw this pop up on my YouTube feed last night but wanted to wait to watch until this weekend when I yank my Strat apart and start tweaking. Suhr-ly there’s some great info in here and your endorsement of it just backs that up!
 
It's spot on. The only reason I reference the 12th fret is that most factory specks use it so it is easier to compare like for like.
 
:) ...I love these types of videos.. So many great guitars sitting in cases out there that just need a tiny-bit of a tweak to make them absolute, first-rate players.

Learning to do these things yourself.. Learn once and you have great guitars for life. ..Even cheaper guitars - with a little work - can be made to play for the Gods. Gotta love these Good Guys who try to share like this.
 
I finally got around to watching this. I didn't learn anything new, but it is nice to hear it straight from the horse's mouth.
 
Awesome, thanks for sharing! Some of it I knew but there were plenty of new tidbits too.

Here my summary from the video:

Truss rod:
Use string as straightedge between 1st and ~20 fret, you should have just a smidgen of relief

Nut:
Check nut slots height by pressing down at second fret (string should have space to first fret)
OR: watch string at 12th fret when you press down on first fret (should barely move)

Non-locking nut: each string should (under tension) come out from the nut without binding

Bridge height:
Ruler behind the string on the last fret, 1/16 between top of fret and bottom of string, while pressed down on 1st fret

Pickups:
Bridge as high as possible to not get in the way of picking, but higher on the high strings (too bright or aggressive, lower it)
Neck: don’t raise too high (intonation, and will be louder because string vibrates more)

Final bridge intonation:
Don’t use open strings, use 3rd fret, and as high a fret as you want
 
I love my PRS's hell I have enough of them and will always get more, but I tweak the set up on them when I get them. My Suhr's ive never touched ( except pickup height ) they come set up perfectly for how I play. Now im not saying PRS doesn't set there guitars up correctly its just not to my touch so its not a massive change just a slight tweak on them.
 
Andy Eagle said:
I bet you didn't intonate only fretted notes;)
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That's the only way I've found to get consistently accurate sounding results. Using the open/12th method, the tuner may show the guitar's intonated but playing up and down the neck can still sound a bit out of tune, especially on the skinny strings.

Getting good results is possible with the open to 12th method but since discovering the fretted notes method a few years ago, it's shortened the amount of time it takes to get it "right" for me.
 
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Andy Eagle said:
I bet you didn't intonate only fretted notes;)
Click to expand...

Well, that's true. I have been intonating at the open string and then 12th fret, but I also check intonation up and down the neck to make sure that it is acceptable elsewhere. The next time I re-string a guitar I'll try the 3rd / 15th method and see how that compares.
 
OrganicZed said:
Well, that's true. I have been intonating at the open string and then 12th fret, but I also check intonation up and down the neck to make sure that it is acceptable elsewhere. The next time I re-string a guitar I'll try the 3rd / 15th method and see how that compares.
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The fretting method made sense to me when realizing the goal of intonation is to make the guitar sound in tune as you play notes and chords up and down the fretboard. Presuming a properly cut nut, any guitar can be tuned open and sound reasonably okay within the first three frets, just look at most acoustics. It's not until you move further up the neck is the lack of intonation exposed.
 
I do the fretting at the first and last string and tappng in the middle to check if there's any relief at all.
then:
Truss Rod:
Straight ruler and 0,15mm at the 8th fret

Intonation:
fretted & harmonic at the 19th fret

Bridge height: measured at the 12th fret
high E: 0,15mm
low E: 0,175mm

Pickup height: start of with 2mm (I use my picks as a gauge) to start of and adjust from there
I also fret eacht string at each fret to check for buzz. If I find any, I'll check with the fret rocker.
 
I put some new strings and fine tuned the setup on two of my guitars today. I did the 3rd / 15th intonation method and it worked well. It does seem like a better balance of tunefullness than I had obtained with the open / 12th fret intonation routine I had done previously.
 
I have been using open string and highest fretted note for several years after reading about it from Rich at ibanezrules.com.

It works really well and doesn't even require a strobe tuner to get very good results.

I was helping intonate a friend's guitar and I came to the conclusion that his low E nut slot must be poorly cut because I could not get it to intonate properly with the open string no matter what.

I'll try the 3rd fret method next time to see how it works.

My only concern with that method as I've experienced with what I'm doing now is that you need to be careful you're not making the note sharp by pressing too hard or accidentally bending it slightly.
 
Here another action setup method I found in a forum, called the "Biddlin" method. Makes sense too :)

Begin by setting the bridge height for frets 17-21(2) so that the strings play buzz free at the lowest possible height.

Start with low E. Lower the bass side until it buzzes, raise until clear. Check A and D raise slightly if needed to get clean notes. Then do the treble side. If you bend notes up here, try a few typical bends, to make sure they don't buzz out.

When all strings play clean go to the lower frets and neck relief. Play the high E string from fret 1 to fret 16, increasing relief (loosening trussrod) to relieve buzz or decreasing relief (tightening trussrod) to lower the string height. So tighten, by fractional turns, until it buzzes and back off until it doesn't. If you bend strings , do your typical bends to insure they don't buzz out. Once satisfied, check the other strings and make small adjustments as needed.

Once you have acceptable relief, i.e. no buzz and easy action, set your intonation and you're done.

This is the opposite order of most setup directions. It is based on performance and not measurements, hence, I don't take any. It works because the neck is immobile between frets 17 and 22. The trussrod only affects lower frets. By setting the upper end first, you know any buzzes are coming from too little relief. This method works for most guitars, with truss rods.
 
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