So you've made a 'leap of faith' and bought yourself a used guitar--congratulations! I hope it was a good deal, and just the instrument you were looking for. If you bought it here, you likely didn't get the chance to try it out first, and who knows how it feels or plays. It was probably shipped, and has done some hard travelling to reach you. The action, string intonation, etc. need to be checked (and perhaps adjusted) before it will play, sound, and feel like YOUR guitar (for that matter, a NEW guitar needs a set-up as well, for the same reasons). Here's how to set up your instrument for optimal playability, and become familiar with it as well....
These are the few things we may need for the job:
*A small set of Allen wrenches (when we're finished, leave them in your guitar case!)
*#2 flat tip and small Phillips screwdrivers
*Rubbing alcohol
*A stiff-bristled brush (a toothbrush is fine)
*A new set of strings (the strings it came with may or may not be the gauge you prefer, and when we set your intonation it will be with YOUR preferred string tension and thickness)
*A clean soft rag
*Spray polish ('guitar polish', Pledge, etc)
*A fret-dressing file--you may not need this; we'll see....
First, remove the strings....now feel the tuning pegs. Are they loose where they come through the headstock? If so, tighten the hex nuts where they pass through the wood. Loose tuners cause that awful 'creak' when you tune up, JUST before proper pitch. Look on the back of the headstock--are the little wood-screws tight? Good! If your guitar has a whammy-bar that employs a string clamp on the headstock--and tunes with little wheels down behind the bridge saddles--then your tuning pegs are probably good and tight, as they haven't been turned much (or held much cumulative string tension).
Now we're going to clean the gunk out of our bridge and saddles. If they're truly filthy, you should remove them first. Use rubbing alcohol and your stiff-bristled brush. Here's about as dirty a bridge and saddles as you're likely to ever see. The adjusting screws and springs are caked with gunk--typical of a used guitar....
....and this is a clean, shiny one that's ready to go back on:
Now we're going to work on the neck. Guitar fingerboards are either ebony, rosewood, or maple. Maple fingerboards have been sealed with spray laqueur, and should be cleaned with a rag and polish. If your guitar has a rosewood (reddish-brown) or ebony (chocolate or black) board, wipe with rubbing alcohol on a rag--the alcohol quickly evaporates after breaking up grime. If necessary, carefully scrape the edge of the fret bars and wood with a paring knife, until no grime remains (grime accumulates over time from finger callous coming off on wound strings). Wipe again when dry. Take a look at all your metal frets now for string wear. Hopefully it's minimal. If one or more frets have small depressions where the strings cross, use the dressing file (available in music stores) to smooth them out. Lay the file on the fret and draw it across in one direction a few times (do NOT go back and forth). Every few strokes, stop and see if the fret's become smooth. DON'T overdo it, or the whole fret will become too low and you'll have to file all the rest from there to the body the same amount to keep your strings from buzzing when you play. If any of your fret bars are badly creased, don't even try to dress them smooth; you need to have a guitar shop knock it/them out and replace them (a 'fret job'--not for do-it-yourself-ers!).
Now we're going to check our truss-rod adjustment. There's a metal reinforcing rod running the length of your guitar's neck that provides rigidity and allows us to correct any warpage in the fingerboard. Hold your guitar up and look down the length of the neck carefully, sighting from the body towards the headstock. Does the fingerboard look uniformly level, or is there a noticeable 'twist' down its length? Almost ALL fingerboards have a 'lateral radius'--they're higher in the middle than at the edges--and some have a 'compound radius' (it becomes more pronounced in the higher frets). That's a design feature, and a good thing. What we're checking for is symmetry down its length. If you detect a slight twist down its length, then it needs a truss rod adjustment. Guitars with glued-on necks (such as most Gibsons) have a truss rod that you access at the head stock: remove the little plastic plate just above the nut, before the 1st fret (3 small wood screws, usually). Under this plate you'll find the end of the truss rod. Insert the proper Allen wrench and turn in the opposite direction of the neck's warpage. Sight down the neck again, and re-adjust as necessary. Guitars with bolt-on necks (such as Fenders and others) have their truss rod adjustment between the neck and body; you must remove the neck first to reach it. There's a metal plate on the back of the neck/body joint with either 3 or 4 long wood screws to remove. Here's a bolt-on neck with the truss rod adjustment screw exposed:
Bolt-on necks, as we see here, adjust with a screwdriver instead of an Allen wrench. Now that your neck's straight, we're ready to put on your own set of new strings. If your guitar's neck is a bolt-on, don't tighten the 3 or 4 neck/body wood screws all the way just yet--we must ensure that when it's tight the neck's exactly perpendicular to the body: string up the 1st and 6th strings only and wind the tuners until these 2 'outside strings' are semi-tight and up off the fingerboard. Now you can see whether the neck is bolted on straight or not. Move it until the strings (which ARE straight) are the same distance from the edges of the fingerboard all the way down, THEN tighten down the neck-plate screws. Good job! Before you put on the rest of the strings, I'm going to show you the 'right way' to wind guitar strings: affix the string's ball end to the bridge, stick the other end through the tuning peg (leaving enough slack to go around the peg at least 3 times), and make the first wind go around OVER the string's end where it comes through the hole. Then as you continue turning the tuning key, make the next 2 wraps go UNDER the hole. This 'locks' the string so that it doesn't slip and detune constantly over the next few hrs.as the string stretches to it's proper tension. Wow! Why didn't anyone ever show you that before?! Here's what a properly wound string looks like: See? One over; 2 under....
O.K., now finish stringing up your guitar, because now we're going to check its intonation (and adjust it if necessary). Tune them up to standard tuning. Starting with your 6th string, play it open (low E), then check that against the next octave (12th fret). Are the two notes an exact octave? If the 12th fret E is at all flat, you need to lengthen the distance between the nut and bridge a bit (or if it's sharp, to shorten it). This is the purpose for the little screws with springs around them down on the bridge saddles we cleaned with our brush earlier. Use either a screwdriver or small Allen wrench (most guitars have screws here, but not all) and as you turn the screw you'll see the actual saddle point move towards shortening the string's scale, or lengthening it. Adjust it a bit, and sound the 2 octave Es again until they agree. When they do, you've corrected the intonation. Repeat this proceedure for the rest of your strings. It's important that you DO NOT use the 'natural harmonic' for the 12th fret note when doing this, because it will ALWAYS sound the perfect octave--but if the intonation's off, it will sound it at a spot not quite exactly where it should, and you won't realize that you need to make an adjustment! Another way to check each string's intonation (it follows) is, instead of checking the open string against the 12th fret, to check the 12th fret 'real' note against the12th fret harmonic: in this case they should sound the exact SAME note (instead of a perfect octave). If they don't, then adjust the bridge saddle as above. Either method is fine--if you don't trust your ear to hear the exact octave, hearing the 2 unison 12th fret notes may be easier....or use a tuner!
How's the action feel now? Are the strings so close to the fingerboard that they buzz on your fret bars? So high that it feels clumsy to play? Usually 1/8" off the board is just right. Otherwise, use the bridge's adjustment (either a thumb-wheel at either end of the bridge on Gibson-style guitars, or a screw directly below each string's bridge saddle on Fender-style guitars) to raise or lower the string off the fingerboard. If you raise or lower your action any more than a little, re-check the intonation (since you've actually lengthened or shortened the string in doing so!). If your guitar has a Stratocaster-type 'floating' whammy-bar bridge, you need to remove the rear plastic plate that covers the whammy springs BEFORE you adjust intonation, and adjust the long screw(s) on the little plate to which the 3,4, or 5 whammy-springs attach. Loosen or tighten until the floating bridge is balanced halfway through it's whammy range by string tension on top vs spring tension in the rear cavity. If your available adjustment range doesn't allow that, remove one or more rear springs (keep them balanced, however!). You'll see there are hooks for 5 springs: if you use 4, then remove the middle (3rd) one...for 3 springs, use the 1st, 3rd, and 5th hooks. Don't try using only 2 springs; that's generally not enough tension to counterbalance your string tension, and your bridge will stay bottomed-out towards the pickups (and you'll only be able to whammy DOWN).
Since you've done so well thus far, here's another little 'bonus' adjustment you might think about trying. It's not a NECESSARY part of 'guitar set-up'....unless you value having a wide range of tones available. I do personally, and THIS has more to do with your range of tones than turning a 'tone' knob (since your tone control is only a 'treble-cut' it doesn't add anything--it just dulls the higher overtones when you turn it down!). A great many guitars have almost no appreciable difference in sound between their pickups, and if they DO, it's only that the pickup closer to the bridge has a more sharp, jangly tone (due to the abundance of high harmonic overtones that are 'stacked up' at the end of the string's length). If your guitar has 2 (or 3) pickups, take your Phillips screwdriver and turn the screws on either side of your individual pickups--or just the one that sounds redundant (and you can already tell you'll rarely use!)--to raise or lower that side of the pickup towards or away from your strings. You may be amazed at the suddenly different and useable sound of that pickup and/or the 'both pickups' selector position. Indeed, if your guitar's last owner had the pickups too high, they probably BOTH sound awful--muddy and totally lacking in detail or clarity! For those times when you DO want that kind of distortion, you should get it from your amp/pedals; don't leave yourself stuck with it permanently!
Most guitars won't need ALL of the adjustments we just discussed, but almost EVERY guitar will need at least one of them to be enjoyable to play. Therefore check everything, but just do what's necessary ("If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"), O.K.? That's ESPECIALLY true in the case of dressing your frets!!!
Now that your guitar's all set up for free, take the $50-60 you just saved and treat yourself to a new strap and a couple of good cords! I'm sure you can find them here: GO BLOW YOUR SAVINGS ON THIS!
Happy Hunting, karl_from_boston
Rock on!
Orignal From: SETTING UP A USED ELECTRIC GUITAR YOU JUST BOUGHT
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