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Why Does My Guitar Need To Be Set Up? All I Did Was Change Strings?

Haywire Custom Shop can: Improve your guitar intonation

image results for a custom shop semi-hollow body guitar from Haywire Custom Shop

 

No, of course not!  We offer free repair evaluations at the Haywire Custom Guitars-Custom Shop.  If electronics need to be accessed to troubleshoot a problem, or if we need to examine an instrument internally for structural issues, no problem-it won’t cost you.

 There’s nothing fun about playing a poorly set up guitar. The strings hurt your fingers, it won’t stay in tune, there’s buzzing, you can’t play with others very well,  A bad set up is one of the key reasons new players give up playing guitar. Don’t give up!  There is lots that can be done. Setups!

   
Why does my guitar need to be set up?
When you buy a new car don’t you need to adjust a car’s seat, mirrors and seat belts?  A guitar is like any other instrument will need several adjustments too. If it’s brand new it will need adjustments for sure!  A set up addresses the instrument’s play-ability and  adjusting many areas to give the guitar a broken in familiar feeling of sheer comfort that makes you want to play it all day!  It’s simply an extension of YOU, the musician. You want it in top shape!

All I Did Was Change Strings?
Even a simple thing such as changing your strings or gauge can alter the guitar’s play-ability, so it may just need a quick tweak. Find a great old guitar at a garage sale or a hand me down from a family member?  We’ll tweak it to make sure it’s playing as well as it possibly can. If you’re purchasing a guitar from us, we’re happy to set up your instrument exactly the way you’d like. If you’re not sure, we can get you going in the right direction and ask a few questions and get it set up well for your comfort and style.

We’ll check the: neck relief, nut slot depth and height of the nut, saddle height, intonation, pickup height on electrics, loose and rattling hardware and tighten it back up.
 

image results of Rick Mariner CEO of Haywire Custom Guitars, building a guitar

 The problem with a NEW guitar especially an acoustic is that it’s NEW!

 A new acoustic guitar leaves the factory with very high action and it is not meant to be played until it’s set up correctly. It’s stiff, tight, hard to play and makes your fingers hurt. The store is supposed to tell you-but sometimes they don’t know because no one told THEM. 

We improve your guitar intonation

Acoustic guitar problems occur therefore because no proper setup was ever done. The acoustic guitar factories typically put out guitars day after day. They never know who it’s going to end up with them. They’ll say, “Well, we don’t set them with low action because we don’t know if possibly a slide player. Because they for the most part like higher action, may purchase it”.  Sure we get that. However guitar factories really need to relay that kind of info to the stores. So, they in turn can relay it to acoustic guitar players. 

an option to have a similar model side by side with a set up included

Most noteworthy and perhaps most important, give them an option to have a similar model side by side with a set up included. Set it for lower action so customers have a choice-high or low action. We get calls like this all the time from customers indicating,”Hey, it’s NEW”. “Why is it so hard to play?”  If there was a setup option with a new guitar they wouldn’t have to sell so many guitars. They could sell great service too. Think about it?

image Haywire Custom Shop Acoustic Burgundy-Head

Haywire Custom Shop Acoustic Burgundy-Body

Get it where players want it to be!

So….what does an acoustic guitar player do?  Consequently, the best way to deal with it is to contact an independent custom guitar shop to have the action set exactly, where they need it to be.  In our Custom Shop in South Carolina we typically have the customer drop it off or ship it with instructions on how he wants it to play, we’ll work on it. When he or she comes back to pick it up-we’ll ask them to test it out.

We make it easier for you to-play your acoustic guitar

If it’s fine-that’s great! If it needs more acoustic guitar setup work to make it comfortable for them then we’ll tweak anything that needs to be done. We get it where players want it to be while they’re right there to test it.  The neck will get straightened, strings lowered and anything that helps ease of play. They like it  since they won’t have to come back again with the same problem.

image Haywire Custom Shop Acoustic Burgundy-Body Acoustic guitary

Haywire Custom Shop Acoustic Burgundy-Body

While a NEW acoustic guitar can look beautiful on the wall in the store it may need lots of acoustic guitar setup work to get it where the players needs it to be. Because, after an acoustic guitar setup it should play with ease and sound great.  Finally, the player shouldn’t need to think about the difficulty of playing but rather the opposite.

have an acoustic guitar setup properly

It’s about entertaining and getting their musical point across and creating the mood for the gig. There is hope. As a result, you don’t have to sell your acoustic guitar or return it  but you need to have an acoustic guitar setup properly for YOUR style of playing to be happy. We’ll do it for you, just bring it in.  Typically a day turnaround time for an acoustic guitar setup will get you going and playing comfortably and your fingers will thank you.  

image Haywire Custom Guitars F-335 Semi-Hollow Guitar

Haywire Custom Guitars F-335 Semi-Hollow Guitar

843-347-5742 

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Ordering From Haywire Custom Guitars

Image globe between handsAt Haywire Custom Guitars USA We Ship World Wide

At Haywire Custom Guitars USA We Ship World Wide

If you would like to order this or any other custom guitar, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your guitar needs.

Ordering From Haywire Custom Guitars

If you would like to order this or any other custom guitar, please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your guitar needs.

About the Author:

Mr. Rick Mariner Owner and Founder and CEO of Haywire Custom Guitars Inc. He is a member of The Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans (A.S.I.A.) as well as a guitar player. Rick holds a bachelors degree from University of Md. and a Masters degree from George Washington University. Rick developed his exclusive 8 – Point “Gig- Ready” guitar process that allows for Custom Guitars that are “GIG-READY”. With Rick’s many years of development and guitar set-up experience, Haywire Guitar shop “Builds satisfied players… one Haywire guitar at a time”.

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