A guitar setup completed properly just feels great!

First, A guitar setup: Acoustic and Electric guitars and basses are immeasurably improved when set up correctly. An acoustic guitar setup has specific differences as compared to an electric guitar setup. For example, even a very slight change can have a significant impact on the play-ability of an electric but not so much on an acoustic guitar. Online forums are filled with unskilled people offering faulty advice that can lead to more harm than good. Be aware.

Guitar Setup

New Electric or Acoustic Guitar?

But my new guitar is just completely unplayable!

Well….It’s not unusual to buy a new guitar that is impossible to play. It happens all the time. Why? Simply because guitars like “fast food” are mass produced to make money. They are not produced to make guitarists happy. That is where a great guitar tech or local custom guitar shop comes in handy. That’s our job.

We’ll make you happy! We work for musicians. We set up your guitar perfectly, so that playing and tuning is a pleasure. A very professional guitar setup requires specialized tools, knowledge, experience and a good understanding of the parts of a guitar. It also takes into consideration the specific player that will be performing with it.

A Guitar Setup-Neck

Your neck setup must feel comfortable and consistent all the way up the neck for you to get comfortable with your best playing. You absolutely need to be pleased, surprised and very comfortable with the feel, action and performance of your instrument setup.  Are you thrilled with it?  You should be.  Find out what you’re missing and go get a great setup for your guitar to match your style,playing comfort and level of expertise. 

How We Set Up a Guitar at Haywire Custom Guitars

The truss rod is the first item we look at. If it’s bowed or humped it gets straightened. Next is the string margins all the way from the head stock area to the last fret. Are margins correct on both “E” strings. Do you have the same amount of space from the strings to the edge of the fret board? If not we correct it. Is the nut cut properly? Are the strings too high at the first fret? If so, it makes for action too high and hard playing. We’ll re-cut the nut. Are the string slots in the nut cut too low allowing the strings to “buzz” at the first fret when forming open chords? We’ll fix that too.

After Checking the Neck Alignment on Your Guitar…

The next step is to add your favorite strings and set the action as low as possible. Why, because it can always go up without any buzz if it plays great “low”. If low action cannot be achieved then we’ll level the frets. That will get it super low.

In order of Importance…

However once frets get leveled they must be crowned and then most importantly, polished. They need to be smooth for perfect glass-like string bending. At this point we can set the string heights and action. Why? Simply because in a great guitar setup, all strings must be the same distance from the top of each fret underneath and the action must be “custom fit” to the player. Next, the guitar is tuned and the intonation is checked and adjusted. Only after all of these operations have been performed in the exact and correct order can we now attempt a trial play and test for comfort, tone, overall in-tune and no buzz playing.

You need a Pro Setup!

Ultimately, a NEW acoustic guitar can look beautiful on the wall in the store it may need lots of work to get it where a player needs it to be. An acoustic guitar should play with ease and sound great. As a player, you shouldn’t need to think about the difficulty of playing but rather about the pleasure of entertaining and/or getting your musical point across.

All guitars need to be setup. About 95% of new guitars direct from the factory floor and/or purchased in a music store are not set up.  Why? Too time consuming for them. Music stores don’t make money setting up “your” guitar. So, they skip it and let you come back for service so they can charge more.

There are many parts on your guitar which require proper installation, service and maintenance. Without exception, setups, nuts and saddles are inexorably connected. Truss rod settings need seasonal adjustment to keep the neck straight. Constant pull of the strings and tremolo systems keep pressure on it and increases the tendency of the neck to “bow” and a truss rod adjustment will remove it so it’s straight again.

What is a Guitar Setup?

A good guitar setup includes a series of adjustments that leave the guitar playing and sounding its best. Over time, with temperature, humidity and use a guitars adjustments will regress. It should be checked regularly to keep it right.
In the Haywire Custom Shop, we’ll check the usual spots that need adjustment.
First the truss rod to make sure the neck is true and straight, then the action or string height, the intonation is adjusted for pitch of each note.

The pickup height is adjusted for balance. The saddles are checked to be sure they move properly. They need to be properly set for pitch.
Oil is used to keep the threaded parts and tuners from rusting. Volume controls, tone and switches are checked. We’ll open any string nut slots pinching strings. Check to be sure guitar strings are free to move easily in the slots of the string nut.
If the strings need to be changed, we’ll do that as well. All of these checks will help the guitar play better and help you perform better.

Our Haywire Guitar setup and tune-up.

Gig-Ready Process ensures that each guitar is set to original or better specs:

Point 1: 4-Axis Alignment of The Guitar Neck

First of all, each guitar neck is checked and adjusted to be sure it is true and straight to ensure proper alignment on all axes. This step ensures proper action and allows for more accurate and easier guitar tuning, playing and set-up in the following steps. The outside string margins need to be close to perfect.

Point 2: Inspect and Lube the Guitar Tuning Gears

Before installing the guitar tuning gears, each one is checked thoroughly. Each tuning gear is adjusted so that there is no play in the mechanism. They are then lubricated to insure smooth and even movement to make your guitar tune accurately and easily.

Point 3: Potting The Guitar Pickups

We dip the pickups in hot wax to reduce squeal therefore, as a result, no unwanted guitar feedback.

Point 4: Prep The Guitar Body

Upon installing the guitar electronic components, while great care is taken to ensure that all wires are properly routed, spaced, and grounded. In addition, you’ll have many years of trouble-free service with your guitar.

Point 5: Level and Polish the Frets

Most noteworthy, this ensures that all of the guitar frets are level, eliminating any possibility of fret buzz due to unevenness.

Point 6: Radius the Guitar Strings

Since, most guitar necks have a contour over the top of the neck called the radius. We adjust the strings to make sure the height of each string follows the contour of the guitar neck radius.

Point 7: Adjusting The Overall Guitar String Height and The Action

Once we set the contour and radius of the guitar strings, it’s time to adjust the overall height of the strings from the top of the frets to the bottom of the guitar strings.

Point 8: Set the Guitar Intonation

This step is done twice. The intonation is set two times with a 24 hour “seat-in” period in between to allow the guitar to properly re-seat to the new adjustments.

NUTS– We make, cut, re-slot, and size nuts for any neck width. We’ll re-cut your existing one if necessary.
It needs to be correct for proper and comfortable action.
Any materials you’d like: Bone, Tusq, graphite, Graphtec, Earvana and more.

Guitar Setups require specific areas of attention

SADDLES– We ‘ll set adjust or repair your saddles and set intonation properly for all acoustics, electrics and basses,
ACTION: Any way you need it to be! What we do best is what you NEED.

We’ll upgrade electric guitar saddles to any low friction surface.
They’re available for vintage, modern trems, hard tail bridges, tune-o-matics and basses. We service and overhaul Floyd Rose type locking saddles and tremolos.

As a result of our service, you may expect:

A Faster playing neck
Improved access and hand comfort
Smoother note bending
Easier play with less stress on fingering hand
Cleaner, sharper notes
Improved, responsive hand-tapping
Effortless sweep arpeggios
Excellent for trills and hammer-ons
High-Speed pull-offs

You need a Pro Setup!

In spite of the value of your guitar, it needs a professional setup to play great. A good setup will help you to get the most from your guitar and best results when playing.

It will be easier to play, and because the intonation is accurate, you’ll be able to play “in tune” with others. A new guitar with high string action is not likely to have fret buzz thus generating fewer buyer complaints.

However, you know how difficult it is to play when strings are very high. A guitar setup fix that for you. Get the most out of your guitar. Get a professional setup. No guitar player ever said they regretted getting a professional setup. Bring out the real potential of your guitar playing skills.

A good guitar setup is……

When your guitar is setup properly it’s Gig-Ready and it sounds great and most importantly the feel is very comfortable and responsive. Every fret will be solidly in tune. With a fret level “string buzz” is eliminated with a good guitar setup because all of the strings are the same distance from the top of the fret, and thus the action can be set much lower with “no buzzing”. As well all strings will be uniform and able to overcome the next fret without touching the top of the next fret. Your guitar playing will be effortless. Guitar strings will last much longer because they wear evenly.

What you should experience…

You’ll experience exactly what pro players seek for their absolute best playing performances. Your performances will have the same feel as a pros guitar. Each note will be in tune with the entire guitar all the way down the fret board. The pressure on the strings to produce a note will be the same on each string because of the uniformity gained by a great guitar setup. There will be no need to treat any string differently because it requires no difference in technique or pressure to form a perfect note. When a guitar setup is completed properly, you won’t want to put it down! It just feels great.