This is the third article of a three part series on how to set up your electric guitar. Part one is located here and part two is located here.
Every time I go to set up my guitar I have to go look up the details because my memory does not retain these kinds of details for some reason. I have gone through my owners manuals and other guitar books and compiled the following tutorial that is generic enough to cover most guitars. I hope this is helpful for you. Having the correct setup on your guitar is key to improving its playability, tone and your enjoyment. These instructions should apply to most guitars, however some adjustments might be required to suit your personal preferences and your guitar might be slightly different than the examples given in this document.
This installment of how to setup your electric guitar goes over basic action and pickup adjustments to help you get the playability that suits your style.
Action Adjustment
Action (height of the strings from the frets) is a subjective adjustment depending on a player’s technique, style of music and individual preferences. Some players need lower action; others need higher action to avoid string buzzing on the frets. So here is the basic action adjustment procedure:
- Check tuning.
- Measure distance between bottom of strings and top of the 17th fret using a 6″ (150 mm) ruler.
- Adjust bridge saddles to the height according to the values listed in the table below, “Typical Action Specifications”.
- Re-tune the guitar.
- Experiment with the height until the desired sound and feel is achieved.
- Repeat the above steps if necessary.
Final Intonation Adjustment
- Set the pickup selector in the middle (if applicable), volume and tone controls to the max.
- Check tuning.
- Compare each string at the 12th fret harmonic to 12th fret fretted note.
- If sharp, lengthen string by adjusting the saddle back.
- If flat, shorten string by moving the saddle forward.
- Re-tune, play and make further adjustments as needed.
Pickups
- Depress all strings at the last fret.
- Using 6″ (150 mm) ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the 1st and 6th strings to top of the pole piece.
- In general, the distance should be greatest at the 6th string neck pickup and closest at the 1st string bridge position.
- Use the measurements listed in the table below, “Typical Pickup Clearance Values” as guidelines. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull of the pickup.
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Well, that is the end of my three part series on the basics of how to setup your electric guitar. I hope this helped you even a little bit to improve how your guitar plays and ultimately increase your enjoyment of this wonderful instrument and friend we call “guitar”.
Peace,
Chris
The How to Setup Your Electric Guitar – Part 3 by Chris Hartzog, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License.
