Ok. I REALLY wish i did a before-video of how my guitar looked before finding this video. I have an Ibanez S series that I haven´t used in roughtly 10 years. It´s been sitting in a soft bag through several moves, and mostly stayed in basements. Pulled it out recently to see if i could get it back into shape, and the neck looked like a banana. The strings were clamped to the fretboard almost from the start. after skipping through this video i found everything i needed, and within 20 min the guitar is set up perfectly again. Last night I couldn´t even imagine I would ever be able to get anywhere near this by myself, and was planning on dropping it off to some guy to fix it this week. I really appeciate you doing this video. Thank you so much!
0:30 Prologue 1:33 Truss rod: basic info 3:00 Truss rod: suggested relief 5:10 Nut: evaluate height 5:50: Nut: height adjustment 7:29 Bridge: basic info 8:20 Bridge: height adjustment 8:55 Insider tip 11:45 excursus to trem spring adjustmet 13:30 Intonation: checking method 14:30 Intonation: adjustment 16:35 Insider tip 17:00 Epilogue 19:10 excursus to pickup height ->for people looking for individual parts because the visuals of the video are pretty modest and not recognizable while skipping through.
Your instruction is so very "real" and to the point that it makes it very easy to follow and to understand exactly what you are showing us. I have watched alot of luthier vids and you are hands down the one I "get" the most, first time, every time. I have almost 2 dozen Basses and 4 dozen + Guitars, and there is no way I could afford NOT to know how to do some of this stuff! I have no illusions about my skills: I am NO luthier! But, I do all my own set-ups, as well as a couple other guys' instruments, and when I run into a tight spot, where my drive overshadows my abilities, I find it more than comforting that I have a Luthier at my fingertips to get a little advice, or a technique from. I appreciate that you have taken the time to do these videos and share your expertise with all of us. I thank you from and for all of us! If you find yourself in 'Vegas anytime, give a shout-out; it would be great to meet ya' and I can give you a couple of pointers on some fun that the average tourist never gets to know about!
+WillsEasyGuitar How the hell do you get the whammy bars hooked into these. I'm used to offcial Floyd Rose where they screw on. This one has a tapered spot at the end where it snaps in, but no matter how much I push it doesn't go in.
Jeffery A. Hunt Hey brother - the kind of deal where I trade money for one or two of your guitars? lol! Bro, I'm a fiddy tree year old disabled fart, and I can't even afford bus fare to the end of my street! But thank you kindly for the offer. What are you into Jeff? I started out playing acoustic to play Beatles stuff because I just love their tuneages. I bought my first descent acoustic...actually, I'll back up a wee bit, I almost forgot about my first guitar ever. Mum inherited her father's Yorkshire English addiction to flea market selling. And of course, being the youngest I was forced at gun point to dig stuff out of the small garage for the market, and I kid you not the stuff was all bought by Mum and her equally addicted sister, my aunt Joyce...dam do I miss them...sigh Anyway, the stuff filled the entire floor space, which wasn't much at about twenty by twenty ,and it actually touched the roof in some places!! That is some serious ass hoarding!! They never considered the concept of money in vs money out, because I'm positive they spent way more than they ever recovered! It was a labour of love bro. Where was I? Oh - I was forced at gun point to drag sufficient crap out of the garage under constant threat of cave in, or crapvalanch! to fill the old 67 Ford Wagon. Then, the next day I was woken up at 5am...again, at gun point and dragged my tired ass to the flea market a thousand miles away... it felt like it anyway - then unload and set up tables etc. My end was a percentage of the filthy lucre to spend where I saw fit -and I saw fit!! I bought a cheese grater 5 dollar acoustic welfare sunburst acoustic, and I think it was a "Laughatchew" I can't believe I actually learned to play on that hunka hunka burning fire wood! Then, one glorious saturday morning, I was scanning potential scorage when I spied a really sweet looking electric guitar on top of a pile of old clothes, broken toys and other crap. It was the most awesome thing my ten year old eye balls had ever seen. A sweet, sweet glossy white with awesome chrome looking hardware, which I had no clue what it was for. It had one string. So mum schooled me in the finer art of the deal and I asked what he wanted, about an hour before opening, and instantly paid up! Mum was steamed that I didn't bicker him down but for crying out loud I was ten!! So I didn't have the first clue as to how to get things back together, and working and so I left it in a closet for years. I bought a Yamaha FG 365 if I remember correctly, acoustic and just loved that thing! I ended up trading it for an electric, and cannot remember what it was, I just know I hated myself for years after that...sigh. OK, get this. I quit school and moved out of a perfect loving middle class home to live with my native American Cheyenne girlfriend. I was adopted at 4 days old and my parents were both from England. Dad was a WWII vet - an officer aboard the HMS Illustrious aircraft carrier during the war. I was Scottish, Cherokee and Irish, and so I had a thing for the Native ladies and Vicky was Miss Multiple Universe for life...in my mind. We lived with bikers, and I started my pharmaceutical experimentation, and an in-depth study of the effects of consuming copious amounts of Gold Tequila! I also started my street fighting career and my prison career followed very shortly thereafter...sigh...such an idiot! I started singing in bands, and we played Beatles - then expanded into classic rock from 50s 60s and 70s - The Who, Eagles, Red Zepperwin -etc. I got to be a purdy decent singer and bands were scouting my ass!! Woo! I floated around for a few years then joined Another Lie based in Toronto where I was born and lived till 19 years. One day, some friends of Victoria's came from Quebec to live in Toronto with us. We got our own place away from the retarded biker scene - don't get me wrong, I loved a lot of those bros, but it was destroying my life! They both played guitar and I was just getting back into the guitar, when Lee pulled out his Gibson Les Paul............ See where this is going? Ya, I bought a real Gibson Les Paul at a freaking yard sale when I was a ten year old punk, for $25!! I had not contacted my folks for over two years, because I was too busy being a full time asshole, but the second I realized what I had, I rushed back home to retrieve it! I bought it in 1972, so it was at least that old, and more likely older be still my sputtering heart! Here's how that went "hey Mum, where's my white electric guitar" Mum - "oh, I sold that at the flea market after you dumped us on the curb..........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! But yes. She made twenty bucks on it, because she sold it to some jack-ass who had a shit eating grin on his face, knowing exactly what this little old English lady had....bastard! So, there's my broken heart story bro! lol! Take care man. Jack
+Bronzesnake Well, that's a damned heart-breaker right there. Awesome story for the latter years, though, I must say. I am to finish my 50th year here in April, all things willing. "My Harem" was, at first, part turn-over axes, part awesome I-always-wanted-one's, but somehow they cannot seem to find their way back thru the door once here! Being a Bassist and Vocalist for years and looking to put together another act, I got tired of "I play, but my shit is in pawn", so I began to remedy that my own way. I have Axes, Amps, P.A.,Drumset, Effect processors, Lighting, Studio gear, whatever the case may call for. So now there is no "in pawn" because "Let's just go play!" Good for on-the-spot weeding out the wannabees at the same time. A few other brands, but mostly the largest Ibanez collection I know of. Great quality, better price. I still claim I don't actually play Guitar and I mean it, I just fake it well enough. I do play Bass, and do still sing, but "gettin' the Band back together" could be a bit of a reach, who knows. I sure have fun goofin' around though! When I was younger, it was the "Old guys" who had the toys we knew we could make better use of, and now I ain't a kid anymore and I like to think that I am more Mentor than those guys were. Buyin', sellin', tradin', sharin', even lendin' 'em, but mostly playin' these bastards and gettin' the interest in positive activity like live music, a focus on creativity, that's the fave aspect of it for me. The one thing I know at this point is, regardless, there is always room for just one more, but that's it, no more.....Just one more. L O L ! ! ! ! !
Dude, you are so damn thorough in your explanations. Much more so than other tutorials from "guitar techs" that expect the viewer to already have a trained eye and learn from osmosis. Subbed.
Great video, basically summarizes what might take hours to learn scouring through the internet. The most informative 20 minutes in guitar setup available.
This is the greatest guitar set up video on UA-cam after years of searching. I’ve been just doing my best but always end up frustrated. You knocked it out of the park. I wanted a serious instructional video with none of the fancy tools I can’t afford or access right now. Thank you so mich
HEY BRO, THIS IS VERY WELL DONE!!! I am a pro player that has been in the trenches for nearly three decades, and in my constant thirst for excellence and wisdom for myself as well as my students.... i have saturated my mind with all kinds of input from countless sources and not very many of which are accurate or reliable, and this skill of discernment has been an asset for me over the years as well... and your comprehensive and ''real world'' vids on the complexities of these kinds of setups was AMAZING!!! i will share this with all my students as required skillset fundamentals from here on out... thanks again... for clearing the smoke and giving them good, straight up, reliable WISDOM. hats off to ya, brother... and my thanks as well
In my 25 + years of playing, I've always been afraid of messing with action/intonation. You made is so simple! I just set up my Hohner G2T (I know, but it is actually a decent guitar) and now it plays like a dream! This video was extremely helpful, thanks for posting.
I just recently bought a floyd rose guitar and had to set it up myself since almost everything on it wasn't even set to factory setup. Now everything makes sense watching your video. Thank you for making this guide I'm sure it helped many others. Keep it up!
This is a great video that ALL guitarists should watch. The information is very well presented and every bit of it has real value. This covers all the bases so thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge with the rest of us.
I ordered a setup kit from StewMac and they actually sent me a credit card, a business card and a dime. 😜 I like this video. Well presented info. Thanks.
I spent 20 years figuring out a lot of these things, Im glad you mentioned the actual playing when action is too low. A lot of people dont realise it limits you some what.
I’m like, oh man I wish he would show us a great view of what he’s explaining....then he turns the guitar to a great view of what he’s explaining. Fantastic video. Thanks!
I think that was the best thing I've heard about truss rod set up with respect to string spacing to fret height. One more point is that the need for a little relief in the neck is that the strings are vibrating. So longer vibrations take up more room and shorter ones less. This is why relief happens between the 15th and fret 1 with no change for the 12th and above range. This means that the lowest action before fret buzz with respect to neck relief says some relief is needed for the best over all lowest action.
its 4:43AM and i've been checking out my guitar for like...6 hours now with all the stuff you have said in the video, my guitar feels like new now!! its kinda funny now when i look at it, how long i've been playing with strings being so tensed up, and me thinking its just shit guitar...thanks a tons for the instruction and tips, i've learned a valuable lesson from them
***** i have a question tho, i kinda tried to set up my floyd so it gets back into the tune once i use it during the play but me playing here and there with it and trying to set the floyd to be equal with the body, since i am using D tune, suddenly from using 2 springs i have to change to 3 springs on the floyd, and my strings have much more tension now then they had, why is that? my problem is that i ain't really sure if that tension is good or it should be very easy to touch the strings when being in lower tune as it is D tune
Just wanted to say thank you! I did not know where to start when setting up my guitar, and you answered every single question and explained it perfectly. This is the best setup video I have seen anywhere. It took me about two weeks but I was able to set up every guitar I have. 76 guitars LOL. Some people collect stamps, collect antiques, I collect guitars. Thank you so much I cannot believe the action and how all of my guitars sound and play now. Thank you so very much dude! God bless.
Great info packed 20 minutes. So glad you addressed fret height/level early on. I check mine with a 3" straight edge and mark them just as you do. This was perfect real world / on the fly / work with what you have adjustments that I can do with confidence. I've gotten guitars back from "the shop" that I have had to fix on my own because their "luthier" was some poser hack. I encourage you guitar players to "interview" the guy doing your set-ups with questions you already know the proper answers to (aka a lawyer question), and don't be afraid to pick up your instrument and kindly walk away. WillsEasyGuitar guy just gave you the true lowdown. Trust your gut feelings and go with it! Thanks Will !!!
Your videos are the best for explaining guitar stuff, you're an elite level teacher. Other tutorials will scatter the information you provided here and skip some important parts, while you go with "A > B > C in order of importance, check them in this order, and here's exactly how to check each one step by step." Also, every other video on the topic will mention that the string height needs to be 2-2.5 mm at this and that fret, you can use that specific $30 luthier tool to check. Bro, me and 99% of people only have a shitty plastic ruler that doesn't work for this purpose and I'm never buying that tool. Then you come along with "credit card on 12th fret, business card on 3rd", which everyone has. Amazing.
Thank you so much for a detailed instructions video on guitar setup. One of the best videos on the internet. I recently Bought an Esp LTD, which came with a ridiculously huge action (made in China of course). In the times of covid 19, its hard to get it setup through a professional. This video provided me with the required theoretical knowledge to DIY setting it up. Thank you once again.
Thanks again, I followed your instructions and my guitars feel and sound better. One thing that is very helpful, which I didn't know, is that by adjusting the height of the pickup I can get the sound that I want. I thought pickups had only one sound, Great video.
WOW! I have an Ibanez GRG 170DX and I've always thought, well it's an inexpensive guitar so I just have to deal with the fact that the action has to be high in order to not have any fret buzz, and the pitch is going to be off from an open string to the 12th fret. Well, you showed me that I could not have been more wrong. After adjusting the truss rod and applying the adjustments that you have so kindly shared with us, my 170DX has the best action of any guitar that I've owned in 40 years! I just purchased an Ibanez RG 350M an unfortunately that one has not been as easy because although I've realized great improvement, I still have to choose either high action or fret buzz. I'm guessing that it needs a fret job. Now that I realize that all guitars are capable of great action, I will seek out a skilled professional. Again, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us...
Intonation logic.... (I know why all the saddle locations aren't exactly double the distance from the nut to the 12th fret.) When you imagine the length of a vibrating string it's typically from one node at the top of the saddle to a second node to the nut for an open string or to the top of a fingered fret. We imagine that these effective ends of the string are like hinge points--like a jump rope emerging from the ends of tubular wooden handles. It isn't quite like that. Steel strings have stiffness. They are not hinged at the top of frets or other contact points. Imagine a fret, nut or saddle being like your hand stiffly holding on the the end of a casting rod and the rod is the guitar string. As you whip the rod, the rod doesn't hinge at the end of the rod handle. It gradually bends because of the rod's stiffness. As this analogy applies to guitar strings, this same flex happens at both ends of a vibrating guitar string. The string stiffness has the effect of foreshortening the node location: the effective node is slightly before the saddle and just past the fret and not a perfect arc from contact point to contact point. Thicker wire is stiffer. This means that to compensate for this foreshortening, the saddle must be moved farther from the nut for thick wire than for thin wire. Notice I said thicker "wire", not thicker "strings". That's because the stiffness of wound strings is a function of the thickness of the wire inside, not the overall wound string thickness. This explains the geometry of non-adjustable saddles on acoustic guitars. The first two strings, E and B, are unwound. They're also fairly thin and the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is only very slightly less than the distance from the 12th fret to the nut. The G string is wound but inside the winding is a wire about the same thickness as the 1st E string, so its saddle location is about the same as as the E string. The rest of the strings are wound and the wires inside are progressively thicker than the wire in the G string. So the individual saddle locations for all the strings are pretty much on two parallel lines. One line intersects the contact points of the first two strings (E and B). The other line, parallel to the first, intersects the contact points of the other four strings. I don't do videos. If you agree with this information, you may use it in one of yours.
I have been playing for 13 years now and never learned how important any of the technical details actually are to sound and quality playing. I wish I knew about this forever ago.. I like to use Ernie Ball hybrid slinky strings and always tune between dgcfad and eadgbe. My epiphone prophecy sg has a high action and today I bought a charvel ds-1 st that has very low action with some fret buzz on the higher frets (12-24) on the 6th 5th and 4th strings, which finally brought me to this video. Thank you sir!
I can't thank you enough Will...You're a godsend mate cos it's amazing how much I have forgotten over 50 years. I'd be truly knackered without you at present.
I really wish I could have watched this video 35+ years ago! That's how long I've been playing and afraid to do most of this kind of stuff myself. Thank you so much for the detailed information. Since it's never too late to try something new I'm going to start going through your steps with one of my guitars tonight.
Not long winded in the least! Very well constructed and informative. I've come back to this vid several times over the course of a year as a refresher once in awhile. Thanks Will!
Man, this video saved my sanity. I've been playing for forty years (badly, but hey...), and I was having the devil's own time with the action on my latest guitar. I followed your suggestions, and she plays quite well now. Thank you!
I'm very grateful for your insight. I have a floyd rose and I paid a local music store to adjust intonation and the guitar now has a open string buzz on the Low E, and fret buzz on the 4th fret High E.
Best setup video I have seen and I know how important that is for having fun with your Instrument or not. I think millions of guitars are not used anymore, because the setup is bad. It determines the life and death of a guitar !!!
Great teach, dialed my Fender in, I forgot changing string size can make such a big change to everything, good part is, I found the strings I'm now going to stick with. Thx again.
Really helpful to me to actually go in after a pro set-up from Guitar Center to tweak the action on my Korean Ibanez AS-80. I had fret buzz a after the set-up and could see a back bend had developed after I got it home. Took it back and he took out the back bend now there was bit of relief (forward bend i guess), and he bought the action up at eh bridge. So got it home and it was pretty factory - not at all as cool to move around on. Your trick to check relief was spot on I could see the relief in the neck, pushed on the 1 and 24 fret and got a biz card in but just barely. I adjusted the brige down a 1/4 turn on both knobs on the bridge and I'm back to the great action, but now that the relief is there I'm not getting the buzz. I really enjoy Vids on YT that give a big picture along with useful practical things to do. The guy at GC has a good rep and his fret dress was spot on and his neck adjustment, but its hard to communicate what you really want in a visit or two I guess. It always feels better to me to know it myself so I can get it where I want. Thanks much Ron
I have a very heavy right hand so I use 11s with a high action. When people try to play my guitar they usually can't even do a bar chord let alone a full bend. they then say I'm crazy... But with practice I find it's not that hard and I get a great tone out of it. I do a simple open chord with clean tone and it just resonates and sustains for ages! It's great :)
Very informative. I do wanna note though, that before you adjust your bridge height on a floyd rose, its best to loosen the tension, because you could damage the knife edges if you have string tention. Damaged knife edges has as result that your floyd won't return to pitch.
***** I agree, i should've said ''floyd rose style - licensed by floyd bridges mighty damage, maybe over time'' but we can't assume every single person watching this has an original floyd rose with hardend steel parts. Most people watching this probably just got their first floyd rose equiped guitar and they might not know whether they have an original floyd or an korean copy with the floyd rose stamp on it. All i want is to tell them that not all floyds are unbreakable and have a good time with theirs. Also, if they ever went over to their friends and are like ''oh yeah i know how to raise or lower the floyd on your guitar'' and not knowing whether their friends has an original or korean/chinese copy, they might screw it up. Anyway, happy new year to you all, keep up the good work WillsEasyGuitar!
Thanks Will! I spent hours trying to setup my guitar with other UA-cam videos but I never understood them, but with your video I was able to in 20 minutes thank you for teaching me and not spending so much for somebody to do it for me
Thank you! Got my very first guitar out of storage for the first time in 15 years and it was all out of wack. Thanks to this video it mow sounds as good as my newer everyday player
Thanks for the video. I knew how to set things up, but was unsure about simple ways to check the action height and what you've shown here really simplifies things quite a bit. Intonation is an area I rarely even touch on, but again, this video made it pretty simple and straightforward for me, and also knowing that it doesn't even matter until I've got my action where it needs to be makes the whole process so much less daunting. Good stuff, my old RG is like brand new again.
thanx i used this video to set up my 99 ibz rg, i had had a lot of trouble with the edge trem, i found that the tremolo pegs where loose i used teflon tape worked fine then followed your instructions and man it plays nice thanks again.
man this was really educational , the part on taking off the nut and sanding it down a little bit to stop the tuning problem because of the distance the string has to travel on frets 2 and 3 wow ,
Great video. I passed this on to a fellow guitar player to help him understand + to save him money in the future. We both have Ibanez RG series guitars and I just set his up for him. World of difference when they're properly setup. Thanks for explaining this in detail - I enjoyed watching it even though I already understood 99% of it. Cheers.
Thanks a bunch man, you easily lifted some of my biggest frustrations while playing. Thanks for teaching me how to setup my own stuff so that I don't get ripped off for no reason! Greetings from Europe
Thank You so much for this information. I'm a newbie and just bought my first guitar and didn't realize the action was all wrong with this thing. Pretty much I tuned it right out of the box and didn't know about setting it up. You just made my life better !!!! For an entire month I've been trying to play this with the Highest Action ever .. lol. (Kramer Pacer classic)
Thanks for taking the time to explain this in a non-run-of-the-mill way like everyone else, I have been setting my own guitars up for years and I learned a few tricks here for sure :)
"As soon as you change your gauge, you're gonna have to change your intonation. As soon as you change your gauge, you're gonna have to change your action height. This is just the rules of the game, folks. I didn't make them" I laughed so hard after that last bit.
Ya I found out the hard way. My floating bridge no longer floats. I'm in the beginner stages still and wanting to try out a diff variety of strings till I noticed my bridge was pulling out. I wanted to still change strings so I taped up 2 dimes and wedged it in there. Fixed. Fixed bridge lol
thank you!!! I got my first rg220b yesterday, was having issues on tuning and action height but now problem solved!! this video truly is a major help :)
Thanks for your time and the instruction video it's just what i needed, I plan on doing all of my own setup work and this info really helps. Very straight forward and to the point and not a bunch of rambling and BS like old Scotty puts out!
Thanks for mentioning those details about *each* string. I never did it that way. I always did the measurements on the first and the sixth strings, only.
as a noob this was helpful. thank you. i had too much relief in my neck and was causing fret buzz. this explained a lot for me, especially with lower tunings
Intonation should be open, fretted and then harmonic. Just because open and fretted are intonated DOES NOT mean that harmonic will be. A perfectionist will do intonation harmonically on the 12th. You would be surprised just how many people this catches out. Thumbed up! Great video mate!
locking the floating bridge in level position and tuning the guitar, then releasing the lock and tuning (the A string/or any but i find the A works best for some reason) with the spring screws makes leveling the floyd about a billion times easier, i've found. unless there's some technical problem with doing so, that i'm not aware of and have yet to be able to detect on my own.
Just wanted to say thanks man. I saw your updates and what's going and I greatly appreciate you dude. And thank you for leaving videos likes this one up. Last year I watched it and set up my guitar and again lm watching it since I don't do this enough it really helps me out a bunch. Thank mans
Saw a couple of videos about raising and lowering the floyd rose bridge and they mention you have to be careful turning those screws with all spring tension on the bridge because you can ruin the knife edge underneath holding the bridge to the screws rendering the bridge useless.Great video by the way. Thanks Also I have the exact same Ibanez same color..Great guitar for the price.
So i upgraded my dean ML to use a orginal floyd rose. The special that used to be in it had a small locking nut. So when i put the new one in it was to tall. With this video i was able to fix this problem and have a sweet guitar now. So thank you!
quick and to the point! Enough detail with out dragging your brain through the mud. This is the way to make a tech video... Thanks for the awesome info!
Just subbed. Thanks for this vid I finally have a good understanding of the proper adjustments. Been paying for setups and sometimes not good ones. Now after 30+ of playing I can do it myself correctly. Thanks again!
Intonation - long string goes flat, short string goes sharp, cool :o) I have to adjust the intonation because I switched from D'Adario to Epiphone, same gauge.
thanks man...never thought the relief was the thickness of a credit card, I almost gave up on my axe due fret buzz...it's perfectly set up now for my aggressive playing!!
thanks alot dude ! just bought a Jackson x series, which is my first Jackson ever owned. Really excited the whole 4 and a half hours drive back home to play. Nothing but a disappointed find its really unclear buzzes alot and total drag to play. I didn't want try anything as I don't really know anything about maintenance. I did the 1st and 21st fret trick and found the truss rod is to tight. thanks man for giving me the courage to try it. haha
Thanks Will this video really helped me out. I purchased a brand new Jackson guitar from guitar center / Factory settings out of the box were not good, there was not one note that didn't have fret buzz. The neck I set it to a credit card on the 7th perfectly. One thing i noticed is the buzz will not go away if you only adjust one string height same as 24th to 1st, all six strings have to be adjusted / then adjust the height 1 string at a time until the fret buzz goes away. I started from the high E since it needed less adjusting. My guitar is much easier to play now & buzz free.
Thank you very educational and instructional video for someone who wants to do this themselves me having over 40 guitars and my latest being a cozart double neck 12/6 I’m trying to get all of this guitar setup properly keep up the good work
Nice video. I want to add something here. I have been a professional guitar tech for 26 years. Fret buzz is not necessarily a bad thing depending on how you want the guitar to feel, your playing style, your guitar tone, and what genre of music you are playing. On an Ibanez electric with a Floyd Rose as shown in this video, it would suggest a rock or metal player. If you are using an overdrive in your tone, a small amount of fret buzz will not even be noticed through the amp. You can also eliminate some fret buzz by not hitting your strings so hard. I am not talking about a big change, just 5 or 10 easier will usually make a difference. Have a great day! Sammy Bones #fretbuzz #guitartips #guitartech
Great video man. You've really helped me in the order you did things. I had it figured out thru trial and error over the years, but you just confirmed what I was already thinking. Man, I wish this info had been out there when I was a kid, but of course the internet wasn't here either, and you basically had either a Gibson or Fender or copy form hell and had to rely on someone locally to fix it for you and hope they knew what they were doing. My first guitar felt like I was pushing barbed wire against a fence post the action was so sucky, etc,. Kept me from learning I'm sure for years!
Thanks for this video, dude. This taught me a shitload of stuff. Also, thanks for pointing out the D chord problem with the bridge stuff! That's been my biggest frustration forEVER!!
Perfect explanation, the best I ve ever seen on youtube. Having said that, it would be great if you put it in practice. I really want to watch you as you re fixing it.
Wills you are awesome you hit it bud the thing I overlooked forever that makes or breaks a guitar and I know why now. I can't think of a single guitar I ever bought that had the same string height at the nut 1st fret and at the bridge 24 fret never not once so this is where they draw the line at factory set up, unless for custom shop or ordered. Because here is the tiny tweaks mountain peeks, and what is the best action for each buzz sand tap press torque. Oh man this is great you have giving sight to this blind man that answered 1000's of question. Thank you so much, Do you realize that I now know why a PRS is so nice to hold because they come with a setup not a diversion. LMAO
Ok. I REALLY wish i did a before-video of how my guitar looked before finding this video. I have an Ibanez S series that I haven´t used in roughtly 10 years. It´s been sitting in a soft bag through several moves, and mostly stayed in basements. Pulled it out recently to see if i could get it back into shape, and the neck looked like a banana. The strings were clamped to the fretboard almost from the start. after skipping through this video i found everything i needed, and within 20 min the guitar is set up perfectly again. Last night I couldn´t even imagine I would ever be able to get anywhere near this by myself, and was planning on dropping it off to some guy to fix it this week. I really appeciate you doing this video. Thank you so much!
You take that beautiful guitar out and play it dammit
@@mayfieldgage yes play it DAMNIT!🤬🤬🤬🤬
@@KristianDale Mastercard or Visa?
0:30 Prologue
1:33 Truss rod: basic info
3:00 Truss rod: suggested relief
5:10 Nut: evaluate height
5:50: Nut: height adjustment
7:29 Bridge: basic info
8:20 Bridge: height adjustment
8:55 Insider tip
11:45 excursus to trem spring adjustmet
13:30 Intonation: checking method
14:30 Intonation: adjustment
16:35 Insider tip
17:00 Epilogue
19:10 excursus to pickup height
->for people looking for individual parts because the visuals of the video are pretty modest and not recognizable while skipping through.
not every hero wears a cape
This should be the pinned the comment
I love you❤
I'm glad this is the second comment. I can go right to this comment to see what category he's on.
Every Guitar Tech on UA-cam should watch this video…. This dude is the Best of the best…. Thanks for Explaining it in the easiest way to understand…..
Your instruction is so very "real" and to the point that it makes it very easy to follow and to understand exactly what you are showing us. I have watched alot of luthier vids and you are hands down the one I "get" the most, first time, every time. I have almost 2 dozen Basses and 4 dozen + Guitars, and there is no way I could afford NOT to know how to do some of this stuff! I have no illusions about my skills: I am NO luthier! But, I do all my own set-ups, as well as a couple other guys' instruments, and when I run into a tight spot, where my drive overshadows my abilities, I find it more than comforting that I have a Luthier at my fingertips to get a little advice, or a technique from. I appreciate that you have taken the time to do these videos and share your expertise with all of us. I thank you from and for all of us! If you find yourself in 'Vegas anytime, give a shout-out; it would be great to meet ya' and I can give you a couple of pointers on some fun that the average tourist never gets to know about!
+WillsEasyGuitar How the hell do you get the whammy bars hooked into these. I'm used to offcial Floyd Rose where they screw on. This one has a tapered spot at the end where it snaps in, but no matter how much I push it doesn't go in.
+Jeffery A. Hunt
Hey bro, can I have a couple of your guitars...please? lol!
Man, I am jealous - I have two!
Jack
+Bronzesnake If you find yourself in 'Vegas, Hit me up! I bet we could work out some kind of a deal!
Jeffery A. Hunt
Hey brother - the kind of deal where I trade money for one or two of your guitars? lol!
Bro, I'm a fiddy tree year old disabled fart, and I can't even afford bus fare to the end of my street!
But thank you kindly for the offer.
What are you into Jeff?
I started out playing acoustic to play Beatles stuff because I just love their tuneages.
I bought my first descent acoustic...actually, I'll back up a wee bit, I almost forgot about my first guitar ever.
Mum inherited her father's Yorkshire English addiction to flea market selling. And of course, being the youngest I was forced at gun point to dig stuff out of the small garage for the market, and I kid you not the stuff was all bought by Mum and her equally addicted sister, my aunt Joyce...dam do I miss them...sigh
Anyway, the stuff filled the entire floor space, which wasn't much at about twenty by twenty ,and it actually touched the roof in some places!! That is some serious ass hoarding!!
They never considered the concept of money in vs money out, because I'm positive they spent way more than they ever recovered! It was a labour of love bro.
Where was I? Oh - I was forced at gun point to drag sufficient crap out of the garage under constant threat of cave in, or crapvalanch!
to fill the old 67 Ford Wagon.
Then, the next day I was woken up at 5am...again, at gun point and dragged my tired ass to the flea market a thousand miles away... it felt like it anyway - then unload and set up tables etc.
My end was a percentage of the filthy lucre to spend where I saw fit -and I saw fit!!
I bought a cheese grater 5 dollar acoustic welfare sunburst acoustic, and I think it was a "Laughatchew"
I can't believe I actually learned to play on that hunka hunka burning fire wood!
Then, one glorious saturday morning, I was scanning potential scorage when I spied a really sweet looking electric guitar on top of a pile of old clothes, broken toys and other crap.
It was the most awesome thing my ten year old eye balls had ever seen. A sweet, sweet glossy white with awesome chrome looking hardware, which I had no clue what it was for.
It had one string. So mum schooled me in the finer art of the deal and I asked what he wanted, about an hour before opening, and instantly paid up!
Mum was steamed that I didn't bicker him down but for crying out loud I was ten!!
So I didn't have the first clue as to how to get things back together, and working and so I left it in a closet for years.
I bought a Yamaha FG 365 if I remember correctly, acoustic and just loved that thing!
I ended up trading it for an electric, and cannot remember what it was, I just know I hated myself for years after that...sigh.
OK, get this.
I quit school and moved out of a perfect loving middle class home to live with my native American Cheyenne girlfriend.
I was adopted at 4 days old and my parents were both from England. Dad was a WWII vet - an officer aboard the HMS Illustrious aircraft carrier during the war.
I was Scottish, Cherokee and Irish, and so I had a thing for the Native ladies and Vicky was Miss Multiple Universe for life...in my mind.
We lived with bikers, and I started my pharmaceutical experimentation, and an in-depth study of the effects of consuming copious amounts of Gold Tequila!
I also started my street fighting career and my prison career followed very shortly thereafter...sigh...such an idiot!
I started singing in bands, and we played Beatles - then expanded into classic rock from 50s 60s and 70s - The Who, Eagles, Red Zepperwin -etc.
I got to be a purdy decent singer and bands were scouting my ass!! Woo!
I floated around for a few years then joined Another Lie based in Toronto where I was born and lived till 19 years.
One day, some friends of Victoria's came from Quebec to live in Toronto with us. We got our own place away from the retarded biker scene - don't get me wrong, I loved a lot of those bros, but it was destroying my life!
They both played guitar and I was just getting back into the guitar, when Lee pulled out his Gibson Les Paul............
See where this is going? Ya, I bought a real Gibson Les Paul at a freaking yard sale when I was a ten year old punk, for $25!!
I had not contacted my folks for over two years, because I was too busy being a full time asshole, but the second I realized what I had, I rushed back home to retrieve it!
I bought it in 1972, so it was at least that old, and more likely older be still my sputtering heart!
Here's how that went "hey Mum, where's my white electric guitar"
Mum - "oh, I sold that at the flea market after you dumped us on the curb..........NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!
But yes. She made twenty bucks on it, because she sold it to some jack-ass who had a shit eating grin on his face, knowing exactly what this little old English lady had....bastard!
So, there's my broken heart story bro! lol!
Take care man.
Jack
+Bronzesnake Well, that's a damned heart-breaker right there. Awesome story for the latter years, though, I must say. I am to finish my 50th year here in April, all things willing. "My Harem" was, at first, part turn-over axes, part awesome I-always-wanted-one's, but somehow they cannot seem to find their way back thru the door once here! Being a Bassist and Vocalist for years and looking to put together another act, I got tired of "I play, but my shit is in pawn", so I began to remedy that my own way. I have Axes, Amps, P.A.,Drumset, Effect processors, Lighting, Studio gear, whatever the case may call for. So now there is no "in pawn" because "Let's just go play!" Good for on-the-spot weeding out the wannabees at the same time. A few other brands, but mostly the largest Ibanez collection I know of. Great quality, better price. I still claim I don't actually play Guitar and I mean it, I just fake it well enough. I do play Bass, and do still sing, but "gettin' the Band back together" could be a bit of a reach, who knows. I sure have fun goofin' around though! When I was younger, it was the "Old guys" who had the toys we knew we could make better use of, and now I ain't a kid anymore and I like to think that I am more Mentor than those guys were. Buyin', sellin', tradin', sharin', even lendin' 'em, but mostly playin' these bastards and gettin' the interest in positive activity like live music, a focus on creativity, that's the fave aspect of it for me. The one thing I know at this point is, regardless, there is always room for just one more, but that's it, no more.....Just one more. L O L ! ! ! ! !
Business card thickness = 0.36mm
Credit card thickness = 0.76mm
I read the Ibanez Manuals but this video helped me more! The numbers are similar.
Dude, you are so damn thorough in your explanations. Much more so than other tutorials from "guitar techs" that expect the viewer to already have a trained eye and learn from osmosis. Subbed.
Great video, basically summarizes what might take hours to learn scouring through the internet. The most informative 20 minutes in guitar setup available.
You Sir are a genius. Take a bow. People could make a career out of repairing guitars just by following your instructions
What do you think I've been doing for the past few years? ;-)>
This is the greatest guitar set up video on UA-cam after years of searching. I’ve been just doing my best but always end up frustrated. You knocked it out of the park. I wanted a serious instructional video with none of the fancy tools I can’t afford or access right now. Thank you so mich
Video was made 10 years ago, but so well done its timeless! Thank you for posting this all those years ago👍
HEY BRO, THIS IS VERY WELL DONE!!! I am a pro player that has been in the trenches for nearly three decades, and in my constant thirst for excellence and wisdom for myself as well as my students.... i have saturated my mind with all kinds of input from countless sources and not very many of which are accurate or reliable, and this skill of discernment has been an asset for me over the years as well... and your comprehensive and ''real world'' vids on the complexities of these kinds of setups was AMAZING!!! i will share this with all my students as required skillset fundamentals from here on out... thanks again... for clearing the smoke and giving them good, straight up, reliable WISDOM. hats off to ya, brother... and my thanks as well
In my 25 + years of playing, I've always been afraid of messing with action/intonation. You made is so simple! I just set up my Hohner G2T (I know, but it is actually a decent guitar) and now it plays like a dream! This video was extremely helpful, thanks for posting.
I just recently bought a floyd rose guitar and had to set it up myself since almost everything on it wasn't even set to factory setup. Now everything makes sense watching your video. Thank you for making this guide I'm sure it helped many others. Keep it up!
This is a great video that ALL guitarists should watch. The information is very well presented and every bit of it has real value. This covers all the bases so thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge with the rest of us.
This is the best video regarding guitar set up and the theory on different area how, what and why thing happened.
I ordered a setup kit from StewMac and they actually sent me a credit card, a business card and a dime. 😜
I like this video. Well presented info. Thanks.
they probably charged you $300 for those items. lol
@@WillsEasyGuitar 🤣🤣🤣🤣
This video is not long winded it's spot on and to the point.
Thanks for doing it the best on UA-cam by far!!!
I spent 20 years figuring out a lot of these things, Im glad you mentioned the actual playing when action is too low. A lot of people dont realise it limits you some what.
"make sure the action on the first fret is equal to the action on the last fret. Best advice I've ever found on the internet.
oh really please explain how that works then
Headwind-1 I don’t understand that advice. The gap gets wider on mine as it goes up the neck.
It doesn't lol
@@Headwind-1 perhaps.... watch the video?
One of the best explanations I’ve seen on UA-cam about tuning and setting up your guitar. Very thorough this helped me out tremendously thank you
I don't know if you see these comments, but this is an excellent video, and I very much appreciate your posting good advice in your videos. Thanks!
I’m like, oh man I wish he would show us a great view of what he’s explaining....then he turns the guitar to a great view of what he’s explaining. Fantastic video. Thanks!
I resurrected my 17th years old S370 with some new parts. Your video was life saving
Your 17 year old strat, unless you have 16 before it🏆😁
I think that was the best thing I've heard about truss rod set up with respect to string spacing to fret height. One more point is that the need for a little relief in the neck is that the strings are vibrating. So longer vibrations take up more room and shorter ones less. This is why relief happens between the 15th and fret 1 with no change for the 12th and above range. This means that the lowest action before fret buzz with respect to neck relief says some relief is needed for the best over all lowest action.
its 4:43AM and i've been checking out my guitar for like...6 hours now with all the stuff you have said in the video, my guitar feels like new now!! its kinda funny now when i look at it, how long i've been playing with strings being so tensed up, and me thinking its just shit guitar...thanks a tons for the instruction and tips, i've learned a valuable lesson from them
***** i have a question tho, i kinda tried to set up my floyd so it gets back into the tune once i use it during the play but me playing here and there with it and trying to set the floyd to be equal with the body, since i am using D tune, suddenly from using 2 springs i have to change to 3 springs on the floyd, and my strings have much more tension now then they had, why is that? my problem is that i ain't really sure if that tension is good or it should be very easy to touch the strings when being in lower tune as it is D tune
Just wanted to say thank you! I did not know where to start when setting up my guitar, and you answered every single question and explained it perfectly. This is the best setup video I have seen anywhere. It took me about two weeks but I was able to set up every guitar I have. 76 guitars LOL. Some people collect stamps, collect antiques, I collect guitars. Thank you so much I cannot believe the action and how all of my guitars sound and play now. Thank you so very much dude! God bless.
Great info packed 20 minutes. So glad you addressed fret height/level early on. I check mine with a 3" straight edge and mark them just as you do. This was perfect real world / on the fly / work with what you have adjustments that I can do with confidence. I've gotten guitars back from "the shop" that I have had to fix on my own because their "luthier" was some poser hack. I encourage you guitar players to "interview" the guy doing your set-ups with questions you already know the proper answers to (aka a lawyer question), and don't be afraid to pick up your instrument and kindly walk away. WillsEasyGuitar guy just gave you the true lowdown. Trust your gut feelings and go with it! Thanks Will !!!
Your videos are the best for explaining guitar stuff, you're an elite level teacher. Other tutorials will scatter the information you provided here and skip some important parts, while you go with "A > B > C in order of importance, check them in this order, and here's exactly how to check each one step by step."
Also, every other video on the topic will mention that the string height needs to be 2-2.5 mm at this and that fret, you can use that specific $30 luthier tool to check. Bro, me and 99% of people only have a shitty plastic ruler that doesn't work for this purpose and I'm never buying that tool. Then you come along with "credit card on 12th fret, business card on 3rd", which everyone has. Amazing.
Thank you so much for a detailed instructions video on guitar setup. One of the best videos on the internet.
I recently Bought an Esp LTD, which came with a ridiculously huge action (made in China of course). In the times of covid 19, its hard to get it setup through a professional. This video provided me with the required theoretical knowledge to DIY setting it up. Thank you once again.
Thanks again, I followed your instructions and my guitars feel and sound better. One thing that is very helpful, which I didn't know, is that by adjusting the height of the pickup I can get the sound that I want. I thought pickups had only one sound, Great video.
WOW! I have an Ibanez GRG 170DX and I've always thought, well it's an inexpensive guitar so I just have to deal with the fact that the action has to be high in order to not have any fret buzz, and the pitch is going to be off from an open string to the 12th fret. Well, you showed me that I could not have been more wrong. After adjusting the truss rod and applying the adjustments that you have so kindly shared with us, my 170DX has the best action of any guitar that I've owned in 40 years!
I just purchased an Ibanez RG 350M an unfortunately that one has not been as easy because although I've realized great improvement, I still have to choose either high action or fret buzz. I'm guessing that it needs a fret job. Now that I realize that all guitars are capable of great action, I will seek out a skilled professional. Again, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us...
Intonation logic....
(I know why all the saddle locations aren't exactly double the distance from the nut to the 12th fret.)
When you imagine the length of a vibrating string it's typically from one node at the top of the saddle to a second node to the nut for an open string or to the top of a fingered fret. We imagine that these effective ends of the string are like hinge points--like a jump rope emerging from the ends of tubular wooden handles.
It isn't quite like that.
Steel strings have stiffness. They are not hinged at the top of frets or other contact points. Imagine a fret, nut or saddle being like your hand stiffly holding on the the end of a casting rod and the rod is the guitar string. As you whip the rod, the rod doesn't hinge at the end of the rod handle. It gradually bends because of the rod's stiffness. As this analogy applies to guitar strings, this same flex happens at both ends of a vibrating guitar string. The string stiffness has the effect of foreshortening the node location: the effective node is slightly before the saddle and just past the fret and not a perfect arc from contact point to contact point.
Thicker wire is stiffer. This means that to compensate for this foreshortening, the saddle must be moved farther from the nut for thick wire than for thin wire. Notice I said thicker "wire", not thicker "strings". That's because the stiffness of wound strings is a function of the thickness of the wire inside, not the overall wound string thickness.
This explains the geometry of non-adjustable saddles on acoustic guitars. The first two strings, E and B, are unwound. They're also fairly thin and the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is only very slightly less than the distance from the 12th fret to the nut. The G string is wound but inside the winding is a wire about the same thickness as the 1st E string, so its saddle location is about the same as as the E string. The rest of the strings are wound and the wires inside are progressively thicker than the wire in the G string.
So the individual saddle locations for all the strings are pretty much on two parallel lines. One line intersects the contact points of the first two strings (E and B). The other line, parallel to the first, intersects the contact points of the other four strings.
I don't do videos. If you agree with this information, you may use it in one of yours.
I have been playing for 13 years now and never learned how important any of the technical details actually are to sound and quality playing. I wish I knew about this forever ago.. I like to use Ernie Ball hybrid slinky strings and always tune between dgcfad and eadgbe. My epiphone prophecy sg has a high action and today I bought a charvel ds-1 st that has very low action with some fret buzz on the higher frets (12-24) on the 6th 5th and 4th strings, which finally brought me to this video. Thank you sir!
I can't thank you enough Will...You're a godsend mate cos it's amazing how much I have forgotten over 50 years. I'd be truly knackered without you at present.
I really wish I could have watched this video 35+ years ago! That's how long I've been playing and afraid to do most of this kind of stuff myself. Thank you so much for the detailed information. Since it's never too late to try something new I'm going to start going through your steps with one of my guitars tonight.
Always great to revisit to refresh the mechanics of it all. Thanks for all you do Will!
Not long winded in the least! Very well constructed and informative. I've come back to this vid several times over the course of a year as a refresher once in awhile. Thanks Will!
I have a dead spot on the 20th, 21st and 22nd frets of my Epiphone SG. Your other video: "Get rid of fret buzz FOREVER!" helped me with that.
Man, this video saved my sanity. I've been playing for forty years (badly, but hey...), and I was having the devil's own time with the action on my latest guitar. I followed your suggestions, and she plays quite well now. Thank you!
I never knew how to make tuning even throughout the neck. That was well worth the watch thank you.
I'm very grateful for your insight. I have a floyd rose and I paid a local music store to adjust intonation and the guitar now has a open string buzz on the Low E, and fret buzz on the 4th fret High E.
Best setup video I have seen and I know how important that is for having fun with your Instrument or not. I think millions of guitars are not used anymore, because the setup is bad. It determines the life and death of a guitar !!!
Well put! Guitars get kicked to the curb when they have so much potential. Shame.
Great teach, dialed my Fender in, I forgot changing string size can make such a big change to everything, good part is, I found the strings I'm now going to stick with. Thx again.
Really helpful to me to actually go in after a pro set-up from Guitar Center to tweak the action on my Korean Ibanez AS-80. I had fret buzz a after the set-up and could see a back bend had developed after I got it home. Took it back and he took out the back bend now there was bit of relief (forward bend i guess), and he bought the action up at eh bridge. So got it home and it was pretty factory - not at all as cool to move around on.
Your trick to check relief was spot on I could see the relief in the neck, pushed on the 1 and 24 fret and got a biz card in but just barely. I adjusted the brige down a 1/4 turn on both knobs on the bridge and I'm back to the great action, but now that the relief is there I'm not getting the buzz.
I really enjoy Vids on YT that give a big picture along with useful practical things to do. The guy at GC has a good rep and his fret dress was spot on and his neck adjustment, but its hard to communicate what you really want in a visit or two I guess. It always feels better to me to know it myself so I can get it where I want. Thanks much Ron
I have a very heavy right hand so I use 11s with a high action. When people try to play my guitar they usually can't even do a bar chord let alone a full bend. they then say I'm crazy... But with practice I find it's not that hard and I get a great tone out of it. I do a simple open chord with clean tone and it just resonates and sustains for ages! It's great :)
Thank you, it was an eye opener learning so many ways to adjust the height of the strings in a guitar.
Very informative. I do wanna note though, that before you adjust your bridge height on a floyd rose, its best to loosen the tension, because you could damage the knife edges if you have string tention. Damaged knife edges has as result that your floyd won't return to pitch.
***** I agree, i should've said ''floyd rose style - licensed by floyd bridges mighty damage, maybe over time'' but we can't assume every single person watching this has an original floyd rose with hardend steel parts. Most people watching this probably just got their first floyd rose equiped guitar and they might not know whether they have an original floyd or an korean copy with the floyd rose stamp on it. All i want is to tell them that not all floyds are unbreakable and have a good time with theirs. Also, if they ever went over to their friends and are like ''oh yeah i know how to raise or lower the floyd on your guitar'' and not knowing whether their friends has an original or korean/chinese copy, they might screw it up. Anyway, happy new year to you all, keep up the good work WillsEasyGuitar!
Thanks Will! I spent hours trying to setup my guitar with other UA-cam videos but I never understood them, but with your video I was able to in 20 minutes thank you for teaching me and not spending so much for somebody to do it for me
This is the most comprehensive set up video I've seen. Thank you!
Thank you! Got my very first guitar out of storage for the first time in 15 years and it was all out of wack. Thanks to this video it mow sounds as good as my newer everyday player
Thanks for the video. I knew how to set things up, but was unsure about simple ways to check the action height and what you've shown here really simplifies things quite a bit. Intonation is an area I rarely even touch on, but again, this video made it pretty simple and straightforward for me, and also knowing that it doesn't even matter until I've got my action where it needs to be makes the whole process so much less daunting. Good stuff, my old RG is like brand new again.
thanx i used this video to set up my 99 ibz rg, i had had a lot of trouble with the edge trem, i found that the tremolo pegs where loose i used teflon tape worked fine then followed your instructions and man it plays nice thanks again.
man this was really educational , the part on taking off the nut and sanding it down a little bit to stop the tuning problem because of the distance the string has to travel on frets 2 and 3 wow ,
Best video lesson I've ever came across!! Really explained properly made so much sense thanks
Great video. I passed this on to a fellow guitar player to help him understand + to save him money in the future. We both have Ibanez RG series guitars and I just set his up for him. World of difference when they're properly setup. Thanks for explaining this in detail - I enjoyed watching it even though I already understood 99% of it. Cheers.
Thanks a bunch man, you easily lifted some of my biggest frustrations while playing. Thanks for teaching me how to setup my own stuff so that I don't get ripped off for no reason!
Greetings from Europe
Thank You so much for this information. I'm a newbie and just bought my first guitar and didn't realize the action was all wrong with this thing. Pretty much I tuned it right out of the box and didn't know about setting it up. You just made my life better !!!! For an entire month I've been trying to play this with the Highest Action ever .. lol. (Kramer Pacer classic)
Dude, ive been searching my ass off to learn the specifics about tuning. Thank you very much, you were totally clear about everything.
Stunning how you make so easy to understand and use - already got my Pacifica sounding better than it ever did.
Thank you for this incredibly helpful video. I've had fret buzz for a while and didn't know how to fix it. It's gone now :D
I'm a bass player that plays guitar. This has been a great help. Thank you so much!
Thanks for taking the time to explain this in a non-run-of-the-mill way like everyone else, I have been setting my own guitars up for years and I learned a few tricks here for sure :)
"As soon as you change your gauge, you're gonna have to change your intonation. As soon as you change your gauge, you're gonna have to change your action height. This is just the rules of the game, folks. I didn't make them" I laughed so hard after that last bit.
Ya I found out the hard way. My floating bridge no longer floats. I'm in the beginner stages still and wanting to try out a diff variety of strings till I noticed my bridge was pulling out. I wanted to still change strings so I taped up 2 dimes and wedged it in there. Fixed. Fixed bridge lol
thank you!!! I got my first rg220b yesterday, was having issues on tuning and action height but now problem solved!! this video truly is a major help :)
thank you Will , you managed to put together a lot of valuable information in a way I've never seen before , really practical and useful . cheers
Thanks for your time and the instruction video it's just what i needed, I plan on doing all of my own setup work and this info really helps. Very straight forward and to the point and not a bunch of rambling and BS like old Scotty puts out!
Man .... you explain everything very very clearly , respect... the best video thanks
Thanks for mentioning those details about *each* string. I never did it that way. I always did the measurements on the first and the sixth strings, only.
as a noob this was helpful. thank you. i had too much relief in my neck and was causing fret buzz. this explained a lot for me, especially with lower tunings
Intonation should be open, fretted and then harmonic. Just because open and fretted are intonated DOES NOT mean that harmonic will be. A perfectionist will do intonation harmonically on the 12th. You would be surprised just how many people this catches out.
Thumbed up! Great video mate!
Harmonic is always in tune with open string
CommodoreWog how do you do it harmonically?
u r the best on YT in explaining this shit in normal way without all useless bullshit !
Will is the best . Pure knowledge and no bullshit!
locking the floating bridge in level position and tuning the guitar, then releasing the lock and tuning (the A string/or any but i find the A works best for some reason) with the spring screws makes leveling the floyd about a billion times easier, i've found. unless there's some technical problem with doing so, that i'm not aware of and have yet to be able to detect on my own.
the best video on the subject hands down.
Just wanted to say thanks man. I saw your updates and what's going and I greatly appreciate you dude. And thank you for leaving videos likes this one up. Last year I watched it and set up my guitar and again lm watching it since I don't do this enough it really helps me out a bunch. Thank mans
This video is extremely helpful. I have an old Jackson that had a warped neck and I put a new neck on and want to be sure everything is correct.
Saw a couple of videos about raising and lowering the floyd rose bridge and they mention you have to be careful turning those screws with all spring tension on the bridge because you can ruin the knife edge underneath holding the bridge to the screws rendering the bridge useless.Great video by the way. Thanks Also I have the exact same Ibanez same color..Great guitar for the price.
Best setup vid on UA-cam right here
So i upgraded my dean ML to use a orginal floyd rose. The special that used to be in it had a small locking nut. So when i put the new one in it was to tall.
With this video i was able to fix this problem and have a sweet guitar now. So thank you!
quick and to the point! Enough detail with out dragging your brain through the mud. This is the way to make a tech video...
Thanks for the awesome info!
Just subbed. Thanks for this vid I finally have a good understanding of the proper adjustments. Been paying for setups and sometimes not good ones. Now after 30+ of playing I can do it myself correctly. Thanks again!
Intonation - long string goes flat, short string goes sharp, cool :o)
I have to adjust the intonation because I switched from D'Adario to Epiphone, same gauge.
Nice , clear and to the point..thank you for this. Just built a "Liebanez" kit and this is what I needed. thank you.
thanks man...never thought the relief was the thickness of a credit card, I almost gave up on my axe due fret buzz...it's perfectly set up now for my aggressive playing!!
thanks alot dude ! just bought a Jackson x series, which is my first Jackson ever owned. Really excited the whole 4 and a half hours drive back home to play. Nothing but a disappointed find its really unclear buzzes alot and total drag to play. I didn't want try anything as I don't really know anything about maintenance. I did the 1st and 21st fret trick and found the truss rod is to tight. thanks man for giving me the courage to try it. haha
Great video. Honest, clear, thoughtful. I appreciate it!
This is more helpful than any youtube video i ever seen.. By Far!
more = most
Hands down one of the best videos .... Thank you!!
I wish I watch this before I bought a book about setting up a guitar. Great Video! Thank you!
Thanks Will this video really helped me out. I purchased a brand new Jackson guitar from guitar center / Factory settings out of the box were not good, there was not one note that didn't have fret buzz. The neck I set it to a credit card on the 7th perfectly. One thing i noticed is the buzz will not go away if you only adjust one string height same as 24th to 1st, all six strings have to be adjusted / then adjust the height 1 string at a time until the fret buzz goes away. I started from the high E since it needed less adjusting. My guitar is much easier to play now & buzz free.
Thank you very educational and instructional video for someone who wants to do this themselves me having over 40 guitars and my latest being a cozart double neck 12/6 I’m trying to get all of this guitar setup properly keep up the good work
Great video very in depth and understandable i have yet to find one that explains all of this well thanks man
Nice video. I want to add something here. I have been a professional guitar tech for 26 years. Fret buzz is not necessarily a bad thing depending on how you want the guitar to feel, your playing style, your guitar tone, and what genre of music you are playing. On an Ibanez electric with a Floyd Rose as shown in this video, it would suggest a rock or metal player. If you are using an overdrive in your tone, a small amount of fret buzz will not even be noticed through the amp. You can also eliminate some fret buzz by not hitting your strings so hard. I am not talking about a big change, just 5 or 10 easier will usually make a difference.
Have a great day!
Sammy Bones
#fretbuzz
#guitartips #guitartech
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. Continue the great work!!!
Great video man. You've really helped me in the order you did things. I had it figured out thru trial and error over the years, but you just confirmed what I was already thinking. Man, I wish this info had been out there when I was a kid, but of course the internet wasn't here either, and you basically had either a Gibson or Fender or copy form hell and had to rely on someone locally to fix it for you and hope they knew what they were doing. My first guitar felt like I was pushing barbed wire against a fence post the action was so sucky, etc,. Kept me from learning I'm sure for years!
Saved me a bunch of money 💰 thanks buddy that was excellent in easy to understand language
Thanks for this video, dude. This taught me a shitload of stuff. Also, thanks for pointing out the D chord problem with the bridge stuff! That's been my biggest frustration forEVER!!
Perfect explanation, the best I ve ever seen on youtube. Having said that, it would be great if you put it in practice. I really want to watch you as you re fixing it.
Wish I had this about 15yrs ago. I ended up learning how to do this on my own. Thanks
Straight to the points. Extremely helpful. Thank you very much for educating me.
Wills you are awesome you hit it bud the thing I overlooked forever that makes or breaks a guitar and I know why now. I can't think of a single guitar I ever bought that had the same string height at the nut 1st fret and at the bridge 24 fret never not once so this is where they draw the line at factory set up, unless for custom shop or ordered. Because here is the tiny tweaks mountain peeks, and what is the best action for each buzz sand tap press torque. Oh man this is great you have giving sight to this blind man that answered 1000's of question. Thank you so much, Do you realize that I now know why a PRS is so nice to hold because they come with a setup not a diversion. LMAO