I thought I knew how to set up a guitar...
Arlowe
I do my own setups...I have paid to have them setup in the past & it
always has been wrong, at least for me.
anyway...
I have a cheap 2nd hand flat top I fixed up for the grandkids to play
with when they visit, well it got left out a few months ago & the dog
knocked it over & broke the nut.
I had never installed a nut before so I thought I would give it a go
one day...
I recently picked up an Epiphone LP custom...a nice guitar, but it
needed a decent setup to be really playable.
So I did, however I could not get it to stay in tune. It was pretty
obvious what the problem was, the nut was just a precut plastic nut
that had not been adjusted.
So I decided to get the nut replaced. Since the acoustic also needed a
new nut I ordered a couple of Graphtech black tusq pre-slotted nuts.
I figured I would try fitting the nut on the acoustic first & if I had
success there I would then do the LP.
So I did...
I have a copy of Dan Erlewine's guitar repair book that someone gave me
& I used it as a guide to fitting the nut & setting up the guitar.
The flat top fixed up pretty well considering the bridge has risen up
almost too high to set the saddle properly. I think the bracing is
coming loose from the top...something else to try to repair in the
future.
Now that I had some "experience" under my belt, I moved on to the LP.
The nut I picked was pre-grooved to fit an epiphone LP, and it matched
the string spacing of the original nut.
I used Erlewine's book to determine the proper height & clearances, the
stock Gibson specs were a bit too high & I didn't want to try for the
specs Dan Erlewine says he uses for his LP (if you read his book you'll
understand). I decided I would set the nut string heights about .005"
lower than stock & see how it goes ( I did try the stock settings
first).
I also raised the high E end of the bridge a little bit, just enough to
give my fingers some purchase on the strings for bends.
The neck bow was ok, and the intonation was close enough to leave
alone.
Ok, now I know why alot of cheap guitars have crappy nuts. There is a
hell of alot of work that goes into setting a nut, not to mention I
managed to break two high E strings in the process. I guess it gets
easier & faster with experience, but still, I like the results I got.
This shitty little Epiphone Les Paul is now the best playing guitar I
have ever owned.
The difference is dramatic, all of the little problems I had, the dead
notes, buzzes all gone...I always thought that my rough playing was
because of me...turns out it wasn't. The diffences between the old nut
& the installed graphtech isn't much...no more than .015", but it makes
a huge difference in how the guitar plays.
The tone hasn't changed any, at least not enough for my ears to detect.
However,no matter how hard you play them or how big the bends are, both
of these guitars stay in tune. These graphtech nuts bloody well do what
they say they do!
Mark Bedingfield
lowered a acoustic saddle. There was nothing easy about any of it. A
setup can make all the world of difference for a cheap guitar.
Mark
RichL
Hmmmm, I've been tempted to try cutting my own...but my eyesight won't
cooperate. It seems like I get a new pair of glasses every six months
and I still can't read the friggin' newspaper.
I still do the truss rod tweaks, intonation, etc. But it's been a while
since I used a soldering iron. I've got some new pickups for the Strat
coming soon, so I'll see [no pun intended] whether my eyeballs will be
able to handle that or not. I may have to call in the cavalry (my kids)
to help out.
Getting old sucks. And the one tech I've come to rely on to do the
stuff that's beyond me is flaking out....and he doesn't have getting old
as an excuse :-(
iL_weReo
>
> - Show quoted text -
I hope you use it to play Nuclear Warrior.
Arlowe
I know what you mean about loosing the ability to read.
Mine is getting awful.
I found a visor that has adjustable magnification. It isn't perfect,
but it lets me see well enough to do close work.
RichL
Yeah, I should try something like that. I actually enjoy working with
guitars' innards, but it's been a while. Hate to give that up.