How Important is a Setup?
That's a really good question that a lot of guitarists ask, and maybe more should. Any guitarist that has played a really well setup instrument knows just how big of a difference it makes.
One big misconception is to think that a setup doesn't affect the sound of the instrument, so it is easy to think of a setup as less important compared to type and brand of string, and waaay less important than pedals right? WRONG!!!!! Read on to find out why!
The guitar in this photo been through a lot - but even though I've had it 6 years, it's only seen play on stage in the last 6 months! Don't get me wrong, it's fun to play, and I love the feel of any vintage instrument - but I would constantly battle feedback, and the tone was weak and empty. So you'd think I found a different amp, or got a new overdrive pedal- but all that is the same. What made this bird sing was a lot of work and experimentation with the setup. Now it is a cornerstone part of my sound every weekend and my sound guy loves it's refined sound just as much as I love playing it.
That's a pretty drastic change that cost me $0. Get that? I'll say it again $0. A setup on a guitar is a little bit like maintaining a friendship, a little attention goes a long way!
In this case it was a new bridge that accommodated the intonation and action much better, and some drastic pickup height adjustments.
So what?
Have you ever picked up a used guitar that had a $300 price tag but it felt great to play? Have you picked up a new guitar that cost more than a used car and it felt like playing rubber bands - or worse yet - the opposite 'barbed wire' effect?
Here's the deal:
After materials - the most important part of the guitar is the setup. A setup affects a few important things:
Intonation - That's pitch as you climb the fretboard, an open E string should also be spot on E at the 12th fret.
Action - This is the elevation of the strings and affects how far they are from the fretboard. High action means the strings are too high making it hard to play, action too low often results in unwanted fretbuzz or muffled strings.
Neck Pitch - The neck of the guitar should be at the correct angle in relation to the body, as well as the correct curvature.
Neck Relief - The bow, or curve of the neck has a sweet spot, it's basically just less than perfectly straight. Too much bow or being perfectly straight will prevent a proper adjustment of the action.
Pickup Elevation - This greatly affects the character of your guitar when plugged in. Think about when you've talked on the phone who has put you on speaker-phone; they sound tinny and awful. But it would be even worse if they tried to talk with the phone right in their mouth! Pickup elevation is especially important if you are a lead guitarist because it affects how your tone will respond to YOU!
There are some rights and wrongs on setting up a guitar, but the finer points come down to tuning the instrument in to the musician. Just like a high performance indy car is made to fit the driver...
Stay tuned for more to come!
nate
Eric Johnson Pickup Install
Progress is underway with Casey's Stratocaster. He chose a set of Eric Johnson model Strat pickups and got a new pick guard and back plate. Here are a few photos:
The photo above shows the back side of the original set of Fender Gold Lace Sensors, as well as some cool custom wiring in the controls.
Wiring in the new pickups below:
and here is a sneak peek at the final product, but we still have a long way to go - I can't wait to show you!
New Strat custom mod project
I may be getting into a new strat custom project soon. Some fretboard scalloping and custom wiring could be expected (sweet). Stay Tuned!
Guitarblog back online
After 3 months reworking nathanfowler.com there is finally a new home for my guitarblog.
I haven't had much time to document any instrument projects since the start of the year, but now that the webpage is back up I'm really excited to pick back up with notes and photos of repairs, restorations and mods going forward.
cheers!
Nate
Shielding a Telecaster
This Tele belongs to Christian Driver. He brought it to me describing static like noise that made it no fun to play his guitar. This is a very common problem for guitars using single coil pickups, especially telecasters, so the shielding is by far the most requested modification I do. I love doing this mod for players because extra static noise (60 cycle hum) from the pickups can really ruin a great guitar (or jam session / band practice / worship set too)
This tele has a lot of soul in it's tone- that you couldn't feel and hear over the hum and noise before, but now it sings.
With the cold weather I'm doing all the photos indoors. So that means I'm gonna have to start using a real camera (rather than my phone) In the mean-time, these do fair.
Taylor
Trevor Startt, a great guy I got to know a bit better this weekend, left me with his Taylor acoustic for a setup and some TLC. I did a thorough clean of the fretboard and re-dressed the frets. And lowered the bridge saddle very slightly.
Firefox PDF viewer plugin
This is a great plugin. Very light-weight, fast, and couldn't be easier to install if you are a firefox user. I go back and forth between firefox and Safari, but the plugins and flexibilty in firefox are really a big plus.
Cick here to download - code.google.com/p/firefox-mac-pdf
Blue guitar- light is showing at the end of the tunnel!
Grover tuners are in! And today I mounted the ABR bridge and wired a ground to the tailpiece. The neck pitch needed some tweaking to set at a good angle for the new bridge, but that's in great shape now. The nut and frets are next on the list. I'm excited to do that soon and really fine tune all the details!
Polishing out the blue guitar
Today I sanded and polished the blue guitar. I'm planning to change out the bridge for a Gibson ABR style this weekend. I'm holding off on refretting the guitar for now.
