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Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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How to set up an electric guitar
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Setting up an electric guitar is not rocket science, but it is something that a lot of guitarists shy away
from. True, if you do this wrong, you can make your guitar play badly, but if you learn to do it right, you
could save yourself a lot of cash.
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I should probably preface this by saying that today we are only going to do a basic setup. This is
How to set up a Gibson
enough most of the time, but occasionally more is required, such as filing the nut, or doing some
Les Paul style guitar
fretwork. If you want to set up a tremolo too, go to this post first: Setting Up or Adjusting a
Hello everyone. Today
Stratocaster Tremolo
were going to do a setup
on a Les-Paul-style guitar.
Also, if you're setting up a Les-Paul-style guitar, you might prefer to have a look at this blog post: For this post, Ill be setting up a Burny
http://diystrat.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-to-set-up-gibson-les-paul-style.html Super Grade guita...

So what does a basic setup involve? Let me break it down for you, as follows: Setting up or adjusting a
1. Checking and adjusting neck bow (how straight the neck is) Fender Stratocaster
2. Checking and adjusting saddle height
tremolo
3. Checking and adjusting the intonation (how far back or forward the saddles need to sit at the bridge
Today's blog post deals
with setting up a
to keep your guitar as in tune as possible no matter what fret youre playing)
Stratocaster tremolo unit only.
Everything else related to setting up the
Those three steps will have a dramatic effect on your guitar and none of them are very difficult, or saddles, etc., ca...
require particularly specialized or expensive tools. In this article, we will do this on a Fender
Stratocaster, but the same rules apply for just about every electric guitar. In fact, most other guitars How to set up an electric
are even easier to set up. Here's today's patient: guitar
Setting up an electric
guitar is not rocket
science, but it is
something that a lot of guitarists shy
away from. True, if you do this wrong,...

Making a simple DIY mini

guitar amplifier
I recently bought a little
electric guitar for my
daughter. It had a few
issues (more on that in a future post),
but all in all its a dec...

Fender Stratocaster
pickup height adjustment
and specifications
Today were going to have
a very quick look at
pickup setup for a Fender Stratocaster-
1. Check and adjust neck bow (how straight the neck is)
style guitar. Adjusting the pickups on a
S...
Since we only want to check how straight the neck is, we need to isolate this aspect of the guitar. In
other words we dont want the height of the nut or the placement of the saddles to confuse us, so we How to wire up a Stomp
take them out of the equation. Dont worry; were not going to remove any of these components, just Box / Effects Pedal
circumvent them. Today we're going to talk
about how to wire up a
I use a ruler to do this, but you can do it using only strings. Ill describe both methods below. stompbox. Apart from the
effects circuit itself, there are three
things that have to ...
Method A: Using a ruler
Adjusting the neck pickup
Get a ruler (or straightedge if you want to be all fancy) that is at least as long as the neck, but not so height on a Fender
long that it reaches all the way from the nut to the saddles. If you cant get one between these Telecaster style guitar
lengths, and are willing to sacrifice a ruler, get one thats too long and cut it to length. Alternatively, The neck pickup on this
you can just cut a little out of one edge so that you can still make full use of the other edge of the Telecaster needs to be
ruler. raised. However, as is the case on
most Telecaster-style guitars, there are
Now lay the edge of the ruler along the frets (dont rest it on top of the nut or the saddles). no height adju...

How to set up a Fender

Telecaster-style guitar
Today Im going to show
you how to set up a
Fender Telecaster-style
 guitar. We are only going to do a basic
setup, which is enough most of t...

Building a quick Brian-

May-style treble booster
on Veroboard
It was a friend's 44th
birthday a while back, so I
decided to make a quick pedal for him.
I'd been wanting to try out a Brian May
...

Two-channel passive
mini-mixer
Hello all, Well, I didn't
want to just stop after
posting about the guitar. I
Method B: Using the strings have been known to dabble in other
little projects after ...
First, put a capo on the first fret. This stops the nut from having any influence, say from being too
high/low.

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Next, hold down the low (thick) E string on the bridge side of the highest fret. This stops the saddles June (1)
from having any influence.
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No matter whether you used method A or B, you can now go about measuring the neck bow. This is
done by measuring the string height (the gap between the ruler/string and the top of the fret) at about There was an error in this gadget
the 8th fret. There is a lot of debate over how straight a neck should be, and in fact it really is personal
choice, but a height roughly the same as the thickness of a B string is a good starting point.
Personally, I use a 0.012 feeler gauge to do this, but you could use a B string. Simply slide the feeler
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gauge/B string into the gap to see if it is too big/small.

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If the gap is perfect, congratulations you may now move on to step 2.

Followers
If the gap is too large, then you need to tighten the truss rod a little (similarly, if the gap is too small,
you need to loosen the truss rod). Locate the adjustable end of the truss rod. On my guitar it is at the Follower (42) Avanti
head of the guitar and uncovered.

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On some Fender Strats, it is located at the other end of the neck. This is a pain, because every time
you want to make an adjustment to the truss rod, you will need to loosen the strings, remove (or
partially remove) the neck, adjust the truss rod, re-attach the neck and tighten up the strings again to
check the Questo sito si serve dei cookie di Google per l'erogazione dei servizi, la personalizzazione
neck bow. degli annunci e
l'analisi del traffico. Le informazioni sul tuo utilizzo del sito sono condivise con Google. Se prosegui la
Anyway,navigazione
heres how youacconsenti all'utilizzo
adjust the truss dei cookie.
rod. This must be done with the strings tuned to whatever
pitch you usually use. If your neck is too bowed (the gap you ULTERIORI
just measured is too big), you tighten
INFORMAZIONI OK the
truss rod by turning the Allen key (Allen wrench), screwdriver, or socket (the tool required depends on
your guitar) clockwise. It is recommended that you only turn the tool a quarter turn (or even an eighth
turn) at a time and then give the neck some time to settle. You will also need to make sure the strings
are still properly tuned after each adjustment.

CAUTION: If you find that the truss rod is very difficult to turn, then stop now and take your guitar to
the guitar shop. It may be that there is a problem with the neck or the truss rod and you may damage
the guitar by forcing it. Believe me, you do not want to damage the truss rod.

If, instead of tightening the truss rod, you need to loosen it, do so by turning it anti-clockwise (counter-
clockwise). Again, a quarter turn at a time. Once you have got the gap to 0.012 (or whatever gap you
prefer), you will have finished this step. Feel free to remove the capo at this stage if it is attached.

2. Check and adjust the saddle height

Firstly check and, if necessary, adjust the low (thick) E string height. Do this by adjusting the height of
the saddle on the bridge/tremolo. If you have a Stratocaster then this is done by screwing two little
screws in or out. I recommend that you try to keep these two screws at the same height as each
other, although some people would disagree with me.
The question here is how high to make the saddle. Well, this is personal choice. Find somewhere
were the string doesnt buzz on any fret from being too low, but low enough that you can play up and
down the neck easily. Theres usually a sweet spot where you can just start to detect some buzzing
and you can leave it just a tiny bit higher than that.

Now do the exact same procedure for the high (thin) E string.

There are two ways that you can go about adjusting the other strings.

Method one: Adjust each string the same way as you just adjusted the two E strings.

Method two: Use a radius gauge, as follows:

Lay a radius gauge across your strings, close to, but not touching, the saddles. Adjust the remaining
strings only (A, D, G & B) until every string is just touching the radius gauge. Radius gauges can be
bought from numerous sources, or you can make your own. Feel free to use Google at this point if
you dont know about radius gauges. Just make sure that you use a radius gauge that matches the
neck of your guitar. Not all Strats have the same neck radius, so the best way is to rest a radius
gauge on the neck of your guitar (with the strings removed if necessary) to find out which radius you
should be using.

Incidentally, I use these snazzy radius gauges that can go either above or below the strings (below
gives a slightly more accurate result, although the difference is arguable).

I got them from http://www.stewmac.com.

Please dont take these measurements as the absolute final string height, but more as a good
estimate. You can adjust them a little to your own personal tastes after this.

OK, thats step 2 finished. Your guitar should be nice and playable now. However, it may not seem to
stay in tune very well. Thats because the intonation might be off.

3. Check and adjust the intonation

The intonation here refers to the forward/backward position of the individual string saddles. By moving
the saddles forwards or backwards, we are actually adjusting the length of the strings. Without going
into too much detail, if the string is the wrong length, the positions of the frets will not be correct and
the guitar will be out of tune on some of them. Adjusting the intonation is not difficult. All you need is a
guitar tuner and a tool to move the saddles forwards or backwards.

Play an open low E string and make sure it is in tune (using the guitar tuner).

Now play the 12th fret of the low E string.

It should also be in tune. If it is too high, then you need to move the saddle back. This increases the
length of the string. If the note is too low, then you need to move the saddle forwards. This decreases
the length of the string.

Now check both the open and the 12th fret notes again. Youll have to tune the open string again
because by moving the saddle, the tension of the string will have changed and so will need to be
retuned.

Once you have correctly moved the saddle so that both the open string and the 12th fret are in tune,
you can move on to the A string. Repeat until all of the strings have been done.

Thats a basic setup done. Hopefully your guitar will now be easy to play and appear to be in tune no
matter where you play the note. As I mentioned before, sometimes other work needs to be carried out
on your guitar to make it play right, such as work on the nut, or a problem with one or more of the
machine heads/tuners, but thats for another day.

Also, if you want to set up the pickup height on your Strat, check out this post:
http://diystrat.blogspot.com/2014/03/fender-stratocaster-pickup-height.html.

Posted by stu at 11:56 PM

49 comments:
QBOB101 said...
Perfect! Made my badly put together, not fender, strat sound as close as I'm going to get
to a real fender for under 200! Been put off doing it by so many people saying how hard
it is and how it can kill your guitar, but if you follow word for word it's straight forward with
amazing results. Cant thank you enough for taking the time to post this, cheers.
June 29, 2011 at 2:50 PM

Anonymous said...
I haven't tried this yet but after someone adjusted my guitar badly in a shop, I haven't
ever been able to get it right.
I hope this will help. You've gone to a lot of effort in your web site. Thank You!
March 2, 2012 at 7:51 PM

Anonymous said...
Thanks Alot....!
April 13, 2012 at 1:50 PM

Anonymous said...
GOOD JOB MATE!
June 26, 2012 at 4:04 PM

Anonymous said...
Thank you so much for sharing this info!
August 12, 2012 at 12:39 AM

Anonymous said...
Fantastic..thanks so much. I enjoyed the whole set up process using your straightforward
instructions.. Michael from Oz!
November 15, 2012 at 11:46 PM

Anonymous said...
Thanks for that. I've been tinkering for years, but have never got it right - I've just finished
following your instructions in setting up mylatest project, a Jap Strat, and it now plays
great. Thanks again.
November 18, 2012 at 5:49 AM

Anonymous said...
Excellent instructions! Thank you.
December 22, 2012 at 11:27 PM

Anonymous said...
what can I use if i dont have a feeler gauge?
January 5, 2013 at 9:09 PM

stu said...
You can use a B-string (or leftover bit you cut off the end) to check the height. It's just
about the right thickness.
January 6, 2013 at 11:10 PM

Anonymous said...
great site, however your background (though very beautiful) makes reading the
instructions very difficult for me

February 4, 2013 at 3:28 PM

Anonymous said...
Brilliant tutorial!! I can't thank you enough for this! Like someone posted before, someone
did a mediocre job at the shop on mine and following your steps, I am excited with the
results! Instructions here make it so much more attainable to do it yourself. It's like I have
a whole new guitar. Cheers!
February 6, 2013 at 11:24 PM

mick said...
Fantastic! Just got done with a Squier Strat. All set up and ready to jam.
February 14, 2013 at 4:14 PM

seicean said...
You, sir, are a life saver. As a Standard Strat owner, I couldn't manage to find out what
was wrong it, as it was frequently dropping out of tune, it just dindn't sound right. First I
thought it was a bend in the neck, but it turns out the intonation was the problem. Thanks
for the quick tutorial.
April 5, 2013 at 7:30 AM

stu said...
Thanks again for the comments. They are all very gratefully received and really make
posting this stuff worthwhile.
April 7, 2013 at 11:24 PM

metalfury said...
Thanks, a really useful article and easy to follow due to your writing style. A useful future
addition would be how to do pickup height setup.

Thanks again
April 18, 2013 at 3:21 AM

stu said...
Hey metalfury (great name!),

Thanks, and great idea. I'll do a pickup height one in the near future.
April 18, 2013 at 8:54 PM

Josh said...
Thanks so much for this article. It's big help. I noticed that you don't talk too much about
changing strings. This luthier suggests that you should change the strings before you do
anything.

http://www.guitarrepairbench.com/electric-guitar-repairs/electric_guitar_setup.html

Should we be worried out this?

August 7, 2013 at 8:45 AM

stu said...
Hey Josh, I actually thought I HAD written something about using fresh strings, but
looking back it seems I didn't. In reply to your question, yes, it's a good idea. Are you in
trouble if you DON'T? I think you'll be OK, ha.
August 9, 2013 at 1:04 AM

Ash Stuby said...

Many thanks for this helpful info. I've just completed a setup on a strat copy, following
your blog. It's really helped me to understand the balance of forces involved and the
nuances of this type of guitar.
March 21, 2014 at 2:02 PM

stu said...
Hey Ash, that's great. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.
March 24, 2014 at 7:52 PM

Anonymous said...
very good info indeed and prented so that even idiot guitar players can follow thanks
April 19, 2014 at 11:21 AM

stu said...
Thank you.
April 21, 2014 at 1:29 AM
Jackberry Gilard said...
Hello,

Thank you so much dear! Your article gives us a brilliant information regarding how to set
up the guitar, which is the most essential point before going to use it. If want to know
about some other Cheap Electric Guitar, then go through our website for the details.
June 10, 2014 at 7:03 PM

Anonymous said...
What you've got here is, "the ability to communicate", basically the opposite of the "Cool
Hand Luke Mantra" being; "What we have got here is a failure to communicate".

As Elton John sung in the song "Harmony", which we all need more of, you fit the bill
excellently here.

I have a cheap Asian Strat; but, I put a nice Warmoth neck on it and will be going through
it Sunday using your tips here, my man Stu. Thank You and Kudos to all who believe like
you as well. Harmony takes effort which you gave well here. Good Day to you sir! Believe
in "Harmony", Harmony.

We all make a yellow brick road when we care like you did here.
November 28, 2014 at 5:53 PM

Anonymous said...
Hey man, great article, and great site overall! I've found a ton of posts with useful and
interesting info, so thanks for putting in the effort!
December 2, 2014 at 11:05 AM

stu said...
Thanks for the compliments, folks. Much appreciated.
December 3, 2014 at 12:51 AM

Anonymous said...
Excellent job Stu. Thanks for posting it in such a clear way. It demystifies setting up the
guitar. I have followed your suggestions and my Strat plays now much better. Great job!
March 1, 2015 at 1:39 PM

stu said...
Hey, that's great. Thanks for the feedback.
March 1, 2015 at 5:07 PM

Anonymous said...
These are the most clear instructions that have ever been given by anyone on anything.
Huge respect for your ability and generosity in sharing this! Thank you, now I'm going to
go and read everything else you've written on you blog!
April 15, 2015 at 3:14 AM

stu said...
Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the blog!
April 15, 2015 at 6:57 PM

Jeremiah Bates said...

so, my guitar is in need of setup, however, I don't have a tuner or any means of creating
reliable reference pitch to be able to re-tune while adjusting things, the three low strings
(E,A, and D) buzz pretty bad open and while playing up to about the 9th fret which leads
me to believe I need to adjust the neck bow and saddle heights, any suggestions?
October 25, 2015 at 3:08 AM

stu said...
Hi Jeremiah, you definitely need to correctly tune the strings before adjusting the neck,
otherwise the neck tension will be wrong. You can either download a tuner app on your
phone such as guitartuna, or even just find someone playing the notes on the Internet
(very easy to find).
October 25, 2015 at 3:36 AM

Dad said...
Colin.....
Hi stu, I have a USA HSS and had is pro setup when brand new... always wondered why
the E and B strings we dead and full of buzz and also double tones. After following your
guides almost good but still but same then when I lowered the 2 pt trelolo it wouls be
really bad again..... I eventually noticed the saddles were sitting flat on the base plate
unlike the rest of them and after a little experimental I cut a U shaped shim from
aluminum and reaised the height a ittle then wala she works pretty good now, guess next
step is intomation and maybe finding some original saddles as the only way to adjust
these is to grind them off flat where as I might be able to grind but leave some feet for the
deck when at the right height

November 30, 2015 at 9:16 PM

David Willis said...

hi !
many, many thanks for your setup guide.
it's been a long time since I've fully setup a guitar, but your site motivated me to do it.
Had an old plank of a guitar (Hamer super strat copy) which had a warped neck from
new.
I bought a cheap strat copy neck, (the guitar only cost me 60 new !), fitted it but it never
really played right.
I even fitted a set of Texas Specials to it !
still sounded crap.
Just spent an hour or so setting everything up (pickup height, neck relief, intonation, nut
height, saddle height etc) and it plays 100% better !
Next step is to level the frets, as there are some high points, and the edges are
unfinished (I said it was a cheap neck!)
Instead of sulking in a corner, it's now sat with it's other stable mates (8 more guitars ! -
including an American Standard Tele with Duncan custom shop pickups, and an
American Clapton signature deluxe) feeling rather happy with itself - and it's got good
reason to be !!!
Now - where is that fret file.... :-)
March 16, 2016 at 12:31 PM

Damon Stelly said...

Used this for my seven string baritone Jackson and..... Wow... Just flat out plays great
now, thank you for making this article and making it perfectly clear and simple, you just
saved me $60 too if not more lol
April 11, 2016 at 5:13 PM

Dad said...
I am trying to unsubscribe but it brings me back for more comments guess I will find
another way
April 11, 2016 at 6:36 PM

stu said...
David and Damon, that's great. Thanks for the feedback. Dad, great job getting the
saddles where you needed them. Sorry about the unsubscribe thing. I've no idea how
Blogger does that unfortunately.
April 14, 2016 at 9:01 AM

EdFred said...
How or when in this process do you think about adjusting the nut
April 22, 2016 at 8:25 AM

stu said...
Hi EdFred,

The set up is generally done with a capo on the first fret in order to circumvent any
interference from the nut. If you find that everything is working great with the capo on the
first fret and then once you remove that, things go wrong (e.g. strings are suddenly far too
high, or there's suddenly tonnes of buzzing, etc.), then that's the time to look into the nut.
April 22, 2016 at 8:35 AM

EdFred said...
Should the .012 relief be on both E strings
April 22, 2016 at 9:02 AM

EdFred said...
By the way, thank you for this excellent topic. I should have posted this all at once. Can
the gap on the first fret be the same as the gap noticed on the second fret when holding
down the string on the first fret. I am asking do you think it is safe to lower the nut slot
with this in mind. It seams that if that gap is to high those lower notes if you finger to hard
are sharp. I am working on a Les Paul Studio. Thank You.
 April 22, 2016 at 9:34 AM

stu said...
Hey EdFred, yes both strings (all six strings really, though of course it's trickier to
measure the inner ones).

Great question about the nut. It's safer to leave the nut just a little bit higher than fret
height, although theoretically it should be possible for it to be exactly fret height. The
second half of this post may be of some use to you:
http://diystrat.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/hofner-colorama-ii-restoration-project_15.html
April 24, 2016 at 5:33 AM

EdFred said...
Thanks Stu, that really makes sense. And thanks for sending the link for your 2012 post
on making a new nut that is great. What is your opinion of Gibson's new nut (Tektoid)
They say it is better then bone, as bone is not uniformly dense. I am so glad I ran into
your Blog.
April 24, 2016 at 8:12 AM

stu said...
Hey EdFred, thanks for your comments. It makes doing this worthwhile. Funnily enough
I've tried quite a few materials for nuts, but haven't used Tektoid (yet). I'll let you know if
that changes.
April 28, 2016 at 4:25 AM

Unknown said...
Ive been building partscasters for years, been doing repairs even longer. Makes me wish
I'd had the internet around when I was figuring all this stuff out for myself! Hahahaha
great blogs, all of em, really spot on.
May 27, 2016 at 8:25 AM

Jason said...
Thanks a bunch!
September 16, 2016 at 5:00 AM

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June 16, 2017 at 4:56 AM

John Anthony said...

Hey, thanks for this awesome post. Really it's added value to us. Few days ago i also
found an another awesome post about guitar on the GuitarListy.com
November 10, 2017 at 1:37 AM

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