Electric Guitar Setup String Height

Measure string height on the first fret for each string using your feeler gauges.

Electric guitar setup string height.

How to set up a guitar perfectly step 1. For acoustic guitars we ll want to go just a bit higher than this. Check the height between the fret located at the neck and body joint and the bottom of each string refer to the. Tune the guitar to pitch.

Then measuring with the string action gauge adjust the string height to the player s preference. Tune the guitar to desired pitch. A famoussetups here are over three dozen precise setup specs collected by dan erlewine as he interviewed famous players and roadies. Action determines how much pressure and distance is required for the string to make full contact with each fret.

Turn the guitar on its side close one eye and look down the neck from the headstock towards the bridge left. The most commonly used string heights are 3 64 and 4 64. These are not the only acceptable string heights but they are a starting point as the happy medium all comes down to your own personal preference. This may involve adjusting the height of the saddles or of the string slots in the nut.

Look down the profile of the fretboard on both the bass and treble sides of the neck is the neck straight or is there a curve. Sight a guitar neck. An excerpt from dan erlewine s how to make you electric guitar play great including celebrity setups from jeff beck to jim weider. This distance plays a key role in your setup because it determines the ease in which your guitar can be played.

Adjust the truss rod to add relief to the neck if that s what the player prefers. For electric guitars in our opinion a good default string height at the 12th fret is typically about 6 64th of an inch 2 38mm on the bass side and 4 64th of an inch 1 59mm on the treble side. String height or action describes the distance between the top of your frets to the bottom of your strings. Check the pickup height.

Because the truss rod will affect the middle of the neck most be sure to pay.