WHY WOULD YOU NEED A SETUP

WHY WOULD YOU NEED A SETUP?

Typically new guitars, basses, and banjos leave the manufacturer in a somewhat low-quality, mass-produced state. These instruments will usually play well enough, but with the appropriate setup work they can be made more comfortable to play as well as better sounding. There are a few common problems meriting a setup:

1. Unevenness of the Frets: When playing a note on a stringed instrument, you apply pressure to the string in the area right above the fret which corresponds to the note you desire to play. When you push on a string you are, in essence, lengthening the string and increasing the tension, but shortening the part that vibrates, causing the note to change. However, if a fret further down the neck is higher than the rest, the string will hit it and produce either a) a higher note, or b) an unseemly rattling sound.

2. Unevenness of the Neck: A neck may be bowed too much, or, conversely, bent too much. This could be due to humidity, the amount of use, the storage conditions, the quality of the craftsmanship, or the use of heavier gauged strings. It can usually be corrected by adjusting the truss rod, a small metal rod passing through the neck which can be tightened or loosened depending on what needs to happen to the neck. A more uncommon neck problem is the unevenness of the actual wood. If the wood of the neck isn’t actually straight, the frets may need to be removed, the wood planed, and then the frets replaced before setup.

3. High Action: The height of the frets also influences the action, or the distance between the strings and the fingerboard, on an instrument. The more uneven the frets are, the higher the action must be, and the higher the action is, the harder the instrument is to play, and the more incorrect the intonation is. When the frets are level, the action can be lowered, giving the instrument a more comfortable feel.

4. Sharp Edges: Sometimes guitars and, somewhat less commonly, basses leave the factory with the frets either not matching up evenly with the sides of the neck, or having sharp corners (which catch the player’s hand and may even draw blood). Another cause of such edges is that the wood in the neck shrinks after repeated humidity changes and the frets stick out, even though they were originally correctly sized. Setup jobs correct this.

5. Flat-topped Frets: Manufacturers also may not adequately “crown”, or curve the tops of their frets. If the string touches the top of the fret in more than one place it will rattle. The curve forces the string to only touch the top once.

6. Incorrect Intonation/Tuning Problems: On occasion players find they cannot tune their instruments correctly, or that the octave tones do not match up with those of open strings (the tone of every 12^th fret should match the tuning of that of the open note of the same string). This is remedied by a bridge adjustment, but if strings are rattling, frets are uneven, etc. the intonation cannot be correctly set.

THE STEPS IN THE SETUP PROCESS

A “setup” is a procedure which improves the overall playability of a fretted instrument. It could be compared to tuning up a car, and, like all the best things, it can be condensed into a 12-step program.

Pre-Setup: The strings are removed from the instrument and the body is separated from the neck (by unscrewing the neck plate), if possible. If the guitar is acoustic, as well as in certain electric guitars and basses, the neck cannot be removed. In these cases the bodies should be covered in masking tape so they do not get damaged or full of dust.

Step 1: Adjust the Truss Rod. When setting up an instrument, the neck should be as close to perfectly straight as possible before you begin. The neck is straightened by loosening or tightening the truss rod using a hex wrench (#7 in the numbered image). Some instruments do not have a truss rod so the leveling of the frets counteracts the bend. If the bending is severe enough, it may have to be straightened using a heat press.

Step 2: Clean the Fingerboard. Many players don’t believe in washing their hands before they play their instrument or wiping down the fingerboard after use (I’ll admit I’m one of them). This leads to a build up of hand-grease-dust-general-crud-nastiness on the fingerboard, which may or may not be housing a new form of the plague. Fortunately this buildup can easily be removed by rubbing steel wool between the frets with the grain of the wood if the fingerboard is unfinished, or simply washing the grime away with water and a soft cloth if the fingerboard has a finish.

Step 3: Leveling the Frets. Now that the neck is straight, the frets should all be on the same plane. Two files are used in this process. The first file consists of a wooden handle with a glass bottom, over which a strip of relatively coarse sandpaper is attached. The glass ensures that the bottom of the file is actually a plane. This file doesn’t remove much fret material, but helps show which frets may need more filing than others. The second file is the bastard file. It is a very rough metal file and actually removes fret material. This file is run in straight lines from the base of the neck up towards the headstock. After every part of every fret has been hit by the file, the glass and sandpaper file is used again to smooth out the rough marks left by the bastard file.

Step 4: “Knock Off” the Edges. If the frets extend beyond the edges of the fingerboard sandpaper (or a file, depending on the severity) is used to “knock off” the excess and have them match the edge of the wood.

Step 5: Crowning the Frets. As mentioned in the “Why Would You Need A Setup?” section, each string must leave each fret at only one point in order to create a clear sound (see diagram below). After the files have been used each fret is flat on the top. Two diamond files of different gauges (#3 in the numbered image) are then run over each fret to give it a curved top and to slightly curve the edge of each fret, making it smoother for your hand.

Step 6: Filing the Corners. If the frets still feel sharp on the edges, a small file is used to round the corners of the frets.

Step 7: Taping. Masking tape is placed between each fret to protect the wood during polishing. It may be placed in one or more layers and an Exacto knife can be used to get the closest fit.

Step 8: Polishing. The frets are coated in a paste finishing wax (GVMH uses Minwax®, #4 in the numbered image) and sanded using 4 gauges of sandpaper (in order from coarsest to finest) followed by steel wool. This further smoothes the top of the fret, but also makes them shine like mirrors. A small piece of steel with a slot cut in it (#2 in the numbered image) is used to guide the sandpaper along the fret and further protect the fingerboard.

Step 9: Remove the Tape. After the frets are polished, the tape is taken off. Conveniently, the tape removes dirt and grime that gets stuck in the grain of the wood, further cleaning the fingerboard. If any tape residue is left behind, a soft cloth is used to remove it.

Step 10: Replacing the Body. After the neck is sufficiently clean, the body is reattached and polished using any variety of guitar polishes (not the same polish as used on the frets) and polishing cloths.

Step 11: Restringing. The customer usually requests a brand and/or gauge of strings to be used on the instrument. There are a plethora of string brands and types, each boasting different materials, colors, qualities, or life-spans. There is no “best” or “worst” string; it is just a matter of preference.

Step 12: Setting the Action and Intonation. As mentioned in the “Why Would You Need A Setup?” section, the action is the distance of the string from the fingerboard (see diagram below). The lower the action is, the easier the instrument is to play, because the strings don’t have to be pushed as hard or far to contact a fret. Action is set by raising or lowering the saddles on the bridge using a small hex wrench (#6 in the numbered image). The intonation is how in-tune the instrument is with itself. Intonation is changed by changing the length of the string (by moving the saddles on the bridge forwards or backwards). When the intonation is correct, both the open string and the twelfth fret of that string should be in tune at the same time. When the intonation and action are finally set, the instrument is tuned. Standard tuning for a guitar is E, A, D, G, B, E, and standard tuning for a four-string bass is E, A, D, G.