The Setup
The number one request we hear at the shop is “low without any buzz”. We do more set-ups than any other service; they are what keep our customers coming back. Most people do not know the joy of a professional set up. You don’t know what type of player you are until you’ve had one! The most common complaints are:
- Action is too high
- It won’t play in tune
- It won’t stay in tune
Everything else is just icing on the cake if you can get these 3 things down. Most people want the action (the height of the string off the fingerboard) low. We do this using a combination of the truss rod (which bows the neck either away from or towards the strings) and setting the height of the bridge saddle pieces or piece (acoustics). There is always a give and take to the action. If you want it super low, it will buzz on some notes. The string has to have room to move in order to produce a good, clean note. If you’re using any amount of distortion on an electric, you probably won’t even hear the buzz. Electrics were made to have lighter strings and a slinkier action, because once the amp gets hold of the note, any fret buzz usually disappears. We only worry about fret buzz when it hampers the sound of the string so badly that it can’t be ignored. Our set-up is full service. You can have someone do a tweak here and there, but we prefer a full A-Z treatment. We only stop short of leveling the frets on our set-up. Our full set up includes…
- Redress and gloss buffing of frets
- Tightening of all hardware
- Full restring and stretch-in (price of string, not included)
- Adjusting truss rod
- Adjusting tremolo or tailpiece
- Balancing output (on Acoustic/Electric)
- Adjusting action
- Adjusting intonation
- Full electronics evaluation
- Adjusting pickup heights
- Full detail polish and cleaning
These adjustments done in proper relationship to one another will produce remarkable results. Sometimes the adjustments aren’t enough. Most often, in this case, the guitar needs fretwork.
Could you please comment on the difference between shimming a neck as opposed to adjusting the action via the bridge saddles. I mean this in relation to 4-bolt neck type Fender instruments without any tilt-neck adjustment. There is a time to adjust via the bridge and there is also a time to add a shim in the neck pocket but what conditions dictate which course of action. This assumes that the truss rod is properly adjusted and the frets are fairly level. I think alot of your customers would enjoy and learn from your response to this question.
Thanks,
Bob Metzger
lumetz@earthlink.net
You can shim the neck properly to adjust the action on a four bolt guitar. We prefer to build a full pocket shim and angle it in the direction we want the neck angle to move (no old Fender medium picks in the pocket, please). That can cause problems on certain guitars, depending on the stability of the neck where it joins the body. Shimming can sometimes create an unwanted hump on the neck where it joins the body.
As a follow-on comment/question regarding this topic, I have a Fender Victor Bailey Jazz bass and the neck plane is off by a little more than 1/16″, but enough to cause the upper register to buzz. Since any type of shim can cause unpredictable sonic results, I was considering planing the neck. What do you think of this approach?
I would have to see the neck to be 100% sure, but after a period of years, the end of the fretboard on bolt on necks can develop a “ski jump” Most of the time, this can be leveled out by leveling the frets. If the plane of the neck is off enough, there is little you can do (besides rebuilding the neck pocket) except to shim the neck. Again, a full pocket shim is really the only way to go, so as not to create more rise at the end of the board.