Top 5 Guitar Setup Mistakes

The Top 5 Guitar Setup Mistakes. Here are some of the tools you need

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Dylan Talks Tone Recieves Commision From Some Of These Links

[jordantaylor]

Looking at a set up holistically is something I've never heard anyone mention, that I'm aware, at least. It makes a ton of sense. Thanks Dylan

[JeffreyDonovanOfficial]

Ok so I'm new here. Been playing since I was 5 years old (now 60) and working on them since I was about 15. Have my own workshop (The Little Shop Of Guitar Horrors) and do a lot of work for friends. I just stumbled on Dylan's YouTube channel by chance a few days ago and have probably watched at least a dozen episodes so far, and then this one. All I can say is "YES! You are CORRECT"!! And esp. point #1. Anyway, great work and info, look forward to seeing more. - Jeff

[robert_olen]

You started a guitar setup course and it was really good! I can't wait for the remaining lessons! Great info here.

[domperignon]

Yeah this is essential reading for guitarists.
Great work, Dylan.

[TrashMnk]

I know I skipped the neck relief for years because I was brainwashed to think simply taking the truss rod cover off and thinking about turning the nut would explode my neck into splinters.

After watching the stewmac video where they bend the neck as they turn the truss rod made me rethink neck durability haha.

Also, setup is so dependentant on the style of player you are as well as the guitar. Strings almost touching the frets on my Ibanez with a straight neck; and a bit more relief on my epis.

One last thing I do for every new guitar is pickup height. They're usually way too close from factory and kill my pick dynamics.

[scottybrowndotca]

Literally loving learning about this stuff from you, man .. I've got a collection of about 20 guitars and I'm planning to start doing my own maintenance, setup, etc .. Between yourself and a couple of other channels, I'm learning so much and it's taking my anxiety down as I approach this task (one guitar at a time) .. When I get to the Telecaster I'm also looking forward to modding it and ordering the mini humbucker for the neck which I believe I saw in one of your videos ..

[michaelk]

A really good approach/mindset when setting up guitars -- thanks

[hanskung]

Thanks for putting this in perspective.

[dcamnc]

You can definitely run out of intonation/saddle adjustment on some tuneomatics. I've seen it several times over the years. Even flipping the saddle won't give you enough sometimes.

[christiantaylor]

dud! I never thought it thru. makes sense when you hear it like that. thanks, really good info, Rock on !

[alex]

I’ve always followed the acronym TRAIN which is pretty much the same thing that Dylan has just outlined. Tuning relief, action, intonation, and then noodle on the guitar and see how it feels.

[mboyer]

The first step is to sight your neck and make sure it's not crooked! Look down from the headstock and check the nut against the bridge. If they line up across side to side, you're good. I've noticed when they're not perfectly straight, it's usually the fat E string side is a little high, but they can go the other way also.

[SakhaGaming]

Thanks for this, been trying to setup my Squire Vibe Mustang to a lower tuning and this may help big time 😄

[JimmyThumbs]

A tutorial on string height would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[kennyayala]

A few others have already commented, but I have DEFINITELY had to flip the saddle over on a Tune-O-Matic style bridge to get the low E or high E to intonate. Sometimes I've seen it even affect the A string. Usually when I see this it is because the bridge has been installed (from the factory) at an incorrect angle, but most of the time it can be fixed by simply flipping the misaligned saddles over. That said, I've NEVER see this on a strat-style 6-saddle bridge or even a floyd, so I think it's mainly due to improper installation of the tune-o-matic style bridges. Generally speaking, though, if the bridge has a slight angle/offset in the right direction (this can be seen by viewing if the low-e side of the bridge is further away from the bridge pickup/mounting ring than the high-e side of the bridge, assuming the bridge pickup bobbins themselves are not angled and are perfectly perpendicular to the strings) it's usually fine as that angle allows for the saddles to end up in the middle-ish of their adjustment range when properly set.

I've been fortunate enough to not see it so bad that the bridge needs to be reinstalled (wood glue + dowels, re-drilling) but as Dylan has said about 10, 000 times in this video: before you do anything drastic, go back to Step 1! Order of operations is important, and when you get to the point of thinking you need to do serious modifications to your instrument make sure to check your own process! Drilling holes, removing material from frets, or any other permanent modification to your axe is a LAST RESORT.
Play on! \m/

[iromanovsky]

The advice to feel the guitar is like to use your years for getting tone. It does not work until you get experience. Until you are reach a certain level, you need reference, in both measurements and in tone.

[norseman]

Nice, clear explanation. Nice sampling of your guitar collection, too! I’ll take the yellow DC JR, please. What make/model is that?

[scillyautomatic]

Man! Sometimes a thumbnail like that makes my skin crawl - power tool next to a brand new (and unscratched) guitar. wooo!

[EL_DUDERIN]

Dylan's Order of Operations:
1. Neck relief
2. Nut height
3. String height
4. Intonation
5. Pickup adjustment

Edit: You can remember it because it's "PISNN" backwards.

[bobdelair]

If the bridge is not parallel to the strings, and you change the string length, you need to compensate the saddle height a bit too.