Guitar Setup Tutorial

If you want to learn how to set up your guitar, you've come to the right place. Why pay lots of money to keep your guitar set-up when you can do it yourself?

Of course, I'm not saying that you should never seek the services of a guitar technician; just that there are lots of little jobs you can do yourself and save money. I was in a local music shop a few days ago and they wanted £5 to string your guitar for you! I'll show you how to do it for nothing, and also how to ensure that the intonation and action are set up for optimum playability, saving you even more money.

All you need are a few simple tools - nothing specialized or very hard to find - and a little time and patience.

This guitar tutorial is compliments of Steve Cobham.  Steve lives in Wolverton, which is part of the city of Milton Keynes in the U.K.  You can contact Steve at steve@guitars.powernet.co.uk.

This is a series of articles that takes you through set-ups step-by-step. The first article is all about “The Tools You Need”. Get your toolkit together and dive straight into the next article “How To String Your Guitar”..  #3 in the series is then next, which concerns “Adjusting The intonation”. Then #4 looks at “Adjusting The Nut”. #5 tackles the task of “Adjusting The Truss Rod”, and the final article deals with those other minor but very important “Maintenance Jobs” that will keep your guitar on top form.  

#1 – The Tools

#2 – How To String Your Guitar

#3 - Setting The Intonation

#4 – Adjusting The Nut

#5 - Adjusting The Truss Rod