Printable Version of Topic
Click here to view this topic in its original format
GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Wow, Just Wow.
Posted by: Ctodd Feb 20 2009, 11:59 PM
So I bought my first, and only guitar, (MIM strat) about a year and a half ago. When I bought it, it didnt get set up at all (at the time I didn't even know what a set-up was) and recently, with my more developed ear, I began noticing the intonation was a little off, and it was starting to get annoying. So I took it into my local guitar shop today, and they told me that, the neck was messed up, the bridge was messed up. So they told me that they were going to re-set it up (or whatever you would call it 
long story short, I took it to the shop, and it came out sounding AWESOME, the action is lower, and now the intonation is perfect. And they also put .009s on it. I had .010s on it before.
My fingers are going to be tired tonight.
-Chris
Posted by: Canis Feb 21 2009, 12:04 AM
Hehe, I know that feeling!
My first guitar (a Squier Strat.... Don't judge me!) sounded AWESOME when I first got it. I loved it with all of my heart... Until I tried a Schecter Omen 6 fresh from the workbench in my local music shop.... I almost haven't touched the Squier since
Posted by: Andrew6 Feb 21 2009, 12:07 AM
My first guitar (a Squier Strat.... Don't judge me!) sounded AWESOME when I first got it. I loved it with all of my heart... Until I tried a Schecter Omen 6 fresh from the workbench in my local music shop.... I almost haven't touched the Squier since
hahha My first was a Squier Strat as well
, Ive long since sold mine 
Posted by: superize Feb 21 2009, 12:08 AM
long story short, I took it to the shop, and it came out sounding AWESOME, the action is lower, and now the intonation is perfect. And they also put .009s on it. I had .010s on it before.
My fingers are going to be tired tonight.
-Chris
I think i should do this with my guitar........
The action is to high and the G string sounds horrible
Posted by: Ryan Feb 21 2009, 12:12 AM
How much does it cost to get set-up? My intonation is off and a few other problems.
Posted by: Ctodd Feb 21 2009, 12:16 AM
The action is to high and the G string sounds horrible
It's weird, (I'll be careful with how I phrase this
) the G-string on my guitar was the only one that was buzzingthe set-up, and the new strings they put on my guitar all came to $26.50
My first guitar (a Squier Strat.... Don't judge me!) sounded AWESOME when I first got it. I loved it with all of my heart... Until I tried a Schecter Omen 6 fresh from the workbench in my local music shop.... I almost haven't touched the Squier since tongue.gif
I should probably try out some different guitars, but I'm not going to have the financial resources to buy another guitar for a long time
Posted by: David Wallimann Feb 21 2009, 12:26 AM
That's awesome man!
Have fun with your newly set guitar! :-)
Posted by: Rated Htr Feb 21 2009, 12:27 AM
Go man, have fun, it's always good to hear that...wonder if mine has the same o.o
Posted by: berko Feb 21 2009, 12:30 AM
Even a minor adjustment can do wonders. A bit lower or higher action, new strings, new pick: anything basically. This means that you have put many effort into the guitar and now - removing such physical obstacles - you can unlock many more skills too. Have fun then!
Posted by: Pedja Simovic Feb 21 2009, 12:41 AM
Getting guitar setup is awesome !
Imagine this situation... You practice for a month on very high action working on your tapping, sweeping, legato , alternate etc. You do fairly well at decent tempos ... You take your guitar for setup , you get it back and you can play at least 20-30% faster !
It happened to me so many times. My main custom guitar has high action for purposes like this 
Posted by: pat Feb 21 2009, 01:11 AM
ehm could somebody explain what "action" really means? i mean i have an idea what it could be but im just not sure about it. thx
Posted by: Pavlov Feb 21 2009, 01:25 AM
As far as I know, the height of the strings on the fretboard - e.g., how easy it is to push down the strings. At least that's what I've been told.
Posted by: Canis Feb 21 2009, 01:27 AM
It means how close your strings are to your fretboard =)
High action means that the string are higher from the board, and vice versa.
Posted by: Ramiro Delforte Feb 21 2009, 07:36 AM
That's really nice to hear about because is an improve in your listening skills and the knowing of the instrument qualities 
Great news mate!
Enjoy your well intonated and set up guitar
Posted by: superize Feb 21 2009, 10:55 AM
Imagine this situation... You practice for a month on very high action working on your tapping, sweeping, legato , alternate etc. You do fairly well at decent tempos ... You take your guitar for setup , you get it back and you can play at least 20-30% faster !
It happened to me so many times. My main custom guitar has high action for purposes like this
I feel that my string height is preventing me from playing faster.....
The next time i go to the guitar store i will check if they could do a setup on my guitar
Posted by: g-forcelover Feb 21 2009, 10:41 PM
yeah it is man. That happened to me, my squire had action you could drive a truck under, and i got fast with that, then i got my bc rich moockingbird and i was like, holy crap, I can play this fast?
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Feb 21 2009, 11:49 PM
Great to hear about your guitar sounding awesome and inspiring! Setup is important and its recommended that you always do it after buying the new instrument...Badly setup guitar can lower playability and be uninspiring to practice one..If you are not experienced take it to the shop for the first time or follow online tutorials on how to do the setup yourself.Its a rewarding experience..
Posted by: Pavlov Feb 21 2009, 11:50 PM
Oh my God. I had my 12 year old Mustang I bought second (third? fourth? ...?) hand redone today. New elixir 0.09 strings and had it set up by a pro. It now plays like a dream compared to how it did before. No more pain in my lower thumb. Absolutely no problem with barre chords. It's amazing, it plays like how imagined an American Deluxe strat would play. Now I wonder how much better they would play, because this is amazing. Especially for chordwork.
And it's almost like it sounds better too. Maybe the strings?
Posted by: Ryan Feb 21 2009, 11:52 PM
Setup is important and its recommended that you always do it after buying the new instrument...Badly setup guitar can lower playability and be uninspiring to practice one..If you are not experienced take it to the shop for the first time or follow online tutorials on how to do the setup yourself.Its a rewarding experience..Man, I never took my new guitar in. Im gonna do that soon. I didnt think that you needed to since, well you know it was "new".
Posted by: Velvet Roger Feb 22 2009, 10:23 AM
Can be the new strings (probably), but also the actual action of each individual string in relation to the pickup height can make major differences.
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Feb 22 2009, 01:30 PM
Better guitars usually get better setup at the factory.But then they travel a lot to the actual store so they lose much of the factory setup values while bumping in the back of UPS truck.Some stores do the setup free when you buy the guitar...They put new strings when doing the setup , do all sorts of tweaking and intonation - you just tell them your preferences like "I want lowest action possible etc"...
Posted by: Aleksander Sukovic Feb 24 2009, 11:11 AM
A good set-up is very important for a player. It should be done at least once or twice a year. The temperature changes when seasons change can make the neck contort, so it should be adjusted. The string action, the octave pitch adjustment, the wang-bar angle (if your guitar has one), the pickup height, the frets should be leveled once in a while to reduce the 'twanging' sound and allow you to adjust the strings to a lower action, but if your guitar has a wang-bar the set-up should be done more frequently. These are just a few basic things you do when you set-up your axe. I believe anyone can do this (except the fret leveling).
Posted by: Vasilije Vukmirovic Feb 24 2009, 06:58 PM
I also have high actions, you gave hope that it can really be fixed:)
What about the buzz when your strings are to low?
Posted by: mattacuk Feb 24 2009, 07:00 PM
My Ibanez PGM301 has only received a factory setup and although I cant find any fault with it I would like a pro tech to set it up for me. Sadly there are non in my area so im a bit stuffed for choice!
Powered by Invision Power Board (http://www.invisionboard.com)
© Invision Power Services (http://www.invisionpower.com)