GUITAR CRAFT ACADEMY BLOG
The Toothpick Trick: Guitar Setup and Maintenance
https://youtu.be/ZufC3-aXs6M Quick guitar maintenance tip: If your guitar's strap button screw becomes loose because the screw hole is worn, you can cut a small piece of round toothpick, install it in the screw hole and then re-install the strap button. It's a simple...
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Adjusting Pickup Height: Guitar Setup and Maintenance (Video)
https://youtu.be/CKimEbgkjc8 The last step of any guitar setup applies only to electric guitars with adjustable pickups. That is to adjust the pickup heights so the volumes will be consistent. This is attained by moving the pickups either closer to or away from the...
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Cleaning a Guitar’s Electronics: Guitar Setup and Maintenance (Video)
https://youtu.be/poZzdkgfdoc After you've finished the guitar setup process, there are a few other things you can do to make sure your guitar is functioning properly. One is to clean out the potentiometers and the output jack. First, remove the electronics control...
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Adjusting Intonation: Guitar Setup and Maintenance (Video)
https://youtu.be/rSX4LT4IY_4 Now that the truss rod is adjusted, the string action at the bridge is adjusted, and nut slots are dialed in, you can now do the last step of the setup, which is to adjust intonation. Tuning fretted instruments Fretted instruments have...
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Using a Strobe Tuner: Guitar Setup and Maintenance (Video)
https://youtu.be/Gqkcub0o1Hc The best way to get accurate readings when setting intonation is to use a good-quality strobe tuner. This is because strobe tuners act as a magnifying glass when tuning a guitar. If you break down the interval in between two notes into 100...
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Adjusting the Nut Slots: Guitar Setup and Maintenance (Video)
https://youtu.be/BXs6-q6L_VQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPqBVEfQ0CQ&t=4s After adjusting the truss rod and setting the string saddle heights at the bridge, you can now make the third adjustment, which is to the nut slots. There are three aspects of the...
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Adjusting a Fender Bridge: Guitar Setup and Maintenance (Video)
https://youtu.be/mTlnr5jxnwI If you are adjusting a Fender Strat-style guitar with a floating bridge, this is the point at which you will balance the trem so that the strings will pull the bridge base off of the body. Floating Strat bridges do have tuning and...
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Adjusting a Tune-o-Matic Bridge: Guitar Setup and Maintenance (Video)
https://youtu.be/t5Aiw-ROmBk Tune-o-Matic bridges are actually pretty easy to adjust, since the entire bridge sits on two thumbwheels at either side. The radius should be adjusted at the factory, but a good setup tech will check this to make sure that it is...
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Adjusting the Truss Rod – Guitar Setup & Maintenance
https://youtu.be/4On1PFHc3iw In any setup on a guitar with an adjustable neck, the first step will always be to adjust the truss rod. A guitar neck that is properly adjusted will have a slight amount of relief (not completely flat), which is what allows each fretted...
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Introducing Our Guitar Setup and Maintenance Video Series (Video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYe6azOyr2c In our new Guitar Setup and Maintenance video series, Guitar Craft Academy instructor and professional Nashville luthier David Johnson will walk you through each step of the setup process and also cover cleaning electronics...
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