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 and hardware tightening to help your guitar play and sound its best.
A guitar setup, when taken as an entire process, is simply four steps performed in a certain order:
- Neck adjustment
- Bridge adjustment
- Nut slot adjustment
- Intonation
A guitar setup is not a repair, it is an adjustment. Guitars are typically made out of some type of wood and therefore will move and shift with the changes in humidity, as well as the wear and tear of use. Learning the basics of a guitar setup will undoubtedly save you time and money down the road, as most all instruments will need to be adjusted regularly in order to consistently play great. At the end of the day, all players are really after the same thing: an instrument that plays in tune and stays in tune, and is playing at a “comfortable” action height.
Whether you’re just interested in keeping your own guitars playing well or pursuing custom building and guitar repair, we hope this series will help take the mystery out of the process and give you the knowledge to move forward.