Ever do TOO good of a set-up on a guitar?

[Caevan O’Shite]

Ever do TOO good of a set-up on a guitar?

 

I undertook the task of bringing new life to the twenty year old and severely neglected and maladjusted Squier II Stratocaster ("by Fender"!) that belongs to the singer/defacto "rhythm guitarist"/band-leader of this band I just started up with as their "lead guitarist".

 

The guy was so incredibly happy with the results, all smiles, big grins- but as a result he played waaay more fills and leads than he's been doing, to the point that I told him I would never have done such a good job on his guitar if I'd known it was going to make me unneeded and put me out of a job!

 

 

 

Man, and I mean maaan, was this guitar all messed up!

 

Up-bow (!) instead of relief or straightness in the neck; leftover pieces of broken strings stuck in the bridge; weird attempted "knots" at the tuner-posts; randomly mis-adjusted bridge-saddles conforming to no semblance of fretboard-radius; terribly high, uneven, nearly unplayable action; awful lack of intonation; floating trem-bridge but the guy never uses the whammy (doesn't even have the handle/bar for it); an eclectic mix of electric and acoustic strings in an eclectic mix of gauges; dried-up dirty rosewood fretboard with scruffy, parched light-colored patches; scratchy static-beleaguered pots with too much snarled-up protective plastic-wrap stuck underneath the knobs to the point of affecting their feel; loose hardware all over the place...

 

Not necessarily in this order, I:

 

Cleaned and oiled the fretboard (man, was that rosewood THIRSTY! Better quality rosewood than many budget guitars, though, too!)

 

Adjusted the truss-rod and dialed-in about .006" of relief at the 7th-fret, with the strings capoed at the 1st-fret and fretted with a finger at the "body" fret

 

Set the bridge-plate flat to the body, tightening the spring-claw all the way and adding a 5th-spring in the middle

 

Adjusted the bridge-saddles to conform to the 12" radius of the fretboard excepting for slightly higher and higher action on the wound/bass-strings

 

Dialed-in a medium-low action with a little extra height under the 6th/Low-E; I didn't measure, I just went by eye and feel, as it could use a full fret-job (preventing e a really low action) and he's a slightly heavy-handed player who plays "rhythm" mostly, sticking primarily between the 1st through 7th positions

 

Snugged-up all loose hardware (which was nearly all of the hardware)

 

Removed the leftover plastic-wrap from beneath the Volume and Tone knobs

 

Applied clear Teflon-gel to the underside of the string-retainer for the 1st- and 2nd-strings and the notches of all six bridge-saddles; and my own mix of Teflon-gel and powdered-graphite to the slots of its black (Delrin? Plastic?) nut

 

Sprayed tuner/control-cleaner in its Volume and Tone pots and five-way selector-switch, and fully rotated each no less than a hundred times

 

Adjusted the pickups to balance the output of the three of 'em, and also their treble/bass sides

 

Cleaned, cleaned, cleaned every nook & cranny of twenty years of grease, crud, spilled beer, second-hand smoke, and who-knows-what

 

Strung it up with some D'Addario EXL 115 nickel-wound "Jazz/Rock" strings, .011" through .049"- and installed 'em so that pliers will not be needed at either end when it's time for the next string-change (I had my work cut out for me just getting the old strings OFF!), and threw a lot of spare strings of the same brand, type, and gauges in the case (hey, I haven't used that brand/type in years, I was surprised when I found 'em stashed away!)

 

 

I think that's about it!

 

(Had I the proper tools, I might tackle the fret-job, as well... but the worst ones are way up high, where he doesn't play anyways. It's not just wear; they came a little uneven here and there right from the factory...)

 

Now the bassist wants me to fix up an ESP guitar with a Floyd onnitt for him... !

[picker]

You went that far, might was well go the rest of the way...

[Caevan O’Shite]

Well, like I said, I don't have the proper tools for that, and won't be shelling out the dough for them any time too soon. But I'd be glad to.

[G. A. Donis]

This type of thing is known as "screwing up in reverse". Sounds like a lot of work was put into a very neglected guitar. I hope the guy appreciates all the time and effort you put into it.

[picker]

Well, like I said, I don't have the proper tools for that, and won't be shelling out the dough for them any time too soon. But I'd be glad to.

 

I was thinking more of the Floyd than the frets on the Squier.

[Electric Biscuit]

I guess you're no longer lead guitarist, you're the guitar tech now

[The Geoff]

Nice job, Caev.

 

G.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Hahhahh!

 

G. A. Donis- yeah, he appreciates it; he told me he owes me a hundred dollars (I answered that no arrangement was agreed on before hand, he had only asked me to block in the trem- which I haven't even done yet!- and could not expect him to pay me, that I didn't do business like that and certainly not with a friend. He's trying to find some way to repay me anyways.)

 

Picker- gotcha. I couldn't see through the internet today, 's too foggy...

 

Electric Biscuit- oh, I've still got a pretty secure position there, really; he IS much better empowered to play better and more now, though, with or without me.

 

Geoff- Geoff! Thanks, G. Sound like some work you've done before?

 

By the way, if I've unfairly painted a bad picture of this guy, his guitar-care habits not withstanding, he's a good riddim guitarist and writes songs that he himself describes as "simple"- yet are actually very good; tighten 'em up, put a little icing on the cake here and there and they sound even better than the covers!

 

He can play and sing at the same time, too- I'd rather play and not sing at all, thanks!

 

And people tend to take a liking him, as well; very good in a "front-man"- he's got some good audience-appeal skills. And when people are happy and dancing and buying beers and drinks, the band will get more and better gigs, right? Nobody in the audience is ever gonna say, "that dude's guitar's set-up is great, man!"... !

[Guitarzan]

way to go buddy. i have in the past done that with an Ibanez RG which to the best of my knowledge was laying in a basement on top of various greasy junk and parts. i was even brave enough to take the plastic encased 5 way switch apart... yes the little ball bearing launched across the room... long story.

my hats off to you Caevan it is a challenge working on some guitars.

[James-Italy]

Good work Kev!!!

[Caevan O’Shite]

'Zan and James- thanks!

 

James- long-time no-see around these parts! Good to see ya.

 

'Zan- sounds like you had your work cut out for ya there!! Damn, what a mess that must've been!

 

Also, there was some kind of sticky, greasy mess in the stash-compartment in this Squier II Strat's medium/light-duty, molded hardshell-case (an SKS?); I have NO idea what it was but I cleaned that crap out as soon as I noticed it!

 

 

Hey, I forgot to mention that this guitar- a Strat, mind you- is actually heavier than my Les Paul, which is no light-weight as Les Pauls go, either! I suspect either a plywood or particularly dense hardwood in many pieces.

 

Another thing- it was hard to find a "sweet spot" range for the height of its pickups- just a little too close and they sounded very strident and harsh, and just a little lower and they were too woolly and indistinct.

[Larryz]

You could let him buy you a beer or two...good job, and keep on tech'en...

[Caevan O’Shite]

Oh, I'm still in the band, no real worry about that, LOL!

 

A beer or two undoubtedly loom in my future; as does more set-up work and the like...

[wraub]

Nicely done, Kev-man. Just be sure to get paid somehow...

 

Peace,

 

wraub

[whitefang]

I don't know if this counts as a set-up, or even if it belongs on this thread, but about a year ago, I took my 37-year-old Epiphone FT-145 to a tech I know at a local shop (like I said, the only law I haven't broken is Murphy's law)to straighten the neck and replace my 37-year-old bridge saddle with a bone one, and give me some teak bridge pins. But the new saddle had my strings sitting higher than I liked, so I decided to try my hand at fixing the problem. I removed the bone saddle and began to file the flat end down what I figured to be 1/4". NOW, the strings were sitting too LOW! I had to improvise some shims out of veneer from some old plywood until I got the strings up to where I liked. Man, I am NO damned good at the tedious shit.

On the plus side, I'm still amazed at how much the tone on the old ax improved from such a simple change as teak pins and a bone saddle.

Whitefang

[Caevan O’Shite]

Of course it belongs here, 'fang! Good to see ya again, too.

[SlideOnBy]

Nice work mate.

 

I started on a similar journey after seeing the pains Lee Dickson went to with EC's guitars. There is nothing better than picking up a well setup and maintained guitar.

 

As a matter of fact I am trying out Dan Erwine's measurements of SRV's setup on my strat at the moment. Good fun.

[fesquell]

long time no see you Caevan!

I'll try to keep in touch and catch the meaning'a topics

take care

[Tennessee]

Well when I realized I was never gonna be a great guitarist, I resorted to repairs, and setting up, and now building solid bodies. The problem with all this is you just can't make any money at it in this economy unless your initials are PRS. But it is rewarding, in a backhanded kind of way. One of my guitars was recently played by a guy named Garrett Trucks,(I think that is right), a session guy from Nashville who also does some touring. One of those really good slingers who has not quite broken out yet, but has some CD's out there, and has backed up a couple greats in Nashville. He did things with my guitar, if I had another lifetime, I could not do. But it was wonderful to see my creation come to life in his hands. He loved the instrument, but unfortunately had just dropped a couple grand on a vintage Fender and the shop owner just "wanted him to see my stuff". Still, it was a thrill to see a real player make my creation come to life, and the shop owner made sure I was there when he played it. He shook my hand, and told me how great it was. That was all I needed. There is something special in making something right for another person. I'm usually more than happy to set up guitars free for two types; real players, and young-in's who are aspiring to do well, since crappy instruments turn off more newbies than you might imagine. IMHO....

[pinkjimiphoton]

nice work, mate...them squire II's are actually really good guitars when set up properly...i have a white one ...errr...i THINK it was white at one time, anyways...that arrived at a gig one nite on the bitch bar of a chopped out triumph, as a gift from some cat that liked my playing...it had a huge crack in the body, still there...and once set up, the most amazing tone and playability. i changed the electronics, and the middle single coil for some pos i had lieing around my junk box, routed out the trem cavity so it could float better, and used that pos squier at more gigs than any other guitars i've ever owned...it's still my fav, and i named it wigglestick in honor of FZ...it's fully floating, and works better than any floyd i ever used...you can actually bend octave up and down in tune with it...i still use it if i have to play stuff like "third stone from the sun"...just a pos squireII, rosewood board, and for all intents pretty stock. imho, ya'll done good, mate, i love seeing these things live on...here's a pic...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs137.snc1/5854_1127575322484_1620235552_300385_6913097_n.jpg

a crummy pic, but ya can see the crack, sorta...

here's a better pic, with one of them dumb faces i make on me..

lol

 

http://ph1landrews.com/jp/921x671jimiwailage.jpg

 

peace!

[RocketRick]

Glad your finally doing something constructive with all your free time.