Electric Guitar Setup String Height

Erick coleman walks you through basic set up instructions to have your guitar playing great in no time.

Electric guitar setup string height.

Use the two pivot adjustment screws to achieve the desired overall string height. Higher string height makes the strings harder to press down which in turn can cause discomfort over prolonged periods of guitar playing. Check the height between the seventeenth fret and the bottom of each string refer to the specifications chart for the proper measurement. Measure the string height at the 12th fret using a 1 32 1 64 ruler.

This distance plays a key role in your setup because it determines the ease in which your guitar can be played. To do this we will measure your guitar neck s action and adjust it for both fender and gibson style bridges. For locking tremolo systems the individual string height is preset. In order to measure the height of your guitar s strings you should have either a ruler a feeler gauge or a specialized string action gauge.

String height or action describes the distance between the top of your frets to the bottom of your strings. The high e string should cross the line on the ruler exactly while the bottom of the low e string should just barely allow bottom of the ruler line to show. In part 1 of the guitar setup series we adjusted the truss rod to set the neck relief. Experiment with the height until the desired sound and feel is achieved.

In part 2 we will fine tune your string height so your guitar is perfectly tailored to your playing style. This may involve adjusting the height of the saddles or of the string slots in. Adjust bridge saddles to the height according to the chart then re tune. Dunlop reverend willy s electric guitar strings.

You will only need to measure the high e and the low e for some bridges. Then measuring with the string action gauge adjust the string height to the player s preference. For electric guitars in our opinion a good default string height at the 12th fret is typically about 6 64th of an inch 2 38mm on the bass side and 4 64th of an inch 1 59mm on the treble side. It can also cause nerve related problems such as carpal tunnel as the tension of a string that is too high tends to be far greater than the tension of a string that is too low.