I’ve spent a lot of time recently thinking about guitars, and why they come from the factory with such BAD setups. I seem to discuss it all the time with clients, especially when I’ve just set up their brand new guitar and the difference is massive.

Seriously. The action is always too high at the bridge. The action is always too high at the nut. The neck usually has far too much relief (bend) in it.

These factors add up to make a guitar that is nowhere CLOSE to being as nice to play as it possibly could be. Given that guitar manufacturers are in the business of selling guitars, and given that guitar buyers usually play guitars before they buy them, why don’t the manufacturers set them up really well to make sure THEIR guitars are the best in the shop?

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One thing I’ve always thought was MASSIVELY important for the “feel” of a guitar is a correctly cut nut. This has also been borne out during my guitar tech classes. Once the student has watched me cut the nut, and given them the guitar back twenty minutes later, they often can’t believe how much of a positive difference it makes.

Typically, guitars come out of the factory with the nut slots not being deep enough. Far too much clearance over the first fret, when in reality the string JUST needs to clear the first fret by enough so that it doesn’t rattle when playing the open string.

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I get a lot of enquiries from people with acoustic guitars wanting to know if there’s any way that the action can be lowered to make the guitar easier to play. The short answer is YES. The long answer is also YES.

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I get phone calls and email from people all the time who have a guitar with a broken string. Usually, it’s a guitar that’s been in storage for a while and the person who owns it doesn’t know anything about guitars. They don’t know what’s caused it or how to fix it, and would like to know how much it costs to put right. This article will tell you what you need to know!

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Fender Stratocaster – £750

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Having moved house recently, i’ve decided to trim down my guitar collection, and rather unusually, this has begun with the purchase of a new guitar. I figured if I get one new awesome guitar that covers all bases that I need better than my existing guitars, i can sell them and not be missing anything. Continue reading →

I see this question asked a lot online, and I can imagine the scenario. You’ve bought a guitar with a floating tremolo system and you can’t keep it in tune for the life of you. You’ve locked the top nut and everything looks right, but yet when you use the bar even a bit, things start to drift. Floyds can be a pain at the best of times, but a guitar that won’t stay in tune can be virtually unplayable, especially in a live music scenario. As with many things tech, it’s hard to tell the problem without actually seeing the guitar, but here are some of the common reasons and places that you can start. Continue reading →