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== String Gauge ==Most stock guitars come in standard E tuning with 9's (.009-.042). These are easy to bend and are good for lead work, but I find them a bit lacking if You should gauge the amount of fret buzz you want a heavy rhythm sound. Because they are relatively loose, you'll get getting by playing through an amp using a strong attack on them that quickly fades to a whimper. In my mind, that sounds kind of vintageclean tone, not modern and heavy. For standard E tuning, I prefer 10simply listening to the guitar when it's (not plugged in.010-.046). If you like All electric guitars tend to play in drop D, you may prefer strings with have a heavy bottom (.010-.052). The heavy bottom is nicelittle buzz, even if you donbut that won't play in a drop tuning - you generally don't need to make as strong bends on your thicker strings as you do on necessarily be heard by the thinner onespickups. Given that ISome people may try to completely eliminate all acoustic buzzing, making their instrument near unplayable for ''absolutely no'm a Petrucci nut, I basically use the [http://www.johnpetrucci.com/gear.htm exact same string gauges] (Scroll down a little and there's a chart for all his tunings with the gauges used)tonal benefit.
AlsoEliminating ''(reducing)'' fret buzz uses multiple points of attack. First, I want to make sure I'm using '''thick-enough string gauges''' for the tuning I'm using (and the playability I desire). See above. The more tension on the strings, the smaller their vibrational amplitude for a given volume, and the less fret buzz they'll produce. If I can accept a little more buzz for ease of play, thinner I use a guitar with lighter strings are easier . And when I say a desirable amount of buzz, I mean just a touch of it on the very initial part of my attack. I don't want it to muteoccur through (and kill) my attack, and I ''definitely'' don't want it continue as I sustain. This And again, I don't use that guitar for metal. Next, make sure your '''neck is mostly why I like them virtually flat'''. You need to adjust your ''truss rod'' to counter-balance the tension the strings exert on one side of the neck, but you still want the neck to have a little bow to it for lead work the frets closest to the nut to avoid fret buzz. Again, [http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/action.htm Ibanez Rules action setup page] is a good reference. '''Be careful when doing a truss rod adjustment''' - you are less likely don't want to turn more than a quarter turn without giving the neck time to adjust to the new tension. Make sure you're turning the right direction too. If this is your first time, have an unwanted string ring outexperienced friend or commercial technician demonstrate the process for you. Or do lots of internet research. Also, be sure to re-tune to ensure the neck is receiving the right amount of tension after adjustments. Finally, I want to '''raise my bridge''' (either adjusting the saddles or the entire bridge depending on the type of bridge). I find 'll raise it a bit at a time, retune at least one string to test, and see how much buzz I sometimes like get playing a medium amount of pick strength across at a couple frets from 1-12. Make sure you retune after any bridge adjustment. If you raise the bridge, you may be tightening the string(s), resulting in less buzz...until you actually tune to the proper note. Or vice versa. If you are adjusting via individual saddles, be sure to ''keep the saddles at the same relative heights as the sharper attack toofretboard radius''. If you already have the saddles fit to the fretboard radius, it's usually best to adjust the two bridge posts when possible. Also, but not alwayswatch out for how floating trem bridges make contact with the posts. You generally want the knife edges to hit at a perfect 90 degrees. This will also vary with the bear claw tension in the back cavity of the guitar as well as the string gauge, tuning, bridge height, saddle heights. You basically have an easier time playing legato (hammer-ons to adjust ''everything'' at once, slowly moving closer and pullcloser to the ideal setup. Beyond those adjustments, the only way to get your action lower with the same amount of buzz is to have the '''frets re-offs) with thinner stringsleveled''' or the '''nut filed down'''. I have two guitars tuned would get a professional to standard Edo such modifications, although there are plenty of tutorials on the web that can help you. One has 9I'sd try to find several of them, as some may make them sound way easier than they are. Filing and/or replacing your nut is the other 10far simpler of the two, but you'sll need precise tools to do it at a professional level.
len 25.5" E4 .009" PL == 13.13# B3 .011" PL == 11.01# G3 .016" PL == 14.68# D3 .024" NW == 15.77# A2 .032" NW == 15.77# E2 The easiest way to intonate the guitar is by '''comparing the pitch of the 12th fret harmonic vs.042" NW == 14the fretted note'''.77# total == 85If the fretted note is sharper than the harmonic, the string must be lengthened, which usually involves moving the individual bridge saddle away from the nut.13# E4 If it is flatter, then the string must be shortened by moving the saddle closer to the nut.010" PL == 16.21# B3 .013" PL == 15.38# G3 .017" PL == 16.57# D3 .026" NW == 18.41# A2 .036" NW == 19.54# E2 .046" NW == 17Be sure to re-tune the guitar after each adjustment - this is ''especially'' important with a floating bridge, where string tension affects action.48# total == 103Once all your strings are intonated, you'll notice it will sound much better across the fretboard, especially for chords.59#
len 27" E4b Note that '''intonation is also dependent on the rest of your setup''', particularly your action.010" PL == 16If you have a high action, you have to press the string down a significant distance to fret it, which is adding tension (and possibly length) to the string.2# B3b This is why it is difficult to intonate a guitar with high action.013" PL == 15You can match the 12th harmonic to the 12th fretted note, but other spots on the fretboard may not be consistently in tune.36# G3b The same principle applies to a guitar with a high nut height.017" PL == 16You have to exert more tension on the frets close to the nut to properly fret them, causing them to be sharper than other areas of the neck.55# D3b .026" NW == 18.38# A2b .036" NW == 19.51# E2b .046" NW == 17.46# B1b .059" NW == 16.46# F1 .080" NW == 16.55# total == 136.49#
Another point on string gauge Thus, I like to '''intonate using at least 2- 3 comparisons'''. I'll start with the thinner your strings12th harmonic vs 12th fret, the less tension theythen I'll have which means try the more you7th fret vs. 19th fret. If that'll stretch them when you pick them. This will cause them s off, maybe I need to go sharp initially and gradually lower their pitch until they find their natural sustaining volumemy action a little. The harder you pick them, the sharper theyThen I'll gotry the 2nd fret vs. For metal14th. If there's a discrepancy there, where you often have to play fast and aggressively, picking hard will cause the initial attack to be sharper than the note you desireit tells me how much impact my nut height is having on getting a proper intonation. This is another reason to use thicker strings for aggressive music like metal - otherwise, you If I can sound out 't get all of tunethese 3 tests perfect, even when you aren’tI'll '''compromise''' and get all 3 as close as possible rather than have one perfect and the other 2 way off.
Lately much ado has been made about balanced tension between Keep in mind that lower quality instruments might have issues with the strings - basically each string having near identical tension when tuned up. There's nothing wrong nut or possibly even with unbalanced tensionthe fret spacing. Of courseUnlevel frets can also throw off intonation, a wide imbalance is going making it impossible to feel awkwardintonate. I consider balanced tension a good idealTechnically, but I find most commercial sets are close enough not to nitpick. D'Addario actually took notice and makes true balanced tension sets now, but perfect intonation is impossible - the price best you can do is a bit too high right now for me compromise to switch get all the notes as close to them. Keep in mind also that the link above to the tension calculator is not perfect and should only be used -tune as a rough estimatepossible.
And a final point - thin strings are more likely to have fret buzz with the attack== Pickup Height =====Passives==='''Too low''' and you lose SNR and your dynamic response gets messed up, '''too high''' and you get input clipping on your device, as well as "pole pull", which can screw up your intonation and kill sustain. As I just mentioned, they will stretch more and thus be more likely recommend allowing them to slap against frets above the one you are frettinghave a safe distance. This can sound kind of nice for blues workAlso, where you arendon't always picking aggressively - it really emphasizes when you doconfuse output level with SNR. For metal, where you are constantly picking quickly and aggressivelyRaising your pickups will increase their output level, but it will make your playing sound like noise; it will be near impossible is probably not improving their SNR unless they were very low (or extremely weak) to hear the desired note pitch. This also depends on your..start.
High action is often regarded EMG recommends you to have "better" tone (see below), but can be more difficult to playput them ''as close as possible''. This is mainly due to poor setup in other areas, which causes a lower area to have too much fret buzz. It can also be more difficult to get a good intonation (making you sound out of tune). Low action runs the risk of fret buzz, especially I followed this advice when other aspects of your setup are bad or you pick aggressively I had these pickups and use a thick picknever noticed any problems with doing so. For metalOf course, fret buzz is a no-no (too noisy). I like a medium to low action across the board - high enough so that I don't get a strong buzz when I pick put them so close the string ever hits the strings at a low to medium stengthpickup or it interferes with your picking stroke.
A lot For SD Blackouts, this is where things get a little interesting. The pickups seem to have some kind of people think action has little impact on tonebuffer, other than the amount of fret buzzso they will not output above a certain level. That might be true on a low-quality instrument or one that hasn't been set up properly because by the time you get the action low enough so that it affects tone, So it's already getting quite like a bit of sustaining buzzlimiter effect. If you raise them close, you will actually reduce the dynamics to your attack. With I prefer to keep a great instrument medium distance on these pickups. They work pretty well set up to allow at a really distance. I actually have them as low action with virtually no sustaining fret buzz, action has a strong impact as possible on tonemy custom Jem (which actually isn’t THAT low). At higher actionEven with some distance, the strings don't they still have as much twang or pop to their attack and sustain a strong bass responsehigher-than-normal output. As But if you lower the actiongo too low, the strings will occasionally hit the frets. This pop during attack can be regarded as you’ll notice you can’t get good artificial harmonics or bad. It tends softer notes to add a little brightness to the tonesound good.
My advice here is not to try to basically EQ == Bridge ==I can't tell you much about how this type of bridge material will affect your guitar tone through the action, but I do know that a fixed bridge will best maximize your frequency response and sustain. And if If you have a strong bass responsefloating bridge, you may lose a little brightness (or some thickness) - something to keep in mind for pickup selection and tone editing. You can always EQ use a Tremel-no or put a block of wood under the bridge to keep it out later, whereas from floating. I recommend the Tremel-no – it allows you can't EQ it in if it wasn't there to begin with. A boost pedal does a much better job of filtering out too much mud than switch on the fly by turning a low actionthumb-screw.
For referenceAlso, Petrucciif you have a Stat type bridge (whammy dives only) or floating bridge, I recommend '''stuffing the bear claw cavity'''s tech said in some forum the back of the guitar with Kleenex or cotton balls or gauze. This will keep the springs from making any noise, so that he runs they do not ring after you play a super-low action: ~1mm at 12th fret note. This is essential for hard rock and metal, where you use lots of compression/distortion and have to play punchy rhythm or lead sections that require you to quickly mute all the strings (~1.2 This is a common technique, not some ill-thought- 1out hack.3mm @24th fret). You can hear how much pop and how little bass (and how much buzz) this gives Similarly, '''mute the tone in strings between the intro solo nut and tuners''' to Hollow Years on the Live at Bukokan DVDprevent them from ringing. Petrucci's setup has been said I like to be absurdly low. Most low action shred setups are around 1.5 use sticky- 2mm on the high E string at the 24th fret. For more on thistack (earthquake putty), see [http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/action.htm Ibanez Rules action setup page]but you can also use foam or a wristband.
Fret buzz The simplest and easiest tweak to help fix a nut is not to '''draw in the same thing as fretting out or chokinggrooves with a pencil'''. Fretting out is completely unacceptable - it means The graphite will lubricate the string doesn't even have enough clearance above the frets higher than s movement in the one you're fretting to make a sustainable vibration. This can be caused by having your action too low, too much truss rod tension (making the fretboard side of the neck convex), or unlevel frets. A bit of fret buzz, on the other handgroove, is acceptable; as long as so it isndoesn't having a strong impact on pinch. This helps keep your tonestrings in tune better.
You should gauge == Body/Fretboard/Tuners/Neck-through ==Some people claim all the "tone" is in other parts of the amount guitar. I've had people tell me I gotta get such-and-such tuners, or this kind of fret buzz you are getting by playing fretboard, or a neck-through an amp using design, or a clean body made of this kind of wood, or this kind of paint job, etc. etc. While all these things certainly will affect the tone, not simply listening to I don't think they have nearly as much impact as the guitar when itthings I mentioned above. ''Very'' popular artists that have all achieved highly desirable tones ''throughout the ages''s not plugged in. All electric guitars tend to have used a little buzzvery wide variety of such things. Most fretboards are rosewood, but that won't necessarily be heard by the pickupsEVH played a maple one mostly. Jimmy Page used a 10+ lb. Some people may try to completely eliminate all acoustic buzzingLes Paul, making their instrument near unplayable for ABSOLUTELY NO tonal benefityet Steve Vai's Jem's are like 4 lbs.
Eliminating (reducing) fret buzz uses multiple points of attackGet tuners that help best tune your guitar. Set the guitar up properly. First, I want to make sure I'm using tight enough string gauges Worry about body weight and your bridge setting for sustain rather than tone. Paint the tuning I'm using (and guitar the playability I desire)color you want. See above. The more tension on If any of these things really adversely affect the stringstone, the smaller their vibration distance for a given volumeyou can generally use pickups that help counter these affects. For example, if they make your tone bright and the less fret buzz they'll producethin, use pickups that are a bit darker. If I can accept your tone is dull, get bright pickups. Yes, you may lose a little more buzz for ease bit of playpotential tone; theoretically, I use you should maximize the richness of the tone towards your desired tone for every component. But you're not a rocket scientist, nor are you likely going to be able to build your guitar with lighter stringscomponent by component. Of course, this has limitations. And when I say If you're thinking about buying a desirable amount of buzzguitar that sounds really dull, I mean just a touch of it on the very initial part of my attackyou won't achieve great results by getting really bright pickups. I donYou can't want it EQ in frequencies that never existed to occur through (and kill) my attack, and I DEFINITELY begin with. My main point here is don't want it continue as I sustainsweat the small stuff. You'll likely get relatively larger tonal improvements by properly setting up your guitar and using good pickups than by spending a fortune building a 100% custom guitar. And againyour guitar will only get you so far. Even a great guitar still sounds like crap going straight to the board. You need the compression, I don't use EQ, and distortion that only post-guitar for metalprocessing/amplifiers can give you.
Next, make sure your neck is virtually flat== My Advice on DIY vs. You need Pay a Pro =====DIY===* Raise or Lower Bridge Posts* Raise or Lower Bridge Saddles* Adjust Truss Rod* Tighten the Bear Claw Springs* Change to adjust your truss rod to counterDifferent String Gauges/Tuning* Raise/Lower Pickups* Move the bridge saddles towards/away from the nut -balance for intonation===Call the tension Guy===* Level and Crown the strings exert on one side of Frets* File the neck, but Nut* Anything I Don't Feel I Fully Understand* Anything that Requires a Tool I Don't Have to be Done Correctly===Special Considerations===* If you still want the neck to have a little bow floating bridge, changing string gauges or tunings can be a pain to it for do all the frets closest to the nut to avoid fret buzz. Againadjustments - if you are impatient, [http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/action.htm Ibanez Rules action setup page] is pay a good reference. Be careful when doing pro* Some bridges have a truss rod adjustment - you don't want to turn 3rd or more than a quarter turn without giving screws/posts connecting the neck time to adjust bridge to the new tensionguitar body. Make sure you're turning know how these operate before adjusting. Raising or lowering the main posts may put extreme tension on these, causing them to rip out of the body or break the right direction toobridge, etc. * If this is your first timeyou have a floating bridge, you may also have a double-locking metal nut, which cannot be filed down like a normal nut. You actually have an experienced friend or commercial technician demonstrate to remove the nut and sand down the part of the process for youneck it connects to. Or do lots of internet research Definitely call the guy. Also* If your instrument is old and valuable, be sure you may want to leave it to rethe pros -tune to ensure Simply slipping with a screwdriver and scratching the neck is receiving guitar could be a costly error.* If you live in the right amount middle of tension after adjustmentsnowhere, and there is no guy; you can look to ship it to notable luthiers or you will have to buy tools and do things yourself.
Finally, I want to raise my bridge (either adjusting the saddles or the entire bridge depending on the type of bridge). I'll raise it a bit at a time, retune at least one string to test, and see how much buzz I get playing a medium amount of pick strength across at a couple frets from {{top}}{{Gear Crumbs|1-12. Make sure you retune after any bridge adjustment. If you raise the bridge, you may be tightening the string(s), resulting in less buzz...until you actually tune to the proper note. Or vice versa. If you are adjusting via individual saddles, be sure to keep the saddles at the same relative heights as the fretboard radius. If you already have the saddles fit to the fretboard radius, it's usually best to adjust the two bridge posts when possible. Also, watch out for how floating trem bridges make contact with the posts. You generally want the knife edges to hit at a perfect 90 degrees. This will vary with the bear claw tension in the back cavity of the guitar as well as the string gauge, tuning, bridge height, saddle heights. You basically have to adjust everything at once, slowly moving closer and closer to the ideal setup. }}{{Tone Crumbs|4}}
Beyond those adjustments, the only way to get your action lower with the same amount of buzz is to have the frets re-leveled or the nut filed down. I would get a professional to do such modifications, although there are plenty of tutorials on the web that can help you. I'd try to find several of them, as some may make them sound way easier than they are. Filing and/or replacing your nut is the far simpler of the two, but you'll need precise tools to do it at a professional level.[[Category:Guitar]][[Category:Gear]][[Category:Setup]]
→String Gauge
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{{Gear Crumbs|1}}
{{Tone Crumbs|4}}
This page contains enough information for intermediate setup tweaks to your guitar. Any advanced setup alluded to here should be more thoroughly researched before being attempted.
== New Strings and String Gauge ==See [[Strings]]. == Action == You should Action can generally be changing described as the ''distance between your strings every 2and your frets'' when you are not fretting them, usually measured as the distance between any string and the top of the 12th (or sometimes 24th) fret. This depends on your ''nut height'', your ''bridge height'', and your ''truss rod tension'' (balanced against your string tension, which depends on string gauge and tuning). Properly setting up your action is way beyond the scope of this guide; we are only focusing on how action affects your tone, assuming whether you can set up your guitar correctly for your desired action. High action is often regarded to have "better" tone (see below), but can be '''more difficult to play'''. I disagree -3 months at I think this is mainly due to poor setup in other areas, which causes a lower action to have too much ''fret buzz''. It can also be more difficult to get a good ''intonation'' (making you sound out of tune). Low action runs the very leastrisk of ''fret buzz'', more often if especially when other aspects of your setup are bad or you play them pick aggressively and use a thick pick. For metal, fret buzz is a no-no (too noisy). I like a medium to low action across the board - high enough so that I don't get a strong buzz when I pick the strings at a low to medium stength. A lotof people think action has little impact on tone, other than the amount of fret buzz. GenerallyThat might be true on a low-quality instrument or one that hasn't been set up properly because by the time you get the action low enough so that it affects tone, it's already getting quite a bit of sustaining buzz. With a great instrument well set up to allow a really low action with virtually no sustaining fret buzz, ''action has an impact on tone''. At higher action, the strings don't have as much twang or pop to their attack and sustain a strong bass response. As you lower the action, the strings will occasionally hit the frets. This pop during attack can be regarded as good idea or bad. It tends to change them once add a monthlittle brightness to the tone, and '''emphasizes pick attack strength'''. Many popular artists with dedicated My advice here is not to try to basically EQ your guitar techs will put tone through the action. And if you have a new set of strings on after every show! New strings will stay strong bass response, you can always EQ it out later, whereas you can't EQ it in tune if it wasn't there to begin with. A boost pedal does a much betterjob of filtering out too much mud than a low action. For reference, have longer sustain, produce Petrucci's tech said in some forum that he runs a richer super-low action: ~1mm at 12th fret for all strings (~1.2 - 1.3mm @24th fret). You can hear how much pop and how little bass (and brighter how much buzz) this gives the tonein the intro solo to Hollow Years on the Live at Bukokan DVD. Petrucci's setup has been said to be absurdly low. Most low action shred setups are around 1.5 - 2mm on the high E string at the 24th fret. For more on this, see [http://www.ibanezrules.com/tech/setup/action.htm Ibanez Rules action setup page]. == Fret Buzz ==Fret buzz is the bane of most guitarists' existence. As such, there is so much stigma and strong language around it, that more novice players can be easier misled about what to expect from their instrument. This section is simply designed to playclarify a few things. Fret buzz is ''not'' the same thing as '''fretting out or choking'''. If Fretting out is completely unacceptable - it means the string doesn't even have enough clearance above one or more frets higher than the one you want 're fretting to get more life from make a sustainable vibration. This can be caused by having your stringsaction too low, wash your hands before playing and wipe too much truss rod tension (making the fretboard side of the strings down with some rubbing alcohol every now and thenneck convex), or unlevel frets. You don’t want them to get covered in dirt and corrosive materialsA bit of fret buzz, on the other hand, is acceptable; as long as it isn't having a strong impact on your tone.
== Intonation ==Intonation is basically how in tune the guitar is at different frets and strings. If you are tuning all your a guitar strings downis intonated poorly, you donit will 't want 9's, or even 10's. I find I need at least 11sound out of tune's to play in standard D, at least 12's to play in standard C, and at least 13's to play in standard B. If you are additionally going to drop the 6th string a full step, I highly recommend getting a set of heavy bottoms. Again, see the chart when playing notes higher on the Petrucci site linked above, or [http://wwwfretboard.surveyorChords will be notably dissonant when they shouldn't be.com/guitar/stringtension.html visit this website], which has a Java Applet Most people don't pay much attention to calculate string tension using gauges and tunings. Here are the values I use for most of my guitars: notice you can specify the scale lengthintonation, tuning, and type of strings. The first yet it is D'Addario EXL120's, then Dabsolutely crucial'Addario EXL110'sto sound good, then D'Addario EXL110-7especially in a band or recording environment. It's with an additional .080 nickel wound string (for my Ibanez RGA8 8 string). Notice the 8 string has also a longer scale lengthfairly simple and risk-free adjustment, but I tune although it down may take a half step, acheiving roughly the same string tensionlittle time.
== Action =Actives=== Action can generally be described as '''This depends on the distance between your strings and your frets when you are not fretting them, usually measured as the distance between any string and the top type of the 12th (or sometimes 24th) fretactive pickup'''. This depends on your nut height, your bridge height, Some have weaker magnets and your truss rod tensionneed to be placed closer to the strings. Properly setting up your action is way beyond the scope of this guide; we are only focusing on how action affects your tone Others will suffer similar problems as above, assuming whether you can set up your guitar correctly for your desired actionor introduce new issues.
== Fret Buzz Nut ==Fret buzz The nut is an often overlooked area of the guitar. It needs to be '''positioned properly''' for the bane of most guitaristsguitar to '''intonate correctly'''. It has a strong affect on the action. '''An improperly filed nut can cause tuning and sustain issues or cause buzzing/ringing on open strings.''' existenceI recommend having a professional adjust your nut. As suchTo file it correctly it is best done with specialized filing tools, there which are too costly to justify a one-time use. I like my nut to be like the 0th fret - providing a similar clearance over the 1st fret for open strings as they have over the 2nd fret when fretting the 1st fret. Any lower and they'll buzz. Any higher and intonation is off and action is unnecessarily high. The strings should make firm contact with the nut right where they leave the nut and travel over the fretboard. The grooves should point directly towards the tuning pegs. They should be wide enough to fit the string in easily and so much stigma that it doesn't pinch when tuning or bending. It also has to be smooth so the string slides easily over it and strong language around doesn't break. But it, that more novice players can 't be misled about what so wide as to expect from their instrumentallow the string to '''rattle in the groove'''. This section is simply designed They have to clarify a few thingsbe deep enough so the strings don't pop out, but shallow enough so the strings can easily fit into and out of the nut.