Billy Penn's Guitar Set Up Guide. Billy Ph.D. Penn
adjustable wrench.
Allen wrench set (imperial and/or metric).
½” nut driver.
Light battery drill or battery powered screwdriver. (Not required)
Small pair of wire cutters.
18” straight edge if possible.
Feeler gauge set.
Naptha.
Electronics contact cleaner.
Small piece of #600 grit sandpaper.
Small piece of #0000 steel wool
1” low tack painters tape (the blue type).
Boiled linseed oil.
Guitar polish.
Canned air duster.
A few small cut up T-shirt pieces or similar material (at least 6” squares).
Good quality electronic tuner. I like the ones made by Peterson.
Where to work
Create a space that is about counter height if possible where you can work comfortably.
Pad the surface with a small piece of carpet or large towel.
You will also need something to rest the guitars neck on like a rolled up towel, T-shirts or even a roll of paper towels will work. This will keep the guitars headstock off the of the work surface. This is very important when adjusting the neck and setting intonation. (see pic below)
Have enough room for your tuner and the necessary tools.
You don’t need to have every tool laid out but at least have the tools you will need for each section of the set up process.
Adequate lighting is also very important.
Guitar neck support:
My bench:
Let’s go!
Now that the workspace has been created and you have your tools handy we can begin. The beginning of the first section is basic with some of it being routine. Later in this section it becomes more involved and is much more detailed. For right handed guitars lay the guitar on your bench with the headstock to your left, opposite for left handed guitars. Let’s begin!
Remove the strings
First thing you want to do is remove the strings from your guitar. Before you do this if you are working on an archtop guitar with floating bridge take some low tack painters masking tape (the blue type you find in a hardware store) and tape both feet of the bridge base down to the top of the guitar.
TIP: If you take each piece of tape and stick it to your clothing a few times it will decrease the “tack” of the tape. I like to do this if I am working on an older guitar to decrease the chance of the tape pulling off some of the finish when removing the tape.
This will save you a lot of time when setting the intonation later in the set up process. If you have a guitar like a Gibson Les Paul make sure that the bridge does not fall off the studs. Try to keep it on the guitar. If it happens to fall off the studs you will need to remember which way it was on the guitar. You can usually tell by the size of the notches in the saddles with the larger notches for the lower strings.
TIP: A trick I use very often in my shop is to take a photo with my cell phone of anything I will need to remember. Then there is no guessing where something went or how it was before I took it apart.
The tailpiece will also fall off its studs but this is normal, but be aware so it does not scratch your guitar. If you have a guitar with a floating tremolo bridge like a Fender Stratocaster find a small piece of cardboard or similar material to slip under the raised end of the bridge before you loosen the strings. This will keep the bridge very close to where it needs to be when you put the strings back on. I like to use fiberboard or even strips of leather sometimes.
If you are working on an acoustic guitar try not to let the saddle fall out of the slot and be careful not to lose a bridge pin. Those rascals can fall and go missing.
If you have a Telecaster with the strings that go through the back of the body make sure that the string ferrules don’t fall out. I notice that on newer Telecaster guitar’s the ferrule’s sometimes fall out. Be aware of this because you don’t want to lose one. If one should fall out I like to take a bit of white silicon sealer (the type that comes in a tube for bathrooms or aquariums) and spread a little around the ferrule. This will help to keep it from falling out but is not permanent like super glue in case you ever want to re-finish your guitar.
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