Set-Up, Super Tune or STrobe Tune
Just like changing strings, every guitar requires a periodic Set-up. Changing weather, wear, playing style or music, changes in string gauge and even brand make this necessary. Sometimes it is needed to make a new guitar more playable, the factory specs just aren't always good enough. The proper action, neck relief, pickup height and intonation will not only make your guitar or bass easier to play it will make it sound better.
What's the Difference:
Set-up is the term most manufacturers use to describe this process, all guitars are "set-up" to manufacturer's specs when they leave the factory. In shipping, handling, and being demoed in the store( even hanging on the wall or sitting in a case) can change these settings. Unfortunately Manufacturers don't consider these changes to be warranty items. So you carry your new guitar to a luthier or repair shop or have cousin Kevin reset the guitar to the factory specs or better still.
You go get a Super Tune, there are about a gazillion guitar techs who claim to have made this name up( I'm not one of them). This goes beyond a regular Setup . A Super Tune pushes the specs, it sets the guitar to suit your playing style, technique and even the type of music you play. The result is usually improved string action, easier and better string bending, it improves the way the guitar sounds all the way up the neck. It is more of Custom playing feel. Most Pro-Players have a very specific set-up, they set the guitar to be in optimum playing condition for their style of playing. A Pro setup up can even include such radical changes as mixing fret wire, scalloping or compound radius fingerboards, custom string gauges, different nut materials, reshaping the bridge saddles fret filing, and pickup heights that favor their sound. Most "Big Name" guitarists( and Bass Players) have very complex, specific set-up and their Roadies (remember Musicians make it rock, but Roadies make it roll) keep all of their guitars at these settings (or different settings for different guitars). Their is a world of difference between the set-ups of Jeff Beck, Steve Vai, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. At Vision Guitars We have added a few newer ideas to the traditional Super Tune, call them trade secrets, but when We get done most players can't believe how much better they can play, how much better their guitar sounds. These techniques have evolved from years of being players, and luthiers, from handling thousands of guitars and talking to and trying out different player's guitars. However for ultimate playability and sound,
Get a Strobe Tune. For years and years the most precise way to set up any tunable instrument was to to use a Strobe, (no you ya old old Hippies, not quite like the ones we used with our black lights). This ultra accurate sound measuring device has, in recent years given way to the less expensive (and less accurate) quartz tuners that so many player and tech's use( I use one too, most of the time, they are quick, usually accurate enough reliable and inexpensive). To many truly sensitive ears and very particular players a quartz tuner only highlights the nature of a guitar to be out of tune, somewhere on the neck, especially if they play in that area a lot. Strobe Tuners have been used forever to tune pianos, concert harps, and symphonic stringed instruments, I mean 30 violins each one a little out of tune can sound like, well the parking lot before a Greatful Dead concert. A strobe tune which depends on light and a series of wheels each turning in different directions and different speeds shows an instrument in tune and with proper intonation by showing all the marks on the wheels lined up at the same time. They are up to 10,000 times more accurate than a quartz tuner. They do however require more patience, and more skill to use them properly. It is also a much more expensive piece of equipment, and even though today We use what they call virtual strobe tuners they behave and have the same accuracy as a traditional strobe tuner. So if you want the ultimate, if your ear is very discerning and your need is for an accurate (within a fine red hair) set-up consider a Strobe Tune
Strings are like speakers, if you don't take care of them it doesn't much matter what else you do, it ain't gonna sound good. Pro players often change their strings everyday, some (who pay someone to do it change them several times during a gig). So it's like motor oil, how often do you play, how much do you play and how do you play, also what is your body chemistry, your environment and how do you store and care for your instrument.
Strings begin to loose tone and quality as soon as you start to play them, after a few weeks they are dead as dirt and sound awful even when they are in tune, eventually you can't even tune them. After a while they get brittle and start to break
The average player should replace their strings every 2 to 4 weeks. If you practice and play a lot, once a week, try to never go over a month. Some of the new coated strings last 3, 4, 5 or 6 months, if you take care of them.
Everyone should wipe their guitar down every time they finish, I use a soft cotton terry bath towel, I wipe the body, the neck and especially the strings. I wrap the towel loosely around the neck and put the guitar back in the case (I wish and so does My wife).
After only a few weeks, even unplayed strings oxidize, that means rust and if you look at the string under a microscope they get jagged like a file. Well, children that is exactly what these little jagged strings do they begin to file away at your frets, making grooves where you play the most. These little files are harder than your frets. Eventually this leads to one of every Luthier's favorite dilemmas, do you recommend a $300.00 re-fret can the frets be reasonably redressed or is it more feasible to just go buy another guitar, option number 10 is to live with it. That $5.00 a month you save not replacing your strings is a very expensive alternative in the long run. Do yourself a favor, buy a nice but inexpensive quartz tuner (about $20.00) a couple of sets of strings, and a string winder. If you don't know how to restring your guitar (shame on ya) get your teacher, or a friend to show you, or come and see us, We'll restring your guitar tune it, and show you how it's done, We usually charge for this, but if you buy a tuner and an an extra set of strings We'll do it for free and show you the best way, fair enough?
Strings keep breaking? Always the same string? Always the same place? No? Yes?
First see the previous question
If the same string keeps breaking at the same place (the bridge or the nut or the machine head) it is usually caused by a bur or the string being pinched. Under a magnifying glass, once We find the problem like a bur on a saddle or machine head, a string guide or a string being pinched in the nut We can usually smooth it down or buff, sand or file it smooth. Sometimes, it's a misaligned bridge or saddle these are simple adjustments or repairs that can be done rather inexpensively.
The next cause is playing style, tremolos, string bending, and playing too hard is another major cause. A locking tremolo, or a Bigsby style tremolo is a great way to break strings, dive bombing and walking your guitar around the floor with the whammy bar will shorten the life of your strings. We used to use Bigsby's to change strings, one quick hard pull would rip the ball ends right off the strings. Learn to play differently, you can get the same sounds without the wear and tear, or live with it and buy some extra strings.
Not knowing how to string a guitar, kinking the sting at the machine head or bridge qill shorten the strings possibility of survival. Like I said above, come and see us.
There are a couple of obvious reasons:
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We can do it, and do it and do it. We deal directly with so many manufacturers, and not just guitar makers. We deal with the aftermarket parts people to Companies like:
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and a dozen specialty dealers who can supply upgrades, new old stock and vintage parts for just about any guitar or bass