What Happens During a Guitar Setup Assessment

Before we touch a single thing on your guitar, it gets an assessment. Every instrument that comes through the door at the shop goes through the same once-over, and the whole point of it is so that when we phone you, we can tell you exactly what is going on, what it needs, and what it is going to cost. No surprises when you come to pick it up.

Here is what that actually looks like on the bench.

First we look for the stuff you might not know about

The very first thing is a good look over the whole instrument for dings, scratches and dents. Not because we mind them, most guitars that get played have a few, but because you need to know about them before we start. If there is something on there that you were not aware of, we tell you right away. That way nobody is looking at a mark on the back of the neck at pickup time wondering where it came from.

Then we find out how it is playing

Next we look at the action, which is just the height of the strings off the fretboard. Too high and the guitar is physically hard work, especially up the neck. Too low and you get buzzing.

But knowing the action is off is only half of it. The real question is why, and what room we have to fix it. If the action is high, is there enough saddle to take down? If there is not, is there extra relief in the neck we can take out to bring it down that way? If the action is low, is there room to bring the saddle up, or is something else going on, like the neck having back bowed?

Then we play it. Sounds obvious, but you cannot tell from measurements alone how a guitar feels under the hands. The acoustic in the video had quite low action, and playing it turned up a fair bit of fret buzz, which tells us where to look next.

Neck relief and the truss rod

Relief is the very slight forward curve in the neck when the strings are up to pitch. Not enough of it and the strings slap the frets. Too much and the action climbs up in the middle of the neck.

On that acoustic there was barely a hair of relief, which is good news, because it means we can add a touch back in and get rid of the buzz while keeping the guitar feeling nice and easy to play. Combine that with shimming the saddle up a bit, or building a new one, and we are already most of the way to a guitar that plays well.

We also check that the truss rod actually works. Some are covered, some are not, and you just have to go through and give it a gentle pull to be sure. This matters. If we need to add or take away relief later and the rod is seized, that changes the whole conversation about what is possible with the instrument.

The nut

The nut slots get checked next. If the slots are cut too low, you get buzzing and rattling on the open strings and in the first position, no matter what you do everywhere else. Cut too high and the first few frets feel stiff and play sharp.

On this one the slots were quite low, so it is either a matter of raising them slightly or building a new nut. Either is a straightforward fix, but it needs to be caught at the assessment so it goes on the quote.

The frets, which is where most of the answers live

Frets tell you a lot. We look for sharp fret ends, which is the number one thing Calgary players notice when the dry winter air pulls the fretboard in and leaves the fret ends proud. We look for wear and for divots where the strings have dug in. And then we check the fret heights properly.

It is really common to find a bit of a hump right around where the neck joins the body, especially on acoustics. This one had high frets around the 15th, which is about as textbook as it gets.

What that means in practice is this. If you want the action down low and buzz free, those high frets have to come down, which means a fret levelling on top of the setup. If you are mostly playing open chords down at the first few frets and you are happy there, a hump at the 15th might never bother you and we can leave it alone. That is a conversation we have with you rather than a decision we make for you. There is no sense charging for a levelling that does nothing for the way you actually play.

And the electronics

Last thing, we plug it in. Check the pickup is working, check the output, listen for crackle. If something is not right, that goes on the list too.

Then you get a phone call

That is the assessment. Takes a few minutes, and at the end of it we know exactly what your guitar needs and you get told before any work happens. Nothing gets done that you have not agreed to, and nothing shows up on the bill that we did not talk about first.

It is worth saying that a lot of what we find comes down to living in Calgary. The dry winters, the chinooks, the swing from bone dry to humid and back again, it all moves wood around. A guitar that was perfect in September can be buzzing by February without anyone doing anything wrong. That is normal here, and it is fixable.

Common questions

How long does an assessment take?

Just a few minutes on the bench. We do it as part of taking the guitar in, and you will usually hear back from us with the full picture and a price shortly after.

Does the assessment cost anything?

Give us a call at 403-253-9006 or get in touch and we will walk you through how it works for your instrument.

Do I need a fret levelling or just a setup?

That is exactly what the assessment answers. Plenty of guitars only need a setup. Some have fret issues that will limit how low the action can go, and in that case we will tell you what the levelling gets you so you can decide.

My guitar buzzes. Is that a fret problem?

Maybe, but not always. Buzz can come from low action, not enough neck relief, low nut slots, uneven frets, or a mix of all four. That is why we check each one separately instead of guessing.

What kinds of instruments do you work on?

Guitars, basses, banjos and mandolins, acoustic and electric. Over 25,000 of them since 2005. Have a look at the repair gallery and the before and after shots.

Book a setup or repair, or just ask a question, over on the contact page. And if you want the odd bit of guitar advice and a few stories from the bench, join the Repair Bench mailing list and get $25 off your next repair or setup.