# The difference a good setup makes



## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Yesterday I got two guitars back that I had taken in for a bit of work. I took them to Tom Lee in North Vancouver. Paul Iverson, the luthier there has a very good reputation. His reputation is well deserved in my eyes. I'm very satisfied with the results. A month ago I bought a Taylor GS-Mini-E at their store. A couple of the fret ends were a little rough. The salesman told me to bring it in anytime and they'd take care of it. I played the guitar for three weeks and grew to love it. I'm an electric player and struggle with acoustics. The Taylor was very easy to play and the full sound is incredible. I took it to a jam where everyone else was playing electrics and was very impressed with the sound and the playability. Finally I decided I wanted the action just a hair lower so I took it in. Paul did an amazing job on the frets. I probably would have shaved the saddle a little bit to lower the action but he decided the action was already pretty low and that may have caused a problem. He tweaked the truss rod a bit and cut the nut slots a fraction deeper. This is like a whole new guitar. It was happy before, now I'm ecstatic. When I got home I couldn't put the guitar down. Unbelievable what someone who knows what they are doing can get out of a guitar with a couple of small tweaks.

The second guitar is a 1990 Gibson SG Special. It is an old beat up players guitar. It was abused before I got it. It has a problem with the neck. It's almost dead straight with no relief and the truss rod has no more adjustment. Despite this it plays and sounds great. It is my favourite guitar. It has an ebony fret board which had shrunk a bit over the years. It really needed the sharp fret ends seen to. Paul did a fret level and polish. He spent some time on this trying to compensate for the flat neck. Again he found a couple of nut slots a little high. The results are simply amazing. It is like a new guitar.

I always do all my own work and have been satisfied with the results. I don't know if I will be in the future. When I got there to pick up the guitars Paul was still working on the SG. He invited me into the shop to talk about the guitar while he finished it. It was an education. He was making minute adjustments, seemingly tweaking the same things over and over until he was satisfied. I was watching a master at work and realized how little I knew about setting up a guitar.


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## Guest (Mar 16, 2016)

Were you paying attention to his techniques?


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

laristotle said:


> Were you paying attention to his techniques?


Yes, I was. I do one thing at a time then move on to the next. I recheck everything at the end then start over if needed. He was making very small adjustments and rechecking all his previous work after every adjustment. He also has the correct tools. I need a much better tuner to set intonation. I was also surprised that adjusting intonation on one string can affect other strings. Without a really accurate tuner that is hard to see. He also checks intonation at several points on each string. I usually just do the 12th fret then play a few chords at different points on the fret board. He checked both harmonics and fretted notes at several points. It would take me hours to do what he did in 10 minutes.


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## Araz (Nov 12, 2015)

Kerry, I've also experienced this. Over the course of building three guitars, I've come to understand the importance of a proper setup. You can have a great guitar but if it's not properly setup then you should not expect it to play and sound great, it will play and sound like a stock guitar.

The difference in sound and playability after a proper setup is almost unbelievable!

It's as if the guitar has a setup-sweet-spot, and if you are far from it then it will not sound great, but the closer you get, the sweeter it will sound. At the sweet-spot itself, the guitar just wants to ring! You don't want to put it down.

I've come to respect the nut! Although it's one of the smallest parts of a guitar, it plays such a critical role. I've also learned that a proper setup, meaning finding that sweet-spot, is an iterative process of tweaking the nut, the neck, the frets, the pickups and the bridge.


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Araz said:


> Kerry, I've also experienced this. Over the course of building three guitars, I've come to understand the importance of a proper setup. You can have a great guitar but if it's not properly setup then you should not expect it to play and sound great, it will play and sound like a stock guitar.
> 
> The difference in sound and playability after a proper setup is almost unbelievable!
> 
> ...


I agree. Both guitars were very good players before I took them in. The Taylor was the factory setup. Other than the fret ends it was setup quite well. The SG I'd been tweaking for a couple of years. It was easily my best player. After the setup by Paul it was better yet. The biggest difference is with sliding into a note or hammer ons and pull offs. Just seems easier now. I think a big part of the reason a good setup sounds better is because the guitar is more enjoyable to play. There is less thinking involved when playing it.


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## Araz (Nov 12, 2015)

Kerry, I'm curious about something... Was Paul tweaking the guitar on the bench or in his lap?


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## Kerry Brown (Mar 31, 2014)

Araz said:


> Kerry, I'm curious about something... Was Paul tweaking the guitar on the bench or in his lap?


Back and forth between both.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I wish my guitars got to 12th fret before we hit the studio. Ah well. A great setup is very important period.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

So what you're saying is that I gotta ship my GS Mini out to Vancouver?

Mine plays like butter, but if he can make it play like _melted _butter...


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