Home Electric Guitar Setup Guitar Setup Tips

"Guitar Setup Tips -- Simple Steps For Maintaining Your Electric Guitar For Every Day Use"

Follow

Share

Use these simple guitar setup tips to keep your instrument in perfect working order, so you always sound your best every night!

If you play your guitar every night, odds are it is taking some wear and tear. Things come loose, strings take a beating, and it starts smelling like the less-glamourous elements of the nightlife.

The best thing to do is use some general guitar setup tips to keep your guitar in good working condition. Some wear and tear is fine. It gives your instrument personality! But, it's important to keep your guitar in perfect playing condition, so as not to compromise your sound and style when performing.

Long-term guitar setup tips

About twice a year, you should check some big maintenance areas on your electric guitar. These "big picture" areas include your guitar's intonation, action, and truss rod adjustment. I already have pages on these areas. Check those first to make sure you are set up correctly.

• Check your intonation
• Check your action
• Check your truss rod

Short-term guitar setup tips

Keeping your guitar clean

Playing often can cause your guitar to accumulate a layer of dirt, sweat, and spilled beverages of different sorts. Invest in some good guitar polish (you can find it at Guitar Center) and a clean stage cloth for wiping down your guitar's neck every night.

Trust me, this little trick will help your guitar strings last exponentially longer. It helps keep the rust off and prolongs the sound.

Keep plenty of new guitar picks

This might sound obvious, but keeping about ten new guitar picks nearby can be a great big morale booster. There's nothing like the feeling of strapping on a brand new pick of your favorite thickness and jamming through some songs. Plus, they are cheap!

Find a creative place to keep them. Try scattering them about your pedal board, amplifier, and other locations that you traffic often.

Keep it in tune

Another simple guitar setup tip that may sound obvious, tuning your guitar often while playing live is a good habit to create.

Don't make it obvious or tune too much. Just keep it reasonable and don't play out of tune! Unless you play Nirvana covers for a living, that is ;)

Find a way to tune in between songs without making any sound. Buy a stage tuner, either a pedal or whatever else you can find. Although it's good to have the ability to quickly whip your guitar into tune using your ear only, don't tune by ear when performing! It's better to be more subtle...

Check your cable jack!

If you plug in your guitar often, chances are the jack where the cable plugs in will come loose. If it gets even a little bit loose, tighten it up quickly, before it gets worse. Twisting a cable jack too much is bad for the inside of your guitar. It can cause the delicate wires inside to be twisted in ways they don't want to be twisted!

For that matter, check ALL your cables!

Always double check anything that plugs in to anything. Pedals, amps, and guitars. Check for loose connections and bad cables. Many times, if something goes wrong, it's simply a bad cable. Swap them out and see what happens before trying more complicated solutions.

Do you use 9v batteries?

I'm not going to tell anyone to voluntarily press their tongue against a battery, but it works. I do it all the time. Only do it if you aren't afraid of a little shock. And don't do because I said so. But, when you try this little stunt often, you learn what a good 9v battery feels like versus a bad one. ZAP!

Keep your strings fresh

Many of us are guilty of waiting a little bit too long to change our guitar strings. But, if you break one, change the entire set!

To Top Of Page