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Your Guitar Setup is Wrong - Here's Why!

ART Custom Guitars

46,449 views

🔧 Struggling to find the perfect string height for your guitar? In this video, I break down how action affects playability, tone, and technique—whether you're a shredder, blues player, or acoustic fingerstyle enthusiast! I also show the correct way to adjust string height including adjusting your truss rod. Also check out how to intonate your guitar at this link here. Also check out how to intonate your guitar at this link here Your Guitar Neck Is Lying to You (Here's Why)

⚡ Topics Covered:
✅ What is string height?
✅ How playing style influences your ideal setup.
✅ The pros and cons of low, medium, and high action.
✅ Step-by-step guide on measuring and adjusting action.

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🎸 Timestamps:
00:00 - Start
00:16 - Intro
00:52 - String Height
03:51 - Factors to Consider
09:40 - Pros and Cons of Action
10:54 - How to Measure & Adjust
17:43 - Final Thoughts

💬 What’s your ideal string height? Drop a comment below!
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#guitarsetup #StringHeight #GuitarAction #GuitarTips #GuitarTech

20 Comments

@ARTcustomGuitars Creator 1 year ago (edited) Pinned

What guitar are you setting up today? Let me know below! 👇 Watch https://youtu.be/BN21dlW3-ws

@henkaverink2562 9 months ago

Facts + Physics + Experience +👍👍

@TomSances 1 year ago

I’m a 74 yr old player ,,, been playing for 60 yrs n you taught me something new ,,, thanks keep up the good work !

@Clint1__1 8 months ago

I've settled into 1.5mm to 2mm on all of my guitars for the past several years. It just feels and sounds right to me. I find anything lower makes bending difficult and I like being able to dig in a bit harder.

@wesboundmusic 3 months ago

Thank you for the string action guide sheet! Awesome! What I found to be doable with acoustic guitars to lower the action a little bit is this: Loosen all strings until they no longer produce a discernible tone, pull out the bridge and take some of the bottom material off by using a coarse file and finer sanding paper. When doing so, you want to make sure to apply even pressure on the entire length of the bridge so that there's no curve in the filing. Apply some final sanding with a sanding foam block and insert it back in carefully. Tune up.

Removing the amount of material depends on how low you want the action as well as how well the nut is filed. Both take a bit of trial and error maybe in the beginning until you get a good handle on the amount of material to file off. I was able to arrive at ca. 1.75mm for the low E string and roughly 1.5mm for the high E-string.

@AirborneEclipse 7 months ago

Realizing that there is no precise magical formula that works for each guitar type from both your video and all the comments has been very helpful. My anxiety about experimenting with my new Ibanez Artcore that has serious string buzz and terrible intonation just disappeared… Thank you

@sgvern1 3 weeks ago

Very comprehensive. Nice job.

@victorbennett5414 2 months ago (edited)

I reduced fret buzz on two of my guitars by tightening the truss rod and making it virtually straight, with just a tiny bit of tap ping on the 7-8th frets with 1st fret capoed instead of using a feeler. It introduced more tension and seems to have reduced fret buzz at the neck heel.

@bcarr3116 2 weeks ago

Bottom of the string to the top of the frett

@alexander3558 7 months ago (edited)

Setup starts with neck relief, nut height, saddle/bridge height, intonation, and lastly pickup height. And in that order. Make sure all components are tight, snug and lightly lubricated at point of contact of the string. Nut, string tree, saddles and pivot screws if bridge has them.

@clouds5 8 months ago

This is very accurate. The longer I play the higher my action gets. As a beginner I wouldn't even notice that the strong would buzz and stop ringing quickly. But now I want as much dynamics and sustain as possible. What I also noticed the feel of the strings can vary a lot when you change the action and adjust truss rod. With a little relief the strings feel looser and bends feel easier.

@gregcameron5079 4 months ago

Most important thing is nut slots height , this really causes intonation at first fret to either be sharp or flat and it’s very slight differences make huge difference in playability

@outlawjoneseywales 4 months ago

I go 1.75 all the way across from high e to low e. For me anything lower makes it hard to bend, especially for those 5-7 fret Stevie Ray, Texas Flood bends. Stays in tune and intonation is great, works for me!

@DepartmentOfBreads 2 months ago

I go for 1.5mm on the treble side and 2mm on the bass side on a six string. The chugs just don't chug right without a little space for the string to move

@ThomasMcEvoy 1 month ago

Great information and excellent presentation!!

@zyxwfish 2 months ago (edited)

You have a lot of useful information! It’s not just one way. It’s what works for the individual player.

@DaA-f4h 4 months ago

Killer information, thank you dude!!!

@dodge73dart 6 months ago

Probably one of the most informative video I have ever seen. It all made sense.
I’ve saved the video, liked and subscribed.
Saved the chart too.

@matthiasholzwarth9592 8 months ago

Got a new Aria Pro II PE 350 STD and a Stratocaster to do that adjustments . Thanxalot for posting .

@Daviduk26 2 months ago

My setup on my strat is basic. Relief 10.thou action at 12th fret 1.8 to 2 mm bass side and 1.6 treble side .string height at nut at first fret bass side 18 to 20 thou treble 16 to 18 thou . Bridge saddles 9.5 radius as set to fretboard radius .