What is the worst set up guitar you have ever seen?

olafgarten

Hi, I was looking at my cheap strat rip off, and after playing my new Epiphone exclusively for the past few days, I just realised how high the action on the strat is.

By eye, it is almost half an inch at the 12th fret. The worst thing is that I still get fret buzz at the lower frets. I am going to try and fix it myself, as the guitar is worth less than a set up will cost.

xmrchi

It will be perfect to cut your set up teeth on,  plus bolt ons are better to learn on, due to being able to shim/adjust etc if needed.

olafgarten

Yeah, I think it will be a good experience. I might also find a trem arm and have a go setting that up.

Sarge

My new harley benton gold top, hands down.
It's to be expected really for the price, but I'm struggling to set it right.

Gassage

Cue @mdphillips1956 pro set up pics....

drwiddly

Gassage said:

Cue @mdphillips1956 pro set up pics....

Yup, why use nut files when a tenon saw will do the job? :-D

57Deluxe

er...

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/32/31/db/3231dbd6011a8375992ebbcbfb33e625.jpg

Phil_aka_Pip

My Washburn SBF-80 was unplayable when I first clapped eyes on it. Guitar Tech Colin persuaded me that he could fix it and suggested I make its current owner an offer. The offer was accepted, Colin did the work, for which I paid him, and now I have a hugely playable and nice-sounding guitar

Bucket

J Mascis:

http://i.imgur.com/PtPfh9l.jpg

minimoog

'Kinell!

digitalscream

Bucket said:

J Mascis:

http://i.imgur.com/PtPfh9l.jpg

My N4 was originally set up very similar to that. It got me another £50 off the price, which was already a bargain.

Gassage

Actually, can someone find a pic of SRV's set up?

He used to take a taxi from the string to the fret.

HAL9000

A Tele in a big guitar chain in the US. Strings were actually touching the pickups and most of the frets!

BloodEagle

Jeff Hanneman sig I tried recently at a big music shop - hands down the worst setup guitar Ive ever played, completely out of tune, the tremolo all out of whack, played like a complete turd, and they wanted over a grand for it. I suggested to the guy that it needed a setup

Gassage

I took delivery of a guitar from RIviera Guitars not so long ago.

I had a pretty strong exchange with them about the quality of the fret ends and dress. It was abysmal and I got the impression they simply didn't get what I was saying about fret polishing.

I don't expect it when buying on the emporium here or privately on ebay but I DO when I am buying from a dealer.

I hate to feel a fret grinding when I bend it.

scrumhalf

I bought my Yamaha RGX612A (such a snappy name) from (I think it was then called) Guitar Village in Barnet. It was tuned up three semitones and went mental every time I tried to tune it properly. Looking back, I can't think why i didn't notice the higher tuning when I tried it out.

When I took it back they were really helpful, offering me, oooh, the directions to the front door of the shop. Strangely enough, everything was sorted out after I mentioned that I was on my way to my brother, the solicitor, who lived close by. They sent it to LA Guitars (who were also in Barnet at the time) who got it all working properly.

impmann

Squire Jazzmasters.

I've yet to play one that will bend cleanly a whole tone from the 15th fret onwards that is brand new in ANY shop. Shocking fretwork...

ICBM

I've come across several Japanese-made Gretsches recently which have played very poorly for fairly expensive guitars. The main faults have been the bridge radius far too flat for the fingerboard, lifting fret ends, and uneven fretting particularly at the top of the neck. OK none of these were new - although none were very old - but those faults don't just happen by themselves, they were made like that.

It's hard to remember what the actual worst set-up guitar I've ever seen has been though… there have been literally thousands! That's what I used to do for most of my job when I worked on guitars more than amps. With some of them I have no idea how the owner had been playing them at all. I'm not talking J Mascis action, I mean things where the guitar is actually unplayable because there's something very seriously wrong with the intonation, or strings are hitting the wrong frets everywhere or something… eg guitars with a zero fret where the nut isn't cut deep enough for the strings to contact it, so effectively every fret is about a quarter inch out of position.

ArchtopDave

I once went to check out a particular guitar in a shop, and noticed that the Top E String frequently slid off the Fretboard when fretted. On closer inspection, the Neck and Bridge were clearly misaligned so that all the strings were well over toward the top of the Fretboard, so that the Top E String was right over the edge of the Fretboard, and the was excess Fretboard be;ow the Bottom E String. Decided not to buy this poor specimen of luther's artistry.

ICBM

ArchtopDave said:

I once went to check out a particular guitar in a shop, and noticed that the Top E String frequently slid off the Fretboard when fretted. On closer inspection, the Neck and Bridge were clearly misaligned so that all the strings were well over toward the top of the Fretboard, so that the Top E String was right over the edge of the Fretboard, and the was excess Fretboard be;ow the Bottom E String. Decided not to buy this poor specimen of luther's artistry.

Hmmm… I know someone with a £3K+ Gibson Custom Shop acoustic like that. The top E ran off the side of the fingerboard above the body join.

The neck had been glued in at the wrong angle - I checked the bridge, it was correctly centred. And not only did whoever did that not notice or reject it, nor did whoever put the strings on, nor whoever signed off the inspection certificate. Or maybe they did, but didn't care.

Gibson.

QC.

Hmmm.

bingefeller

Gassage said:

Actually, can someone find a pic of SRV's set up?

He used to take a taxi from the string to the fret.

I've a Dan Erlewine book and it says SRV's action was 2.8mm between the low E at the 12th fret and 2mm at the high E on the 12th fret.