Set up woes

rico

Right well so I picked up my guitar from the techs today and got it home and started noodling and playing some familiar riffs but to my ears and fingers it plays horribly. The low e buzzes on all frets, open d string buzzes and the plain strings just feel lifeless. 

It also doesn't stay in tune particularly well (the a string tends to sharpen?!) despite having a new nut. I've put some pencil lead in the slots and it's helped a tad. 

Obviously I'm going to go back to have it looked at but this kind of puts me off taking other guitars there despite them doing a fine job on a previous guitar. 

Ahh! What to do? 

Paul_C

Take it back and give them a chance to rectify the issue, if they refuse or it comes back poorly set up then ask for a refund and never darken their door again.

FelineGuitars

Go in and see them . Don't go in all guns blazing but explain what is wrong and get them to go over it
Sounds like the action is too low from the lifeless description combined with buzzing at every fret

richardhomer

From your description of the problems, I wonder if your tech has fitted it with Ernie Balls?

rico

I spoke to them today and I'll take it in tomorrow to hopefully get it sorted. 

I did ask for my usual D'Addarios but I don't know what's on there (they don't have the coloured ends). Would strings really contribute that much? @richardhomer ;

richardhomer

rico said:

I spoke to them today and I'll take it in tomorrow to hopefully get it sorted. 

I did ask for my usual D'Addarios but I don't know what's on there (they don't have the coloured ends). Would strings really contribute that much? @richardhomer ;

I was being flippant - I used to use EBs exclusively up until about 20 years ago - when I changed to D'Addarios which I've used ever since.

I tried a couple of sets of EBs recently and they seemed tonally 'dead' by the time I'd properly stretched them. I'm not exaggerating btw - I mean they sounded utterly lifeless almost straight away. I don't know if they are worse than they used to be - but I'd never buy them by choice again.

So yes - the strings may be a factor - but it sounds like a poor set up as well...,

olafgarten

I would give them the strings myself. 

HAL9000

rico said:

I spoke to them today and I'll take it in tomorrow to hopefully get it sorted. 

I did ask for my usual D'Addarios but I don't know what's on there (they don't have the coloured ends). Would strings really contribute that much? @richardhomer ;;

Yes they would. I recently changed from EBs to D'addarios and the difference is night and day. I guess composition and magnetic properties differ with the manufacturer and, of course, the string is the first element in your signal chain so its properties are critical. It certainly is true that not all strings are created equal.

That said, it sounds from your original post that there are bigger issues than just the string manufacturer.

Chalky

Sounds like the nut slot is cut too low on the D string and the neck needs a quarter turn slack to give some extra relief - a quarter-turn anticlockwise if you have a suitable allen key.

Did you ask them for a low action? On some guitars, low action often gives the issues you describe.

boogieman

Chalky said:

Did you ask them for a low action? On some guitars, low action often gives the issues you describe.

No decent luthier should send out a guitar in that state, doesn't matter what the punter has asked for. (Why would anyone actually want buzzing all over the board and dead sounding strings?)  Get the action as low as possible if that's what's been asked for, sure, but make sure it's still playable, not screw up the guitar completely. 

rico

Update: took it back in today with a set of D'Addarios. After a restring and a bit of fettling - raised the action a touch and added a smidge of neck relief and it plays much better. Set-up wise the guitar is perfect.

There are however some uneven frets across the board up to the 7th fret which can be sorted for half price (a nice gesture I thought) but i'm gonna use it at rehearsal on Sunday and make my mind up from there. This would explain the buzzing and the 'dead' sounding strings so it seems Gibsons' famous QC is rearing its ugly head.

usedtobe

^^ And they didn't spot them first time?

WezV

boogieman said:

Chalky said:

Did you ask them for a low action? On some guitars, low action often gives the issues you describe.

No decent luthier should send out a guitar in that state, doesn't matter what the punter has asked for. (Why would anyone actually want buzzing all over the board and dead sounding strings?)  Get the action as low as possible if that's what's been asked for, sure, but make sure it's still playable, not screw up the guitar completely. 

3 issues with that:

1) playing technique varies and some players need a higher action to be buzz free.

2)some players will happily sacrifice buzz free for lower action.  I am often surprised by the level of buzz some players tolerate

3) dead sounding is also massively relative (if in doubt let's start a discussion on flat wounds)



they have not screwed up the guitar, they just got it wrong for this player and put it right when informed.  Let's not make it more dramatic than it needs to be.

octatonic

FelineGuitars said:

Go in and see them . Don't go in all guns blazing but explain what is wrong and get them to go over it
Sounds like the action is too low from the lifeless description combined with buzzing at every fret

This.

It is the time of year where guitars move about due to changes in humidity.
Most folks are pretty reasonable.

Modellista

octatonic said:

It is the time of year where guitars move about due to changes in humidity.
Most folks are pretty reasonable.

Yup.  I had to leave the guitar in the boot of the car for a couple of hours before a rehearsal, on one of the cold days we've had recently - it was like a living thing for an hour or so of playing until it settled down.  Wouldn't stay in tune, I'm sure intonation was off...  I couldn't believe how all over the place it was until it properly got to room temperature.  Must make it pretty impossible to do a setup (or to assess one for that matter) if there's any variation in temp and humidity in the previous few hours.

rico

The technique point is a valid one here. The guy who was doing the work couldn't get it to buzz at all really but in my clumsy mitts it was definitely buzzing but then I do like to dig in. 

The high frets are very very minimal but sufficient to cause open string buzz.