guitar tech

[steve]

Well I'm planning to sort of be the guitar tech for my band, setting up the guitars and everything, I just need a question answered......

How do I fix intonation on guitar and how much would it cost if a professional did it???

Stuff I know

1) Restringing guitars

2) Tuning guitars

3) Checking Intonation

4) Setting up amps and effects

Is there anything else I should know????

[ESP_Viper]

Yes... lots!

Here's a few I can pull off the top of my head:

Adjusting the truss rod

Knowing how to check if it needs a adjusted

Adjusting intonation is a very big thing to know how to do... not knowing how to is like owning a car and not knowing to get the wheels balanced.

Adjusting the pickups to get the sound you want.

Adjusting the pole pieces on pickups for correct string balance.


There are more, but that's just off the top of my head.


How to adjust intonation:
Check the intonation. If the fretted note is sharper than the harmonic note take a screw driver and move the string saddle away from the neck. If the fretted not is flatter than the harmonic note move the saddle towards the neck. Intonation is very important to keep accurate because this keeps every fretted note in tune. This is especially important for the higher frets (higher than the 12th fret.)

[steve]

ok, thanks alot, I can tell why you're the moderator..... is their a site that I could learn all about this stuff?????

[ESP_Viper]

Not that I know of. I learned it all with experience and talking with other guitar gearheads. Such as the repair dudes around town and some buddies I have that also play guitar.

[steve]

ok, I have another question, what is a truss rod??? I've heard of it but I'm not to sure what it is........ thanks in advance

[ESP_Viper]

Truss rod is a metal rod that runs through the neck. Before string tension got higher, solid wood necks were fine. Now that strings' tension is much higher, the wood is not strong enough. The truss rod adds strength to the neck and can be adjusted. It controls how straight the neck is essentially. I can take a picture of a truss rod out of a guitar for ya if you want. I smashed a squier strat my singer had at one of our shows, thats where it came from.

[andyc]

sweet, i plan on smashing a squier when i get a job and have more money, i cant wait because i hate all strats

[Jasper_e]

hehe, put that pic on the topic :)

[ESP_Viper]

Well the pics i took are too big to post on here. It's only limited to like 1k for pics, and the ones I took are over 100k. I can email them to you if you want them.

[Jasper_e]

Never mind, too much work :)

Jasper