New guitar - who of you will set it up for me?

robnet77

Hi!

bought an electric Yamaha Pacifica 112v on the net (as you know from my other post), and need someone to set it up as it sounds weird, I guess it's normal anyway.

I can't leave it to a shop for days, I can drive around Dublin and bring it to you, it would be great to have it back the same or next day.

What is an average charge for this? The tremolo needs to be adjusted as well, so far I've removed it from the guitar, and I won't use it for a while.

Please let me know! The setup only needs to be decent, I don't need a perfect one, just need to learn how to play at this stage.

Thanks!

Alanstrainor

What do you mean by "it sounds weird?" and when you say you removed the tremolo...you do mean the tremolo arm right?
It's better for you to give us as much info about the problem so we can help you fix it yourself.

robnet77

Thanks but I wouldn't know where to start to set it up honestly...

when I play chords some strings vibrate too much and end up touching the fingerboard, resulting in a buzzy sound.

Also, I want to be sure the guitar is playing as it should, whereas if I do this task myself I'll never be sure about it.

The tremolo wasn't screwed into its place when I got the guitar, if I manually screw it it will stay loose, so I have left it off the guitar. I know it should stay somewhat fixed, even if I don't use it, but I don't know how to achieve that.

seanybiker

tremor bar should move up and down a bit. Ya can strum guitar and have bar in palm of your hand for when ya need it.
Vibration is only cos your not playing the chords right. Practise and it will be grand

robnet77

ok I trust you all but I need to be sure the bridge is aligned, strings are in place etc.
Also, tremolo bar spins without any limits if I leave it screwed, it doesn't give any feedbacks in resistance.

Anyone who will take care of this please? I think it's a rather standard duty for people who play guitar regularly. Thanks!

Dord

robnet77 wrote: »

ok I trust you all but I need to be sure the bridge is aligned, strings are in place etc.
Also, tremolo bar spins without any limits if I leave it screwed, it doesn't give any feedbacks in resistance.

Anyone who will take care of this please? I think it's a rather standard duty for people who play guitar regularly. Thanks!

Yes, it should be able to move around but the purpose of the bar is so that you can slacken and tighten the strings by pushing down on the bar or pulling back which moves the bridge up or down.

Twirling the bar around won't do anything to the sound.

robnet77

Dord wrote: »

Yes, it should be able to move around but the purpose of the bar is so that you can slacken and tighten the strings by pushing down on the bar or pulling back which moves the bridge up or down.

Twirling the bar around won't do anything to the sound.

I haven't even tried playing the guitar while moving the bar!
I've only tried screwing it into the guitar when doing all the adjustments before starting to play for the first time, but as they had advised me not to use the tremolo in order not to get the guitar out of tune, I said to myself I wouldn't use it for the first months, and only wanted to put it somewhere where it would move as little as possible. I eventually removed it as it would keep spinning around over and over otherwise.

When I went to Waltons the other day I saw a guitar whose tremolo was somewhat fixed and wouldn't move at all if not touched, whereas mine is very loose and doesn't give at all. I don't know whether at the back of the guitar there's something to adjust in order to have the tremolo bar to get tighter.

Anyway I still need the first setup for my guitar, if anyone can help please let me know, I've decided not to play anymore until I have this done, so the quicker you are the happier I will be... Thanks!

Fingers Mcginty

yammies are my thing. Are you tuned to regular pitch firstly???

OSiriS

robnet77 wrote: »

When I went to Waltons the other day I saw a guitar whose tremolo was somewhat fixed and wouldn't move at all if not touched, whereas mine is very loose and doesn't give at all. I don't know whether at the back of the guitar there's something to adjust in order to have the tremolo bar to get tighter.

The bar doesn't need to be tight, and if it is, it will probably end up getting in your way. Put the bar in and turn it clock-wise until it gets tight, then give it a full turn anti-clockwise, and leave it hanging down until you need it. You probably won't have any use for the tremelo for a while if you are just learning, but when you do, you'll get the hang of reaching for it.

This video should give you an idea of what we're talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Y6JPpn574

robnet77

OSiriS wrote: »

The bar doesn't need to be tight, and if it is, it will probably end up getting in your way. Put the bar in and turn it clock-wise until it gets tight, then give it a full turn anti-clockwise, and leave it hanging down until you need it. You probably won't have any use for the tremelo for a while if you are just learning, but when you do, you'll get the hang of reaching for it.

This video should give you an idea of what we're talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Y6JPpn574

hey that's my baby! it looks exactly the same at least, and the tremolo is completely loose like mine, I thought that wasn't correct after seeing a Fender which had it somewhat tight. Can I just leave it off the guitar for the moment?

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

yammies are my thing. Are you tuned to regular pitch firstly???

this is talking!
but ehm... what do you mean? a friend of mine has tuned the strings and it should be quite fine from that point of view, we don't have a tuner though (went to Waltons but they only had a crappy one left), it sounds quite fine except for some unwanted vibrations of the strings.

What I need is a checkup / setup , the guitar's elements might need to be adjusted and I need someone to make sure they are... if you're up to it, just let me know what the charge would be and when you're available for that, I can drive to your place if you live around Dublin

seanybiker

If its a brand new guitar and its tuned thats all ya need. Ya dont need to set it up. Just play it. You're not going to ruin it by playing it.
Surely your mate who tuned it for you should know that

Alanstrainor

If the strings are buzzing, the easiest thing to do is raise the saddles with an allen key. For a start raise the saddles by half a turn each and see if that makes a difference. Detune your guitar before raising them though as you make break the strings otherwise.

robnet77

guys, thanks for your help but you're talking like I'm supposed to know how these operations need to be performed... even if I succedeed, I wouldn't know if I had or not, which makes pointless for me to even try.
I could keep playing the guitar without breaking it down, sure, but I would hear the wrong sounds when playing the chords, and I don't want this to happen.

It's like going to a garage, asking to have your own car serviced and hearing the mechanic tell you "you can do this yourself, to change oil just remove the lower lid and allow all the oil to pour onto a box you need to place below it, as for the air filter you just need to locate where it is, then rise the box's cover, remove the old filter, put a new one in its place, and make sure it fits exactly where it should" etc.

fguihen

hey robnet77. congrats on the new guitar. best of luck with it. my bro has a pacaficia and they are really great for the money.

thanks for your help but you're talking like I'm supposed to know how these operations need to be performed... even if I succedeed, I wouldn't know if I had or not, which makes pointless for me to even try.

Man, this is such a defeatist attitude. how do you think folks here learned?
Im still not the best at setting up a guitar, but the first thing i did was go online and find some tutorials.
I am not an expert in any respect on guitars, in relation to setting up or playing, but i know enough to get me by and keep me interested.

I spent hours playing with my 1st epiphone, learning about intonation, string height, pickup height etc.

I then got an ibanez and with nobody to show me how to set up the floating Floyd rose i just took a stab at it. Hours and days of fun learning about that one, but seriously worth it.

I now have a fender with a much more basic floating trem and 45 mins had it set up to a degree im happy with.


As long as your not adjusting the truss rod, you cannot seriously damage your guitar unless your an absolute menace with a screwdriver.

The links that helped me the best are as follows:

http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/tutorial1.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZVRCMJLnm4

--intonation tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZVRCMJLnm4

--string height
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfuP4yLesG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GD7zXzkrdM

-truss rod adjustment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GD7zXzkrdM&feature=channel_page


Just be careful, especially if you decide to adjust the truss, but you should try all the other set up steps first and be super super careful when adjusting the truss(if at all).

and as stated already, your guitar is new, it should be setup well enough for you to get started at least.

someone here could prob have a look at it and fix any minor set up issues in a few mins, but you will not learn half as much as going through the links above.

Google is your friend.
Best of luck.

Alanstrainor

Big +1 to that, you'll just have to have a go at it. Most things like raising the saddles are as simple as tightrning a few screws. A monkey with a screwdriver can do that! As you can see from the above there are plenty of resources online. As for knowing when it's right, if you can tell somethings not right you'll know when things are even halfway correct.
I think you should raise the saddles a tad, like i said, turn each "screw" half a turn to raise it, see how it goes and if it's not quite right you can raise it again.
you cant go too far wrong, id advise against adjusting the truss rod though.
Best of Luck!!

Rigsby

This link contains a good and detailed instruction on a set up. It's for a bass, but the method is exactly the same. Just the measurements would be different.


http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2067718&highlight=kindness+set+up

Eoin Madsen

Get lessons. Ask your teacher to look at it before you start.

fguihen wrote: »

Man, this is such a defeatist attitude. how do you think folks here learned?

Not before they learned how to play, in fairness.

fguihen

if the guy cant play, he should really be concentrating on picking up a few chords first. again, id say 99% of players had nobody to set up their guitars, and didnt realize they needed adjustment until they learned a bit first.

anyone i know who plays learned to play a bit before ever worrying about setting up a guitar. i didnt learn anything about setting up a guitar for over a year ( you can imagine what the intonation was like at that stage), but still, with the resources online nowdays, such as those that have been pointed out already in this thread, a bit of effort on the part of the OP will make all the difference.

OP, if you get a teacher, ask him/her, but i still strongly advise you do the work yourself.