I’m often asked if such and such a guitar is any good? Is a ***** better than a *****? The truth is they can all vary. It’s possible to pick up a cheap guitar for less than £100 that plays nicely, on the other had you can spend £3,000 on a top end guitar that doesn’t. Here are just a few tips, some things to look at when evaluating that next guitar.
The setup is very important, if the strings are too high for example it will be very difficult to play. If they are much too low they will constantly buzz and may dampen out completely and not ring out at all. Here’s how to quickly assess the setup with only the minimum of tools……
No1: The “Set” or upward curve in the neck.
I use a luthier’s notched straight edge and feeler gauges but if you don’t have access to these…….
Put a capo on at the 1st fret…..
and push down the outside string after the last fret…
Have a look at the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the 7th fret (half way down the neck). The gap should be about 0.008 – 0.012 thousandths of an inch. Top tip: a set of feeler gauges from Halfords will set you back a couple of quid and takes away the guesswork!
If you don’t have feeler gauges the gap should be around the same as the thickness of the thin bottom string, alternatively around the thickness of a playing card. They don’t have to be Beatle playing cards but lets keep the Rock ‘N’ Roll theme!
Incidentally most new guitars come with a truss-rod adjustment key. On this guitar the adjustment is hidden under the plate on the head. It’s quite easy to do with the right tool but unless you are confident in what you are doing, I would probably advise you to seek professional help.
Some acoustic guitars have the adjustment at the other end of the neck, inside the sound-hole but the principle is the same.
Your local Guitar Tech is far more likely to have the right tool, and have a better feel for what he’s doing….
Just some of my truss-rod wrenches…
No. 2: Action Height at the 1st fret
Again I use a feeler gauge and normally aim for about 0.015″. Some makers set them a little higher, Gibson for example will set the Bass side higher than the treble, 0.015″ is a nice low action.
That equates roughly to a couple of playing cards.
If the action is too high then the answer is to gently file down each string slot in the nut. Not something I would recommend, and again, you need the right file to match the width of the slot to the string.
Nut files:
If the slots are too deep and the action too low there really is only one solution, and that’s to replace the nut (why I wouldn’t recommend doing it yourself)..
Although nuts can be supplied roughly pre-shaped they never fit perfectly and will always need some quite delicate work to fit. I recommend Bone every time. TUSQ is good in that it can be easily moulded into shape, so lending itself to mass production, but I still don’t think you can beat Bone. I’ve also recently discovered Water buffalo horn, it’s very similar to bone but it’s black!
No.3: Bridge height
Having looked at the action at the top of the neck we need now to look at the height of the bridge by measuring the action height at the 12th fret. Again put a capo at the 1st fret…..
and measure the distance between the bottom of the string and the top of the 12th fret…
It should be around 4/64″ on the Bass side and 3/64″ on the Treble. That equates to about 5 playing cards if you don’t have a string action gauge.
If it’s too high, again it will be difficult to play and too low will cause some fret buzzing.
No.4: Even Fret Heights.
This is probably the most critical area. All of the above can be sorted out with a full setup (somewhere around £35-£45). Sorting out uneven frets is a big job and will cost upwards of £100.
If you have access to a fret rocker (available from any good Luthier supplier for about £15-£20) then that’s ideal. Place any of the straight edges over just 3 frets….
It should sit flat and not rock backwards and forwards at all. If it does the middle fret is too high! Check each fret in turn making sure you only cover 3 at a time…
Alternatively any straight edge will do. The side and end of a credit card works well, just so long as it’s not bent out of shape and is flat…
You can’t get all the way up but can cover about 2/3 of the neck…
As I say, uneven frets can still be fixed with a fret dress, but that’s a much bigger job.
No. 5: Just play it!
A good friend of mine has an expression, “you don’t choose a guitar, it chooses you”. Spend a little time with it, sit down and play it, make sure you are comfortable with it.
If it’s your first guitar and you don’t really know anything about them, the above guide should steer you clear of the really bad stuff, but take along a friend that does play and ask him or her what they think.
Lastly of course, the obvious, look at the overall quality of the parts, better guitars will have a bone or TUSQ nut and saddle (acoustics), cheaper ones are made of plastic.
What are the machine heads like? Is there a lot of backlash in the mechanisms? Are the tops cheap plastic or more solidly built.
What’s the rest of the hardware like? cheep plastic bridge pins? If it’s an electric what’s the quality of the screws on the bridge like? if there is any chrome plating what does that feel like? 
Spending lots of money doesn’t guarantee a good guitar but buying cheap probably means poor quality. Be warned if you are just starting out, buy cheep, buy twice!
Good hunting
“Guitar George”
