Guitar set up is pretty personal - here's how (as a bit of a legato boy) my set up works - using 10 gauge strings, so about average... Of course, Allan Holdsworth and I think Shawn Lane are meant to have used 8s right? Anyone out there tried a set of 8s to report back? Might be an idea to try for myself some time?
i went to 8s a couple of years ago. straight from 10s 11s mostly. 13s for a guitar tuned down to C standard. moving to 8s was the best thing i ever did. 8s on 25.5 scale and 9s on 24.75 scale. i was terrible at guitar but when i went to 8s i was still terrible, but less so. and i never have any hand/finger/wrist pains anymore. everything is easy.
I use 9s for Eb standard and it feels gooood. Used to play with 11s and 12s and I’m never going above 9 again. If it sound thin just adjust your pick ups and amp
Seeing your daughter reminds me of when at the age of 44 I found myself at home with a tiny three month old baby, who, not being breast-fed, was left in my sole care during the day while my wife returned to work bringing a better wage than a musician like me could. I learned more about guitar and music, being away from guitar with my baby girl, than I did while playing regularly. She's grown now and spends most of her time telling me what to do, when she is with us, but I remember her as a tiny tot that I used to watch as she slept. I love her to bits!
That action is around where I've heard pretty much every tech sets the action on a guitar. That 1.5 to 2mm range is the sort of Goldie Locks zone. Any lower the strings can choke, any higher it may effect intonation.
This is interesting. I use 10s on everything and always used to be chasing a low action but also have enough "room" to allow no-choke / no buzz bending. A couple of years back I bought an AVRII Strat with a 7.25" fingerboard radius so the only way to achieve my goal was a bit more action and relief - nothing major just more than I would usually go for. This was a revelation because the guitar instantly became so much more "alive" and ringing so I immediately added a little action the other 12" radius guitars I'm lucky enough to have - again, this was the correct move I just hadn't known it. My Charvel has a very flat radius so it stays relatively low and doesn't suffer at all. 40-odd years playing and still messing around with setup....it's an odyssey.
My string action is 2mm at the 12 fret on both the 1st and 6th string of my Strat, which is tuned down 1/2 step to Eb Standard. I use D'Addario EXL 10 to 46, but 1 swap out the 10 for a 9 to get a more balanced tension across the strings and easier bends.
I let the guitar dictate the setup. Some of my guitars have high action, nothing above 2.0mm, I have a couple that would be happy at just under 1.0. Some have straight necks, some with a bit of relief. I generally test the limits of each one and if the vibe is shreddy, I keep it low, if it wants to play slow with sustain I put it higher. Sometimes it just doesn't sound right or intonated with super low or high action so I just roll with it. Same with strings, I like as light as possible but I end up compromising with the guitar. My personal favorites are Elixir 9-46 on most of my guitars. It gives me wiggle room for drop D or D Standard and maybe drop C...but again it's the guitar that decides.
10s on pretty much everything for me except for Floyd rose guitars that I'll put on 9 or 9.5s. I hate string buzz so at the least i like an action where the strings are ringing clearly. I tend to like an action on the medium to high side. I also like a visible amount of neck relief, i always struggle when the neck is too straight, i need some relief to be able to get under the string to bend them. The guitars I've borrowed from John have all been fine and the guitars John burrows from me end up with a comment about slightly higher action so i guess we're not massively apart in taste
For me I'll set 4.5 64ths on the bass side and 4 64ths on the treble side, which is about 1.75mm and 1.5mm. I also have my pickups lower than most people. I also use 1 meg volume and 250k tone with a 15nf cap (.015uf), vintage wiring and no treble bleed. I use D'Addario 9.5's and I replace the b string with a 12 and the g string with a 17, which makes a balanced tension set.
Happy Birthday Elodie, one day she will doin duets with DAD!!! you Wait!!! great opening with the Dashing Dachshunds back up band!!! Between his Slides, chirps, Saggy sounding notes, vibrato, and blazing clean speed, picking techniques he has his own voice on guitar for sure!!!! Screaming alternate picking Boy today!!! Must be emulating ANDY WOOD?
I have my electrics set up 2mm at 12th fret on the bass side and 1.75mm on the treble side. Relief is about 6 thousands of an inch between first and body frets. You need a bit of height to be able to transfer the energy when hammering on ( and off) I also prefer jumbo frets as they make string bends easier and it stops the string from slipping under my fingers.
I use exclusively 10s. I've tried to use 9s to get those really wide vibratos and big bends, but realized I would have to really change how I pick the strings to make it work. So far, I really haven't found the motivation. Also, thicker strings helps with tuning stability. I seem to always have my string height at 2mm on the low end and 1,6mm on the high end. Could perhaps be a little bit lower, but every time I try to I tend to get more buzz and stuff. I also don't like super low action since I'm a blues oriented player. My relief tends to be around 0,25mm at the 7th fret.
Always great playing sir, just a thought when playing two three notes per string the fretting of the first note lowers the action anyway 🤔 More important imo is the delay reverb od settings comp maybe . be great to hear your thoughts on this . Love your playing 🙏👍
I run most of my guitars at about 2mm@ 12th fret. That will be biased higher on the low strings and lower on the high e and b strings. I always considered that as being low action. Hmmm.
For checking string heights auto parts stores sell feeler gauges which are more accurate for gaps below a mm. Much cheaper than a a luthier supply and exactly the same tool. Grab some T handle Allen wrench’s too. 😉
Around 5/64ths plus or minus 1or2/64ths. 10-gauge electrics and 12-gauge acoustics. All US made guitars are factory standard measured in 64ths of an inch. Slight relief to a neck. And lowering pickups on a Stratocaster type single coil is pretty standard. You don't want a road bike on a trail in the woods and you don't want to cruise a highway on a dirt bike, is best description I've heard.
I have to say, I've never found it hard to play ( bends especially) on a low action. Maybe because bending was the first thing I concentrated on with beginning electric. I always find a low action easier to manage, and can't get why people find bending tricky on low action necks, but that's just me. I'm, of course not very fast and fluid like you are, but maybe I think back to how ignorant I was with my first good electric ( a pre CBS strat, rosewood and white) I didn't even know that you could set intonation or action at all and foolishly traded my beautiful strat for a pittance NZ$230 1970's, ❤against a Les Paul custom that was unfinished in pieces in a box( someone had started to strip the finish and it took another $400 bucks to have it finished) as it happened I sold the Paul straight away and got another strat (early 70's maple sunburst, which was ok til it was stolen, and I spent the next 7 years with a 2 humbucker Tele thinline, which had a low action anyway ( and the tilt-neck adjust on the 3 bolt neck plate. Years later I figured out how to set up guitars and always found a lowish action easier. I was playing mostly mainstream rock and a three finger lefthand blues fingering, but I never found it " fretting out " as others sometimes reported. Who knows why? Maybe it is something to do with your hands of finger size and length.You don't do much bending anyway, so maybe it depends on your style of playing. I rarely finger more than three notes per string, and usually not with much of a stretch between notes, so maybe that's why. Love your playing anyway, and count me amongst those who just guessed or assumed that you were using a low action setting.😄
You got it right john, on lollars weaker/lesser output pickups i found information that they are Alnico 2, on the higher output pickups, he uses the more common alnico 5. He has 4 sets, the 1st 2 are alnico 2 the other 2 are alnico 5. are your Ice Blue k line, flat poles or staggered poles?? they look FLAT in the video.
It looks like your fingers are quite long. So it's understandable you should have a higher action. I saw a video with Pete Thorn and Tim Pierce at Michael Thompson's house, and he had thicker strings and a high action, because his hands are huge! Pete played a solo on his guitar and felt the pain! Pickup height is another thing! Obviously if your action is higher, you will have to adjust the pickups accordingly. You have to use your ears for that, go to a room and play loud and take a screwdriver and just mess around, thats what I was told by my setup guy when i lived in London.
Agree about string action, I have a telecaster with a 7.25-inch radius, with a pretty low action and a huge neck and it is so comfortable to play but if I raise the action closer to 2mm it becomes the most uncomfortable neck it's so painful to play, my hands aren't big.
Your setup is not dissimilar to mine. Flat neck, gentler pickup output, low action. Main thing is I can’t tolerate buzz. If others play the guitar heavier they might get buzz, but otherwise buzz free. “Medium low” action perhaps, but definitely not medium. ☺️
![One thing that EVERY Great Legato Player Has in Common [and a thing you NEED to practice]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3byF6CoERf0/mqdefault.jpg)
![One thing that EVERY Great Legato Player Has in Common [and a thing you NEED to practice]](/img/tr.png)
Guitar set up is pretty personal - here's how (as a bit of a legato boy) my set up works - using 10 gauge strings, so about average...
Of course, Allan Holdsworth and I think Shawn Lane are meant to have used 8s right? Anyone out there tried a set of 8s to report back? Might be an idea to try for myself some time?
i went to 8s a couple of years ago. straight from 10s 11s mostly. 13s for a guitar tuned down to C standard. moving to 8s was the best thing i ever did. 8s on 25.5 scale and 9s on 24.75 scale. i was terrible at guitar but when i went to 8s i was still terrible, but less so. and i never have any hand/finger/wrist pains anymore. everything is easy.
I use 9s for Eb standard and it feels gooood. Used to play with 11s and 12s and I’m never going above 9 again. If it sound thin just adjust your pick ups and amp
Just had to say - As a fellow dad, seeing your daughter turn the volume knob down was one of the most relatable things ever! Happy Birthday Elodie!
From a pro player of 50+ years I have to say your playing and attitude is an inspiration!
Seeing your daughter reminds me of when at the age of 44 I found myself at home with a tiny three month old baby, who, not being breast-fed, was left in my sole care during the day while my wife returned to work bringing a better wage than a musician like me could. I learned more about guitar and music, being away from guitar with my baby girl, than I did while playing regularly. She's grown now and spends most of her time telling me what to do, when she is with us, but I remember her as a tiny tot that I used to watch as she slept. I love her to bits!
Got busy, back on daily John Cordy watching, congrats on the 105k such a solid, steady climb!!
That run from 1:20-1:27 is definitely channeling those years of Petrucci work you put in. Nice stuff
I need to learn that!!!! Disgusting lick! 🔥
That action is around where I've heard pretty much every tech sets the action on a guitar. That 1.5 to 2mm range is the sort of Goldie Locks zone. Any lower the strings can choke, any higher it may effect intonation.
This is interesting. I use 10s on everything and always used to be chasing a low action but also have enough "room" to allow no-choke / no buzz bending.
A couple of years back I bought an AVRII Strat with a 7.25" fingerboard radius so the only way to achieve my goal was a bit more action and relief - nothing major just more than I would usually go for.
This was a revelation because the guitar instantly became so much more "alive" and ringing so I immediately added a little action the other 12" radius guitars I'm lucky enough to have - again, this was the correct move I just hadn't known it. My Charvel has a very flat radius so it stays relatively low and doesn't suffer at all.
40-odd years playing and still messing around with setup....it's an odyssey.
🎂Happy Birthday Elodie 🎉 Almost time to start taking 🎸 lessons
My string action is 2mm at the 12 fret on both the 1st and 6th string of my Strat, which is tuned down 1/2 step to Eb Standard. I use D'Addario EXL 10 to 46, but 1 swap out the 10 for a 9 to get a more balanced tension across the strings and easier bends.
I let the guitar dictate the setup. Some of my guitars have high action, nothing above 2.0mm, I have a couple that would be happy at just under 1.0. Some have straight necks, some with a bit of relief. I generally test the limits of each one and if the vibe is shreddy, I keep it low, if it wants to play slow with sustain I put it higher. Sometimes it just doesn't sound right or intonated with super low or high action so I just roll with it. Same with strings, I like as light as possible but I end up compromising with the guitar. My personal favorites are Elixir 9-46 on most of my guitars. It gives me wiggle room for drop D or D Standard and maybe drop C...but again it's the guitar that decides.
Thanks for the great insight! Have a kickass day John! 🤜🤛🔥🎸
10s on pretty much everything for me except for Floyd rose guitars that I'll put on 9 or 9.5s. I hate string buzz so at the least i like an action where the strings are ringing clearly. I tend to like an action on the medium to high side. I also like a visible amount of neck relief, i always struggle when the neck is too straight, i need some relief to be able to get under the string to bend them.
The guitars I've borrowed from John have all been fine and the guitars John burrows from me end up with a comment about slightly higher action so i guess we're not massively apart in taste
For me I'll set 4.5 64ths on the bass side and 4 64ths on the treble side, which is about 1.75mm and 1.5mm. I also have my pickups lower than most people. I also use 1 meg volume and 250k tone with a 15nf cap (.015uf), vintage wiring and no treble bleed. I use D'Addario 9.5's and I replace the b string with a 12 and the g string with a 17, which makes a balanced tension set.
Happy Birthday Elodie, one day she will doin duets with DAD!!! you Wait!!! great opening with the Dashing Dachshunds back up band!!! Between his Slides, chirps, Saggy sounding notes, vibrato, and blazing clean speed, picking techniques he has his own voice on guitar for sure!!!! Screaming alternate picking Boy today!!! Must be emulating ANDY WOOD?
I have my electrics set up 2mm at 12th fret on the bass side and 1.75mm on the treble side. Relief is about 6 thousands of an inch between first and body frets. You need a bit of height to be able to transfer the energy when hammering on ( and off) I also prefer jumbo frets as they make string bends easier and it stops the string from slipping under my fingers.
Your output recently has been insane!
I use exclusively 10s. I've tried to use 9s to get those really wide vibratos and big bends, but realized I would have to really change how I pick the strings to make it work. So far, I really haven't found the motivation. Also, thicker strings helps with tuning stability. I seem to always have my string height at 2mm on the low end and 1,6mm on the high end. Could perhaps be a little bit lower, but every time I try to I tend to get more buzz and stuff. I also don't like super low action since I'm a blues oriented player. My relief tends to be around 0,25mm at the 7th fret.
Always great playing sir, just a thought when playing two three notes per string the fretting of the first note lowers the action anyway 🤔
More important imo is the delay reverb od settings comp maybe . be great to hear your thoughts on this . Love your playing 🙏👍
0.7 mm on high E but 1.5 at the low E string. Does anyone use different heights as me?
I run most of my guitars at about 2mm@ 12th fret. That will be biased higher on the low strings and lower on the high e and b strings. I always considered that as being low action. Hmmm.
Action at 1.5mm for me. Measure pickup height with the strings fretted at last fret.
For checking string heights auto parts stores sell feeler gauges which are more accurate for gaps below a mm.
Much cheaper than a a luthier supply and exactly the same tool.
Grab some T handle Allen wrench’s too. 😉
That baby, the future guitar hero, is so cute.
Ah, happy birthday Elodie. I was just thinking it must be around now
Around 5/64ths plus or minus 1or2/64ths. 10-gauge electrics and 12-gauge acoustics. All US made guitars are factory standard measured in 64ths of an inch. Slight relief to a neck. And lowering pickups on a Stratocaster type single coil is pretty standard. You don't want a road bike on a trail in the woods and you don't want to cruise a highway on a dirt bike, is best description I've heard.
The most alternate picked JNC video.
I have to say, I've never found it hard to play ( bends especially) on a low action. Maybe because bending was the first thing I concentrated on with beginning electric. I always find a low action easier to manage, and can't get why people find bending tricky on low action necks, but that's just me. I'm, of course not very fast and fluid like you are, but maybe I think back to how ignorant I was with my first good electric ( a pre CBS strat, rosewood and white) I didn't even know that you could set intonation or action at all and foolishly traded my beautiful strat for a pittance NZ$230 1970's, ❤against a Les Paul custom that was unfinished in pieces in a box( someone had started to strip the finish and it took another $400 bucks to have it finished) as it happened I sold the Paul straight away and got another strat (early 70's maple sunburst, which was ok til it was stolen, and I spent the next 7 years with a 2 humbucker Tele thinline, which had a low action anyway ( and the tilt-neck adjust on the 3 bolt neck plate. Years later I figured out how to set up guitars and always found a lowish action easier. I was playing mostly mainstream rock and a three finger lefthand blues fingering, but I never found it " fretting out " as others sometimes reported. Who knows why? Maybe it is something to do with your hands of finger size and length.You don't do much bending anyway, so maybe it depends on your style of playing. I rarely finger more than three notes per string, and usually not with much of a stretch between notes, so maybe that's why. Love your playing anyway, and count me amongst those who just guessed or assumed that you were using a low action setting.😄
I set mine around 2 mm.
You got it right john, on lollars weaker/lesser output pickups i found information that they are Alnico 2, on the higher output pickups, he uses the more common alnico 5. He has 4 sets, the 1st 2 are alnico 2 the other 2 are alnico 5. are your Ice Blue k line, flat poles or staggered poles?? they look FLAT in the video.
It looks like your fingers are quite long. So it's understandable you should have a higher action. I saw a video with Pete Thorn and Tim Pierce at Michael Thompson's house, and he had thicker strings and a high action, because his hands are huge! Pete played a solo on his guitar and felt the pain! Pickup height is another thing! Obviously if your action is higher, you will have to adjust the pickups accordingly. You have to use your ears for that, go to a room and play loud and take a screwdriver and just mess around, thats what I was told by my setup guy when i lived in London.
Agree about string action, I have a telecaster with a 7.25-inch radius, with a pretty low action and a huge neck and it is so comfortable to play but if I raise the action closer to 2mm it becomes the most uncomfortable neck it's so painful to play, my hands aren't big.
Yeah, I had my Strat neck shaved down, it has that radious too and now I can even get my thumb over the top to do hendrix stuff!@@rstm_abrv
Your legato is something else man. Sheesh.
Your setup is not dissimilar to mine. Flat neck, gentler pickup output, low action. Main thing is I can’t tolerate buzz. If others play the guitar heavier they might get buzz, but otherwise buzz free. “Medium low” action perhaps, but definitely not medium. ☺️
You sure that's 2.0mm? looks a lot more like 1.5mm on the blue line.
How many dogs and their names? 😎🤓