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At some point in ones road to becoming a great guitar player you may need or want to have your guitar set-up and even upgraded to further personalize and improve tone.
What is a basic set-up? A basic setup, lets assume the guitar has no serious problems first. If you need frets or have a scratch fixed, those don’t come in a basic set-up. Broken parts generally are not included in the setup. Bring a set of “your brand” of strings.
Usually the guitar is looked at closely. The neck is checked for flaws on the fingerboard, nicks and dents on the body, how straight the neck it is and if the frets need leveling, contouring or flattening, needless to say always have your frets polished. Especially if you do any string bending.
Cleaning up the wear in the bridge saddles, cleaning and leveling the frets, intonation, adjusting the string height over the neck and making sure all components are working there best, which includes adjusting the instrument to factory or your personal specs are part of the basics .

The luthier that GPC temporarily uses is Bob Peterson of Angel Guitars, in Port Saint Lucie, Florida.
He is a master guitar maker, guitar repairman and knows everything to be known about guitars. His main ingredient is “love”. He works by himself too. No distractions. That is a good thing.
Bob is the best at being a guitar maker AKA a luthier. A master craftsman from the old days. He has an innate ability to read through the lines and provide you with the setup you need, exactly how you like it. The dedication he has to detail is incomparable to anything other than a great car transmission re-builder or an orthopedist.
He also has some real vintage tools he uses that are over 100 years old. Bob makes good use of some newer guitar tools like a milling machine and other modern wood working equipment to make his own necks and bodies.
The guitar in question is almost three years old. It is a Custom Shop Eric Clapton Stratocaster with Active TBX boost. It was set up when it was brand new. So this is the second time Bob has done his thing to it. The second time is even sweeter than the first.
Cleaning up the wear in the bridge saddles, cleaning and leveling the frets, adjusting the string height over the neck and making sure all components are working there best, which includes adjusting the instrument to factory specs or your personal specs. These are unspoken truths, we know that he will do those procedures without even talking about it.
Enough suspense, what was done that improved the sustain so much you can probably get rid of one sustainer and a compressor (or you did not need them)? I had a Bone Nut installed, thus replacing the synthetic plastic nut. Bob supplies and cuts his own nuts. This guitar is set up with such a low action that it’s as close to string buzz as possible, obviously without the buzz. He also re-polished the frets. Frets wear and the more wear the harder it is to play. You won’t notice it until they are polished. you won’t be disappointed.
Well, the bone nut is pure bliss. We tested it immediately and were blown away at how much better a great sounding guitar can become. The amount of sustain a bone nut adds is unimaginable. If you have one, you know what I’m talking about. More than sustain the guitar tone is more honest and adds pure clarity to each note. No guitar can be complete without the right nut.
Some other nut materials include Graphite, Brass, Nickel, Tusq, Corian. Some guitars use The Schaller Floyd Locking nuts, both right or left handed. Another popular type of nut is the Earvana Compensating nut. If you want to buy and install your own nut, you will need a nut file kit and the correct hight specifications.
Good luck with getting your guitar setup. Only choose the best luthier/guitar maker available. If you can’t find a competent one, please consult with me on helping find one near you.

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Notice: We will be adding guitar setup and repair services and free tips very soon. I’m spoiled from having every one of my guitars setup immediately upon getting it. Every guitar player deserves to play a well setup guitar. Our mission is to make it affordable and easy. Stay tuned in.

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