If you think that tuning a guitar is just to tweak your chops before playing, you are mistaken. The height of the strings, deflection of the neck, the position of the pickups, the scale - all this can and must be changed to achieve better sound and ease of playing the instrument. In this article we will look at deep tuning of an electric guitar: how it is done and why it is needed.
Adjusting the neck deflection
The neck of an electric guitar (as well as most metal-stringed speakers) is not just a piece of wood. Inside it is a curved metal rod, which is called an anchor. His task is to increase the strength of the tool and prevent deformation. The tension of the strings slowly but surely bends the neck, and the metal holds it in place.
The humidity of the climate and the age of the wood can also deform the neck. At the end of the anchor there is a special nut. Twisting it, you can bend or unbend the rod, changing the deflection of the neck. Thus, you can always respond to the negative influence of the external environment and return the instrument to its original state.
Checking whether the guitar needs tuning is easy. Press the 6th string on the first and the last lines simultaneously. If it comes into contact with any threshold, the anchor must be let loose. If the gap is too large - to pull. Keep in mind that you need to check on the configured tool. And it is in the system in which you play most often.
The ideal distance depends on the instrument, but usually should be 02-0.3 mm. If the strings are very close, they can rattle when playing and spoil the whole sound. If far away - you can forget about the speed game.
In the setting itself is also nothing complicated. Using an Allen key, tighten the anchor bolt. Usually it is located on the head of the neck in a special hole. Often it is closed with a small lid, which should be unscrewed. In rare cases, the hole may be located at the other end - at the place where the neck is attached to the body.
Tighten the bolt to loosen the anchor counterclock-wise. To pull up - clockwise. It is very important not to rush. Cranked the key for a quarter turn - check. Turning the nut back and forth is not very useful for your tool.
Such verification should be carried out once every six months or a year. Also it is necessary to take into account that, twisting the anchor bolt, you change the height of the strings and the scale of the guitar. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a deep tuning of the entire electric guitar.
String height
With this parameter, everything is simple: the lower the strings, the less time and effort you will spend on pressing them. This is one of the most important parameters for speed games. When the number of extracted notes exceeds 15 per second, every moment counts.
On the other hand, the strings during the game constantly fluctuate. The amplitude is small, but still. If during the game you hear rattling, rustling and metallic clank, you will have to increase the distance. Exact values can not be named. They depend on the thickness of the strings, your style of play, the deflection of the neck and the wear of the frets. This is all determined empirically.
The height of the strings is adjusted on the bridge of the electric guitar (tailpiece). You will need a hex or screwdriver. Start at a distance of 2 mm. Adjust the position of the 6th string and try to play on it. Do not rattle? Feel free to put the rest on the same level, not forgetting to test them. Then lower by another 0.2 mm and play. And so on.
As soon as you heard the clang, raise the string by 0.1 mm and play again. If the sounds are gone, you have found the optimal position. Usually the “comfort zone” of the 1st string lies within 1, 5-2 mm, and the 6th 2-2.8 mm.
Treat checks seriously. Remove a few notes on each (this is important) fret. Try to play something drive, with a strong attack. Make a few bends. Vyzhmete maximum of guitar when setting up - you can be sure that she will not let you down at a concert or while recording.
Different types of fittings are configured in different ways. For example, if you haveTune-o-matic (strings through the body), you can not set the height for each string separately. But will be able to make a small bias from thick to thin.
Set the scale
Mensura is the working length of the strings. In other words, this is the distance from the zero nut at the end of the fingerboard to the bridge of the guitar. Not every tailpiece allows you to change the scale - on some it is strictly determined during production. But on most fittings, especially tremolo systems, there is such an opportunity.
Unlike fretless violins and cellos, the guitar cannot boast of absolute accuracy of notes. Even on a perfectly tuned instrument, small errors will occur. A small adjustment of the scale for each string allows you to minimize these inaccuracies.
Everything is spinning, again, with a screwdriver or a small hexagon. The required bolts are on the back side of the bridge. Start with the 1st string. Remove natural flageolet on the 12th fret. Touch the string above the key, but do not press it, and then tweak with the finger of your other hand. Then clamp the string and compare the sounds. They must be absolutely identical. If the flageolet sounds higher, the scale should be increased, if lower - reduced. Similarly, adjust the length of the other strings.
Since few guitarists can boast an absolute ear for music, it is recommended to use a tuner. If you do not have a tuner, install a program, for example, ApTuner.
Pickup position
Now that you have figured out the deflection of the neck, the height and length of the strings, the guitar is almost ready to play. There is a trifle - setting pickups. Or rather, the distance from them to the strings. This is no less important point - it depends on the volume of the sound and the presence of "top" (heavily overloaded dirty notes).
Your task is to bring the pickups as close as possible to the strings, but with two conditions. First, you do not have to catch the sound with a mediator during an active game. Secondly, none of the strings clamped on the last fret should not produce unpleasant unpleasant sounds.
Height is adjusted with bolts on the body of the pickups. Turn both sides alternately and try to play. And so, until you find the optimal position.
The pickup should not be placed parallel to the strings. Bass have a larger diameter and greater amplitude of oscillation. Therefore, they should be a little more distance from the coils.
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