ShortScale.org

Evening all - while wasting time on a Saturday night trawling through The Gear Page (yeah yeah, I know, but there are some really clever people there in amongst all the corksniffers...) I came across this little top tip:

Originally Posted by walterw
i will say that when i'm setting up a bolt-on anything from any company, one step is to loosen the screws a 1/4 turn or so while it's strung to pitch so the strings can pull the neck tight into the pocket. (then i retighten, of course.) usually i'll hear a slight creak and the guitar will go a little flat, telling me the neck was in fact not hard against the pocket. the instrument will usually sound a little better, a little more "solid" if you will, after this is done.

Apparently, this was G&L's secret weapon factory setup, and I tried it on my tele and sure enough got a nice little creak. My ears of tin can discern no particular difference, but that's by the by; sometimes I can't tell if my muff's on or not. One thing he does warn about is that if you have a shimmed neck, they may come out of position, but my tele was OK. Just thought that with many of us doing our own setups, you'd appreciate the top tip.

Mad props to WalterW - any US Shortscalers in Va. Beach, pop in his shop and tell him hello from me.

that is a good tip. last time I bolted on the neck of my guitar I just pulled on the neck towards the front of the guitar and it got it really tight in there. it was kind of hard to do though. this method seems easier.

i've just done it to the blue mustang. i'd set up the bridge and tailpiece and restrung it already tonight, i'll give it a blast through an amp tomorrow and see how it's sitting overall. seems like a good idea though.

Surely it makes more sense to loosen only the two screws that are furthest away from the headstock, so that a moment is created around the other two.

I suspect I'm not as smart as the fellas at G&L.

That would act as a pivot point, I think the point of loosening all 4 is that it will squeeze the neck forward a bit.

Right, pulling it tighter lengthwise. Makes sense.

Can someone give me links on how to set up guitars? the information i have isn't that good...

ahh nice tip, cheers

thanks for the tip, gonna try it on my tele tonight.