Setup

YouTube is a great resource for so many things.  I, like most guitarists I think, look at guitar set up as some sort of black art requiring decades of apprenticeship and a little magic voodoo powder.  Well, I got over that!  It actually entails very few adjustable parts, and once you understand what your objective is for each step it can be accomplished easily with a little time and patience (now this all goes without saying that a good neck with a decent fret job should be your starting point!).

I purchased my neck from a US reseller who sourced it from a supplier in China.  I wanted this project build to be a challenge, but not an exercise in futility or frustration.  At some point I may make a neck from scratch, but proper tools and a proper work space currently prevent me from trying.  The quality of this neck is quite incredible, actually.  The wood (maple) is very clean with appealing subtle grain.  It was lightly sealed and accurately drilled for headstock tuners.  The fret spacing was perfect as were all other aspects I measured.  

Start with first things.  There is an order to the correct setup.  Set neck relief first.  The right hex key/wrench is necessary to fit the truss rod and ensure the nut is not damaged during adjustment.  Some take 3/16, others 9/64.  I found that mine required a 5/32, or about 4mm.  You’ll know by the feel if it is firmly set and deep enough to avoid stripping the head.  If it does not smoothly but solidly sit in the rod head, double check that you have the correct hex key.  Turn about ¼ turn at a time and visually sight down the length of the neck for straightness.  More relief is loosening the rod (counter clockwise).  Less relief is tightening the rod (clockwise).  On a side note, my neck appeared to have a very slight back bow, so I strung my neck first to see what affect the string tension would have before making truss rod adjustments.  As I expected, string tension brought the neck closer to zero relief, but it needed a few turns of the truss rod nut to bring it to zero (or slightly positive) relief.

Next the nut.  Check the size and shape of each slot against the string gauge that goes in that slot, as well as the height of each string from the first fret.  As expected, all the slots on this nut were very high (good, as it provided an opportunity to set them myself).  With strings in place I measured the low E string looking for roughly 0.020" from the bottom of string to top of first fret.  The E and A string slots on my nut were also very narrow.  Using a triangular file and a very narrow saw blade, I took a finite amount of material from the nut to deepen the pocket for each string so that they ended as low as possible yet high enough from the fret surfaces to avoid buzz.

Then level the frets.  The neck arrived with excellent fret work.  Some fret ends stuck out from the fret board and had to be filed smooth.  A few frets were fractions of mm off from their neighbors, which I determined using the edge of a credit card and marking the high spots with a sharpie pen.  After taping off the fretboard (to protect it from the file and filings), I was able to take tiny amounts off the high spots, frequently rechecking level and watching the sharpie marks disappear.  Finishing with some 360 grit sand paper, they were good to go for the next step.

Now bridge saddle height - this will set what is known as 'string action'.  Most electric guitar players prefer low action, meaning the strings are laying very close to the fret board.  But since the frets are curved slightly, each string will have a different relative height at the saddle on the bridge.  And since each string gauge is different and vibrates at a different amplitude, this also impacts their relative heights and 'actions'.  The lighter gauge lower strings will generally be able to be set lower - which is a good thing for lead players who grab and bend strings as well since you want your finger tip to be able to quickly find that string and press it without also running into the string below or diving under the string above.  And overall, each note (where the string is pressed between a fret) must sound clearly and cleanly without buzzing on any other fret.  These factors must all be balanced.  Again, not hard to do but it takes time to make (maybe dozens of) small adjustments per string to get right.  After this, if you alter the neck relief or make changes to the nut, you are starting over again.

And finally intonation.  Intonation cannot be set before any other adjustment, as any other adjustment affects the length of the string, and its relative association with the frets.  You are essentially making the instrument 'in tune with itself'.  This means that an open string set to a particular note sounds that very same note at the 12 fret (the next octave higher).  If it does not, then the saddle (bridge) needs to be moved further forward (if flat tune) or backwards (if sharp tune) to change the length of the individual string and bring that string into tune so it sounds the correct note when plucked open, and at all frets along the fret board.  Simple.  Just takes a good tuner, a screwdriver, and a little patience.  And do it last!  Change anything, and your intonation will go out again.

Checking against my other guitars, I found that my Tele is pretty low; and in playing it feels smooth and easy, especially the three lower strings which are easy to grab.  I'm fretting out slightly at fret 22 on bends, so I'll file this one shortly.