There are many steps to performing a complete setup on an electric guitar. Most of these steps I have talked about on other pages. This article is merely a summary of all steps to fully setting up your electric guitar. A setup generally only includes adjustments for action, intonation, and string buzzing. Other repairs, like fret dressing, are not generally included in an "electric guitar setup."
Now let's get started.
Notice that I did not say, "tune your guitar to standard pitch." You should setup your guitar up to play in the tuning that your normally play. You want your guitar to play properly in the tuning that you use the most.
It is important to straighten your guitar neck before you do any action adjustments or intonation adjustments, as your neck's straightness directly affects these adjustments. You will need to tighten or loosen your guitar's truss rod to adjust the straightness of the neck. For more information about adjusting the truss rod, please see the truss rod adjustment page.
Before the action and intonation can be set, the strings need to be set to the same radius as the fretboard. The string radius adjustment can be done on almost all electric guitar bridges. This adjustment will vary depending on which bridge your electric guitar has. Some bridges, such as the Floyd Rose bridge, are more time consuming to set the radius of the strings. For more information about setting your electric guitar's string radius, please visit the string radius page.
Action refers to the height of the strings above the fretboard. Depending on your playing style, you may want to set the action higher or lower to a certain extent. A guitar with higher action will be more difficult to play than a guitar with lower action, but will allow the strings more room to vibrate. Whereas, a guitar with lower action will be easier to play than a guitar with higher action, but won't allow the strings to vibrate as much. Excessive low action can cause string buzzing. Setting the action on an electric guitar may require adjusting both the bridge and the nut. For more information about how to properly set the action on your electric guitar, please see the action adjustment page.
Simply, intonation is the relative tuning of your guitar as your play up the fretboard. Intonation is usually set at the 12th fret or one octave the open strings. Without having your guitar properly intonated, chords and solos played higher on the fretboard will sound out of tune while open chords sound in tune. In short, it will be impossible to tune your guitar. For more information about how to adjust the intonation on your electric guitar, please see the intonation adjustment page.
That is it! That is all there is to it. Those are the five steps to professionally setting up your electric guitar. Now there is no need to go down to your local music shop and fork over $50-$100 to have some guitar tech do it for you.
