Question on setting up guitar to play slide

[akabek]

Aside from raising the action to play slide should the strings follow the same radius as the neck or should they be inline/flat?

 

[AP515]

If you have a stoptail the radius is fixed. I wouldn't change it on a trem. I play slide with the same radius. Just raise the tail. You may want to only raise it slightly and learn to play with a light touch so that you can also finger frets with your other fingers to add some capability to your technique. I suck at it by the way, but it's fun to try.

 

[PRSfanboy46]

If you want to play slide without changing your radius, get this: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...6wm0tpfHgHNp3bEak_RoCKS8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
It will only cost you 6 dollars and save you maybe even hundreds on tech work to get a radius. A radius changes the whole guitar, whether your going for a flatter radius because when talking about slide, a radius isn't really needed, it's the height that you want. If you want to do this, save yourself some money and you'll be playing slide in two days with shipping! Sweetwater is absolutely great when it comes to shipping time. I ordered an ernie ball coiled cable and an interface and it took two days for it to ship to my front door. I got candy and a sticker as well!!

 

[akabek]

My time is free so whether I setup the strings flat or with a radius I would do it myself. What better way to learn about a guitar then working on it yourself. I want to play slide and also fret the guitar so I will raise the individual saddles. I will probably go with a medium string height but I am more curious if I should set the string height with a radius or line them up flat. If I make them flat you don't need much pressure to contact multiple strings with the slide but it may make fretting more difficult.

 

[Egads]

AP515 has good advice! You don't need to raise the action by much. As your touch improves, you'll be able to fret notes behind the slide. If your action is too high, those fretted notes will be sharp. If you are dedicating a guitar to slide, and have uindividual, height adjustable saddles, you can flatten out the radius (I don't worry about too much). I like being able to fret and not worry about the intonation on the fretted notes.

Raising the nut effectively removes the ability to fret in-tune notes behind the slide. It might not seem important as you get started, but it's a who,e different world if you stick with it.

I also prefer 11s or 12s for a dedicated slide guitar, but am fine with 10s. I just have to pay a little more attention. The heavier strings support the slide more.

Shameless, unpaid plug: check out Rock Slide, if you are interested in glass or brass. They are my favorites, and make those fretting notes easier, too.

 

[akabek]

Definitely good advice. I want to fret the guitar as well so I will only adjusting the saddles. I have a dedicated guitar I will use for slide. Last night I installed 11s and set the action to 0.12" at the 12th fret. I will play around with the string configuration in an arch as well as flat to see what feels more comfortable. I think the big thing will be conditioning myself to use a slide and how much pressure to apply to get clean sounds. I have a feeling if I want to fret the guitar leaving an arch may be the best bet. Thanks for the responses.

 

[aphantomvaper]

Are you sure something needs to be changed on the guitar to play slide? Many change nothing, it just takes a little time to learn the technique. Then you haven't messed with the guitar setup...horror!

 

[akabek]

I ended up raising the bridge and leveling the strings so they are flat. Later I will add an arch to the string configuration to see which I like better. It is much easier to get clear notes by raising the action.