Setup How Often?

[Sculptair]

My 4 month old Custom 24-08 is out of tune all over the neck. Wouldn't have thought that it would need a setup so soon. How often do you have yours setup?

 

[Tucson Thump]

My 4 month old Custom 24-08 is out of tune all over the neck. Wouldn't have thought that it would need a setup so soon. How often do you have yours setup?

Depends on if I leave it out of the case and what the humidity is.

 

[Casi1]

Like once a year... if that.

And really I’ve only had 2 PRSi that have needed a once a year setup. The others have been easy peasy.

 

[RickP]

Guitars that get a lot of temperatures/humidity swings may need it more often, such as when my band plays a lot of outdoor festival type things in the summer months. I live right on the Gulf Coast of Texas, so the temps and humidity can be crazy high. The guitars that stay mostly at home rarely need attention at all. I seem to remember my bolt necks needing it a bit more often, but it's been so long since I've gigged one that I am a little hazy on that.

 

[Rider1260]

When you say out of tune all over the neck what do you mean exactly ?
Is your action high ?
How old are your strings ?
Here near chicago my guitars might need a truss rod tweak once of twice a year as the seasons change .
Some guitars are fine year round , others settle in over time and need less work.
My guitars sound best when I keep up with them more but I am lazy so right now most of them have dead strings ( which means they just don't hold tune or sound off ) and could use a cleaning ;(

 

[bodia]

I’m a couple of miles from Rider, and would say the same thing. I don’t think I’ve touched the truss rod on any of the guitars I currently own. Four are 2018-2020 models, and the other 8 are more than 10 years old.

 

[AP515]

I hardly ever have to set up a guitar. I think your trouble may be the change of seasons and it's a relatively new guitar. Get it set up once and you are probably set.

 

[BrianC]

I also am near Rider and Bodia. My intonation almost never needs adjusting. Truss Rod adjustment a little here and there because I am picky about it.

Not the same for each of my 4 core.

 

[Wakester]

I do a set up once when i get a guitar. After that, it is just tune and go. By definition, (at least mine) a true set up would involve: (in no particular order)

Setting neck relief
Setting Intonation
Setting Trem Spring Tension (if installed)
Setting String Action
Tightening all screws and nuts on Tuners and covers.
Tighening nuts on pots, switches and jack.

For the most part, those are one and done items.

Routine maintenance items would include lubrication, cleaning after use, and tuning.

Infrequent maintenance items would include dressing frets, replacing frets, cleaning the fretboard, replacing pots and switches. Replacing jacks, etc.

That work really depends on how often and how hard you play.

Probably the most important thing you can do to keep your guitar in great shape is to wash your hands before playing. The less dirt and grime you push into the fret board now, means less work cleaning it later down the road.

 

[jak3af3r]

My PRS rarely need a setup. I get it where I like it the day I bring it home and they're usually rock solid. It has been 6+ years on my McCarty without a setup. My custom 24 I just lowered the bridge and saddles not because it needed it but out of curiosity to see how low i could get them. That one I haven't touched in 7+ years.

My G branded guitar made down the street in Nashville is another animal that needs seasonal setups.

 

[Lister]

I check the setups on all my guitars twice a year, in the spring and fall and when a new one joins the herd, it gets a going over as well. But I'm also pretty anal-retentive about humidity especially coming more from the acoustic side and I believe that helps keep everything fairly steady and locked in as well. I try and keep everything between 40-45% humidity in my music room and that seems to be the sweet spot IMO, YMMV depending on location.

 

[Huggy Love]

Did you change string gauge recently?

As far as intonation goes, I have never had to make an adjustment unless I tried a different string gauge. I'm playing guitars that were intonated years ago and still as perfectly in tune as a guitar is gonna get.

The only factor I've had to stay on top of is string action failings and buzzing due to fret wear. You can raise the action every other year till the axe becomes one of your less favorites, then you have to look at fretwork, Plec, or refret.

That's just been my experience, setups every year or few months is unrealistic to me.

 

[Sculptair]

Thanks for sharing. Great info. I'm in Chicago not so far I guess from Rider, Bodia, and BrianC, and even though I use a case humidifier, the humidity swing from winter to spring is significant. The strings are four months old and the same PRS 10 gauge that they came with. I find the action a bit too high for me. After measuring, the neck relief is a little more than double the PRS specs. The high E string is about 10% high. If all of the open strings are in tune, they are a bit sharp on about half the neck, more so the higher up you go. The B string much sharper. So It makes sense to have the guitar set up at first after it acclimates to it's new home. We'll see from there. I've had my other guitar setup at Third Coast over the years. They do a good job. I'd like to try Rock N Roll Vintage as they're a really great local shop in the hood.

 

[CandidPicker]

Thanks for sharing. Great info. I'm in Chicago not so far I guess from Rider, Bodia, and BrianC, and even though I use a case humidifier, the humidity swing from winter to spring is significant. The strings are four months old and the same PRS 10 gauge that they came with. I find the action a bit too high for me. After measuring, the neck relief is a little more than double the PRS specs. The high E string is about 10% high. If all of the open strings are in tune, they are a bit sharp on about half the neck, more so the higher up you go. The B string much sharper. So It makes sense to have the guitar set up at first after it acclimates to it's new home. We'll see from there. I've had my other guitar setup at Third Coast over the years. They do a good job. I'd like to try Rock N Roll Vintage as they're a really great local shop in the hood.

Try this, direct from PRS' website itself. Requires only a couple small tools readily available at your local hardware or home improvement store.

https://prsguitars.com/support/setup

 

[shinksma]

Thanks for sharing. Great info. I'm in Chicago not so far I guess from Rider, Bodia, and BrianC, and even though I use a case humidifier, the humidity swing from winter to spring is significant. The strings are four months old and the same PRS 10 gauge that they came with. I find the action a bit too high for me. After measuring, the neck relief is a little more than double the PRS specs. The high E string is about 10% high. If all of the open strings are in tune, they are a bit sharp on about half the neck, more so the higher up you go. The B string much sharper. So It makes sense to have the guitar set up at first after it acclimates to it's new home. We'll see from there. I've had my other guitar setup at Third Coast over the years. They do a good job. I'd like to try Rock N Roll Vintage as they're a really great local shop in the hood.

ok, so that's a classic intonation issue. Should be very easy to resolve. It is possible your guitar acclimated to your local environment, and you just need to re-set the intonation, relief, and possibly string height to get a stable instrument.

I would fix relief first, then adjust string heights at the saddles, then fix your intonation.

 

[Sculptair]

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Try this, direct from PRS' website itself. Requires only a couple small tools readily available at your local hardware or home improvement store.

https://prsguitars.com/support/setup

I tried contacting my local shop, but apparently they are closed like everything else. Thx CandidPicker for the suggestion: I finally learned how to take my guitar through a complete set up (PRS specs) and I threw in a cleaning, polishing, and a new set of strings! The sound, playability, and sheer beauty of this guitar is why I bought a PRS custom 24-08...it now sounds like a million bucks. You are spot on shinksma with the order of adjustments ending with pick up height. Thanks everyone.

 

[dogrocketp]

4 month old strings? I’m lucky to get 16 hours out of mine, and I wash my hands and wipe Down the guitar before, during and after each set at a gig. Aside from that, about every 30 degrees I might make a slight truss rod adjustment. Once they’re set up, there’s very little adjustment other than the usual restringing, cleaning and polishing.

 

[jak3af3r]

4 month old strings? I’m lucky to get 16 hours out of mine, and I wash my hands and wipe Down the guitar before, during and after each set at a gig.

16 hours? I'm lucky to get 2-4 hours. I've put on a spare Daddario string after breaking an elixir during soundcheck and I can watch it corrode before the first break.