Setup Tips

[Joel_P]

This weekend I was doing a regular clean and string replacement on my 25th Santana, and have a question about the setup. I know that the radius of the fretboard is different (11 1/2") and this has the larger DGT jumbo fret wire. From the factory the action was set to 5/64" on the 12th fret both low and high e strings.

I see in the support section it says tremolo guitars are supposed to be 2/32 at the 12th fret. The action is pretty nice right now, but I could go a little lower. I am curious as to what factory spec should be for this model.

I've watched orkie's setup video on youtube several times, and the PTC did an amazing job on my SC245 when they did a pickup swap.

Any general tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[swede71]

For tone i would recommend you keep it at 5/64.Try 2/32 and see if it works better for you.Also check the relief,they recommend .010 at 8th fret and 010 or 012 what feels the best to most.Santana for example wants his necks totally straight.
Dont be afraid doing setups yourself.A good tip is to start with factory recommendations and go from there.Its a very personal thing and checking trossrod and stringheight yourself will do no harm to the guitar.Always use quarterturns when you setting stringheight and relief.A common misconception about a good setup is that it means low action with no buzz.That kind of setup works for a very few players.
If you do lots of bending higher action makes the guitar easier to play and with the jumbofrets i would say 5/64 is perfect .
You can try BB Kings Lucille setup from Dan Erlwines Guitar Player repair guide-relief 030,all strings 7/64 :shock:
I read in an interview that Yngwie set his strings at 12/64 :shock: