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hi guys, the title for this thread says it all. if i change string gauge on a guitar, do i need to adjust the setup at all?

thanks

heehe.. i remember asking the same question here.

yeah, apparently you have to change the setup of the guitar.

Well, it really depends how much of a string change there is.

If you're going from, let's say, 9's to 10's, then you shouldn't really have to change anything. But if you're going from 9's to a Zakk Wylde set, then yes, you're gonna have to do a serious adjustment.

I dont usually change when i got from 9 to 10, but those are really the only guages i play. I may adjust the bridge a little.

If you have a tremelo, you'll definitely need to fine tune things again. If you have a stop tailpiece, it shouldn't make as big a difference.


Originally Posted by SepultuRickhi guys, the title for this thread says it all. if i change string gauge on a guitar, do i need to adjust the setup at all?

thanksIn pure theory: NO..

Unfortunately, theory doesn´t take into account that the added tension pulls mopre on the neck....

Depending on how big the change is and in which direction you´ll have to (from most probable to least probable): Reset the intonation -gt; tweak the truss rod setup -gt; tweak saddle heights -gt; remove and re-shim the neck

the good news is: Most people never get past the saddle tweaking

BTW: This is all assuming a hardtail, a trem unit will definitely have to be reset, essentially forcing you to do all of the previously aforementioned things


Originally Posted by SepultuRickhi guys, the title for this thread says it all. if i change string gauge on a guitar, do i need to adjust the setup at all?

thanks

In one word: yes.

You don't really quot;needquot; to do anything, but you could risk future warping of the neck and it being permanently bowed if the added (or lessened) tension is not accounted for.

It depends on the guitar, what type of bridge you got, and string gauge.
If you got a full floating tremolo, you will probably face some intonation problems.

In my experience, the answer is quot;yesquot;. Depending on how picky you are about action and intonation, you might want to adjust the setup when changing brands of string.

my bridge is adjustable with string thru body

You know, I asked myself this same question a few years ago when I was changing strings. I went from .09s to .10s and didn't notice much difference. Then I went from .10s to .11s and it made my guitar a LOT less playable . . . I also cracked the nut because of the new string size (I didn't know any better!) . . . so yeah, you probably want to have someone go over your guitar if you're going to change string guages!