Setup

Truss rod

The neck should have a slight concave bow (u, not n)

• this means from a straight neck, the truss rod should be slightly looser (this means turning the truss rod nut lefty loosy)
• similar to how we "tune up" and never "tune down", you want to adjust the truss rod up and never down.
• turn 1/4 turn at a time, tune the guitar back up, then check.

Relief can be estimated by using the tap test

1. fret the first fret with LH
2. fret the 12th fret with RH pinky
3. tap the 7th fret with the RH index.
   • if there is a slight space, the truss rod is about right
   • if there is no space, the neck is back-bowed (truss rod too tight)

Intonation (electric)

Intonation can be checked by checking how in tune a string is when played open and when played at 12th fret.

• if the 12th fret is sharper than the open string, it means the distance between the 12th fret and the bridge is shorter than the distance between the nut and the 12 fret.
  • therefore to fix, move the bridge saddle toward the tail of the guitar to attempt to make the distance equivalent.
  • ref

Nut height

standard height between string and nut is about 20,000ths ±4000

Misc

Humidity should be ~45%