Friendly guitar setup help, minus the mystery

What’s wrong with your guitar?

You don’t need to know what neck relief is. You just need to know what the guitar is doing. Tell me what’s bugging you and we’ll figure out what to check before anybody starts turning screws.

START HERE

Something’s Wrong

Buzzing? Won’t stay in tune? Choking bends? Plays like a suspension bridge? Let’s diagnose it.

Diagnose My Guitar
COMING NEXT

I Want It Better

It basically works. Now let’s dial in relief, action and feel for your strings, tuning and playing style.

Build My Setup
COMING NEXT

Put It On The Bench

A complete setup in the right order, one measurement at a time. Allen wrench privileges must be earned.

Learn the Setup Order
The Diagnostician

Tell me what the guitar is doing.

Normal-person answers are fine. “I have no idea” is a perfectly respectable technical specification.

First thing I’d check

Confidence

Why I’m pointing there

Don’t adjust anything yet.

Can I keep playing it?
Show Me How to Check It
My Guitar

Tell me about the patient.

Save the basics once and future tools can use them. This stays in your browser. No account, no newsletter ambush.

Problem-first setup guides

Skip the 2,800-word throat clearing.

Each guide answers one thing a player might actually type into a search box, then sends you to the next useful check.

Guitar buzzes on lower fretsWhy frets 1–5 point us toward relief first. Guitar buzzes on open stringsNut slots, string seating and what to check. Guitar action is too highDon’t lower the bridge until you know why. Guitar won’t stay in tuneStrings, nut friction, tremolos and hardware. How to set guitar intonationSharp, flat and which way the saddle moves. The right guitar setup orderRelief before action. Intonation near the end. Setup after changing string gaugeWhat the tension change can move. Guitar frets out when bendingAction, radius and localized high frets. How to check neck reliefCapo, feeler gauge, no guessing.