Mods and Adjustments for Guitars

There are several small modifications and adjustments for guitars that can change the way they feel and sound. Note that I am talking about something different from buying new parts and replacing old ones, which is a common subject on this site. This is more about the little setup options you can change on any guitar that might help you perfect your instrument.

The first of these is an action adjustment. Adjusting the action of your guitar can make a big difference in how it feels to play notes and chords. The action is how high the strings are off of the fretboard, and lowing them can make your instrument easier to play be reducing the effort needed to fret notes. This means that your playing can be faster and smoother with lower action, so it may be worth it to see how low yours should be set. Just keep in mind that at a certain point you will be causing fret buzz if you lower the action too much, so you want to find the right spot.

Along with lowering the action, another helpful guitar mod is adjusting the pickup height. This can make the pickups closer or farther from the strings, which will affect the tone of your instrument. Not only will the tone change, but making the pickups closer to the strings will make your guitar louder and more sensitive. This may be something you want, or it may not. You should experiment with this to see what the best pickup height is for your guitar.

Another guitar adjustment is the truss rod. This is the least likely part of the guitar that you are going to want to customize or modify, so chances are that you do not need to look at it. All it does is control the bend in your guitar neck. Most guitars should have the strings slightly higher off the frets in the middle of the guitar, but there are some cases in which you will want to change this. Do some research before you mess around with the truss rod cover too much, because it is a sensitive and potentially damaging modification. You may want to get this part of the guitar professionally set up if you do not feel comfortable doing it yourself.

These small guitar mods can help you change the sound and playability of your guitar without any cost or extra parts, so it is a good idea to figure out if yours needs some improvement or adjustment.