I bought a cheap Douglas tele copy that came with a Wilkinson bridge plate and saddles, thinking it would be a joke to try and get it set up correctly. It did as good as any of my real Telecasters.

Yes, you can set up a cheap guitar. I just finished setting up a 3/4 size electric that I bought off a kid (who was going to smash it) for $12. The thing with super cheap guitars (even Bullets) is that often times they have very cheaply done fret work. There can be high frets, rough frets, sharp frets, and if you don't know what you're doing yet it can be very hard to set up a guitar like that. You may have buzzing like crazy that's not really your fault.

The trouble with doing any fret work is that first off, it helps to have some experience and/or guidance from a tech. And second, there are some special tools for it. Now, assuming the frets have no problems, this would make for a mug easier setup. So don't worry too much about it.



I play 10's in standard, 11's in Eb, 12's for D and would use 13's if I ever went to Db. You need tension on the strings to keep from buzzing. I won't tell you they'll be as easy to bend (they won't), but using 12's or 13's would do you some good and they will feel much, much slinkier than they would in standard. You should still be able to bend them just fine with a little more effort.

Also, you won't need to do anything to the nut. You'd want to let a professional handle that before you have an idea of what you're doing because they're easy to mess up on, and you need the right sized files. It takes a specific touch to file a but right, it's something I still can't do very well.

I learned how to set up guitars from my guitar tech, so I think you ought to be able to find someone somewhere who would be willing to teach you. Even if not, there's a book that really helped me a lot that I think would be perfect for you. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0879309210/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1336663744&sr=8-1

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You don't need to bother with the nut at all. All this about widening slots is made up tripe to get money from people.
Fender, Gibson and many others cut their nut slots a lot wider than the .009-.042" gauge.

I urge any of you to put a set of feeler gauges in your nut slots and see if I'm wrong. Even slight wander, which is unavoidable. Will make a slot a lot wider than the width of the file when you're dealing with thousandths of an inch.

When you get some higher gauge strings on, or tune up to proper pitch, I'll talk you through the rest of it Mike.

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No no and no

Once again, thank you all for the answers and suggestions. I'll let you know what's going on after I buy and put the new strings on the guitar. I'll probably post some pictures then as well, so it will be easier to "diagnose" my guitar .

I'm back with some updates.

I've managed to finish with my exam today earlier than I expected, so I went to the store and buy some thicker strings. I've just mounted them on the guitar and stretched the strings a little. I've also jammed (I'm still tuned to Drop-Db) for a few minutes and here are my observations:

There is hardly any problem with the strings, except for the low E, which still buzzez at the first 2-3 frets, BUT not as much as before. Still, there is buzz... and it is a .50 string.

I've checked the neck curvature and I was surprised to find out that I don't actually have a backbow, but an upbow. I put a capo on the first fret, then pressed the low E string on the 17th fret, where the neck joins with the body, and checked the height of the string at the 9th fret. I didn't have any instrument to make an exact measurement, but it is just a little bit over 0.60 mm (I used a 0.60 mm pick as a reference) - by the way, I measured it WITHOUT the height of the fret itself. I placed the pick just between the top of the fret and the string. Have I done the measurement correctly or is it wrong?

Then, using the same pick and pressing both frets simultaneously, I tried to measure the height at the other frets. As I go from the middle towards the nut, or from the middle towards the 17th fret, the string height decreases (the 0.60 mm pick is a little harder to stick between the fret and the string), hence my conclusion that I have a slight forward bow.

Also, there is visible buzz at the 14th fret on all the strings... could this be from the forward bow by any chance?

Also, since I've switched to thicker strings, I expect the neck will bow forward even more than it is now...

Haven't made any trussrod, string height, or intonation changes yet. I'm waiting for some guidance...

I have also taken some pictures, but I don't really know whether they are of any relevance...[img][img]http://s16.postimage.org/8z1i68wy9/DSC00565.jpg[/img][/img]

[img][img]http://s11.postimage.org/6d43b06jj/DSC00566.jpg[/img][/img]

[img][img]http://s16.postimage.org/segvd3fm9/DSC00567.jpg[/img][/img]

[img][img]http://s10.postimage.org/wutc40e4l/DSC00569.jpg[/img][/img]

[img][img]http://s15.postimage.org/hkxf4wndj/DSC00570.jpg[/img][/img]

My youngest daughter worked in the Gibson acoustic plant installing necks and the electronics when the plant was here.Anyway they used to get factory seconds from other companies coming in all the time.One year for Father's Day she and her sister gave me an El Cheapo factory second that had a couple of minor paint blemishes but other than that was a perfectly good somewhat Strat-like guitar.When I got the guitar I did a set up on it and it set up just fine and on top of that sounded amazingly good-in fact I was pretty astounded by how good it sounded and played and anyone who has played it since has been very impressed also.The guitar didn't have a brand name but by the style and construction of it I'm inclined to think that it may be made by Samick for a music store to put its logo on as they sometimes do.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

@nikininja, I'm waiting for some further guidance when you have the time

EDIT: Sorry, I've given some wrong information here: when measuring the action at the 9th fret (as described above), it is a little bit BELOW 0.60 mm (not above, as I've said before). The measurements were taken while holding the guitar in a vertical position. And, as I said, there is a little bit of forward bow.

Also, the action at the 12th fret is 4mm for the low E string (kind of high, I guess, and still not enough for the guitar to stop buzzing), while for the high E string it's something like 2-2.5mm (I do not own the appropriate instruments to take an accurate measurement, I've measured them with a ruler). I couldn't measure the height for the rest of the strings, but I see they are set up so as to somehow match the radius of the fretboard. I have not made any changes to the height of the strings since I bought the guitar.

This is all I can say for now. If you guys could tell me what to do next in order to get a decent setup, I would be grateful.

Did you capo the first fret as well as fretting the 17th fret when you measured the neck relief?

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No no and no

Yes.

Ok then you need to tighten that truss rod, about eighth of a turn, check then maybe a bit more. Don't bother with any of that "wait around for settle in" nonsense. It's simply not needed on a modern electric guitar.

You need to set that relief to around .015" at the eighth fret top to the underside of the string.

Once that is done, lower your pickups, right down.

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No no and no

Ok. I assume I shouldn't worry if any more fretbuzz appears by tightening the trussrod, should I?

We'll get the guitar set up right then worry about fretbuzz.

Make sure you lower the pickups right down after you've adjusted that neck.

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No no and no

I'm done with the trussrod - now the height of the low E string at the 9th fret (while capo-ing it at the 1st fret and pressing it at the 17th fret) is somewhere in between 0.30-0.40mm, which is about .015", as you suggested.

Also, I've lowered the pickups, as you've told me to. What is the next step?

Ok now check your string height. Unfretted at the 12th fret I go from 2mm to 3-4mm high E to low E.

Once that is done your guitar should be about thereas far as playability. If it still buzzes then you've either an incorrectly shimmed neck or in need of a fret level.

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No no and no

I understand. But what about the other strings (A,D,G,B)? How do I know how high/low they should be, since I don't have any instrument to measure the radius of the fretboard and/or make the string height match the radius...?

By the way, excuse me for my rather late replies, I'm having another exam on Thursday and I have to learn for it...