A Luthier’s Setup

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The factory setup of my Epiphone Riviera P93 was horrible!   I had a luthier to do a full setup on the guitar, and it’s much better now.  Read on for all the measurements before/after the setup.

Prepack ChecklistHere’s the “Pre-Pack Checklist” that came with the guitar.  What a joke! I imagine the inspector works like this:

  • Intonation?  Sucks, check!
  • String height?  Crazy high, check!
  • Buzzing?  Yep, check!
  • Fretboard cleaning? Yuck, check!

Epiphone InspectorWell, Mr. 24 in the USA, I’m not impressed!

 

 

 

Here are my measurements of the lousy factory setup:

  • Measuring relief with a capo on 1st fret and finger on the 22nd, the distance between fret top and string bottom on the low E string at the 7th fret, is .020”.
  • The low E string height at the 12th fret was well above 1/8” (despite them saying it was at 6/64).
  • The nut was cut high.  Measuring at the first fret, the low E was .042” and the high E was .022”.   With a capo on the 3rd fret, the height of the strings at the first fret are low E .015” and high E .004”

For these measurements, I’m using a set of feeler gauges like this set from Grizzly.

So, I tinkered with it a bit, adjusting the truss rod, and bridge height, but I was still getting buzz, even with fairly high action.

So, I ended up taking it to a luthier for a setup.  They dressed, crowned and polished the frets, filed the nut, and lowered the action.

I measured everything when I got it back from the luthier:

  • Relief at the 7th fret is .011”.
  • Measuring at the first fret, the low E is .0.015” and the high E was .015”.    With a capo on the 3rd fret, the height of the strings at the first fret are low E .005” and high E .002”
  • The string height, open at the 17th fret was .060” on the low E and .062” (1/16”) on the high E.

This is very low action for my playing style, and I get a bit too much buzz through the amp on the low E,A,D strings.  So I gave it a bit more relief, to .016”, and raised the strings by about 1/32” to .083” on the low E and .076” on the high E.  Now it plays well without buzz, with good intonation, hurray!

As for the dirty fretboard, my fingers came away blackened for the first week or so.  I took the strings off and wiped down with fretboard oil a couple times before it was finally clean.