For starters you'll need an electronic tuner and a phillips head screwdriver. Setting the intonation on your guitar is an important step in the routine maintenance of any guitar. If your intonation is off, the simplest bar chords may sound out of tune even if your guitar is technically in tune. You should intonate your guitar as part of your routine guitar maintenance. Factors such as heat, cold and humidity can effect the intonation of a guitar.
Set your guitar's intonation for each string so that the harmonic at the 12th fret is the same as the fretted note at the 12th fret. If the fretted note is sharp to the harmonic, the string needs to be longer so the string saddle needs to be moved back. Use the individual screw adjustments at the bridge to make each string longer or shorter as needed to get the harmonic and the fretted note the same. Repeat the intonating process for each string. Please note that the intonation should be set if you decide to change to a different gauge of strings. For example, when you go from extra light strings to regular light strings be sure to intonate your guitar.
If you have no experience with truss rod adjustment, it's recommended that it be taken to a qualified guitar repair person. It's our opinion that guitarists in general should find a good guitar repair technician in their home town. Over adjustment in either direction can cause permanent damage to the neck of the guitar. If you do decide to adjust it yourself, you will need the appropriate size allen wrench to fit your truss rod. If you encounter any significant resistance while adjusting your truss rod, do not turn the truss rod any further. Forcing it to far in either direction can cause the truss rod to break. One of the main things to remember when making a truss rod adjustment is that "a little goes a long way". The safest way to make a truss rod adjustment is to plug your guitar into into an electronic guitar tuner and check the tuning after after every eighth of a turn of the truss rod. If the neck on the guitar is being bowed back, the strings will go sharp. If the neck is being allowed to relax, the the strings will go flat. Be sure to re-tune the strings and check the string height after every quarter of a turn, until you have achieved the desired neck set up for your guitar. You may want to check the intonation on your guitar as well.
Changing your string gauge can affect your guitar tone. Just remember, anytime you change to a different gauge of strings on your guitar, you need to re-setup your guitar. (See "Intonating Your Guitar" above.) The general rule is, the heavier the string gauge, the fatter the guitar tone. (Stevie Ray Vaughan used .013 - .058.) This is because the larger string will have a greater elliptical pattern when you strike it, thus giving the pickup more information to "pick-up" on.
The closer your pickups are to the strings the greater the output of your guitar. You will know if your pickups are too close to the strings if your low E, A and D string sounds funny. You may get "double notes", dead notes, bad harmonic overtones, or your guitar may even sound out of tune. Intonation can suffer as well. This is because the magnets from your pickup will cause the string to vibrate in a vertical pattern instead of an elliptical one. Additionally, pickups that are too close may cause some buzzing on the upper frets of your guitar. This is because the magnets will try to pull the strings closer toward the body of the guitar. As a general rule, guitars with humbucking pickups have less pull so you're able to adjust the pickup pretty high. Guitars with three single coil pickups have greater pull so you need to back them off a little by lowering them into the body of the guitar.
If you're after low action on your guitar just remember: the lower your action the straighter the neck needs to be. This will prevent buzzing at the lower frets of your guitar. To take some of the relief out of the neck, you'll need to tighten the the truss rod. You'll also need to use lighter gauge strings. 9's work well for this type of setup. Since BUILDANAX guitar necks have a 12" radius, you can get the action very low.
Many pro-level players actually prefer a guitar with medium-high to high setup. The higher the action on the guitar the heavier gauge strings you can use thus producing a fatter guitar tone. Additionally, if you have a strong attack (hit the guitar strings hard with your pick), you may want a high or medium action to eliminate any buzzing on the lower frets.
