Tools and Techniques

New Banjo Setup Questions and Answers with Grant MacNeill (Video)

New Banjo Setup Questions and Answers with Grant MacNeill (Video)

Here’s Grant discussing what we need to know to set up a new banjo.

If you’re wondering, the banjo in the video is a Deering Calico.

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The Twelfth Fret Repair Shop: Setting up a Strat Trem Part 2

The Twelfth Fret Repair Shop: Setting up a Strat Trem Part 2

Today we’re going back to The Twelfth Fret Repair Shop and continue our look at setting up a Strat Trem. Here we will upgrade the tuning machines and clean up the bridge and nut.

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The Twelfth Fret Repair Shop: Setting up a Strat Trem, Part 1

The Twelfth Fret Repair Shop: Setting up a Strat Trem, Part 1

Welcome to The Twelfth Fret Repair Shop where we will take an in-depth look at setting up a Strat Trem and add locking tuners.

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Compensation and Intonation

So, if it isn’t what the HR people tell you you’re getting, what’s compensation?

In musical terms, compensation is an adjustment to string length made to allow for proper intonation – it accounts for the effects of strings being stretched when fretted.

A basic reality of fretted musical instruments is that frets aren’t placed in mathematically perfect divisions of the scale. Instead, they are placed according to a tempered system. Pianos are also tuned in this way.

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The Six-Inch Rule

One of the most necessary and useful tools is the six-inch ruler. Sometimes called a “machinist’s ruler”, these are made of metal and are graduated, or divided, in at least sixty-fourths of an inch (1/64″). Some models show hundredths of an inch or are metric; what matters is that the graduations are small, because what seems a small fraction to the eye can make a large difference to the hand.

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THE TWELFTH FRET

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