Help me please! Non-locking, floating trem set-up/tuning etc.

MaximumZargon · October 2023

Stupidly, after 100000 years of hardtail action, I recorded a thing that has trem action, and it went on the record and now I need to play it live.

Bought a G&L to do it (I recorded it with my monster-strat, which I am not about to start tinkering with after X years of total stability).

How do I do this stuff? How to adjust action and trem 'height'/tension etc? Adjust one thing and all the others go out!!

I am in a world of SAD.

Voxman · October 2023

BillDL · October 2023

A while ago I found a screenshot image of some old hand-typed setup instructions on G&L headed paper that was hosted on the G&L user forum or somewhere like that. Whether or not they formed the "official" user manual or were just typed up by an informed enthusiast on headed paper is something I don't know, but G&L customer support is dreadful anyway.

Those setup instructions were:

Adjust strings to half tension.

Place a 3/16" spacer (4.76mm) under back of bridge plate so that plate is level with body.
Nut clearance over the 1st fret should be 0.016 to 0.018" (0.4 to 0.46mm). ** see my note below **

Tune to tension.

Adjust vibrato springs so spacer is just held in place.
Relief at 8th fret (hold down 1st and last frets and use feeler gauge): 0.010 to 0.012" (0.25 to 0.3mm).
Adjust 6th string bridge saddle to 1/8" (0.125" or 3.18mm) clearance from bridge plate.
6th string clearance over 22nd fret should be 0.93" (2.36mm). If not, neck may have to be shimmed.
Adjust 1st string bridge saddle to give 0.62" (1.57mm) clearance over last fret.

Intonate Saddles. ** see my note below **

Unscrew vibrato springs until spacer slips out.

Pickup Clearance

(Fret the strings at the last fret and adjust pickup clearance from the top of the polepieces to the underside of the respective strings)

1st: 0.31" (7.9mm)
6th: 0.62" (1.57mm)

Fender recommended setup specs are:

Relief at 8th fret (depressed at 1st and last frets): 0.01" (0.25mm) on fretboard radius of 9.5 to 12".
Action at 17th fret: 5/64" to 4/64"(2 to 1.6 mm) on bass and 4/64"(1.6 mm) on treble for radius of 9.5 to 12".
Pickup height when depressed at the last fret: 5/64" (2 mm) on bass and 4/64" (1.6 mm) on treble.

My personal observations on the above are:

A Fender / Squier dual fulcrum trem bridge is practically the same as the G&L one, so the video posted by Voxman is applicable to both and is an excellent presentation of adjusting the bridge.
I tend to measure action in 64ths of an inch with an imperial 6" steel rule or setup guage with these graduations, or in mm with a setup gauge accurate to the nearest 0.25mm, rather than using feeler gauges marked as "decimal inches". If you need to convert fractional inches to decimal inches or to mm there are conversion charts available online in loads of places. Use what you are most comfortable with.
I don't measure nut clearance over the 1st fret with the strings open, because this is dependent on the saddle heights. I hold the string down at the 3rd fret and tap it down onto the first fret gauging how far it moves by eye and feel. I don't mess with the depth of the nut slots on a new guitar until after I have done a full setup. Getting the neck relief into an average bow as a starting point is always my first task, then the bridge plate height, then the action, then the intonation, then assess nut slot depths.
After intonating the saddles you will sometimes have to make very minor adjustments to the action for the string(s) for which you moved the saddle(s).

On my G&L Legacy Tribute I have the bottom of the bridge plate parallel to the body and around 4mm off the body rather than the 3/16" (more or less 5mm) given in the "official" G&L setup "manual". I only do wavering waggles and no extreme dives or up-pulls, and that gives me a good action without the saddles being decked or jacked up much.

Are you conversant with using the truss rod to adjust the neck relief of a guitar?

I don't often actually measure the action on my new electric guitars to set them up. I set the neck relief to an average forward bow (more or less given above for G&L and Fender) then I lower the saddles until the treble strings buzz or choke out on the frets when bending the strings, particularly those above 12th fret. I gradually raise the saddles for the top 4 strings until the choking out on bends up around the 15th fret ceases, and then I set the saddle heights to roughly approximate the radius of the fretboard (6th string saddle usually marginally higher than thehigh E saddle). That's usually enough for good playability for me.

BillDL · October 2023

The following video gives a good idea about doing the other aspects of a setup on a Strat styled guitar. He is an "aquired taste" because he sounds grumpy and talks a lot, but it shows you in quite good detail the various steps:

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Help me please! Non-locking, floating trem set-up/tuning etc.

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