Recent and prospective R8/R9 buyers - a few tips on setup

Twinfan

Just a quick tip for any recent or soon-to-be R8 and R9 blowout buyers.

My R8 came from Peach and the team there had clearly done a great pre-sale fettle on my guitar.  It played and sounded great out of the case, although I tweaked the action and neck relief to suit my own personal tastes.

My R9 came from GuitarGuitar and it was nowhere near as good out of the case.  I suspect it was sent to me straight as it came from Gibson.  However, I could tell it was a good 'un and after a quick tweak it's now on a par with my Peach R8.  Here's what you should check if the guitar isn't quite playing or sounding right to you:

1. Check the neck relief.  I use a capo and a 0.010" feeler gauge to set it accurately to my tastes, but for a quick check you can fret the low E string at the first and last frets and then look at the 8th/9th frets.  There should be a slight gap between the string and the frets.  If there isn't, loosen the truss rod a bit.  If there's a large gap tighten the truss rod a bit to straighten the neck.

2.  Check the action.  I measure it at on the open E strings at the 12th fret using a metal ruler and aim for the gap between the fret and the string to be between 1-2mm.  Adjust to taste and to avoid string rattle.

3.  Check the bridge saddles.  On my R9 the saddles were really badly cut, so bad that the top E string was vibrating against a burr and creating a sitar-like sound that stifled sustain.  Realising I didn't have the appropriate tools to fix the problem, I went on eBay and ordered this for £1.65 delivered:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gas-Welding-Nozzle-Cleaners/172839188403

I've tidied up all the saddles now using the various thicknesses of files and finished off the job with a bit of wet and dry sandpaper to remove any sharp edges.  The guitar now sounds great and I have a pair of superb instruments.

I hope that helps anyone who has a slight setup issue with one of these great guitars.

Fortheloveofguitar

Twinfan said:

Just a quick tip for any recent or soon-to-be R8 and R9 blowout buyers.

My R8 came from Peach and the team there had clearly done a great pre-sale fettle on my guitar.  It played and sounded great out of the case, although I tweaked the action and neck relief to suit my own personal tastes.

My R9 came from GuitarGuitar and it was nowhere near as good out of the case.  I suspect it was sent to me straight as it came from Gibson.  However, I could tell it was a good 'un and after a quick tweak it's now on a par with my Peach R8.  Here's what you should check if the guitar isn't quite playing or sounding right to you:

1. Check the neck relief.  I use a capo and a 0.010" feeler gauge to set it accurately to my tastes, but for a quick check you can fret the low E string at the first and last frets and then look at the 8th/9th frets.  There should be a slight gap between the string and the frets.  If there isn't, loosen the truss rod a bit.  If there's a large gap tighten the truss rod a bit to straighten the neck.

2.  Check the action.  I measure it at on the open E strings at the 12th fret using a metal ruler and aim for the gap between the fret and the string to be between 1-2mm.  Adjust to taste and to avoid string rattle.

3.  Check the bridge saddles.  On my R9 the saddles were really badly cut, so bad that the top E string was vibrating against a burr and creating a sitar-like sound that stifled sustain.  Realising I didn't have the appropriate tools to fix the problem, I went on eBay and ordered this for £1.65 delivered:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gas-Welding-Nozzle-Cleaners/172839188403

I've tidied up all the saddles now using the various thicknesses of files and finished off the job with a bit of wet and dry sandpaper to remove any sharp edges.  The guitar now sounds great and I have a pair of superb instruments.

I hope that helps anyone who has a slight setup issue with one of these great guitars.

Mine had the sitar type ring on the G string. I need to sort it out still 

John_A

Those nozzle cleaners are a bit OTT for cleaning up the saddles, a bit of wet and dry would be enough

Twinfan

True, but mine needed a touch of enlarging so the nozzle cleaners were spot on.

mli3

Thanks for this @Twinfan really useful.

crunchman

John_A said:

Those nozzle cleaners are a bit OTT for cleaning up the saddles, a bit of wet and dry would be enough

They are quite handy for nuts as well if you don't want to pay for proper nut files (which are silly money).  On one of these I might pay for someone good to do it, but I don't mind messing with nuts on cheaper guitars.

Twinfan

The nut was/is fine on my R9, it was only the saddles that were pretty poorly done.  Other guitars may vary of course!

grappagreen

You’re having to this on a £2.5 - £3.5k guitar? (and this was cheap in comparison to RRP)  

Jeez..

fastonebaz

Great tips thanks. 

Although my main observation is..... you bought both an R8 and R9?  That's a good 5 or 6k splashed out right there.  Will they ever leave the confines of your house?!

Twinfan

It's just the usual Gibson QC stuff - they aren't PRS.

grappagreen

Twinfan said:

It's just the usual Gibson QC stuff - they aren't PRS.

I wonder what else gets through QC that can’t be so easily seen?

Twinfan

fastonebaz said:

Although my main observation is..... you bought both an R8 and R9?  That's a good 5 or 6k splashed out right there.  Will they ever leave the confines of your house?

Without wishing to sound crass, I currently gig a PRS that cost a lot more than both those guitars put together.  Don't assume what other people will or won't do with their guitars 

sweepy

PRS aren’t that good out of the box either, they have a very “vanilla” setup 

Twinfan

sweepy said:

PRS aren’t that good out of the box either, they have a very “vanilla” setup 

True, but they don't have crappily cut nuts and bridges, colour bleed into bindings etc.

sweepy

Of all the PRS Guitars I’ve owned, which is at least over a dozen now,  I’ve had to recut the nut on every one of them as they are always left a bit high to take into account players that spank them harder than I do 

crunchman

sweepy said:

Of all the PRS Guitars I’ve owned, which is at least over a dozen now,  I’ve had to recut the nut on every one of them as they are always left a bit high to take into account players that spank them harder than I do 

I've had 5 new PRS guitars over the years (US and SE) and I've never had one with a nut cut so horribly you couldn't tune it.  I've had it on a new Gibson.  I've also had other problems on Gibsons.  Not that my new R9 is like that - the set up is pretty good.

johnl

An incorrectly cut nut is definitely something I'd be annoyed by but a quick tweak of the truss rod and lowering of the action (if desired) are things I would assume normal no matter what the cost of the guitar. Would be a bit like buying a Ferrari and then getting annoyed because you had to adjust the seat....

terada

grappagreen said:

You’re having to this on a £2.5 - £3.5k guitar? (and this was cheap in comparison to RRP)  

Jeez..

A lot of this is because the guitars sold so quickly. Peach obviously did better with their pre-sale prep, but he guitars were a complete bargain, and adjusting the action/relief etc is hardly an arduous task.

terada

Also, to be fair, all my decent guitars go to Feline for a proper set up anyhow, which leaves them playing better than an average store tech could achieve (IMO).

BTW. Nice thread @Twinfan, I'm sure many will find this info very useful

prlgmnr

At first glance I was a touch startled to see "gas welding nozzle" among the required equipment

gringopig

.