5 Cheap Tips To Improve Your Guitar

Here are 5 inexpensive tips to help you improve your guitar!
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[@reallyreallyryan]

Awesome. Guitar Tech here: ADVICE POST Best tip there is? When buying tech gear, you can usually pickup a non 'luthier-specialised' tool that will do the job from Home Depot/ B&Q/Selco for less than a fifth of the price. Luthier didn't create carpentry tools, or steel rules! Buy them from carpentry retailers! Buy micro-mesh pads instead of steel wool/sandpaper for fingerboard/fretwire maintenance. Use less Lem-oil than you think you need. Want strings to last? Try coated. Clean down the strings on all sides after each session. Tentatively use a cloth with WD40 to slick them up for cheap. Stretch them more than you can emotionally take when you first restring. Every time you restring, clean the finger gunk from the fingerboard and crevices of the fretwire! Improve playability? Polish the fretwires! Feels almost as drastic as new strings when done right. Clunky machineheads? Take them apart, spray/dab with WD40! Rusty hardware/screws? Soak in a tub of apple vinegar overnight, carefully scrub with an old toothbrush. Sound sucks? Experiment with pickup height first! Then capacitors. Then new pups! Mike placement is everything, and that's what they are! Noisy electronics? Compressed air to clean dust. Electrician's tape to cover over exposed wires. Purchase copper shielding tape to insulate all of the electronics cavities! Grounding issue? Try clean solder. Suck at soldering? Buy solderless. Truss rod stuck? Dab WD40 in with a q-tip/cotton bud, leave soak, repeat if necessary. Polishing? Buy a microfiber pad for car polishing from Asda/Walmart for a buck/quid. Over and out.

[@davidforsythe7248]

Ryan Simmons best comment ever thank you!

[@steamer2k319]

FWIW, Wd-40 is a solvent more than a lubricant. Might still be good for cleaning but for tuners, try "3 in 1" oil or other actual lubricant.

[@DarxusC]

steamer2k I wouldn't expect 3 in 1 to penetrate very far. I'd try aerokroil (best) / PB blaster / liquid wrench (penetrating oils, actually made exactly for getting stuff like this unstuck).

[@andthebeatgoeson69]

Great post

[@agasthyakumar958]

Thanks so much

[@lokboxx]

Hey fluff, wanna feel old? You've been playing guitar for longer than I've been alive, and I'm 20.

[@lokboxx]

I'm watching in my room, what now?

[@vhcxhbvg]

rawr xD

[@Musicman-q2x]

I've only been playing for 6 years. I can't wait until I've been playing for 20+ years. It's gonna be great.

[@dannyh7557]

The ladies love my nut sauce

[@ronniebrown5769]

Brett Tickell wowee don't see many of these anymore

[@bakerXderek]

in-tone-ate

[@tiEinaiToTaraki]

CHEEEEEEEEEEEEAHHH

[@sam_james_18]

bakerXderek me gusta

[@spacecowboycade]

bakerXderek ayylmao

[@SlimSluggish]

bakerXderek didn't expect to see you here today

[@chasefrench6963]

CHEAHHHhhhhhHHHAEHC

[@jamescooper8906]

Very surprised that straplocks aren't on here. More of a performance piece but still an incredible bit of kit to prevent damage

[@PhilDuggs]

James Cooper They aren't really an improvement in terms of tone, tuning stability, or playability. They are great for stage performances especially if you like to jump around but aren't and improvement to the guitar "where it counts".

[@jamescooper8906]

Phil Duggan Yeah, whilst they have zero effect on playability etc I believe they are one of the greatest ways to "improve" your guitar as it prevents damage and embarrassing moments onstage

[@charlescampbell5894]

99% of guitars come with strap locks dude

[@jamescooper8906]

FunkyDrummer A lot of modern, bigger brand guitars do yeah. So many people, including myself play budget guitars that just don't include them, they're included because of how useful they are so I feel like they're a great improvement for a great deal of guitars thst don't have them

[@blakerichey]

FunkyDrummer I've never bought a guitar that had them stock. Not a single one.

[@jerryx2000]

I found the nut sauce in my fathers guitar cabinet. I used it for other purposes. Thanks for showing me its real use now.

[@johnmcclinton9124]

Cool stuff

[@groznyentertainment]

lol

[@danielwysong3703]

God I hope username checks out

[@jodyoverdoser]

I have a few tips of my own 1. Adjust string height on the bridge 2. Use a hard shell case as guitar work station 3. If your nut slots are too narrow for bigger strings make them wider with a finger nail file 4. Use car wax to get rid of surface scratches 5. Use head phones on your amp instead of playing electric unplugged if you don't wanna wake the neighbors 6. Use second hand carpet for acoustic panels if you can't afford them 7. Learn to wire an electric guitar and buy a soldering gun 8. Buy an audio recorder to remember riffs or songs you've created 9. Realize one of the biggest differences between cheap and expensive guitars is how well/long they stay in tune 10. Lastly buy a Stratocaster if it's your first or second guitar and customize it yourself

[@robertperez9808]

Polishing frets, and cleaning the fretboard is MAJOR, I've been using the same guitar cleaning kit that you use ever since I started playing, and it's only about 20 bucks, not much money to make a hell of a difference, as for the fret polishing, I use planet waves fret polishing system which is just a little polishing cloth like thing which is like 6 bucks, also buying a good set of saddles for guitars that have individual ones like Strats, Teles, ect. generally they're about 50ish bucks for a set

[@morganthem]

+1 new saddles, i went modern proprietary lubricant infused type made a mad difference in warmth, playability, and the ability to intonate.

[@gyorikristof8729]

For fret and fretboard cleaning I use 2 wipes (1 wet and 1 dry) and it seems to do its job. I wonder what plus a cleaning kit provides over my method.

[@kbkman7742]

robert perez same. i always polish the frets. every new guitar gets an oiled board and pished frets, i use a rubber fret polisher these days it works a bit like an eraser with abrasive embedded, cleaner than steel wool or sand paper

[@kbkman7742]

as far as strats go, before you replace pickups replace the whole bridge assembly and trem block.

[@oneeyemonster3262]

WTf is wrong with you??? Just practice playing your god damn guitar. Strings will polish the living shit out of the frets...if you play your guitar..FFS

[@bradreligion1]

Check your pickup height! If you're not getting the tone you want, it can make a big difference. You may not even have to shell out the bucks for a new set.

[@Mikeyprs21]

That's a good one! @Ryan Bruce

[@tylerboyd-fernando6938]

you can use a screwdriver on most pickups to raise or lower them, just be careful and try not to slip

[@texasdeeslinglead2401]

Chris Castle I just learned how bad a decent guitar can sound with bridge pickup dropped way to low and intonation way out 😄

[@zachary4670]

I remember changing the pup height on one of my guitars. My buddy couldn’t figure out why I sounded so much better.

[@sirspongadoodle]

Has nothing to do with tone you knobhead, it’s just output level… also pickups themselves don’t effect tone…

[@stoneyvision108]

An idea yes... CHANGE YOUR STRINGS MORE THAN ONCE A YEAR

[@chinnarciso]

I change my strings every month or every after two weeks depending on gigs. Man, old strings sound bad :/

[@Musicman-q2x]

stoneyvision Old strings freak me out because they feel like they could cut my finger. But brand new strings are always smooth as butter.

[@hannesandersson6541]

stoneyvision This will most likely make you cringe a lot but I've used the same strings on my electric for 5 years hahaha

[@Musicman-q2x]

Hannes Andersson bruh they're like 10-12 bucks at most for a new pack

[@ShouldBePracticing]

MrComputercracker Not even. You can get Ernie Ball strings for 5 bucks

[@markdancer3501]

Hey Fluff, when you're buying pencils for lubing nuts, you want the softest lead you can find (preferably a 9B) as they are almost pure graphite. Harder pencils have non-lubricating additives. It's likely you will have to buy from an art supplier to get the really soft leads.

[@swissarmyknight4306]

Great list. I would add two things: 1. Learn to do your own setup (truss rod, intonation, pickup height, etc). Learning to do my own setup was the best idea ever. Once I got the pickup heights on my Epi Les Paul adjusted where I wanted them, got my intonation as close to perfect as it could get, and got my action just exactly where I wanted it, that guitar sounded and played better than I ever thought it could and it was all free. 2. Wash and dry your hands before you play or handle the guitar (got that from Tom Morello). It will keep your strings and neck clean. Also, don't neglect to change those crudded-up strings on the regular, because dirty strings murder your tone.

[@Straightedge63]

more tips please!! love these but i already knew a few. so please keep going with tips to improve guitars!

[@brendanjones4362]

In terms of pickups, the stock Fender Blacktop humbuckers are beautiful pickups and you can get them cheap on reverb often pre-wired in a a pickguard.

[@godofdeadlydeath]

I replaced the Blacktop pickups in my Blacktop HH Telecaster, and I put them in an Epiphone Gothic Les Paul and the Les Paul sounds sooo much better now.

[@EastKoastGhost]

I Picked up a DiMarzio Tone Zone and a DiMarzio Steve's Special for $40 each on Ebay. They are in perfect shape. There are a lot of great deals to be had. Good advice Fluff.

[@metalliholic]

Into The Void - The EKG Files tone zone kicks ass!!!

[@thurmanwebber8199]

I loved the tips. The graphite pencil trick was one that I had heard of. Many videos seem to focus on tunning heads and pickups but I like it that you threw in some small tips and tricks.

[@brianzweizig1073]

Did the graphite hack on my first string change. Original strings at 14 months, 3-6 × week. I studied, prepped, broke it into steps & it went well. Thanks again.

[@BratislavMetulski]

Got a 300$ jackson warrior. Put in: SD Black Winter Pick Ups Graph Tech nut Schaller locking Tuners Schaller roller bridge All together guitar worth is 800$ but man.... beast

[@cabbycabby1770]

A lot of folks attribute an improperly cut nut(like you hit on) to tuners being shitty. If you're spending $500 bucks on a guitar your tuners are probably just fine. Get that nut set up and filed properly.

[@jasfiona]

Hi there. I would definitely agree with your choices and they would certainly make a difference. I have some provisos though:- You're right to put the nut at number one, but it's also number one at being the hardest job to get right. I understand that you indicated that the guitar would ideally do this as part of a set-up, but you suggested buying tools, which usually you won't get much use out of. Then you gave no guidance or caution. You did make a warning with the scotchbrite pad, and that was appreciated, but going just a little deep into the nut could cause catastrophic problems. You also could have mentioned trying to carefully remove the existing nut and shave the bottom, arguably easier, or indeed buy a replacement nut to experiment with, and you'll still keep the stock one should things go pear-shaped. Also, I'm grateful you've included 2 other very inexpensive options, such as the scotchbrite and the graphite on the nut. However, if you include the tuners, the set-up and the pick-up, that circa $200 - $300 upgrade would put total price of guitar purchase into a different bracket. The $500-$600 guitar would almost certainly induce better pick-ups and machine heads, together with other component hardware, like superior bridge, wood material, finish and you could probably get the setup thrown in. One thing you failed to mention was the pots. These make a huge difference. Typically cheap guitars have cheap pots, but proper professional ones are only around $15-$25. You'll maybe get somewhere in between in a better guitar in the first place. Better still, buy a more expensive one used. Usually, if cared for, guitars get better with age

[@makainwiginton5967]

Thank you so much Fluff! Probably the most useful and to the point video ive seen on this topic.

[@Noshimonoriku]

Roller bridge instead of stock TOM. all my guitars have roller bridges whether they have a Bigsby or not. Tuning stability +10

[@Noshimonoriku]

-T-X-M- Yes, because the saddle is not only round, but they roll. There's no snagging on the winding or hard bends.

[@xxXthekevXxx]

I heard that that totally changed your tone though

[@jonjp3141]

total nonsense,rollers do nothing!

[@yaniamamoto8419]

Shielding. I did in my guitar and now it sounds Perfect. And it's cheap. The coper tipe That I Used is 3 dollars a meter.

[@anthonyhunsche4233]

Just wanted to say thanks, Fluff; I installed locking Hipshot tuners on my Les Paul and they are AWESOME! Huge improvement over the Klusons and Sperzels that I had tried previously in that guitar.

[@rts4133]

I love my Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge of my Fender Fat Strat. And Grover Tuners. I've literally been in playing the same guitar since 1993 when I was 15 years old . The JB was my first replacement pickup, and it sounded so good I kept it.

[@PB-ok1nm]

Something that I've noticed with low end guitars is sharp frets poking out of the neck (guessing this has something to do with humidity and lack of attention to detail). I fixed this with simple sanding, not sure if it's a large enough problem to be put on a video though ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@RemmyRiffs]

That's from the production line skipping the filing process. Ibanez doesn't even do it unless you buy Prestige guitars that get their "Prestige fret edge treatment".

[@stevenverner6546]

Connor PB sometimes it can be a difference in humidity

[@MrDoomdredd]

Nice ETID shirt mate

[@christopherwillcock-irving8538]

I've been playing for about two/three years now and this is the first video of the same title to actually give any constructive help. Thank you :-)

[@kingmafw]

Some great tips Fluff. I dig it and you should make another one.

[@carlosbell1132]

Hey Fluff in my opinion this was the best video of you in a while, really appreciate the tips. I knew most of them except buying pickups used is SO cheap. Got a Dimarzio D-Activator for 50 € shipping included. This is hilarious. I have an idea for a video: Buy a cheap used guitar you see good substance for tuning and make a go through with those (and maybe aditional?) steps to show us how easy or hard which process is. Specially changing electronics (potentiometers and pup-switch) is something a lot of other youtubers already did but they explain rather complicated in my opinion. I somehow understand what to do but i don't feel like those videos made me secure enough to try it out myself (had such stuff done by a friend who worked at a guitar shop for some time) but i really want to learn to do it and i enjoy your forward and simple instructions here. Greetings \m/

[@wyzee6262]

For acoustics Change to bone bridge saddle (for desired action and intonation), string (Elixir personally recommend).

[@johncenakiwi]

The Scotch Brite Tip has worked like a charm! Thanks Fluff

[@al21joscha8]

Sanding down the finish on your guitar neck is a really good tip! I sanded down all of my guitar necks and never regret it. It's a standard mod for me. I sanded down all of the finish because I like the feel of bare wood but you don't have to do that. Just scuffing up the finish on the neck as Fluff did works just fine.

[@stangielen5404]

Never clicked so fast

[@maurobroer2169]

StanDeMan Nederlands?

[@stangielen5404]

Jazekers :D

[@gentlegiant6585]

Same.

[@Mizai]

@@gentlegiant6585 0

[@fruitlomps4360]

I guess you could call these cheap tricks

[@pedrobaleon9492]

Eric Nickerson underrated comment

[@darrellmiddleton6615]

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap

[@lewisbulled6764]

It's cheap in comparison to buying a new guitar!

[@klinkov6393]

Lewis Bulled r/wooosh

[@svst208]

Bobby Fetus fuck you

[@tomrobertson9901]

Really quite helpful! quite a few things in there that are usually overlooked in terms of making your guitar easier to use.

[@brianzweizig1073]

The scotch-brite first, Locktite glue for strap screw 2nd...thanks for all of your informative videos.

[@joeysimoneau]

Oil your fretboard.

[@johnmcclinton9124]

Joel Simoneau oil your fretboard? Is that like greasing your muffler bearings or checking your blinker fluid?

[@MachSea]

Don't listen to him.

[@adgplays_]

John McClinton I think its like changing out the halogen out of the headlights.

[@LateNightYinzer]

@Buddy Love I agree. My tech told me he only does it twice a year at the most, and surprisingly, lemon oil is not the best because (lemons/lemon oil) is somewhat acidic and I guess not the best for laminations or inlays that are glued in place. He's been using something called Watco (can get it from Home Depot) for the past 2 decades or so now and recommends that.

[@Invert_Scrub]

I've always wanted a "nut-file." I just didn't know until today.

[@HenriSinAngel]

Good stuff, Fluff. I would add that checking the fretboard for relief, and fret height, are equally important. I've had customers who took 2 guitars to 5 different shops in the area, before coming to me, and all of those shops missed that one guitar had 13/22 frets high as a kite, which made the player think they just needed to pump up the action, to get rid of the fret buzz. An easy way to check is to take a straight edge across the whole fretboard to check which frets you can see light over (making the other frets too high), or you can invest a couple dollars in a Fret Rocker to check each fret individually. Even if you don't feel comfortable fixing uneven frets yourself, just knowing if it's a problem can be a big time saver, if you take it in to your local luthier.

[@Yuridrial]

Awesome! Stoked to see part 2! Favorite tip - lubing dat nut

[@ianodunaigh6748]

"Big Ben's Nut Sauce" for fucks sake 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@johnmcclinton9124]

Ian Downey i need some nut sauce. Girlfriend says they taste too salty

[@stripesandwheels]

I love big bens nut sauce!! Oh... we're talking about a different thing?? Nevermind ignore that. Ill let myself out.

[@jason_1314]

what the fuck

[@vaughanbuys7784]

Grow up

[@nehemiahzo_]

vaughan buys learn to take a joke

[@federicokastro]

hey fluff great video, I find it very useful, definitely would love to see more of these cool improvement tips, by the way I wanted to know, how do you know at what point should your nut action be?

[@wishnewsky]

my2cents: A Piece of Cloth around and in-between strings, in two places: a) between the nut and tuners, and b) after the bridge -- to reduce noise from the unused parts of strings. It really helps

[@guitarjamie]

Tip 1: 0:36 Tip 2: 2:06 Tip 3: 3:24 Tip 4: 4:53 Tip 5: 6:38

[@BiasedOpinionTube]

#6: Absolutely practise, too.

[@lorez6063]

This is great man. Super useful. Thanks

[@korasie]

Thanks Fluff! Also foam off the Tremolo springs, if you have that "bell-like" chyme sounds ringing out on certain notes.

[@kalfreezy0785]

What about gotoh

[@bernieorbust6104]

that shit aint cheap

[@VOYAGEUR-YT]

Kalfreezy 0 Ya gotoh tuners are great

[@daleonov]

Gotoh are good too

[@michaeldarolfi2110]

Got them on all my guitars, cant do without them!

[@mcspankey4810]

Innate Ant legit thought there was an ant on my screen

[@moof99]

#4 or #5? haha more seriously - you accidentally (or not) called #5 - pickup replacement , #4 in writing too. :P

[@moof99]

i'm sure it does, it just caught my attention. thought you might want to be aware of it :)

[@xxxpromotexxx3829]

motty vaknin glad I wasn't the only one to notice 😂

[@MajorDook1]

Great video Fluff!!

[@zachr21897]

if you got a fender style guitar, or any guitar with string trees on the head, I found swapping them out for the roller style helps a lot with tuning

[@pradeeptrai7378]

How to maintain Ibanez gio trem system

[@ARR0WMANC3R]

Get a better guitar

[@VOYAGEUR-YT]

ARR0WMANC3R Lol. But seriously I don't know what kind of trem they put on those. probably not anything good. Maybe get a new one that's better like a gotoh

[@diazzsama]

change your stock springs with the genuine original floyd rose springs and get quality tremolo claw (metal plate connecting the springs and the screw). Or just block them of completely. Tuning stability should be better.

[@the8-bitnerd712]

Pradeept Rai don't listen to the guy shit talking ur gio, even tho I have 2 les pauls (a 700$ epiphone and a 2016 standard les paul) a mia strat, I still love my impulse bought Ibanez gio, it's an older one, very similar to an sg, but wider, sounds very good, although it doesn't a have a Floyd rose, but for the price Ibanez gio/Garts are the best guitars really for the money I actually sold my sg which paid for a new marshal amp, because the Ibanez had a better tone (better than my 2000 dollar guitar, even tho the gio was only 300), although the newer squier strats and teles aint bad either ( i also have a squier standard strat and tele)

[@valhalex1842]

Pradeept Rai I would say just block it off entirely, I have a Gio (it was my 1st guitar) and I ended up blocking off the trem and it helped with tuning stability tremendously

[@ak_zombie]

welder tip cleaners. cheap tool to file the nut

[@xcrow0]

ak_zombie Would use them to widen the nut maybe but not to cut one to depth. They a very inaccurate and can cause more problems than you think if you are not understanding what is happening when you adjust the nut.

[@johnmcclinton9124]

ak_zombie , you let my secret out. Now every body knows my welders tip cleaners/nut file secret. You snitch, lol

[@johnmcclinton9124]

Welders tip cleaning files are vey accurate, more than nut files. Cutting deep cuts msy take a long time, but cutting the nut to the right heighth in the first place means cutting deep slots is avoided. The rounded bottom of the slot is perfect using welders files. V shaped bottom, or flat bottom or non precise radius at the bottom causes nut wear, binding or pinching. Welders files are very precise with more increments to get the bottom radius closer to the string radius thsn even the most expensive nut files. Some luthier tool retailers do sell these as nut files. But the big name guys wont cause they're way less expensive which means way less profit. You dont cut down trees with welding tip files. You dont cut nut slots with a chainsaw. Nut files are somewhere in between those two. Lol

[@jdgentry]

Hi! I have a 2004 MiM Fender Stratocaster with stock pickups but set them properly far from the strings. The first thing that I got rid of was that crap metal 'thing' in it, I mean the trem block. I purchased a big block that's made of brass and put foam into the springs. Incredibly increased the overall quality and the body resonates as hell, the sustain is infinite. Then the nut has been changed to a real bone piece (and yeah graphite is cool!)I took a deep breath recently and did the whole fretjob (I am no luthier!). I bought Jescar jumbos made of stainless steel. They are hard to work with but worth it. I use .11 strings half step down. I sanded the fretboard a bit, took off the edges and the rosewood got some oil. It became really comfy. The neckpocket has also been cleaned out (shims, epoxy, remained paint and wooden pieces). And there is a trick to loosen and tighten the screws of the neckplate a bit while the strings are on (be careful!). I will change the tuners to Kluson Deluxes and I want a treble bleed circuit under the volume pot. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3qpk3RtnZxmpdk

[@tomscioscia9869]

Regarding the tuners, I always make sure that I snug up the screws on the tuner buttons since that draws the worm gear into the ring gear and tightens up the lash.

[@supratimdas5083]

5:40 "graphite pencil" are pencils made out of something else too?? 😐

[@supratimdas5083]

SuomiPerkele I seriously had no idea thanks mate ... 🙂

[@jakejones4164]

Charcoal pencils are a huge thing as well. And like he said various others but they're mostly used by artists.

[@supratimdas5083]

Jake Jones I get it .. thanks man.. 🙂

[@josephbrandenburg4373]

grease pencils are commonly used by carpenters.

[@migdonalds]

Ember the lead of a pencil is just the name for the bit that u write with. Lead is a toxic metal so it would be really bad to use

[@ericsanchez5638]

Not putting that file anywhere here my nuts...... 😁

[@Spedly]

**near

[@theGIGINIband]

the nut sauce/Pencil Trick is very helpful, also think about getting a bone nut cut for your guitar, and replacing the inexpensive aluminum bridge with a steel bridge

[@guitarist6494]

Quality video, thanks fluff

[@thedevilinthecircuit1414]

"String heighth."

[@demolitionwilliams7419]

THANK YOU. Everyone says it man it drives me crazy

[@xChrisS41x]

40$ for one file?! damn....

[@metalliholic]

xChrisS41x yea that's a joke lol

[@T-rey]

Edgar Patlan It's not though.

[@chanceperez5038]

Honestly I use a belt sander and bring it down bit by bit. Sounds crazy but yea super simple

[@luckyrocks1]

Good advice. Love the EB Armada on wall behind you.

[@T0XICMASCULINITY]

Awesome video and much appreciated. Awesome ETID shirt too btw. I've never seen that one.

[@wadecourtney8958]

How about something for us bass players

[@Norgz94]

Wade Courtney it's the same thing

[@seangriffey8669]

As a bass player the best thing to do is fucking practice and change your strings more than once every 3 years

[@wadecourtney8958]

Sean Griffey No shit!

[@daniels1293]

Get a guitar (I'm joking)

[@nastycarnage8118]

Practice and learn your material. Once you bass players start doing that then we'll give you a heavier load to work with. However one other thing, CHANGE YOUR DAMN STRINGS. That's all. Go back to chasing the laser pointer.

[@Skall9034]

secondly first

[@rikmcrae]

I cleaned the pots, swapped out the stock tone caps for orange drops and fitted a treble bleed to my Strat. Cost £8 and made a big improvement to the tone and flexibility of the guitar.

[@saschaschneider6355]

I've mixed Vaseline and graphite powder and use that on the nut and the bridge . Works great and a tiny batch lasts a long time. As for chaging pickups: I've gone off the beaten path and got a set of Iron Gear pickups and damn, those are great. Cheap and great. My set of Blues Engine/Dirty Torque was around €90 and it sounds amazing. Very flexible as well - especially with coil splitting available.

[@sexycheeseburgernameisfort8320]

All this tips add up to 500 or something, not cheap Just buy a better guitar

[@brianvillage9649]

SEXY CHEESEBURGER name is for the LOLs right instead of adjusting action and basic maintenance.... Buy a $500 piece of shit, rag on it, then buy a new one. I’ll bet everything you own loves you.

[@frnknst3inf268]

@@brianvillage9649 to be fair, buying a good guitar from the start is a much cheaper and better investment in the long run. But even good guitars still need regular cleaning and maintenance.

[@rickmyers2157]

I have been watching to find the best ways of maintenance and cleaning of my new guitar ..... I have seen several of video online about the changes that would be made to improve the sound and tone ..... The guitar I just purchase is the Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro II ..... In hearing and watching these videos .... I am learning that my choice was amazing ... You talk about Pickups .... This new guitar came with A Pro Bucker Vintage Humbucking pickups .... SPLIT... not taping ... also, slit Pro Alinco Classic Vintage Humbucking ( 2 dual pickups .... neck and bridge) ..... Next I keep hearing about UPGRADING my guitar to something like Grover ... this came stock with Grover Machine Head Tuners .... from what I am hearing .... I got a fantastic deal on my new guitar .... Some of the upgrades I already have ... without spending the extra 200 on parts ....... seems my Epiphone came stock ... and seems to be very much like the Gibson counterpart ..... I LOVE IT .... Desert Burst finish is beautiful ... thanks for the knowledge ...

[@FernandoRivera-dm7hh]

Hey great vid fluff! really freaking useful and greatly executed! keep it up!

[@Thomogon]

My guitar nut actually has a little bit of screwwiring on the low E and A string so they won't have a lot of play when restringing. This also allows for thicker strings to sit in the nut better.

[@dlapp14]

For filing nut slots without files, look up Welding Tip Cleaners. Its a set of mini files that will work good if you only have to file a little bit or only need to do one or two of your own guitars. They're like 5-10 bucks for a set, and there's like 15 sizes.

[@jacobwolff6350]

Cool shirt. Did not know you were an ETID fan. Thanks for the tips; definitely gonna try the scotch-brite thing.

[@SpartanLaserCanon]

The pencil trick is so good. It works more than some people could think. You don't even need that much pencil led.

[@MrMetalCreature]

The tuners on my Epiphone SG G-400 Pro are pretty damn good, they always stay in tune even if i'm not playing on it for weeks! Pickups aren't as good though so was thinking about upgrading to some Bareknuckle War Pigs!

[@timjenkins502]

I've been doing the graphite at the nut for years as well! and a few decent cheap brands of hardware are Wilkinson. they have solid tuners for around 30 dollars and the pickups they have are solid as well. I've also heard good things about drangonfire pickups too. they are also around 25-30 dollars.

[@lukefairfield1417]

I like the tips you have to offer for fellow guitar players such as myself

[@chickerino1869]

This was great! I thought you'd just say whatever Glenn said in his guitar tone tips on SMG, but this is all new! Thanks man.

[@marcoalexanderwinthermikke9132]

Yep! You can give the Green Light for Part 2, Fluff! Great video on important subject 😊

[@tomholton235]

If you are replacing the pickups make sure you get the right string spacing so that the pole pieces line up with the strings otherwise you can end up with really low output on one of your E strings.

[@razurip]

I needed a good laugh!! I found this very helpful. i need to gwt to work on my guitar now. Thank you! Please do a part two.

[@Trivette_williams]

I've been a subscriber to fluff for a long time but i never really watched his vids. He knows how to catch my attention. I love watching this guy lol

[@LyonLevi]

If you have an S type guitar or something with a vintage style tremolo definitely check out the Carl Verheyen (sorry if I mispelled it) method to adjust the screws in the back at an angle, totally works no matter how expensive or cheap your guitar is.

[@marcelmiagi4579]

Quality content and video production. I'm subscribing.

[@Buoyant_Thoughts]

Thanks for the video!

[@pilotamurorei]

Just an addendum to the locking tuner tip: For anyone using Ibanez Guitars, the direct drop replacement for any of their tuners are Gotoh Magnum locks. ESP models typically have the Gotoh Magnums standard on anything E-II and up, but I'm not sure about LTD. With the Gotohs, you dont have to worry about opening new holes in the back of the headstock on any Ibanez guitar. Just thought I'd point that out so people with Ibanezes won't have to worry about that sort of thing.

[@watermelonhelmet6854]

Just taking a guitar to a local guitar tech for a setup can make a world of difference. I bought a cheap £250 Epiphone Acoustic as a 'beater' (Something I could travel with without having to worry too much about it getting lost, stolen or damaged)...and as you can probably guess, it wasn't great. I took it to my luthier who swapped out the plastic nut and saddle for bone, levelled, crowned and polished the frets along with the 'standard' set up stuff like setting the action height and intonation...and it did wonders for the tone and playability. Cost me less than £70GBP and now my £250 Epiphone plays like my £700 Martin

[@SOGothikka]

great tips fluff. I've been using graphite for about 17 years now on my basses and I see no reason to stop now.

[@andrewkiggans2886]

lowering the strings was probably the best thing I've ever done to my guitar.thanks man👍👌

[@Quiet_Viking]

I'll definitely be trying that scotch brite trick. I just got a Epiphone Les Paul Custom Pro and the sticky neck is the only thing I dislike about it.

[@ryanbarker3978]

Other ideas: Fretboard maintenance (cleaning your fretboard/checking your fret ends), upgrading your bridge/bridge saddles (especially for aftermarket tune-o-matics), adjusting your truss rod at least once every change in season, upgrading input jacks/potentiometers/switches, cleaning your electronics with DeoxIt, fixing bad shielding/grounding, adding locking tuners, and just learning how to set up your instrument properly in general. Most of these are not things you need to do on anything other than a budget instrument, but the last one will serve you well no matter if your guitar costs $200 or $2000. EDIT: Also adding straplocks and the toothpick trick for fixing loose strap buttons.

[@johnmcclinton9124]

I bought a Dimarzio clone split coil for $40 new. Same wire guage, and impedance. Sounded great to me.

[@raymondlacasse2407]

i use the Scotch brite trick myself, and for pickups, I was gonna buy some used EMGs, but i actually got some DragonFire pickups(X2N Power rails) the set was only 40$ from the manufacturer but I like them much much more than the pickups that came with my Ibanez

[@johnsonhondatech]

I dont usually leave comments on videos but I just wanted to say thanks to Fluff. I have been battling colon cancer and decided to pull my dusty guitar case out from under my bed and pull the old axe back out and start playing again. Started watching KZbin vids on getting her back in good playing shape. It's a Schecter Damien Solo Elite like in this video (maybe the reason I felt compelled to comment on the video, lol) Picked up a cheap 12 watt Orange Crush and a used Line6 POD 2.0. I'm broke and not working so it's all I could afford. So I stumble across Ryan's channel and I just think it's great. Being 38 years old, I just love the remember the 90s vids. I also happen to agree on his stance on Line6 being the trend setters that pushed the envelope and gave most of us our first chance to use amp and cab sim modeling. Along with dozens of effects that would cost thousands to acquire individually in pedal form. I just wanted to say thanks for the enjoyable and informative videos and for making a tough time for me a little bit easier. Btw, sick shirt but I like the guitar better. ;)

[@katyanestroveich9160]

I can listen to you talk about this stuff all day. New subscriber thnx for the knowledge.

[@julien1907]

You can also put some oil (like the one used for cooking) on the nut with a Qtip even after the strings have been set up

[@der_Schreiner]

Julius C you can. but it's still bad advice. cooking oil can get bad with time, can gunk up and aquires dust and lint with time. Graphite doesn't do all this. that's the reason it's also used to lube locks. a pencil is also so cheap, using anything else doesn't really make sense

[@michael_caz_nyc]

Satin neck's only for me. I'm done Sticking to the neck, with all that Shiny, Uncomfortable Wood. Locking tuners on my Suhr (never going back). Nut sauce on the bridge saddles, also helps. Great tips.

[@seangriffey8669]

I think making a second one of these would be good. talk about stuff like pickup height, deadening the strings behind the nut and bridge, the type of pick you use, properly muting strings you don't want playing, and so on

[@anotherPhilosoraptor]

Great video Fluff! Love these tips! So ever since I bought my Ibanez AF75TDG, I've always been a bit frustrated with how bad the tuning stability is on it. To be fair, it has a Bigsby-style tremolo, but still: surely it's a bit much for a string to go almost a quarter tone out after a couple bends and/or a few trem uses. I'll definitely be doing the graphite pencil trick the next time I restring, but I was wondering if Hipshot tuners would still work to help improve my guitar's tuning stability, even with Bigsby-style trem? Also potentially looking for new pickups. Any recommendations for a neck humbucker that can do cleans and light overdrive or a bridge humbucker that can do light overdrive and beyond? I almost always use standard tuning, btw.