Epiphone Hummingbird acoustic set up

[@SionynJones]

Such a beautiful guitar and setup Sam. Very interesting. It's nice to see the new management at Gibson giving epiphone the respect it deserves.

[@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

Couldn't fault it in terms of fit and finish... but as the thumbnail says, I don't like the feeling of using up all the 'adjustment scope' at the first set up...

[@michaelvest6861]

What a great video. I'm searching currently for measurements for a Epiphone hummingbird pro studio ec limited model. Wine red im trying to change to a bone saddle and also fix my action. It's so hard to find anything close to this as far as information. This video has helped even though my model differs from this. Thanks for your content

[@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

The most common ‘problem’ I encounter on most acoustic guitars is when the playing action gets too high to be comfortable. This, in my experience, is almost always the result of the slow but steady deformation of the guitar’s ‘box’ structure in response to string loading forces. So when the playing action has risen, on MOST acoustic guitars all you can do is one of two things: either you lower that action by reducing the height of the saddle OR you have the neck removed and have the geometry of the faces of the heel re-worked to reposition the neck. The first option is ‘easy’ but offers limited scope for action reduction and is less than ideal because it by definition reduces the break angle of the strings over the saddle. Often you run out of break angle before you run out of saddle material. The second option is expensive and complicated. So my advice is to learn to assess quickly what is possible on any guitar. If there’s scope for improvement via a combination of getting the 1st fret action right and reducing the saddle then dive in and do it; but if you can’t make an improvement that way then you need to know when a ‘neck reset’ is the only option left to you so you can either commit to spending the £300-600 required to do it OR walk away from that guitar and focus your efforts perhaps on finding another guitar in better basic condition. Ultimately the most important skill is to know what’s possible and to realistically assess any guitar you’re interested in before you part with any money (new or 2nd hand).

[@LegsON]

7:50 I completely disagree. This action totally depends on saddle height AND relief. I recommend capoing between 2nd and 3rd metal frets, and adjust nut height so that the resulting 1st fret action is 0.05mm.

[@PaulFisher-uj9vb]

How you measure is your business but good playability comes with a first fret action around what Sam suggests. With care you can get the first fret action down to 0.2mm but if you over shoot it you then have to shim, also if you’re setting up for a customer you don’t want nut wear to play a part after some usage. With the relief most of us look at a bit more than none, probably around 0.15-0.2mm.

[@LegsON]

@@PaulFisher-uj9vb No, relief adjustment comes first because it's not affected by saddle/nut.

[@PaulFisher-uj9vb]

@@LegsONI am enlightened.

[@LegsON]

@@PaulFisher-uj9vb Glad you're on the right track now!

[@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

I don't quite know what you're disagreeing with. At 7:50 I'm talking about having a 1st fret action of (in this case) 0.2mm... I always set the relief first as it happens, then the saddle and finally check and adjust the 1st fret action via the nut. If flattening the neck & lowering the saddle results in a 'too-low' 1st fret action then that's New Nut time.

[@LegsON]

That's why I'm so anal to guitar sellers that they measure nut action, 12th fret action, relief and string-over-top action for me before I buy a guitar!

[@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

Absolutely - I try to get that point over to anyone I know is looking to buy a new or 2nd hand acoustic. If you can't get your hands on it, then ask for pictures that will allow you to assess every one of those aspects. If the seller can't or won't, walk away.

[@LegsON]

BTW, Epiphone seems to overset ALL of their necks now. At the same time, many guitars have bridge pin holes STUPIDLY far away from a saddle. They should at the very least ramp bridges from factory. Interestingly, their top notch new acoustics do have bridge ramps.

[@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

Yes... bringing the treble strings back in parallel to the saddle AND stepping down the pins below the saddle level are great ideas to 'build-in' more adjustability. But then, doing that is a tacit admission that their guitars are destined to change shape... to deform. Nobody seems to want to admit that reality.

[@TheHutchMusic]

I think over 40 years I have owned about 15+ acoustics from chesp to expensive and 2nd hand.... only one 2nd hand Takemine guitar had the action I wanted. Alas that was stolen! I have an Epiphone jumbo (jc200 i think) thats sounds really nice but the action csn be a killer. Over the years I have compromised on string gauge, DIYd the action, used a capo on the 1st or 2nd fret... even down tuned and capo'd to relieve the pressure of playing too high an action. So annoying that most guitars off the shelf are not set up very well. And shops rarely offer a setup service. Those guitars can be sat on the wall racks for a long time. As above says.... beginners give up or get sold a dud. I just don't understand why in the modern age more can't be done to alleviate this very common problem.

[@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars]

Sadly I think it's always just 'down to money'. It takes a human eye / hand to audition the action and adjust it to a more ideal height all round. I'm sure a machine could do it...but I doubt the machines still used in most guitar manufacturing can. Too many customers want the cheapest possible price... and that doesn't motivate guitar manufacturers to add another £100ish to the retail price to do the set up work that I did on this guitar.

[@PaulFisher-uj9vb]

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars I’m given to understand that Eastman do come factory set at a correct action but these are not cheap to buy so could well be a good choice for some. Sometimes,of course you get a bit lucky and a cheapie will come with potential for a good action,I’ve just bought in a Yamaha f310 that, after a quick truss rod twiddle the 12th fret action is 1.6 mm. Same with a cheapie Fender that’s now on sale in Tavistock market although it did need a quick saddle and nut swap.

[@brianogrady7900]

@@TheHutchMusic have one of these came with mad high action get it set up or if you can do it yourself lower the saddle and nut