Optimising Playability
“The best time to begin thinking about the setup is before your guitar has even been built.”
Once there was a time when nearly all electric guitars could be set up in the same way. This was in the days before there was much variety in string gauges, before detuning became mainstream, before players like Tosin Abasi emerged demanding crisp, characterful clean tones at the same time as dirty, phat, distorted ones.
Times Have Changed
Nowadays we want both choice and performance – at the same time, which places much more pressure on the guitar (and maker) to get it exactly right. And we can only get it exactly right in the end by creating the right vision at the start.
The Right Guitar For The Individual: You
Add into the mix a third ingredient: physiology, the core driver behind the functional reason for the existence of the custom maker. You and I are different, so we should play different guitars. It’s that simple.
Physiology is why you come to me. It’s fine to get a base model off-the-shelf guitar for a while, but when you want a guitar that gets out of the way and just lets your musical energy flow you need one that’s built specifically for you.
Physiology Manifesto
If you want to read in depth about how to put your vision for a custom guitar together, please head across to my 9-part Ultimate Electric Guitar blog series. If you just want the short story here are a few pointers:
In simple terms, the ultimate guitar for you is a blend of:
- What your eyes want to see
- What your ears want to hear
- What your hands want to feel
Having a guitar built for your physiology talks to point no 3. This means having the right:
- String gauges
- Scale length
- Neck width and profile
- Correct compound radius
- Fret profile
- Number of frets
- Bridge
- Control pot and switch positioning
You can get all this, when you have a guitar custom-built.
Get The Whole Package
Essential to make all of this work, along with points 1 and 2, is the knowledge and responsiveness of the guitar maker. We exist to serve you – to furnish you with the guitar of your dreams. We make it happen.
To make it happen with Lucas Guitar, get in touch here.
