On this site, I emphasize the understanding of guitar setup in its various elements – how they relate to the guitar geometry, and how the setup elements interact with each other, particularly guitar intonation, and including nut compensation  ;I also like to point out various aspects of traditional guitar setup, that can be greatly improved

The main emphasis is on nut compensation, because nut compensation is the most highly neglected, and misunderstood, aspect of guitar setup.  Therefore, this information should be of the greatest value to those who wish to improve their, or their customers’ guitar intonation and playability.

I have made extensive additions and improvements to the site, during 2020 that I believe will enable anyone to fully understand guitar (or any other fretted instrument) intonation.  As of February 2021, the site has become mobile friendly!

I believe that interest in nut compensation and better intonation accuracy will be growing over the next few years, as people become more aware. (But it’s slower than I expected!) It’s a good time to jump on board!

The information I present is more about conceptual understanding of the elements of guitar setup and intonation than  the details of execution, that is, doing the physical work. The reason is that full understanding is critical and is in pretty short supply, whereas Luthiers already know how to do the physical work, plus there are plenty of available sources of information on working the tools and materials, including books, videos, and numerous web sites.  Nevertheless, I do plan to add more on execution as time goes on, as well as to add more useful links.

The information provided here contains my own opinions, which, of course, are open to disagreement.  I do not claim to be the final authority on anything, and I would like to think I have an open mind.  Many things concerning setup are agreed upon, while others are a matter of opinion or preference.

New setitupbetter.com WordPress site build!

Writing in November 2034, I have just published a brand new web site build!  The old site was destroyed more than a year ago by crashed disk drives on my former web hosting provider’s server!

Why didn’t I rebuild sooner? Well, after maintaining the site for over 15 years, I have grown very old – too old for a lot of fooling with computer stuff!  Worse, I was surprised by a serious heart condition, which at age 85, led me to a pretty low priority on the web site.

Anyhow, the website is Now fully restored and published. I have greatly improved some things and I’m still progressing through the pages to see what else I can do.  I hope that getting back some SEO will not take too long.

The photo of me and my very nice former David Webber Roundbody guitar (it’s too big for me now) dates from about 20 years ago. I could replace the photo , but it wouldn’t look so nice, so I decided not to!

As the years have passed I see more and more information and opinion regarding intonation, including comments on nut compensation, but I am disappointed that many who comment still do not seem to think of intonation logically, and therefore don’t know how nut compensation relates to saddle compensation, and vice-versa.  I see lot of misinformation in that regard. There seems to be such a very strong attachment to the methods long taught and practiced step by step, that they cannot see methods, newly presented, that are more logical.  Guitar owners are then left with few choices for better intonation.

Help Support setitupbetter

If you believe that this site has helped you, I would appreciate your financial support.  Any amount is welcome – large or small!

Because of the highly specialized nature of this site, I get very low traffic compared to income-producing sites. I do have links to Amazon (which provides quite useful product and review information) but the commissions have been quite small; they have been just about enough to cover may web hosting cost, but Amazon has recently slashed commissions to about half, so I’m looking elsewhere.  Nevertheless, I am very grateful to all of you who have purchased from my advertisers!

As alternative to making a cash donation, when you are planning on making a purchase, especially if it is a major one, if you enter a store through an ad on my site, then I will receive the commission. Most items in the store are eligible, even if the ad or link was for a particular item.  Thank you!

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I welcome your comments, whether you agree or disagree, you have additional information to present, or you would just like to say hello!