Does your guitar have an undesirable/excessively high action making it difficult to play? Are you suffering from fret buzz, notes 'fretting out' when you bend, or 'dead' notes on the fretboard? Do you have electronic issues such as crackly controls, buzzing or a temperamental jack socket that cuts out your signal when you wiggle your guitar lead?

If the answer is yes to any of the above questions it sounds like your guitar could do with some maintenance or a setup!

A setup involves adjusting the guitar to a player's desired specification. Every player is different and knows what feels 'right' to them. Some things such as intonation, neck relief and the radius of the strings are set pretty standard, but other parameters such as action at the nut and action further up the fretboard are a personal preference and can be adjusted accordingly.

It's not just used guitars that may need attention. Even some brand new instruments come from the factory with minimal time spent on setup and will need a few tweaks here and there to optimise playability. Other common issues that arise with cheaper, brand new guitars could be sharp fret ends or frets that have not been levelled properly!

Even a beginner can tell the difference between a guitar with a good setup vs a poor setup, and in most cases, a good guitar setup can make the process of learning a much more enjoyable experience!