Wes Hauch/Aaron Marshall "secret setup"

[jco5055]

I was watching this video of Aaron Marshall talking about his Schecters today, and around the 12 minute mark, he mentions how Wes Hauch has some kind of "secret" way to setup his guitars that Aaron has started using, but for some reason Aaron can't reveal what's done.

I just can't figure out why this can't be revealed. Besides the possibility of Wes just being an asshole who doesn't want us non-professionals know how to make our guitars feel/play better (seems like a possibility based on the stories told on this site of Wes giving lessons), what else could it be? The only thing that even slightly makes sense to me is either a) some kind of unethical resource is used, like the equivalent of using authentic tortoiseshell picks, or b) some really small shop either does a special setup or makes a special nut or something, and if it even slightly got more interest the costs and/or wait time would absolutely skyrocket and Wes/Aaron don't want that to be an issue.

Any other thoughts? I tried to embed the actual video but for some reason the site just reloads a blank Post thread page instead of working.

EDIT: If mods think this should go in the Luthier or other thread please move this, thanks!

 

[Briz]

No clue, but I've seen guitarists cover amps and guard Fractal & Line 6 settings like a grandmother guarding a 100 year old family recipe book.

 

[RevDrucifer]

I doubt it’s anything nefarious, I have my own ”secret” to setting up guitars and I only call it a secret because it doesn’t get mentioned in most setup descriptions, all it is is using neck relief to dial in the string tension and getting the action just right from frets 1-10-ish.

Whenever I set up a buddy’s guitar I ask them to find one fret where the action and tension are perfect for them then go about making the whole guitar feel as close to that as possible.

I’d have to have someone sitting next to me so I could detail everything I’m looking for and feeling out as I do it because it’s not the same from guitar to guitar.

 

[jco5055]

I doubt it’s anything nefarious, I have my own ”secret” to setting up guitars and I only call it a secret because it doesn’t get mentioned in most setup descriptions, all it is is using neck relief to dial in the string tension and getting the action just right from frets 1-10-ish.

Whenever I set up a buddy’s guitar I ask them to find one fret where the action and tension are perfect for them then go about making the whole guitar feel as close to that as possible.

I’d have to have someone sitting next to me so I could detail everything I’m looking for and feeling out as I do it because it’s not the same from guitar to guitar.

I get that, but you would reveal how it's done if asked, unlike Aaron in this video claiming he can't do it

 

[KnightBrolaire]

lemme guess, he keeps his action really low.

 

[nightsprinter]

Probably just gets a plek job or something ordinary enough.

These type of gags are like the old Freemasonry thing. The biggest secret is that there's no secret.

 

[nightsprinter]

The more I waste my time thinking about this, iirc they tend to always hide their nuts behind a gruv wrap on hardtails/ 2pts from what I've seen. They probably just use some mumbo jumbo like a specialty brass or compensated nut.

 

[Randy]

If it's actually happening at the nut, it's probably some kind of variation in string height at the nut. I know I recently redid the nut on an 8-string of mine and instead of following the radius of the fretboard, I kept the F# and B strings high like you'd do on a bass so that you can dig into them more. It could be a similar concept but some kind of variation across the whole range, like different string height for wound strings versus not etc.

If it's not at the nut, my only other guess would be something about the angle/falloff on the fret level. I trained setting up guitars mostly leveling it straight from 1-24 but I know some guys tilt back from 12-24 or 20-24 etc. Could be a specific falloff like that.

 

[SalsaWood]

The secret is probably he gets people a lot smarter and more capable than he is to do it. Not really a secret as much as, "let's not talk about it because then everyone would know I don't actually understand it". We could begin with proving the literal benefits of whatever it might be, but I'm guessing they didn't even go that far. Probably because they both have techs that do all their work and all the fiddle players know is what they personally prefer.

 

[Chri]

Gatekeeping guitar setup techniques. Nice

 

[Moongrum]

That video is something. He was able to talk about a bolt-on alder/maple guitar (doesn't get more basic than that) for almost an hour like every detail is unique. And I watched the whole damn thing. I'm not familiar with Keyan, so maybe I'm just projecting, but he even looked like at times like "yeah, i fucking get it, move on" lol

 

[nightsprinter]

If it's actually happening at the nut, it's probably some kind of variation in string height at the nut. I know I recently redid the nut on an 8-string of mine and instead of following the radius of the fretboard, I kept the F# and B strings high like you'd do on a bass so that you can dig into them more. It could be a similar concept but some kind of variation across the whole range, like different string height for wound strings versus not etc.

If it's not at the nut, my only other guess would be something about the angle/rolloff on the fret level. I trained setting up guitars mostly leveling it straight from 1-24 but I know some guys tilt back from 12-24 or 20-24 etc. Could be a specific rolloff like that.

I'm going to try this. File the 2 low string slots down to just where the first fret doesn't ring out sharp on the strobe tuner and no more. Sounds like a good experiment.

 

[nightsprinter]

Also, Aaron - I'm sure you read this forum. C'mon bro... let us in on the secret. I PROMISE it won't leave this room.

 

[knet370]

my secret sauce for making my guitars incredibly easy to play for the past 20years is NOT so secret. For me, a great playing guitar is a very easy playing guitar more particularly string action. I just do the following:

1. Add a fretboard fallaway if i need to refret the neck
2. or add a fret fallaway if i just needed to level the frets
3. set the relief to a point that the 12th fret string height and the last fret string height is/has the same string height like 1mm-12th fret and 1mm-24th fret.
4. if there is a buzz or choke while bending after step 3, i just add more fret fallaway little by little. It can be a tedious task but once I get all of it right, its gonna make me happy for years to come.
Note: i sometimes use a flatter radius sanding block to change the fret radius to a flatter one on the last few frets. this makes bending on the high E choke free on the last few frets.

***but first, get the nut string height correct.

 

[nightsprinter]

my secret sauce for making my guitars incredibly easy to play for the past 20years is NOT so secret. For me, a great playing guitar is a very easy playing guitar more particularly string action. I just do the following:

1. Add a fretboard fallaway if i need to refret the neck
2. or add a fret fallaway if i just needed to level the frets
3. set the relief to a point that the 12th fret string height and the last fret string height is/has the same string height like 1mm-12th fret and 1mm-24th fret.
4. if there is a buzz or choke while bending after step 3, i just add more fret fallaway little by little. It can be a tedious task but once I get all of it right, its gonna make me happy for years to come.
Note: i sometimes use a flatter radius sanding block to change the fret radius to a flatter one on the last few frets. this makes bending on the high E choke free on the last few frets.

***but first, get the nut string height correct.

Love this method. I did a fallaway on an old bc rich of mine that had a touch of heel rise. The last few frets wound up being lowwww, basically playing on the rosewood, but it fixed all the action issues and will play great until it's fingerboard planing/refret time.

 

[dnnswglt]

I think the secret is more like a good and logical setup that differs from the most factory setup specs.

Wes is primary using floyd rose trems. Aaron mentioned the secret sauce while talking about the nut but is not using a floyd rose at the moment.

The nut on a floyd rose guitar is cutted in a way that all strings have the same height above the 1st fret.

Schecter mainly are using TUSQ nuts so the slots are pre filed. And on my Schecter Nick Johnston HSS I noticed that the strings don’t have the same height above the 1st fret as I got it last year. The strings are going gradually higher from the high e to the low e.

So I think they set the guitars similar like I do. And I think many other guitarists too.

————————

For a a 10s gauge like set I filed the nut slots for all strings so that the height above the 1st fret is .005“ (0.127 mm)

Then I set the neck relief to the same (pressing 1st and the 17th fret or more likely the fret where the neck meets the body) by setting the relief to .005“ (0.127 mm) at the 7th fret.

John Suhr does this also

Than I set the height for the high e string on the last fret at 1.25 mm and for the low e 1.75 mm.

Taking a under string gauge with the right radius for your fretboard to match the other strings.

Now the strings have a nice or almost perfect relation to the fret board.

The buzz is spread very evenly over the fretboard and on the higher register the lower strings doesn’t buzz that crazy compared to the higher strings.

It’s important that the frets are leveled and that the over all fret work is good and your neck isn’t twisted.

I also want to mention that the pickup height/magnetic pull plays a big role for the playability.

I think it’s something like this After setting it up this way, the guitars are playing like butter in my opinion.

 

[JimF]

Definitely Ivory trem blocks. Elephan-tone.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Don't believe everything you hear on the internet.

 

[Stiman]

4. if there is a buzz or choke while bending after step 3, i just add more fret fallaway little by little.

What is fallaway? Initially I thought you meant relief, but after reading all your points, it sounds like it's something different.

I also want to mention that the pickup height/magnetic pull plays a big role for the playability.

How so? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm genuinely curious about this.

 

[dnnswglt]

What is fallaway? Initially I thought you meant relief, but after reading all your points, it sounds like it's something different.



How so? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm genuinely curious about this.

No problem! You can test it by yourself

Just try to set your pickup height height like:

bridge humbucker
bass side - 2.4 mm and treble side - 2 mm

neck humbucker
bass side - 3.2 mm and treble side - 2.8

Singlecoils
bass side - 3.2 mm and treble side - 2.4 mm

then play a while and after that you set all pickups 1 mm lower.

While picking you can feel that when the pickups are lower the strings feel a bit looser and with the pickups higher it just feels a bit tighter.

Also the sustain is longer when they are lower but the output gets lower too.

You just have to find a sweet spot that works for you tonaly and feeling wise.