A customer brought a guitar in the other day. The guitar was uncomfortable to play. High action near the nut, buzzing in the center of the fretboard. "Why?" wondered the customer, "This guitar is brand new." Every guitar should start it's life with a proper set-up, but not every guitar coming off the production line is set to tolerances that the average player would be happy with. Why is this? There are a number of reasons....

   1.  Players have different needs and expectations from an instrument. There is one adjustment that is universal, regardless of playing style (slide guitar excepted) - the string height at the nut, but to a degree, neck relief can vary from instrument to instrument, overall string height can very from player to player, and string gauge is a personal thing, which affects every setting. .

    2. The climate an instrument is stored in affects the overall set up.
Wood absorbs and releases moisture. Guitar necks and acoustic guitar bodies swell and shrink with fluctuations in humidity. This causes subtle and sometimes dramatic changes in string height and neck curvature.In the ideal scenario a guitar is always in a place where the relative humidity is around 50% and the temperature is 75 degrees. In reality, this is rarely the case. While a number of makers require their distributors to store and show guitars in a climate controlled room, in reality not all do. A guitar set to close tolerances is going to be affected by any changes in humidity and temperature. So it is not in the interest of the manufacturers to fine tune a set up.

   3. Modern factory's make a guitar in a matter of hours.
The precise adjustments that are involved in a thorough set up can take an hour of a technicians time. Big manufacturers just can't devote the time to fine tune the settings. Not to mention the fact that a good set up person can probably make better money outside the factory .

   4. Even a "new" guitar may have been sitting for a while before you bought it.
Guitars "settle in" over time and often need adjustment for this reason alone. .

    5. Some new guitars don't need a complete set up, just an adjustment.
Many guitars come out of the factory with a good set up but not a great set up, this combined with a seasonal change, or a shift of string gauge from what the factory installed, may necessitate some minor adjustments

   All of the above reasons contribute to the fact that a new guitar may need to be set up. But don't despair, getting a guitar set up and periodically adjusted is just a fact of life for a string instrument .

 I have a 1987 American Standard Stratocaster, I never use the whammy bar, Is there a tailpiece available to bolt directly to the body, effectively transforming the guitar to a "hardtail"?

   I don't know of a replacement that would retrofit without modification. I would recommend "defeating" the tremolo by placing a well fitted piece of wood between the tremolo block ( the stem of the tremolo bridge which goes through the body, to which the tremolo springs are attached) and the body of the guitar to keep it from moving. This will give you all the stability of a "hardtail" without irreversible modification. Most repairman can do this for you.

 I have an older Les Paul Studio and one of the"Kluson" style tuning keys has separated. I would like to replace them with an upgrade which uses the same shaft and mounting holes. The local repair guy suggested two types, both of which require reaming the shaft opening. Any better ideas?

   Replacement "Kluson" style tuners, with better machining than those on your Les Paul Studio, are now being produced. They have a 1/4" peg shaft. The bushings ,though, are for a larger peghead hole so use your original bushings. These reproductions seem to be well made and will retrofit to instruments with vintage style tuners.

My high E string sounds like a sitar. Any idea what the problem is?

 It could be a low bridge saddle, it could be a flat or backbowed neck. It could be a low nut, or a high fret. It could be a pitted fret or series of frets, it could even be a dirty or bent string. You really have to take it to a repairperson who can give it a thorough evaluation.