Something i should of mentioned, if you are battling to get your string height down..
look at shimming your neck,

Have you covered relief (adjusting the truss rod) yet? It's something I do before string height/shim.

I've a kinda 'method', it's iterative but I'd check relief before anything else. On 2ndhand guitars It's usually a good place to start. This week I had to walk away from two instruments because - from checking the relief - I knew to check the truss rod, which was seized in both of them ?

Setting relief correctly. get you into the ballpark of then deciding what adjustments for getting your preferred action (nut/saddle/shim) are necessary. It's iterative, I will go back and re-check the relief is where it should be once I've played around with the action.

V8
It was kinda loosely covered in the Fret setup video,
but you are right, it should of been covered as a separate topic..

As per Sage advise from V8

neck relief setup

https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Time_for_a_Neck_Adjustment

shew. so much info in one brilliant post. thanks to each and every of y'all.
dh|

Tuckstir As per Sage advise from V8

Errrr.......thanks. Let's just say I've paid some school fee's by making some horrendous mistakes. ? I do not -under any circumstance- consider my thoughts to be comparable to a beginner luthier's knowledge.

Here's two stoopid's I did
1. Bought a Partscaster that was soo bad I had to junk it for parts. After spending at least 20 hours trying to rescue it, including making at least three full pocket shims. Turns out the 'luthier' (was 'built' at a local guitar store) routed the neck pocket far too deep. I learnt a lot about neck angles, and full neck shim's on this one.
2. Bought a BC RIch Warlock bass that was more dog than instrument. I knew how bad it was when I bought it! I had a guitar version and it was as bad - Alas, I forgot the body was literally chipboard and the 'wood' in the neck pocket was rather compacted. Got it to play, but it was as much a decoration as a instrument.

While you (dear reader) might not ever pick up a screwdriver to work on your guitar it's really useful to have a understanding of the elements of a setup . When you buy a secondhand guitar, you'll have a better chance of spotting a dog or negotiate if there's some work to be done. And, when someone works on your guitar, you can provide useful feedback/info on your preferences.

Now that your guitar setup and shreds like nothing you've ever played... but it just doesn't sound right.. no-matter how many times you tune it.. every time you strike a note, its off..

Now my Gent's and Ladies, its time to set your intonation, this step should be done after all of the above, simple reason is, if change anything, i.e string height, you need to readjust your intonation.
little tip, try to get the a tuner with a high accuracy / low number of increments for best results

https://www.cyberfret.com/guitar-maintenance/guitar-intonation-setup/

Setting up neck dip (truss rod) and action should be done in "playing" position too, due to that gravity thing. Handy to get close on the bench, but fine-tune in your hands.

Oh, yeah, it rains. It does not. It is hot, then it is winter. You may find your action all screwed up all the time. Action is fine, check truss rod.

There is a set sequence to do this setup thing, to avoid going to-and-fro all the time, getting nowhere. Someone please list this and pin it on the main notice board for all to see. Hmm, separate discussion of nut height?

some further considerations

adjusting nut string height

cleaning and conditioning your fret board

I hope this helps, what I can say is there is a ton of information out there, on all of the above topic, please do further reading/watching if even just to better guide the person who will be doing your guitar setup,
but sometimes even when you send it in for a complete setup..you end up having to do it yourself..
My own guitar I ended up butchering the nut to file it down enough to actually be able to play it, after sending it in, and specifying that as one of the problems.. thus starting my slow arduous delve into the world of guitar setup.

Disclaimer.. I Am by no means a expert on the above mentioned topics, and this guide is as much for me as it is for you.

The nut slot thing - After doing it from the string side a couple of times (without the correct nut files...) and getting it wrong here and there, I now take out the nut, and sand away material from the bottom. Too low? Add a shim. No nut files required, unless you make up a new nut. This of course assumes that your guitar's nut has the slots cut to the correct radius to start with.

And the fret level thing - I have found on several guitars (should not happen on real good expensive guitars?) that removing the strings, cleaning the fretboard, doing some fretwork, and re-stringing, re-setup and so on, will make some frets move in their slots, giving you high/low spots where you did not have before. So, all this is an iterative process, small improvements until you finally get there. I live in hope.

modulator

modulator The nut slot thing - After doing it from the string side a couple of times (without the correct nut files...) and getting it wrong here and there, I now take out the nut, and sand away material from the bottom. Too low? Add a shim. No nut files required, unless you make up a new nut. This of course assumes that your guitar's nut has the slots cut to the correct radius to start with.

This been my first attempt at guitar setup.. it came out fairly well, gone from unplayable, to brilliant.. something you expect to be sorted out at the paid for setup at the music shop.. but alas..
and yeah behindhand experience .. I did realize afterwards it would of been better to sand the bottom.. my next trick is to try make a Bone Nut.. and WAS in the process of cleaning the bone.. but that too has seemed to gone south... I think the Gardener has chucked the bone.

We are extending the thread here, but working form the string side is OK if you have a false fret to put against the nut, at the height you require the slots to be. Easy on a nylon string (if flat fretboard...) but a hassle on any radiused neck. And, one would want the guitar to leave the factory with the correct setup, anyway.

Bone nut is a must-do, fresh bone work better than sun-dried/bleached pickups. Only hassle is the rather sticky dust. For nut files, modify several mini-hacksaw blades, grind off normal hacksaw blades, and save old wound strings to help saw/polish. Some small needle files help to, you can grind flats on the round ones to make a "nut" file giving a sort of rounded bottom slot. Sort of. Hmm, and buy a "jewelers saw", those blades are very thin, just right for light gauge trebles. For perfectionism mill out guide slots at exactly the correct spacing. For DIY, vernier caliper, pencil, saw.

Tuckstir and for the hockey playing ladies

Bwahahahaha. I laughed so hard at this!! Brilliant.

I have found a really great setup vid on bass guitars. It runs to around 1 hour, 20 mins. Am posting it under the bass section. The guy shows the setup on a cheapie Ibbie Soundgear Gio which is fantastic for me, because that's exactly the cheapie bass I own.

Anyone interested, look for the vid there!
dh|

and for some cheap as chips home DIY tools..

Tuckstir this is the same vid from the other thread? looks purdy dang awesome - gonna try some of these out this w/e.

thanks a bajillion times mate
dh|