How to Set the Action on Your Squier Rock Band Guitar

The guitar released by Fender's Squier band to work with Rock Band 3's Pro mode is a great starter guitar and surpassed the expectations of more than a few guitarists. It's certainly not an instrument that you'd want to play at gigs, but hey, it's a guitar that talks to video games-that's pretty cool.

One of the biggest problems that many players will have with the Squier Rock Band guitar is the instrument's action. Action refers to how far the strings are from the fretboard. The closer the strings are, the easier they are to push down.

Different guitarists might prefer their action set high or low, but out of the box, the Squier Rock Band guitar's action is somewhere around medium-high. If you know a bit about guitars and you want lower action, you can get it with the Allen wrenches included with the guitar.

Here are some tips for setting the action on your Rock Band Squier guitar or any Squier guitar that needs a slight adjustment.

Get your tools together. The Allen wrenches that came with the Rock Band guitar will work fine. There's a small one, which can be used to set the height of the saddles that hold each string, and a large one that's used to set the curvature of the guitar's neck by adjusting the truss rod, which is a metal rod that runs through the entire neck.

Before you start, you should know that with guitars, small changes are better than big changes. Don't go cranking anything. Adjust in small increments and you won't ruin your guitar by snapping the truss rod or messing up its intonation too badly.

Adjust individual saddles. Look at the string saddles. There are two tiny holes on each saddle that your smaller Allen wrench will fit into. Notice how the middle strings have the highest saddles and the outside strings have the lowest saddles-this was done for a reason. When you're done adjusting, it should look close to the same.

You can lower each saddle by loosing the two tiny bolts with your Allen wrench. Again, remember, small adjustments are better. If you decide to raise the action, you'll be tightening the saddle, and it will be especially important that you don't make drastic changes in one direction or another or you'll snap the strings or damage the bridge.

When you've adjusted the action on your Rock Band Squier to where you'd like it, follow the instructions included with the guitar to adjust the truss rod to get an appropriate curvature for the instrument's neck. I'm going to put this next line in bold, because it's important: do not make major truss rod adjustments unless you know what you're doing. Don't turn the tross rod any more than a ¼ of a turn or a ½ turn at a time and let it sit for a few minutes or even a few hours before making another adjustment. Use measuring tools to set the truss rod, not your eyes.

Alternately, you can get a professional set up. They might look at you funny in your local guitar shop for bringing in a video game controller, but most guitar shops offer professional "set up" services for about $15-25. They'll take your guitar and set the action and intonation, which will make it easier to play. If you're not up for doing your own adjustments, I highly recommend using a professional-you really don't want to screw up your Squier Rock Band guitar just because you didn't want to shell out $20.

Have any questions about taking care of your Squier Rock Band guitar? Post in the comments section below.