Setting up your guitar is the number one - if not the only - change you can make to your guitar that will automatically make your playing better. Other modifications, such as changing the pickups, can make your guitar sound better, but a good setup will make your playing much easier and more effortless. A basic setup has four steps, which should be performed in order. I'm going to dedicate a separate post to each step. Adjust the truss rod (this post) Set the string height Set the pickup height Adjust the intonation Adjusting the truss rod : Contrary to what some people think, the truss rod is not something you turn to make the strings higher or lower. Rather, its purpose is to adjust the straightness of the guitar neck. The pull exerted by the strings bend the neck, as a general rule, in the same way that a bow and arrow bend when the bowstring is pulled. The truss rod controls how much relief (bend) the neck has. Turning it to the right will straighten the ne