Finding a Guitar

You can supply the guitar for the Performerâ„¢ installation or we can purchase one for you at a great price. We have special arrangements with guitar manufacturers and their distributors that allow us to pass incredible savings to our customers.

Guitar Setup

When placing an order you will be asked about your playing style, guitar setup preferences and any special needs you may have. The guitar is then set up for you. We closely set everything including the truss rod, string height, intonation and pickup height.

String Height & Neck Angle

The Performer™ installation was originally designed to fit into crowned top guitars and was later modified for installation into flat top guitars. As a result, the neck pocket of most flat top guitars, specifically Fender™ models, are milled out to add a small rake angle between the neck and body. The added rake angle allows the strings to be raised in the bridge area from 3/8” to 5/8” to accommodate the installation of the tuning system. This raising of the strings is very small but needs to be considered before purchasing an installation into any flat faced guitar.

Guitar Neck Stress

Guitars that are tuned to alternate tunings subject their necks to stresses not normally encountered by the average guitar. Since selling the first systems over twenty years ago there have been no reports from our customers of any guitar necks showing damage as a result of the tuning installation. This is because most tunings are a combination of tensions, and usually, some tensions are above and some are below STD tuning tensions. As a result, the neck tension on average is closer to STD more often than not.

Lock Nut or String Lock

The strings are clamped at the nut to aid tuning accuracy and reproducibility. Depending on the guitar’s headstock, either a Locking Nut or a String Lock style string clamp is installed. Having the strings locked at the nut is important because this eliminates the effects of the string stretching in the headstock region and also eliminates the “sticktion” caused by the friction of the strings moving through the nut. The string clamp is an integral part of the tuning system and cannot be eliminated.

Bridge saddles

Frictionless bridge saddles are used to aid tuning accuracy and reproducibility. Performer™ systems use frictionless roller style saddles while Performer™ systems with the Piezo Rocker Bridge accessory use frictionless rocker style saddles. Having frictionless string saddles is very important because the strings are pulled from the ball end of the string and need to move effortlessly over the bridge. In the absence of frictionless bridge saddles, the strings lurch over the saddles while the strings move during a tuning change. A frictionless bridge is an integral part of the system and cannot be eliminated.