Don't go crazy here. In most cases you need to do nothing, so don't touch your guitar. Just put the strings on and start playing.

 

However use your eyes and your brains. Pay attention to what is happening. If you see a ZOG string fit into a nut slot too tight or not drop down all the way to the bottom of the nut slot then you need to correct this. So just look and know what you are looking for.

Like I said and I repeat. In most cases you have to do NOTHING to your guitar. No adjustment needed in any way.
In most cases ZOG will NOT change your action, setup or your guitar neck in any way.

ZOG is not so much an increase in overall tension, it is more of a redistribution of tension across the string set and therefore across the neck to make it balanced.

 

A set up consists of several things:

Neck Relief - in most cases you don't need to touch your truss rod when installing ZOG. If you do, its not because of ZOG, its because you needed an adjustment anyway.

String Height - in most cases you don't need to raise or lower the string height. ZOG will not increase or decrease your sting height.

Nut Slot Width - This you need to pay attention to when you are installing ZOG. If you notice that the string does not fit the slot then logically you must widen the slot. You don't deepen the slot, only WIDEN the slot and only if you need to. You only do this if you notice that the string is tight in the slot. In most cases you don't need to widen the nut slots. Most of the slots in your nut will accommodate ZOG, however logically, if the corresponding nut slot was originally cut too narrow then do widen the individual slot on your nut. Do you know how to do this? Most likely not. Do you have the proper nut files for this. Most likely not. Do you have the talent for this? Most likely not. Then take it to your friendly neighborhood guitar repair tech and it should be a very easy job for him if he is not a hack. If he is a hack, kick his ass after he has ruined your guitar.

Nut Height - in most cases you don't need to adjust the nut height. ZOG will not increase or decrease your nut height.

Intonation - You will not need to do any intonation when changing to ZOG, that is if your guitar is already perfectly intonated. However if you are anally retentive, then put the ZOG on, play them for a while and then intonate or get your repair tech to do the intonation at a later date. No big deal. Maybe very minor adjustments are needed on only some ZOG guitar sets and maybe a bit more intonation needed on bass, since bass strings are much bigger and everything is usually multiplied on a bass.

 

Each instrument is different according to its quality, condition and Setup.

Its impossible for me to know what instrument you have, how it was made and in what condition it is in.

If you have a good solid, well maintained and well set up instrument then it will be easy to change over to ZOG and you will experience NO change in setup. If your instrument is all whacked out, buzzing, action too low, neck relief too little or too much then ZOG may accentuate your shitty guitar's problems even more. Then you will feel like the fool that you are for not having a well setup guitar.

Its best if you go to your repair tech and say "set up my guitar with these new strings and make them fit perfectly, intonate them and don't fuck up my guitar in the process"

Like I said, this is the worse case scenario and most likely you won't have to make any changes to your instrument's set up at all.

 

Tuner hole too small for ZOG?     Here is what you do:

On a set like "ZOG 11 drop D" or on some of the "ZOG 7-string" sets, your lowest string may not fit through the small tuner hole. You will have to drill it out. This is very easy to do if you have some skill and the right tools. Yes, you can ruin your tuner or mess up your guitar if you are a moron. There are many morons in the guitar enthusiast community, so there is a good chance that you may be one of these morons. Only you know or ask your mother if you are a moron. If you are a moron, then DO NOT proceed and take it down to your local-hero guitar tech, who you trust and are in awe of his awesome immortal abilities. Just make sure he is not a moron either. In some cases your awesome local repair tech may be a bigger moron than you are and its dangerous because he will not admit it and ruin our guitar in the process. I hope not.

Here is what you do in great detail.

Measure your lowest string with some calipers. If you don't have any calipers then steal or borrow one.

Purchase a small drill bit just a very little bit larger than the diameter of the string, which will be threaded through that tuner.

You need a hand drill. You don't have one right? Why would you? Then use a power drill but be careful.

The important part here is to have your guitar lying securely on a table and have another person holding the neck and headstock of your guitar very securely, so that it does not move as you drill. You don't want to have your guitar move while you drill; that is disaster. Secure immobilization of your guitar is the key here for success.

If you want to be a pro like me, you will clever enough to realize that metal shavings will be falling into your tuner mechanism as you drill. Not Cool at all for obviously reasons? So get the same person who is holding your guitar down or a third person to hold the nozzle of your vacuum cleaner hose as close to the tuner you ar drilling as possible. Turn the vacuum ON as you are drilling. This will suck the shavings instead of having them drop into your tuner mechanism. This maybe a sign of my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder but you know it make sense. Right?

Put the drill bit into the drill chuck. Place the tip of the drill bit into the existing tuner hole and at a SLOW RPM speed drill the tuner hole with your drill bit until the drill bit goes completely through the hole.

Wait, you are not done.

You can imagine that when you drill something the edges of your new hole will be sharp. You don't want this to cut your sting and its not professional to leave it like that. Only a hack would leave it like that without de burring the edges of your new hole. Can you imagine what would happen to you dick if you were to insert it into a sharp edge hole like that? Even if you look at all tuner holes, you will notice that the edges of the holes are always rounded and smooth. This is for easy insertion of the string and to prevent damage to the string by any sharp edges.

So you need a countersink of some kind. What? You don't have a hand countersink with a wood handle on it? Why would you? Well, get one, or borrow one. Or you can even use a thin scraper but these are even harder to find. A countersink is the easiest to use. You just put it to your newly drilled hole and spin the countersink as it smoothes the sharp edges. Remember to have our vacuum cleaner on while you do this as well. Common sense is what you need.
Find a countersink or a scraper and round off the edges of your newly drilled tuner hole and you are ready for ZOG heaven.

You have now set up your tuner for ZOG.

 

Bass

The only time I predict that you will need to do any adjustment is with Basses. Most likely.

Widening nut slots. In some instances I have increased the overall gauge of the string to get it Optimized for you, so the corresponding ZOG bass string will be too wide to fit into your existing nut slot. Only the lower strings on a bass, like the 4th and the 5th. This is when you need to widen the slot.

Remember this, I said Widen, NOT deepen. Never deepen a slot or you will ruin your nut and will need a new one made..

Do you know the difference between widening and deepening. If you don't then go to your repair tech and ask him if he does.

Even if you know the difference between widening and deepening. Do you actually know how to widen without deepening.
If you don't, then run for your guitar tech and explain it to him. He will also have the right nut slot files to be able to widen and not deepen.

Pickup height adjustment. Players will need to alter the angle of their pickups some…i.e. with the gauges of the ZOG E and B strings, there is a LOT of metal vibrating in the pickup field. They will need to angle them with the "bass" side of the pickups a good deal "lower" into the body of the bass than "normal".
Think about it, there is a lot of vibrating magnetic metal there, compared to the limp strings you had on before.

Threading the string through a bridge hole. If you have this sort of bridge where you need to first thread the string through, you may have to drill that hole out just a bit with a proper drill bit and appropriate care. Don't do this if you have trouble screwing in a light bulb Take it down to your neighborhood repair tech and it will take him like 10 seconds to do the job. All you need to do is measure the string that is too thick for the hole and use a drill bit just slightly larger than the string. Just so you can still put it through the hole. Please do not use Vasaline or KY jelly, it will not work. hahahaha!

 

So here is the bottom line, what I predict will happen after you get ZOG strings.

When using most ZOG guitar string sets, you will have to do NOTHING to your guitar.

When using ZOG bass string, you may have to widen some of the lower nut slots.

That is all.

 

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