"Setting-up" my guitar...

  • Thread starter Thread starter Obstacle1
  • Start date Start date
Light said:
For what it is worth, I strongly advise that you get your guitar setup by a good repair person. They have more experience, they will do it faster, and better than you can. And all the people who tell you that they can do their own setups better than a pro because they "know what they want better," are full of shit. They have no clue what a real pro does, and once they get it done right, they never go back.
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OK. I'll throw in behind "good repair person". However, finding a good repair person isn't easy. You definitely aren't gonna walk in off the street and get the same service that fricking Eric Johnson's guitar tech gives Eric. That is the problem. A good guitar tech is busy and probably isn't gonna talk to you and find out what you really want. You'll drop off your guitar and get it back in a week or ten days set up perfectly for the average guy on the street. If you like your guitars set up weird (like I do) good luck.

There are a few good guys in town, and I am currently in the process of warming up to a new shop. I was gonna have them do some work for me under some time constraints and I just realized it would be better to go in a take some time with them and let them keep it for as long as necessary.

that said, a solid-body guitar - especially a fender or like - is a pretty crude piece of tackle and has alot of adjustments you can play around with without doing too much damage. I am pretty comfortable turning the screws and cleaning it up and oiling the fretboard without adult supervision. When it comes to low frets and topnuts, I gotta leave it to someone who isn't gonna screw it up 7 times on the way to magic.
 
I come in somewhere in the middle. I set my own intonation, string height, pickup height, that sort of thing. I may even putz with the truss rod if the adjustment is minor. For fretwork and any probs with the nut, or anything involving woodwork of any kind, I take it to someone I trust.
 
What Cephus said. Talk to a tech before bring a guitar in. If he isn't asking you what/how you play, or maybe watching you play for a few seconds, go somewhere else. A McSetup is pretty useless.
 
ggunn said:
For fretwork and any probs with the nut, or anything involving woodwork of any kind, I take it to someone I trust.
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which in my case

is me


it's not rocket science

and is pretty simple stuff

you just need to get some experience

but there's no reason most people

can't learn to set up

their guitars

and even perform minor repairs

if they have the desire to do it

and a little handysense

(with the exception of

vintage instruments)



practise on cheap beaters first

but don't be scared away

by "only a pro can do it"

all pros start as ignoramuses
 
cannabis said:
which in my case

is me


it's not rocket science

and is pretty simple stuff

you just need to get some experience

but there's no reason most people

can't learn to set up

their guitars

and even perform minor repairs

if they have the desire to do it

and a little handysense

(with the exception of

vintage instruments)



practise on cheap beaters first

but don't be scared away

by "only a pro can do it"

all pros start as ignoramuses
Click to expand...


Well, in my case, it's not worth it. I'd just as soon pay someone to do my fret work as gain the knowledge, expertise, and tools to do it myself. I'm not scared of it; I've learned to do some pretty challenging things.
 
ggunn said:
Well, in my case, it's not worth it. I'd just as soon pay someone to do my fret work as gain the knowledge, expertise, and tools to do it myself. I'm not scared of it; I've learned to do some pretty challenging things.
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sorry, i didn't mean at all to imply

that you were scared to try it

the post was more for the thread starter

obstacle1

who seemed to be interested in learning

to do it himself



my bad
 
cannabis said:
sorry, i didn't mean at all to imply

that you were scared to try it

the post was more for the thread starter

obstacle1

who seemed to be interested in learning

to do it himself



my bad
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No harm, no foul.
 
Well, I do all of my own set ups. It is very easy once you get the system down. The first thing I do is fret each string at the third fret and look to see how close the strings are to the first fret. They should not touch but be very close to it. That tells you if the nut slots are correct. If it touches then the slots are too deep. I would recommend going to a tech at that point if you are an amature.Then I restring the guitar. Using a contractor's square or some straight edge and feeler guages. (Contractors square about $5-7 at your local home depot. Feeler guages $2-3 at your local auto parts store) I check the neck relief. Myself, I shoot for .008" (eight thousanths of an inch .008 to .011 is in the ball park) at the 7th fret between the fret's crown and the straight edge. Adjusting the truss rod can scare people but it is a very simple process. Loosen the truss rod when you want more relief or bow and tighten for less relief. I'll go as much as a half turn per day. Adjusting the bridge is next, each type of bridge is different but if it has individual saddles I will set them up as low as I can get them without fret buzz then bump them up just a bit. I don't like super low action as I play with a very hard attack. If it has a TOM bridge I work on the "E" strings to get them where I want them and everything else is what it is. Floyd Rose equipped guitars are really fun to set up! NOT!! it takes a lot of time and patience. Intonation isn't a big deal either. A strobe tuner is not necessary but is better than your normal quartz tuner. At anyrate the 12th fret and the open string should have the same pitch. Move the saddle awat from the nut if the 12th fretted note is sharp and towards the nut if it is flat. I know this is a very generic and general answer to you question but setting up a guitar using these tried and true methods will yield great results.

I have not paid for a set up in over 10 years and never will again. I know what I like and why I like it. It's as simple as that. It was stated earlier that if someone says they can set a guitar up better than a qualified tech they are full of (something). To be honest I am a qualified tech. I build guitars from scratch. I have an extensive guitar collection and am a DIY kind of guy by nature. I will say that more often than not a good tech will do a better and more thorough set up than your average Joe guitar player.

Lastly Dan Erlewine's book is a great place to start gathering information. I don't follow his methods to a "Tee" but they work.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
setting the intonation requires the accuracy of a (expensive) strobe tuner......
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I have set the intonation on many guitars with my boss TU2 on strobe mode... not the best for the job but effective
 
I play acoustic guitar and I swear sometimes I could really damage them because of their reluctance to tune up. I'm pretty sure they shit a lot of people to tears.

I think the worst is when my ear isn't nicely 'in' and the guitar is really 'out'. You need a good ear to get it in and a good guitar to get you're ear in. So, sometimes it sucks.

I don't really have an answer to fix it at will. I just know it can be very frustrating.
 
boogieman481 said:
I have set the intonation on many guitars with my boss TU2 on strobe mode... not the best for the job but effective
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i never could get accurate intonation with a regular tuner. i do usually set my intonation but it does turn out as "good enough", not dead on. the boss tu2 is accurate to +/- 3 cents. if you combine 1 cent on one string, 2 cents on the next, etc............it comes out to "good enough" i suppose. it definately won't be as good as using a strobe tuner.
 
keep in mind that even if you get your intonation "perfect"... it still may sound of if you do a run and push on the strings harder than normal
 
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