Setup spreadsheet

[Freeman Keller]

I posted this in the Electric subforum but thought I would do it here also. In another thread I commented that whenever I work on a guitar I always write down the setup values before I start and again after I finish. Several people were surprised, but I find that only by knowing where I start and my goal can I move forward in a systematic manner. To make this easy, I created a little spreadsheet with cells for each of the things that I look for while doing a setup on a guitar. It also has a column with my target values and another column listing where I got those targets. These include neck relief, action height at the nut, 12th fret and bridge, intonation information, players choice of strings and some general information about the instrument.

 

Target setup specifications vary with different technicians - I have a tab on the spread sheet that lists several different sources and what they suggest for relief, nut clearances, action heights and other parameters. That way I can easily remember the values that I will use and when I discuss the work with a customer, I can say "these are the Fender (or whatever) factory specifications for your guitar...." I have parameters for steel and nylon string acoustics, electric guitars, basses, mandolins and a few other instruments and I've documented where they come from.

 

I usually fill out a paper copy of this in the shop and transfer the information to the actual spreadsheet on my computer. The music store that I work for uses a work order numbering system - I save the spreadsheet by WO number unless it is a personal guitar or a friends guitar, in which case I use some sort of obvious naming scheme "Joes Telecaster.xlsx". I give a copy of this to the customer with the invoice - that way they have a record of what was done - and keep one for my business records.

 

I don't like to set up a guitar just by numbers - these are simply a starting point. Individual playing technique as well as the condition of the instrument can affect the way I will adjust it. I'm always interested in how other technicians set an instrument but I don't want to get in a big argument about these numbers - if you have specs that you use or if you know factory specs that I should include on the spread sheet, please let me know.

 

I would be happy to make this spread sheet available to forum members. Because it is an Excel document I can't include it in this posting, however if you would like a copy PM me your e-mail address and I will send one to you. Do not put your e-mail addy in a reply to this thread - spam bots can easily find these. I will send each reply as a separate e-mail, that way your address will not be spammed to other forum members. It might take me a couple of days to get replies e-mailed out.

[Neal]

This should be a pinned post. There probably should be a mechanism to keep certain posts on top, though it would take moderator cooperation. The forum seems to be in a rebuilding process, be nice if it was in the plans for them to do things like that.