How often do you have your guitars set up professionally?

[Mermph]

I've only just started having my guitars set up professionally.

 

Wow what a difference. I worked on them myself, but it turns out I had no idea what I was doing.

 

I will never again attempt to set up, mod, or fix any of my guitars. I will play them, change the strings on them, but that's it. I can't be trusted not to ruin my guitars.

 

Soldering? Forget it. I would just end up burning the house down or burning a hole through my face or something. I'm serious.

[Strenge]

I'm a n00b player, so bear that in mind when I ask:

 

After you have them set up (assuming it was done well), do you periodically need to do it again, or only when you change string gauge or hardware?

[Belva]

Many of us learned the art of setup because we either are or were po'. I set my own up and do setups for a fee, so I guess my setup gets checked and adjusted professionally whenever strings get changed.

I recommend getting a cheap guitar and practicing. Or you can take measurements of a freshly setup guitar and duplicate those measurements whenever you put strings on.

[Mermph]

 

Many of us learned the art of setup because we either are or were po'.

 

 

Me too, except I didn't learn proper, just enough to keep them somewhat playable, but I could never get them optimal.

[kayd_mon]

I used to pay for it for every new guitar, and periodically as it was needed, but I've since learned to do setups the way I like it. I've done them for others, and they've been really pleased. I need more practice with electrical work, but as far as adjustments go, I like my work the best.

 

I touch up each guitar every few string changes.

[ashasha]

Took me years and lots of trial and error to learn how to do a setup properly.

 

Honestly the best thing I ever did was get the Dan Erlewine videos. Just seeing what you need to be looking at helped a lot.

 

The only thing that I am not really good at yet is cutting bone nuts. I've done it a few times, but it's so incredibly slow and tedious that I have gotten impatient and ended up blowing them out. I'm also not really good at getting them sized exactly right for the profile of the neck. I've got an SG that I HAD to change the nut because it was blown from the factory and it actually hangs out just a bit over the sides of the neck. It's nice and smooth and round, but it looks like crap. I just worried too much about screwing it up when doing the last bit of fitting.

[Prages]

 

I'm a n00b player, so bear that in mind when I ask: After you have them set up (assuming it was done well), do you periodically need to do it again, or only when you change string gauge or hardware?

 

 

Wood isn't 100% stable. As seasons change, guitar necks will often need minor adjustments.

 

So, it's not a case of having it set up once and it'll stay set up until you change something. They need to be checked and tweaked periodically.

[webwarmiller]

Never, why pay someone to do something I can do as well or better than 99% of the people charging to do them.

[Selsaral]

I actually don't like how pros set up my guitar. The generic 'setup' you get involves action that is way too low for me, and a lubed and oiled fretboard that makes it way too sticky to play on.

 

I just played for years with wrenches etc beside me constantly tweaking until I learned what I like.

[faberbz]

Where I live the seasonal shifts in temp and humidity is pretty great. The techs at the local shop are all good, but I have a local luthier give my guitars a once-over twice a year. He's good. He's Swedish and graduated from a four-year luthier/instrument-maker college over there. The guy is a genius.

 

And it really doesn't cost very much or take very long, and he does a better job than I could. So why not?

[mister natural]

Mermph - if I can stop looking at your avatar long enough to write something here . . .

 

yeah, pro set-up is worth it, as several cats above state - it takes a lot of practice to perfect this craft. I'd rather practice my playing than learning to do tech work & it's so much more interesting to practice on a perfectly set-up guitar

[BATCAT]

I usually get a professional setup done ever few years. During the interims I'll do small adjustments myself as needed.

 

I can do pretty decent setups, but it requires a fair bit of time and concentration to really get it right.

[Shiny_Surface]

Once, and then I do it myself going forward unless it needs more serious type work.

[ExiledCrow]

Well, my mechanical abilities are shaky, at best. Plus, and more importantly, I lack the patience to do a good job.

 

The guys at the local mom and pop do very good work AND I like to support the business so the push for me to learn better is minimal.

[cratz2]

I haven't had a guitar professionally set up since probably 1990. I started on a Teisco POS that was never setup, then I got a Japanese Fender in 1983 that played fine, but wasn't setup... at least we didn't pay to have it setup, then I got a Kramer Beretta and did pay to have it setup, then a Jackson Soloist that was also setup. That was about 1987. I bought a used Kramer Stagemaster in 1990, I think and it was bought from a shop that did setups on all their guitars.

 

Since then, however good or bad a guitar played was the result of what I could do or what the previous owner did. I've never tried a fret level, but I've lowered high frets... I can do a basic setup and that seems to be good enough for me.

 

Rarely will I play someone else's guitar that HAS been professionally set up that makes me feel like I should get a couple of mine worked on. Just about the best tech I know of in Indy retired last year. I really know who to go to, but I have one guitar I'd pay to have it totally decked out, just to see how much better it could get.

[Cats-o-caster]

i don't mess with frets and nut, all other stuff i'm doing myself

[mrbrown49]

 

Never, why pay someone to do something I can do as well or better than 99% of the people charging to do them.

 

 

This. Last guitar I got locally came with a free setup. I knew I'd probaby end up redoing it or tweaking it myself but whatever. Free is free and it never hurts to audition a new handyman in case I ever do need to get some outside help. So I let him have at it.

 

When the tech returned the guitar it played worse than it did hanging on the wall with the factory setup. The bridge action radius wasn't even matched to the fret board. Actually the radius was at least a couple inches too small like he used the wrong radius gauge. It was horrid. He also apparently put the same attention into adjusting the nut. The high E string buzzed like a sitar in the nut the slot, the radius was bad and most of the slots were left too high. Being too high was a good thing though. Gave me room to do it right myself.

 

Plays amazing now though and it's become my go to guitar.

[sh944]

It really depends on the "pro". I have had some of my guitars set up by a guy that could turn luke warm jello into an instrument of the Gods, and I have also had a couple of "pro's" turn beautiful instruments into overpriced firewood.

 

I have some vintage instruments that definitely need professional attention from time to time, but I find you have got to get reference's and/or start witrh a cheap instrument to see how good they are. Don't do what I did and let the "name" shop in a town close to me destroy a perfect mid 70's P-Bass with the worst fret dress job ever (upper register frets were paper thin and flat by the time they finished). The same shop (different tech that had a reputation for being great with acoustic guitars) also stole the bone nut off my Martin HD-28 and replaced it with cheap plastic when I was having a pick-up installed. They, of course, disavowed any knowledge of it.

 

By comparison, Guitar Center (of all places) had a guy that did phenomenal work. No joke, I've never found a guy better at setting up a guitar than Jason. if I can't get it right or feel uncomfortable working on a guitar, thats who gets my business these days.

[normh]

I paid once to have a guitar setup professionally. I paid the $400 bill, then I bought the basic tools and paid the guy to teach me. Then I had several other professional luthiers teach me their way as friends. Now I do all my own work.

[Hozze]

Never, I do it myself. I got "Guitar Player Repair Guide" by Dan Erlewine a few years back and it's taught me a lot, a great book I really recommend. I've also realised I really enjoy working on guitars, although I still have a lot to learn. Next on my list is fret jobs (I can take down a high fret and dress it nicely, but I've never installed and leveled/dressed an entire neck) and proper nut jobs.

 

If I've had a low slot I've filled it with epoxy and filed it down to the correct height, but I've never installed and shaped a new nut. Looking forward to learning those things. Soldering is actually quite fun, especially if you do the electrics on a guitar from scratch.

[Belva]

OP, now that you have a tech that you like go ahead and have this guy do your work. That is if you can afford it. The measurements I was referring to is actually only one and that's your neck relief. Get a capo and put it and the first fret. Hold the low E down with your finger at the last fret. Take a set of feeler gauges and measure the gap between the low E and the 9th fret. Check that measurement every couple of string changes or when the weather changes. Make the gap larger by turning you truss rod counter clockwise and smaller by going the other way. And make sure you loosen all of the strings before messing with the truss rod. This will take care of seasonal adjustments. The rest will stay close.

[theManfromAlabam]

I wouldn't mess with filing a new nut or refreting, however, I can do pretty much everything else....changing strings, truss-rod adjustments, bridge adjustments "intonating" and anything electrical I can do, especially soldering.

[big_aug]

I've been practicing my own, but I still suck. It pisses me off how long it takes to get a setup from a shop though. I dropped my guitar off Saturday and they said it might be done tomorrow. I only have one guitar and it sucks to wait a freaking week.

[caveman]

No "pro" knows how I want it better than I do. I've done my own set up for years.

[BATCAT]

I paid once to have a guitar setup professionally. I paid the $400 bill, then I bought the basic tools and paid the guy to teach me. Then I had several other professional luthiers teach me their way as friends. Now I do all my own work.

 

You got charged $400 for a setup?