Settin up a guitar

[thefallenangel]

anyone have any online guides to setting up guitars???

[Leviathon]

Check the website of the manufacturer of your guitar. They may have a section where they recommend how to setup. Other than that I don't, sorry.

[madhatter@skool]

try http://www.projectguitar.com/
www.jemsite.com

http://www.growinglifestyle.com/psearch/Author/Book/Dan_Erlewine/ check out from library or buy "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!: The Electric Guitar Owner's Manual (Guitar Player Book)"

[DanF]

http://mysite.verizon.net/jazz.guitar/guitarsetup.htm

[pooquey]

is pay someone to do it for you. Talk with a professional luthier, or go to your local music store and get a luthier recommendation. Most set ups range from $35-$150, but if it's done right it doesn't need to be done that often, unless you really shred nightly. You could do serious damage to your guitar if you don't really know what you're doing, or are like me and have no woodworking/soldering skills. Plus, there are a lot of tools that you'll need to be able to do everything you might need to, and that in itself can be cost prohibitive.

It's a good idea to read the recommended books to get a good understanding of how your guitar works. This way, if something is wrong, you can probably tell what it is before you bring it in and only pay for the repair/maintenance you need. My advice is to only mess with your guitar out of absolute necessity (i.e. you can't afford, or don't have time to wait for it to be repaired/set up). Basically, all you should really need to be good at is changing strings.

Of course, if you're seriously interested in learning about being a luthier, all the above goes out the window. You just might want to check out schools for such. Just my opinion.

Pooquey

[LarryJ]

I couldn't disagree with Pooquey more.

Setting up your guitar is very easy, and worthwhile to learn. The more you understand about playing and your guitar, the more of a connection you have between yourself and the instrument. Furthermore, paying a luthier 50 or 60 bucks to adjust the action is a ripoff, especially considering he's merely setting it up for himself, or what most people not, not nessicarily what YOU like the best, which can only be realised by messing around and doing it yourself. I mean, when was the last time you went in to a shop and said "yeah, I like my action low, 2mm lower than what its at now" ?

Secondly, you dont need all sorts of tools. You need some cheap measuring gauges, and a few allen wrenches and a screwdriver. If you change strings you already have 2/3 of those things.

Furthermore, more complicated procedures (not related to setting up a guitar) , such as changing pickups require soldering a few wires to little places where they hook on. Theres no skill involved. Unless you somehow are so unsteady, and you end up dragging a soldering iron 1/2 a foot away from the work area, and across the body of your guitar to burn it slightly, or leave the hot tip sitting on the guitar body, you can't damadge anything. If you somehow do, things like new pots and switches are all like 5 dollars. If you somehow turn the screws too much, then the parts fall out and you have to screw them back, no big deal, and you'll know when your turning them too tight, so i dont see this as a problem either.

Messing with floyd roses are also very easy. You just have to get used to it, and take things 1/2 a turn of a screw at a time, and check with the gauges alot. They require a little more work and patience than regular bridges, but that doesn'tm ean at all they are hard to work with, theres just a few little tricks involved (such as blocking it down before you work on it, to keep it in place) That any good book or video will all show you.

Everybody who plays should have a rudimentary understanding of how to set up a guitar. It saves them a ton, allows them to troubleshoot, prepare before playing shows or in case something happens. Honestly, it's just a few turn of some screws here and there for the most part, theres absolutly nothing hard about it at all, if you go slow you'll have the same job done as a pro luthier would.

That is, unless you want to spend 1/5 of the price of a guitar every time you want your strings changed and action resetup as mentioned. I'd rather spend 50-120 bucks on a new pedal, or save for a new amp or something, than pay that a few times a year just to keep my guitar in decent playing shape.
Pay luthiers for actual difficult jobs, like refretting or scallopping a fretboard, and repairing finishes perhaps, not setting up your guitar to play the way you want it.

I have the 'setup and repair' video from www.metalmethod.com I like it alot, although some things definitly could be better in it (there should have been more explained on repair, but it definitly covers setup). I also hear that Dan Erlenwine's books are the standards, and know he also has a few videos out as well, availible from www.stewmac.com

You just have to jump in and give it a shot, after a few times and some understanding nobody will know the difference between your job and a pro's. People think theres some huge secret and that only luthiers with years of experience and schooling can do jobs, but that couldn't be further from the truth. It's because people dont understand whats involved with setup, which is simple turning a few screws a few turns. I really can't stress that enough.

Good luck!

-larry

[LarryJ]

Oh and as mentioned (in case you didn't get it from my post, I was worried the pickup/soldering part might confuse people) theres no woodworking or soldering skills involved in setting up a guitar at all, they only come into play when your making major modifications to a guitar. Theres not many times woodworking skill comes in at all, scallopping is the only thing I can think of in fact...unless you want to go cutting pieces of your guitar off or something, and soldering in a guitar is limited to the most basic of applications, you dont need to know anything about electronics to do it. These are parts that have been around sincel ike 1930 or whenever the electric guitar was invented, its incredible how simple they really are, but most people are just daunted by the fact theres a few (2-3) wires and some solder in there. Again any book, or even pickup instructions that come with them at purchase, will explain how to do it very clearly.