Article: 10 Ways to Optimize Your Guitar

[WeFixFlats]

From Premier Guitar Magazine:

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/22311-ways-to-optimize-your-guitar-for-under-100

The basics are covered here, including the 'pickup height' question. We found it very informative and a well done overview, with pictures, of the procedures and tools needed for a generic 'set up' when the guitar owner is doesn't have the skill, time and tools to do it themselves. But needs to be able to verify with their eyes and hands what has been done and why after paying $$$ for a 'set up'. The article is open to comments on the PG page too.

 

[DHW]

I could have wrote that article in 3 words... Set it up.

 

[dogrocketp]

I`m always surprised by how many people think a set up only covers the neck and string height. Adjusting the pickups is huge in personalizing the guitar. Changing the nut is the first thing I do on my SE`s, followed by the volume pots at the very least. No one at PRS knows me personally, so how could they possibly make a tool that will work exactly as I want it to? I thought it was a very good article.

 

[sleary]

I have an easy one step method...buy a Prs

Done !!!

 

[rugerpc]

A good primer for people who are learning, because most new players need more than "set it up."

 

[László]

I could have wrote that article in 3 words... Set it up.

If I tried to set up my own guitar, the words would be more like #$%* it up.

 

[Pinch]

I have taught myself the basics of setting up my guitars over the years, but everytime I get one back from a local luthier in Cape Town who does it for me from time to time it plays sooooo much better. He performs some kind of magic. Setting a guitar up properly is an art that I am not skilled at yet. By the way, I never touch nuts and frets - tried it before and messed it up completely.

It is a great article, but I am still willing to pay someone else to do it properly and add some "magic".

 

[LJD]

I have a luthier/tech who has been building and setting up guitars since before PRS existed... he's so good sometimes I think it's unfair how nice my guitars play.

 

[sleary]

I had a guitar tech that I swear could read my thoughts on how I wanted it set up. Scary actually

A luthier/tech I go to now teaches a course for setup , repair and restoration. He also teaches building acoustics .A dying art really , sad but I understand the liability in it all. Scratch someone's baby and its your ass ...

 

[DHW]

wow I would have guessed most of you guys set your own up. I learned how to do it as quickly as I could and have done everything at this point except the frets which I really have no desire to mess with. I have had some nice setups done by pros and really studied all the measurements and angles and when I swapped the pickups in me se I also changed the bridge which meant I needed to set action height and intonation. I took careful measurements before I removed anything and then put everything back to the same measurements and it came out perfect. From there I branched out and have done setups on everything since myself and can't possibly imagine anything coming out better. The nut change on the CE was the most daunting thing as it needed some serious sanding to get to the right height. Went slow and checked fit often and was able to get it right where it needed to be. Maybe it's just how I was raised but I believe you should be able to work on anything you own.

 

[CVS]

wow I would have guessed most of you guys set your own up. I learned how to do it as quickly as I could and have done everything at this point except the frets which I really have no desire to mess with. I have had some nice setups done by pros and really studied all the measurements and angles and when I swapped the pickups in me se I also changed the bridge which meant I needed to set action height and intonation. I took careful measurements before I removed anything and then put everything back to the same measurements and it came out perfect. From there I branched out and have done setups on everything since myself and can't possibly imagine anything coming out better. The nut change on the CE was the most daunting thing as it needed some serious sanding to get to the right height. Went slow and checked fit often and was able to get it right where it needed to be. Maybe it's just how I was raised but I believe you should be able to work on anything you own.

I'd be really rich if I could work on everything I own. I wish I had your patience and skill. If you give me a wrench or screwdriver, watch out, something will be in trouble! I will leave this type of work for the experts.

 

[rugerpc]

It would be nice to be able to work on anything/everything you own, but it is hugely impractical.

Aside from the specialized knowledge needed, for most things, there is also a plethera of specialized tools or instruments involved. For instance, I don't own the gauges needed to work on my house or car air conditioning system.

I don't currently own a CAT scanner or MRI or even a large format x-ray machine (I'm good for films up to about 12 inches on a side), so doing my own surgeries is out (though I do profess to have the skills/dexterity).

I don't own a large bulldozer or backhoe and I'm pretty sure that the rental center is not going to turn me loose on one, so fixing the septic is probably out for me.

I can solder and understand circuits, but my O-scope is 40 years old and I really don't want to buy a new one for as much use as it would get.

And that brings me to my other point. Tooling up and getting the education needed to be competent, much less skilled, at working on everything I own would be pretty expensive. Consider that guitar or (insert any other hobby here) is likely a part time endeavor for lots of people. Gearing up to be able to service something people may not spend much time on in the first place or something that they may abandon for other interests or priorities just may not be practical.

Lastly, even if someone IS aspiring to be able to do their own setups (root canals, chimney sweeping... ), I don't think I would be dismissive about instructional materials to help them achieve that goal.

 

[WeFixFlats]

Me setting up my PRS guitars would be like cutting my own hair using a hand mirror.

 

[László]

wow I would have guessed most of you guys set your own up. I learned how to do it as quickly as I could and have done everything at this point except the frets which I really have no desire to mess with. I have had some nice setups done by pros and really studied all the measurements and angles and when I swapped the pickups in me se I also changed the bridge which meant I needed to set action height and intonation. I took careful measurements before I removed anything and then put everything back to the same measurements and it came out perfect. From there I branched out and have done setups on everything since myself and can't possibly imagine anything coming out better. The nut change on the CE was the most daunting thing as it needed some serious sanding to get to the right height. Went slow and checked fit often and was able to get it right where it needed to be. Maybe it's just how I was raised but I believe you should be able to work on anything you own.

Thing is, there are folks like Skitchy at the PTC who do an absolutely magical job.

My attempts at setups suck in comparison. So I decided that I can frustrate myself, and in the process make mistakes on guitars that I love and work with, or I can have someone really good work on them, and have instruments that play like they were set up for a rock god.

Guess what I choose?

 

[WeFixFlats]

When you need way more that what your friendly, long time trusted local guitar tech can do beyond the 'basic setup', here are the 'go to guys' for everything PRS...Incredible attention to detail and craftsmanship. Check out the stories.

http://www.prsguitars.com/pt

This would be, for me, the ONLY place to go for a PRS re-fret.

 

[DHW]

It would be nice to be able to work on anything/everything you own, but it is hugely impractical.

Aside from the specialized knowledge needed, for most things, there is also a plethera of specialized tools or instruments involved. For instance, I don't own the gauges needed to work on my house or car air conditioning system.

I don't currently own a CAT scanner or MRI or even a large format x-ray machine (I'm good for films up to about 12 inches on a side), so doing my own surgeries is out (though I do profess to have the skills/dexterity).

I don't own a large bulldozer or backhoe and I'm pretty sure that the rental center is not going to turn me loose on one, so fixing the septic is probably out for me.

I can solder and understand circuits, but my O-scope is 40 years old and I really don't want to buy a new one for as much use as it would get.

And that brings me to my other point. Tooling up and getting the education needed to be competent, much less skilled, at working on everything I own would be pretty expensive. Consider that guitar or (insert any other hobby here) is likely a part time endeavor for lots of people. Gearing up to be able to service something people may not spend much time on in the first place or something that they may abandon for other interests or priorities just may not be practical.

Lastly, even if someone IS aspiring to be able to do their own setups (root canals, chimney sweeping... ), I don't think I would be dismissive about instructional materials to help them achieve that goal.

I guess we really look at things differently. I would say that an article like that should talk extensively about having a pro set it up and what all that should include rather than vague instructions without any sort of starting points. I don't recall even seeing it mentioned that most manufacturers provide specs for setting up their instruments. Knowing how to adjust those things makes it nice that you can put it to exact factory specs and then adjust till it's perfect. You know it's perfect because you try out every little adjustment and know when you are in the sweet spot. A set of feeler gauges and a fine ruler are the most important tools in the chest for this stuff.

I'd use the PTC for damage repair, if there was a set of pickups only available there, and maybe for a fret job but never for a setup. Paying UPS half the cost of the setup to ship it knowing the way they handle packages just seems insane not to mention the time it would be away. I feel like something is wrong when the guitar is in the case while we eat dinner after returning from lessons let alone sending it half way across the country and having it gone for 2 weeks plus transit time.

You'd be surprised what a rental place will turn you loose on. I've never been told no! I rented an articulated lift to paint the eves of the house a few summers back. That was the only thing I got any instruction on before I took it and that look less than 5 minutes.

I guess maybe I've just had a different upbringing... I have been on excavation equipment since I could walk. My FIL is an hvac guy so I learned to maintain and repair my AC and furnace. The appliances are very very simple machines. I work in IT and have an extensive background in building and repairing computer equipment. My dad taught me how to repair everything on a vehicle down to a complete engine or transmission rebuild. I've wired entire houses and barns and passed all inspections. Most of this stuff I didn't have any sort of formal training. Just knew who to ask or found documentation somewhere on the right way to do it.

Tooling up to do your basic setups and maintenance on a guitar would cost less than 1 pro setup. There are very very good instructional videos out there and the PRS support site gives you all the important measurements for starting points.

If you talk to your friends you might be surprised what tools you can get your hands on to use for an afternoon or all the other stuff. I even do my own vet care of the farm animals. In fact, I have buddy who is a vet that writes the scripts I need(with consultation for legal reasons) who calls me when he is dealing with avian species if he gets stumped.

Buy a $100 squire on craigslist, some feeler gauges, and a fine scale ruler and learn away... It really isn't hard and you might be surprised what you are capable of.

 

[aristotle]

So. some of us like to tinker, some don't. No surprise there. In terms of the cost of tools to do a proper "set up", I just can't imagine that's a barrier to entry if all we are talking about is relief, action and intonation (it doesn't cost more than the setup itself.) Me personally? I can't see sending something to the PTC for that, even though it's only a 20 minute drive for me to drop it off. More power to you though if you'd rather go that route. Les for example has some pretty fancy guitars, and I definitely get the idea of letting the experts handle it. Replacing, or even filing a nut? I'd drop my PRS guitars off for that in a hearbeat. I'm sure I could do it just fine, but my stuff is high end, and I just don't want to risk screwing it up, and replacing a nut seems more major to me, even though I know it isn't a big deal. My MIM tele though? No problem doing major surgery on that one.

For what it's worth, I thought the article was fine. It at least outlined the sorts of things that you might consider doing, even if you never actually do it yourself. Random side-track... I think that many folks don't understand that intonation is a sort of general, average kind of thing, and that it's never perfect. Lots of perceived intonation problems, particularly fretted notes near the headstock end of the neck, are the result of thick gauge frets and pressing the string all the way down to the fretboard, and playing style can compensate for some of what is attributed to bad intonation.

 

[WeFixFlats]

Here's something from one of the most respected providers of guitar tools.

http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/StewMac_Tool_Sets/Basic_Setup_Kit.html#reviews

I'm not selling or endorsing any of this but thought some would find it interesting, while we're on the subject.

 

[rugerpc]

I don't advocate people doing or not doing their own setups, one way or the other - that is for each individual to decide what works for them.

But I do advocate not dismissing a good starter article because you, personally, are already beyond it or it is not complete enough for you.

For what it's worth, I thought the article was fine. It at least outlined the sorts of things that you might consider doing, even if you never actually do it yourself.

^^^ this

 

[DHW]

I don't advocate people doing or not doing their own setups, one way or the other - that is for each individual to decide what works for them.

But I do advocate not dismissing a good starter article because you, personally, are already beyond it or it is not complete enough for you.



^^^ this

I'm sorry I offended you. You're right, I was too hard on it.