Complaining about a guitar's setup is like...

[Ovibos]

... complaining that the seats and mirrors were in the wrong place when you sat down in your new car.

They were in the wrong place - for you.

I feel like I'm seeing a lot of kvetching on this.

Adjustable things are meant to be adjusted. Adjust them.

Thank you.

P.S: you're probably adjusting your mirrors wrong. Do it this way: https://www.cartalk.com/sites/default/files/features/mirrors/CarTalkMirrors.pdf

 

[toothace]

I'll see your PSA pamphlet and raise you one Youtube video...

When set this way, when you lose a car from the rear-view mirror, you pick it up in the side view, and what it's beyond the side-view mirror, it's visible in your periphery. It's like a panoramic mirror

Safety first folks!

 

[Dirty_Boogie]

I use that same mirror positioning on my guitars - lets me see what the drummer and bass player are up to at all times.

 

[shinksma]

I use mirrors on my guitar body, like this Esquire played by Syd Barrett of The Pink Floyd Sound, so that I can blind either audience or bandmates, depending on who is annoying me the most:

This is a re-creation, I believe (original long gone):

I keed, I keed: we don't play under strong enough spot lights, for one.

 

[shinksma]

Oh, and while I agree with @Ovibos that many folks not happy with their set up have a guitar that might be set up very well for the previous owner/player, I have also seen lots of poorly set up guitars. Especially at GC, including PRSi. It is like they take the factory set up and mess with it to make it similar in quality to the F&Gs they are hawking...

 

[Alnus Rubra]

.

Is it just me, or is there a similarity between Sid Barrett and a certain forum member with the same initials?

 

[Wakester]

It drivers me crazy to get in my wife's car to find the mirrors are not set the way I left them. It make me even crazier to pick up my wife's guitar ( or someone else for that matter) and the action is not what I like and it's not in drop D. I could just be crazy though. I do agree that the individual has to set the guitar to their liking, not expect it to come from the seller magically in tune and perfectly intonated. It took me almost 3 years to get my Mustang the way I like it, it took me 3 months to set my guitar the way I like it. It all takes time.

 

[László]

I’m gonna say it: Those who haven’t had Skitchy at the PTC set up their PRS have not fully sampled the cornucopia of life’s wonders.

Er. Mah. Gerd.

 

[Ovibos]

It drivers me crazy to get in my wife's car to find the mirrors are not set the way I left them. It make me even crazier to pick up my wife's guitar ( or someone else for that matter) and the action is not what I like and it's not in drop D. I could just be crazy though. I do agree that the individual has to set the guitar to their liking, not expect it to come from the seller magically in tune and perfectly intonated. It took me almost 3 years to get my Mustang the way I like it, it took me 3 months to set my guitar the way I like it. It all takes time.

For a long time I've wanted to move up to a 'luxury car' that has seat&mirror memory settings.

Now I realize that's money I could spend on PRSi.

 

[markd21]

For a long time I've wanted to move up to a 'luxury car' that has seat&mirror memory settings.

Now I realize that's money I could spend on PRSi.

LOL - yes, many guitars could be purchased.....

But, cruising the highways in my Cadillac, with heated/cooled seats and variable speed lumbar massager makes life so much better. The memory seats and mirrors are a bonus - but the massaging seats are a NECESSITY!!!

 

[markd21]

But, back to topic - YES, I agree.....complaining about a set-up is pretty lame.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Oh, and while I agree with @Ovibos that many folks not happy with their set up have a guitar that might be set up very well for the previous owner/player, I have also seen lots of poorly set up guitars. Especially at GC, including PRSi. It is like they take the factory set up and mess with it to make it similar in quality to the F&Gs they are hawking...

Unfortunately, I’ve seen the same thing. A few months back I was convinced my next guitar was going to rhyme with Cronachy Bagesty. My CG, which is a “premium” store had 3 new ones in stock. And all three colors I wanted to see. All three had action about twice as high as on my JP12 or any of my PRS guitars. I couldn’t believe that all three would be that poorly setup. I’m NOT talking about “for my taste.” The factory specs on this guitar should have it a killer shred machine right off the shelf. MAYBE it’s because all three just got to Cincinnati from California in January when it was below 0 degrees. But to put $3K guitars in the platinum room like that is... kind of embarrassing. Worse, I told my guy that I’ve bought stuff from for years there that A) I came in convinced I was buying one right away and would be immediately selling a couple things to fund it, but I said “I just didn’t fall in love with it like I thought, but it may be ONLY because of that action.” His reply kind of disappointed me.... not “we’ll check those and set them up property right away and you can come in and try one again” or anything like that. He said “well that’s a simple fix.” I left disappointed in the guitar and him. He knows I want one. He knows it’s not set up “right.” He knows I can buy one. I’ve been in twice since. All three are still there. Action too high on all three. The last time I was in (2 weeks ago) another guy saw me looking at them and asked me if I had played one and I told him. He said “yeah, I’ve come back three times to see if they had fixed them yet.”

 

[bodia]

Can someone come over a set my mirrors?

 

[toothace]

Can someone come over a set my mirrors?

I'll be out your way in about 3 weeks...

 

[bodia]

I'll be out your way in about 3 weeks...

Oh yeah, that's right! Hope there's time for a meet-n-greet!

 

[rugerpc]

Can someone come over a set my mirrors?

Don’t ask artist “Meatloaf”, he doesn’t understand car rear view mirrors:

“And objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are”

...exactly backwards

 

[Deleted member 5962]

But, back to topic - YES, I agree.....complaining about a set-up is pretty lame.

LOL, I think I sorta did that in the post right after this. Well, there’s a difference when something is just “wrong.” I played a fixed bridge PRS in a store once (used, trade-in) and the action was CRAZY high. I mean a solid half inch. When the guy from the store came over and asked me if I liked PRS I said yes I love them and this is a model I’m interested in but “what’s up with this action?” He said “oh yeah, my buddy traded that in for a new one. He’s a slide player so he raised the action.” My thought was, if you ever want to sell it, you might put it back where it’s supposed to be. Not that many people wouldn’t know how to lower it, but I can’t get a feel for a guitar with 1/2” action so I didn’t know if I wanted it or not.

 

[veinbuster]

But why isn’t there a button that just puts everything where I like it?

 

[Elliot]

I like a 42” convex radius on my mirrors. I think the new Mayer Prius has a 40”* radius so objects are much, much closer than they appear.

I get it, it’s more vintage but it’s objectively bad because people (me) aren’t used to it.







*yes I actually looked up the US federal motor vehicle safety standard mirror radius to make my joke more accurate. 889mm to 1651mm convex radius for anyone who’s curious.

 

[JJJ]

Depends on what you are complaining about though.

If you play someone else's guitar and you think it plays like shite, maybe it does, maybe they like it that way, maybe your guitars play shite and you've been doing it wrong for 15 years

I think it is fair to complain to a degree if you walk into a store and are shopping for an axe. Where I live, nobody seems to put any time into inspecting guitars before they hit the racks. Some of them have corroded strings and scratchy tarnished frets, no neck relief, strange action, out of tune massively, etc. I mean simply keeping a guitar clean and roughly in tune (at least by ear) is pretty simple right? Maybe retailers are just jaded and lazy here.