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Post subject: Do you do your own Setups or Repairs?
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:08 pm
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Do you do your own setups or any repairs/mods to your guitars?

I have been doing all of my own setups and most of my repairs/mods for about 5 years.

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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:22 pm
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i don't really do too many Mods or anything to the guitars i have. The most i will do is change some knobs or something. Pickup changes i leave to the professionals. I do however do all my own setups. Its extremely easy on any fixed bridge. It takes forever on a floating trem though.. but i dont mind.

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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:32 pm
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it comes with the territory. why pay someone to do something you can do yourself? i have modded, repaired, refinished, and set up guitars on my own. i've been doing it almost as long as i've been playing.

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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:41 pm
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I started doing my own setups and repairs after Long & McQuade (Canadian music store chain) did a setup on my 60th Strat and it was worse off than when I took it in there.

So I followed Fender's Strat setup guide found here and before I knew it I was finished and my guitar was setup to perfection.

Since then I've had no problem doing work on my guitars - infact I'd rather do it myself than have someone else doing it. The biggest repair I've done was replacing one of the tone potentiometers after accidentally snapping off the shaft.


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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:04 pm
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So far I've setup all of my guitars and gotten them pretty close to what I wanted. The only repair I've had to do was re-mounting a pickup on my Les Paul.


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Post subject: Re: Do you do your own Setups or Repairs?
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:16 pm
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I have always done my own setups, use too scared to do any major repairs or bridge and nut work etc...

That changed a few months ago, a friend of a friend is a local luthier/repair tech, he let me come in his shop for a week and pick his brain while working on an acoustic of mine. He gave me a crash course on nut, and saddle carving, repairs, and setups. After spending a small fortune on files etc...I now do all of my repair work.


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Post subject: Re: Do you do your own Setups or Repairs?
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 1:25 pm
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JAM76 wrote:
I have always done my own setups, use too scared to do any major repairs or bridge and nut work etc...

That changed a few months ago, a friend of a friend is a local luthier/repair tech, he let me come in his shop for a week and pick his brain while working on an acoustic of mine. He gave me a crash course on nut, and saddle carving, repairs, and setups. After spending a small fortune on files etc...I now do all of my repair work.


Excellent way to learn. I have a brother that used to work for Wayne Charvel back in the early 80's.
When I wanted to learn to do my own repairs I went to him for advise.

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Post subject: Re: Do you do your own Setups or Repairs?
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:00 pm
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Excellent way to learn. I have a brother that used to work for Wayne Charvel back in the early 80's.
When I wanted to learn to do my own repairs I went to him for advise.[/quote]

Yeah it was good experience, like I said had to drop allot in tools, but I am sure I will come out ahead in the long run....esp. with allot of shops charging $50 and up for just a basic setup anymore.

Wayne Charvel huh? That's impressive man... He has made allot of nice guitars


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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:32 pm
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I do now. When my guitar tech retired to build custom guitars exclusively, I found out that slightly more than half of all the guys who call themselves "luthiers" couldn't set up a round of drinks.

So I followed Fender and Dan Erlewine's instructions, and guess what? i set up my own guitars better than anybody!

I've rewired my Strat for a blender pot, put new pickups in my P-bass, and keep all my guitars in good running order. The only thing I haven't done is fret and nut work, and I just bought a seriously clapped out MIM Strat carcass to practice that kind of thing on. (I think it was owned by a punk-rocker who used to bang it on the stage... when the strap buttons came off, he replaced them with screws he removed from the trem!)


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 2:39 pm
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There´s no magic in basic setups (intonation, action and neck adjustments).. anyone can do it, if that person follows a few basic set of rules (easy to learn too)..

I´ve began to make my own setups, after so many not so good experiences with shops and guitar repairmen in the past.... I always came home with the guitar and having to adjust it a bit to my playing style...

I came to conclusion that I make the best setups for me.. because I know how I play, the strength I attack the strings, and so on.. all important things for a good setup.

Of course, for major setups and mods, I would resort to my present guitar tech, who is quite good... but I don´t go to him for basic setups.. I can do the same and keep my 50 euros...


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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:07 pm
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I found it to be half the fun of playing, you get to experiment with subtle changes that take you to a different tonal place.


IMHO everyone should learn the basics and start doing their own set-ups as soon as possible, you learn a bunch about your instrument and save some scratch for strings and other goodies also.

Only I know how my guitars need to feel.

X

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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:35 pm
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When i started playing I also bought "The Guitar Players repair guide 2nd edition" because I wanted to know everything about the guitar. When I bought my first guitar with a Floyd Rose I new it inside and out because of all the nightmare tales I had read about changing string and setting the intonation and getting it to lay flat.

I changed strings plus string guage and had it all finished in 30 minutes. There are so many things claimed to be major that are simply easy to adjust and or fix.


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Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:17 am
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I do my own tinkering. I ask alot of questions on forums and have a few books.


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Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:18 am
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chris63 wrote:
I do my own tinkering. I ask alot of questions on forums and have a few books.


The books by Dan Erlewine are excellent for learning.

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Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:30 pm
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I find setting up or working on my guitar relaxing. I'll get everything together, put on some music, and get to work. There's just a sort of satisfaction when you play a guitar you worked on.


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