just curious does anyone/everyone here take their guitars to get set up at a shop? this might seem like a stupid question but i always wondered what was to gain by an official set up? Approximately how much would an average set up cost on a new guitar?

I have done that, I also had a friend who could do all that stuff as well, and he's worked on my guitars.

I've also learned to do a lot of it myself--if it doesn't involve precision tools.

Ask someone who knows their stuff for help.
Get Dan Erlewine's book-Guitar Player Repair Guide.
You can usually find it quite cheap online.
Practice on a cheap guitar, and go for it carefully.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

A professional setup would run around $50.

Learn to do it yourself, it's fun.

Check out the Fender set up pages: http://www.fender.com/support/setup_guides.php

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I had my guitars set up by a pro for years before learning to do it myself. After all, we're first and foremost meant to be players, not amateur techs.

We just turn into amateur techs eventually through necessity.

I still have my amps serviced professionally. On biasing, I never got past the bit in Ritchie Fliegler's book where he says, "first take your cathode ray oscilloscope..."

Oh my...

Cheers - C

i can do normal stuff like restring and clean my guitars (i work on pinball machines so i have a passion for making electronics all shiny and new) but i also know there are a lot of little things i don't know about (pickup height setting, string height... ect). All that might be mostly personal preference? thanks for the help everyone, i think i will shop around for a really good tech and then slowly learn more and more about it intending to do it all myself.

A pro setup will get the guitar the perfect action and intonation. It is worth $40-60 bucks if your setup is off, and don't know how to do it.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

That's the best thing to do, have the first one done by a pro and then start learning about it yourself. It's very easy! As you develop as a player you'll learn what you like and don't like, what works for you and what doesn't and having the skill to adjust your guitar to your liking is priceless.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

The price of a, "pro" setup by me is $50 and up.

If, and this is a BIG 'if', the person whom you pay to set your guitar up truly knows what they are doing, it is money well spent.

"How To" books and the like only go so far with guitar servicing because just like many real-life situations, they do not follow a written, predictable script.

FWIW, I do all my own work and have no need for any external help.

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You dig?

i made the mistake of taking mine to the local guitar center and all it took was one "setup" which consisted of the tech just changing my strings and nothing else. Then I contacted a Fender representative to find out who the Fender certified tehs in my area were. Found one and now I let him do anything I am not comfortable doing myself. [/b]

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I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too.

Brother, will I ever testify.

There was a truly great guitar tech in my town who knew everything and was a magician with a Strat. Most importantly, he would LISTEN and set up a guitar according to your preference, not his. It was worth 50 bucks to have him do it.

When he retired. I went through two complete and utter morons - both with real live business cards and everything - who just refused to understand how to set up my guitar, and did things to it that would have severely damaged the neck.

Which is why I finally learned to do it myself. In my opinion, the missing ingredient for most players who don't set up their own guitars is confidence. The instructions are on this website.

I'll second Jay's post too.

IMO, when somebody says, "That Stratocaster doesn't play well/doesn't sound good/isn't 'the one'/etc.," 99 times out of 100 they're really saying, "That Stratocaster isn't set up right."

I did professional setup once and it was worse than then the original fender setup. From then on i learned to do it my self to my liking and it was great.

This week I took my MIM to the tech due to the nut binding with .11 strings and generally crappy job from fender (it worked so-so with original .9 strings). I dont have proper nut files and did not want to use "old strings" trick to shape the nut slots. Soooo.. we shall see when it comes back.

i am mainly on the fence about it because the Jaguar i bought used but it was virtually brand new. Not a nick on it and still had the plastic covering the pickups and stuff like that. So i replaced the strings and off i went playing it. It feels great and plays great, so i was thinking if it ain't broke don't fix it.... but then i started thinking now would be the time TO get the tune up. Kinda like make sure it is set up perfect before the years of playing.
I think this guitar is one of the most perfect i have ever held/played, so i want to invest in the care for it now. i hope this is with me for a long LONG time.