Hey Twelvebar,
Yea, I learned a few things from a tech too...had an old friend many years ago who owned a small guitar shop who taught me how to do my first fret job and such. Setups though...I think I got most of that out of "The Guitar Handbook" (sorry...the author's name escapes me at the moment). You are absolutely right about the truss rod adjustments...and yes, I've seen guys snap their necks (guitar necks) and/or strip the truss rod by getting impatient and over-tightening...it's always a "go slow" aproach, and I probably should have mentioned that.

I also should probably mention that I'm a bit nuts too...really screwy in the head (LOL!). I'm probably -a lot- more...err...."adventurous" than many folks when it comes to customizing my own instruments. You want to talk about a case of nerves? The time I took my old Kramer (original NJ not reissue) into the shop where I worked at the time and put her on the Bridgeport mill to cut an opening for a second pickup! Talk about sweating bullets! LOL!!! On the other hand, I still got that old Kramer and that DiMazio I put in there still screams .

I would also add that I do like to "tinker" as well. I'm almost as happy when I'm sitting there with a guitar ripped apart and a screwdriver or soldering iron in my hand as I am when I'm playing it. When I look at a new (or used) instrument, I don't always see the instrument "as is" as much as "what it could be with some work"...hence why I own so many inexpensive guitars. My main guitar is a '96 MIM Standard but after all the work I've done on it over the years, I'd put it head to head with an off the shelf Am Std any day of the week. In fact I've had a number of people with more expensive instruments who are really blown away by how well my MIM plays and sounds.

In any case, I'm simply one of those people that likes to know -how- and -why- things work and when it comes to guitars, I really like to personalize them to my own tastes and my own style of playing. I threw out the spec sheets long ago...I know what -I- like and that's the way I set up all my instruments. That said though, I also think it makes one more aware of issues such as intonation, action, etc., which even a lot of more seasoned players don't always seem to be aware of.

I guess that's my long winded way of saying, yea...if you don't know what you're doing and you don't have the patience to do it right, you can really screw up your instrument -but- as with all things there also has to be a first time for everything and this is something that I think is worth learning for most people .

Peace,
Jim

Heh ya I agree, I like to tinker and stuff.

As for set ups, i do my own too. I like my action a bit higher than a lot of people.

I have friends absolutely obsessed with getting the action as low as possible without any buzz, but I think going a bit higher gives me more sustain, and my guitar just seems to sing a bit more, when I set it up for myself. Don't get me wrong it's not like you can run a phone book under my strings, but it is definitely not as low as it can go.