I defer to the knowledge of those who know better than I, but I always wondered what is so special about paying for a 'pro' to set-up a guitar??

Whist I appreciate that mucking about with the string grooves in the nut is unwise unless you've got a bit of experience. Surely the rest is simply about truss rod adjustment to give corrrect neck relief, and adjustment of the saddle heights to optimize action, and the other other saddle screw to correct intonation???

There has got to be something in it 'though, with so many people on here who know what they are talking about, recommending it......

I can fully understand why 'Pleking' is such a good idea, fret dressing beyond the tolerances of the human eye.

Ceri mentioned Nikininja had his tele frets differentially stoned to give more neck relief under the base strings. I like to hear more about that, it sounds like interesting idea.

If you know what your doing, then there is no benefit to having a "pro" setup your instrument.

I felt the same way you do. why should i pay someone to do what i can do. So when i built my electric i learned how to do the setup at the same time.

Then i bought a scratch and dent acoustic for dirt cheap and learned how to do fretwork nut work and crack fixing.

If your good with your hands and have some basic tools then I say try it yourself.

I think the reason many people here say to take it to a certified tech is because if the instrument is under warrenty then the setup and repair is free.

+1

I did that myself. Basicaly what i did was straighten the fretboard and instead of using the truss to set relief i set it into the frets. The middle frets are .08 lower than the frets either end. It was purely as an experiment and doesnt make the guitar play any better or worse. The dead straight neck adds a tiny ammount to the feel of the guitar. Not enough to warrant the work involved though. I dont think it would work too well on your scalloped fretboard, you'd be guessing straight settings way before you touched the frets.
As far as setup goes without nut work or trem setting you've pretty much covered it. Practice makes perfect as they say though and what you really pay for is a knowledgable person you can trust to set your guitar up and hopefully spot any future problems with a minimum of fuss. The order of making adjustments matters alot too. I go
clean/restring
Neck relief
trem adjustments
action
trem adjust if needed
intonation.

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No no and no