DIY Guitar Setup

[littlebadboy]

I have been having someone else do guitar setups for me because I wanted my guitars done properly. However, groceries and gas prices has been rising, and some financial obligations needs to be taken care of... Thought of asking if it is really that hard? Any tips? What would be the tools that I need? I certainly know how to tune and intimate. I am just scared to do neck adjustments and saddle heights because I might mess it up further.

I know that Youtube has everything, but thought of asking from non-Youtube'r people. Thank you in advance!

 

[Cirrus]

It's fairly straightforward to adjust bridge height and neck relief - just make sure you use the right size screwdriver/ allen keys to avoid chewing up the slots, and in the case of truss rod adjustment go a quarter turn, return the strings to tension and see what it's doing before doing the next quarter turn. I tend to like a bit more neck relief than some, because I play open strings and low frets with gusto and like the strings to have some extra room down there. It also means the bridge can be a bit lower, meaning lower action on the high frets.

My quick rough and ready test is that I fret the G string at the 1st fret with my left hand, and also at the fret over the neck/body join with my right thumb. Then I stretch my right pinky down to the 7th fret and see how much space there is between the string and the fret - if it's roughly the same distance as the thickness of the G string I'm happy.

The bit I can't do yet is filing - fret dressing, nut and saddle slots etc.

 

[Sleezy E]

^^^ 100%

Make sure you have the right tools/sizes for the hardware you're adjusting. Truss rod adjustments, low and slow.

As you said, YouTube is your friend here. Loads of good vids out there for the diy'r

...but now I gotta ask..

How often are you taking guitars in for setups that it's affecting you budget?

My guitars go 5 years or more before they ever need anything, and even then, it's minimal

 

[DrewJD82]

It’s far easier than many think. One thing I’m hugely thankful for, when my uncle gave me my first guitar when I was 11 he went over all the parts with me, my dad was sitting there (a drummer) and jumped up when we got to the truss rod “Don’t play with that, you can f*ck up your guitar for good” My uncle scoffed at him and handed me an allen wrench, told me to put it in and turn it counterclockwise, it wasn’t turning easy so he told me to crank it and it let out that creaking sound before it gave, it just hadn’t been turned in years. I never even had the chance to be nervous about truss rod adjustments.

My general setup kit—
Lubes (Music Nomad Tune It and Superlube)
Radius gauges
Small Philips screwdriver for tightening tuning machine screws/saddle intonation
Allen wrenches for saddle adjustments
Philips screwdriver for claw adjustments
Good tuner

That’s really all I use when setting up a guitar. Determining action/neck relief is done by feel, sometimes I have to go back and forth a little bit but if it feels good and isn’t fretting out, it IS good. Definitely can’t f*ck anything up by adjusting the action at the saddles. As long as any truss rod adjustments are kept to an 1/8th or 1/4 turn, there’s not a whole lot of damage that can be done unless the rod is truly stuck.

 

[TSJMajesty]

It's not hard at all. I do my own and the only tool I use is a capo. Capo @ 1st fret, push the string until it contacts the last fret, then tap the string to the fret at the mid-point along the neck to check for relief. I like just a touch, that I can barely see the string move before it contacts the fret.

I always de-tune a string before adjusting its saddle height. And I have a good eye for setting the overall action at the same relative radius of the board.
I'd recommend putting on new strings, and making sure they're stretched, before doing a setup, although I'll make a minor adjustment as needed, even if the strings have some play time on them.

Always make sure the tools fit properly, with no play, and that they're fully seated before turning any hardware, especially with Phillips screws.

There are really good, step-by-step setup procedures on the EBMM site, if you want to see what they recommend.

 

[TSJMajesty]

How often are you taking guitars in for setups that it's affecting you budget?

Yeah, good question. Once a guitar is set up to your liking, it should only need a rod adjustment due to seasonal changes. And maybe not even that if the guitar stays in the house, and your humidity levels remain consistent year-round. Unless you change string gauges.

 

[fretworn]

I’ve learned throughout life that if men made something, then men can fix it; simply requires a little bit of risk-taking, learning (“risk reduction“) and go slow at first.

An apropos saying I really like… “If you did it right the first time, you’ve done it before.”

Although that being said, I recently replaced a nut without much trepidation. A few YTs showed it was totally doable.

A couple of people here on the forum made it really easy by pointing out where I can purchase the right parts. (Factory PRS pre-slotted nut).

Set-up followed

 

[itchyfingers]

You've got some good advice so far. There's a really good book out there by Dan Erlewine (sp?) called "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great". If you're not into a bunch of reading, this dude knows a thing or two about guitars and he pretty much follows the same steps when setting up a guitar.

 

[littlebadboy]

...but now I gotta ask..

How often are you taking guitars in for setups that it's affecting you budget?

My guitars go 5 years or more before they ever need anything, and even then, it's minimal

Yeah, good question. Once a guitar is set up to your liking, it should only need a rod adjustment due to seasonal changes. And maybe not even that if the guitar stays in the house, and your humidity levels remain consistent year-round. Unless you change string gauges.

I'm in the Midwest. We get extreme changes when season shifts. I also seldom have my guitars setup but this time, it's the first summer when prices went up. I am changing gauges and tuning, and thought that it probably needs a pro set it up.

 

[Stone]

New Guitar, goes to tech for Initial setup, fret dressing height adjustments, pro setup and parts swap if required (Nut, PuP's), then thats it rest i do which is just some minor truss rod adjustments if needed and intonation

 

[laxu]

Before YT etc provided free info, my bible was the "How to make your electric guitar play great" book by Dan Erlewine. Lots of good stuff there.

I've been doing my own setups and repairs for years. Nothing better to make a guitar play exactly to your liking. A set of nut files is a good investment as that's where you will find most problems and it's also easily the worst made part on any guitar. My methods aren't particularly scientific regarding e.g measuring action and whatnot, I mess with it until it feels right to me. Has worked well so far as all my guitars play well. I tend to tweak a bit when I change strings, if needed.

Only thing I don't want to do is fret leveling and refretting anymore, it's time consuming to do well. I'd rather pay someone to do that, especially because I lost my fret crowning file. I think it was in one of the (thankfully empty) guitar cases junkies stole from my storage a few years ago.

 

[Byrdman]

I do my own as well. Go buy a cheap guitar at a pawn shop, FB Marketplace, etc. and low ball them to see if you can get it any cheaper. There are literally hundreds of cheap Squires-like guitars out there. Then practice on that one to learn how to do everything. Then sell it if you dont want to keep it around, or better yet give it to the young kid down the street and teach him/her to play.

I bought 2 starter guitars from the same guy, fixed everything on them, then sold them to offset the cost on my new Strat. First it was relief and intonation, then level and polish the frets, change nut, etc. Once you learn to do that, you are probably 90% of what you will ever need. Most of that stuff is pretty easy to learn and not mess anything up, but it's the mental issue of doing the same on an expensive guitar.