Can you "service" a guitar?

Oriel

Hi Folks,
A guitar, 8 years old. Hasn't seen too much use, even less abuse.
Is there such a thing as bringing it into shop or whatever, for a "service", like a car?
Just something where a guy that knows what he's on about working on it, loose connections, fretboard work, etc.

Is is available/common? And is it worth it?

Cheers,
S.

feylya

Generally referred to as a set up. Can be helpful if the guitar isn't playing well but could help if the guitar isn't in the best shape. Usually consists of a good clean, fretboard conditioning, electronics checking/repair, fret polishing, things like that. Worth it if the guitar is going to be used a lot in future. Very simple to do yourself. Check the Resource sticky.

!_Brian_!

I drop my guitar in every couple of months, well maybe twice a year to get it serviced. Its all very do able yourself really but the guy I go to is a legend and knows exactly what I'm after so I dont mind handing over 50 quid every now and then. Well worth it IMO

mloc

For a guitar thats worth a fair bit already (1k +), and gets used a fair bit, Derek Nelson up in Marlay Park is your only man.

Very expensive, but makes a good guitar great.

LundiMardi

how expensive is expensive?

mloc

not 100% sure, but I think about 200 quid for a service/setup.

For a guitar like a Les Paul or a treasured Strat, it's probably worth it. A friend has had a few guitars done by him, and they play amazingly.

LundiMardi

Jesus that's rediculous.

I was going to get him to refret my guitar, i'm not looking forward to the quote now!!!

It's a guitar, wood and screws and the likes, it's not hard to service. Paying 200 euro for the pleasure is crazy.

feylya

TBH, a refret should be about €200-250 anyway. It's not a quick or easy thing to do. €200 for a setup is a joke though.

LundiMardi

yeah, i expected it to be that much for a refret, but, hearing what he charges for a service, i'd feel lucky to be paying 250 for a refret!!! jebus...

Although, when getting it refretted, i'd want it serviced too, as it is an old guitar and could probably do with a bit of wiring work and such... sounds like it would be cheaper to buy a new guitar instead!!!

david

My God, I paid €35 for a service, clean, restring, rewiring and pickup installation of my SG in Adlib. Crazy prices flying around for a service..

mloc

its true the prices are a bit high.

An old guitar teacher of mine once dropped an extremely valuable spanish guitar and ended up with a hole through it. Derek Nelson managed to repair it flawlessly, no signs of any damage at all. The guy is a master luthier, so I guess its quite a step above the average setup you'll get.

david

A guitar setup is a completely different job to say, rewiring an ES-335 or a decent headstock snap repair... I'd pay big bucks for a good repair job on a valuable inst but a setup is pretty much a setup

Johnny Storm

I dont know what Derrick Nelson charges for just a set up but I do know he's really good and yes he is expensive. As I posted a few months ago there was a night and day difference between him and what A. N. Other guy offered to do to my guitar (and the other guy was not much cheaper either)


Here's another alternative, posted by Ancient1 in the Musical resources stickie

Sound Gear Musical Instruments
24 South Richmond Street, Dublin 2
Tel/Fax 01-475 5794
Tel 01-475 7226
soundger@iol.free (that's "ger" not "gear")

The chief is Rory O'Connor and Jimmy is yer man for all things guitar

gaffmaster

I've gone to the guitar workshop in the past. Eugene knows what he's on about.

www.theguitarworkshop.net

Hey Freakonaleash; where's Adlib? Is it a repair place or music shop or what?

Cheers

NeMiSiS

It's in Carlow.. Freak, my bands playing in Buzzes Friday if yer around!
TK

chillyspoon

I know it's a long long time since anyone posted to this topic - but sometimes it's important to chip in.

Derek set up my Les Paul Standard 11 years ago - it's still utterly perfect - he is a craftsman and his time is valuable - if you are having a quality instrument set up then you go to a craftsman.

No level of skill is going to get a budget guitar sounding perfect - the guitar is budget because corners have been cut on the materials, manufacturing process and the accuracy and hence maths behind the tuning and intonation - that's where quality guitars shine; a combination of maths and craftsmanship; so take budget guitars to a budget place and high end guitars to the high end place.

Simple as that.

Bratach Bán

mloc wrote:

not 100% sure, but I think about 200 quid for a service/setup.

For a guitar like a Les Paul or a treasured Strat, it's probably worth it. A friend has had a few guitars done by him, and they play amazingly.

Last time I was up there, it was around 80-120 as long as there was no major fret work involved. Once there is work to be done on the frets, the price increases. Quickly.

seaner

I got my guitar 'set up' recently , involved a restring, tuners changed, intonation adjusted, jack plate replaced, switch and pots replaced for €80. And it plays lovely now. I think thats very reasonable considering the parts alone would probably have cost a bit.

I wouldn't advise doing it yourself, i sent mine to a luthier in Arklow. And he gets paid the money cuz he knows what he's doing.

You can attempt doing some things yourself, but if you make a cock up, it will probably end up costing you more in the end! :mad:

Voodu Child

The amount of rubbish in this thread is unbelievable..:rolleyes:

Sending your guitar to Derrick Nelson for a setup is like bringing your car back to the garage to change the oil, or fill up the petrol tank..

I 'setup' my guitars probably once a month. I dont even look at it like a setup - i'll be playing away and notice the action is a bit high/low. I eye it up, pull out the allen key, and away you go. Same with intonation, trem claw, truss rod, nut height, its a continual thing. Saying someone setup your guitar 11 years ago and its still perfect is one of the daftest things ive heard on these forums, and that is saying a lot:rolleyes:

By all means send your guitar to a Derrick or any other luthier to have a refret, or paintjob, or even rewire if your not comfortable with a soldering iron. But its insulting to the intelligence of any guys starting out here to suggest that they stay away from setups in case they 'cock up' their guitar.

feylya

I've never brought a guitar to a "luthier". My guitars play rather nicely. I cocked up a guitar. I fixed it. I learned a lot. People are too afraid of breaking guitars these days when they shouldn't be, especially considering the number of really good guides on the internet.

Doctor J

Knowing how to setup a guitar is as fundamental as knowing how to put on a string or play a chord. If you play a guitar you should make it your business to know the basics of how it works and how to do what are very basic mechanical adjustments. It's not hard, it doesn't involve rocket science, it's just a guitar - ie a plank with strings attached.

Voodu Child

I remember my first guitar - for a couple of months, i never even noticed the truss rod or paid any attention to any of the screws or bolts on the bridge. It wasnt even that i didnt know what they did, it was just that i never looked at them.

Over the course of a year or two, i started fiddling around with it, pulled off the neck, completely rewired it, stripped a couple of allen heads from using a knife to turn them:rolleyes:.... I figured stuff out (and got help from others) on a guitar that was worth a hundred quid, and thats the way it should be. If someone had said to me - 'hey don't try and set that up, you might break it', i dread to think where i'd be now (id have a couple of grand worth of floyd rose guitars and would probably have spent the same again getting Derrick Nelson to restring them every time for me:D )

When you see people who've been playing 5 or 10 years and have moved up to Gibson LPs and the like, and they still dont know how to move the action up or down, its just ridiculous.

Thats the only reason i have a problem with the 'dont touch the truss rod, you'll break it' type warnings - you'll needlessly scare away new players from messing with their guitars, and spawn a whole new generation of retards who have expensive guitars but don't know what intonation is.

Doctor J

In fairness though, the same LP playing folk shouldn't be encouranged to go at the truss rod of a Gibson without some prior experience or basic understanding of what they're doing. Mistakes should be made on cheapo first guitars, not on set neck 2k LPs... given that they have a 2k guitar but don't how how to set it up in the first place, some leeway should be given here

Voodu Child

Aye, i don't disagree with you there, that was kind of my point.

If loads of guys are posting advice to the effect of 'don't try to set your guitar up yourself', then the newer guys might never learn the basics, and end up with great guitars a few years down the line that they don't know what to do with.

I started on a cheap pacifica, it was a long time before i could afford to buy a mid range Ibanez, and even longer before I moved to the higher-end ones. Im glad i messed around with the pacifica and the old RGs because thats pretty much where i learnt the basics.

seaner

i wasn't saying that he should wrap his guitar up in cotton wool and never touch it unless he's playing it!!

My particular set up involved changing the tuners to ones that needed different sized holes drilled into the headstock. So i thought it best if I just handed it over to a man who had the proper tools / etc to do this. I don't think this is being "retarded".

Of course everyone should know about the basics but when you can admit that the job would be done better by someone else then whats the problem with that?

I love messing around with the mechanics etc of my guitar, but to assume that I can do just as good a job as a guy who's been making guitars for 20 years is just being ignorant and a little arrogant.

Voodu Child

Don't worry, i wasnt calling YOU retarded.

There's stuff that a luthier is better off doing, for sure. As mentioned by the other guys, refrets, neck repairs, and fair enough, drilling holes in headstocks (though im sure plenty of guys here would be happy to do some of this.) Its up to you to decide what you will/can do, and nobody is having a go at you for that.

But this thread is about basic setups/servicing, and whether or not you should pay E200 for something you can learn to do yourself without any trouble.

seaner

sorry, i misunderstood that. And yeah I agree €200 is pretty steep!