Guitar Set-Up

Killaqueen!!!

What exactly is involved n a guitar set-up? I have a very crap Yamaha ERG121 electric (very much a beginners guitar even though I'm a bit past beginners level), and am looking for a good set up of the neck to get the strings to stop buzzing. The funny thing is I don't think it is the action because it seems fine. Anyway, ages ago a guitar teacher (I don't do lessons anymore) advised me to get it set up. Where is the best place to get this done and what is involved in setting up? I heard Musicians Inc do it for 20-30euro?

feylya

Check the resources sticky. There's loads of guides.

Killaqueen!!!

Sorry, I'm not a regular to this forum! Should have looked there before posting.

Those are great resources and now I have an idea of what it involves but I'm really not capable of doing a set-up myself. Does anyone know where I can get it done well for a reasonable price? I don't think it says anything about that in the resources thread.

feylya

Why do you think you're not capable? If you can follow instructions and use a few tools, you can set up a guitar.

Killaqueen!!!

feylya wrote:

Why do you think you're not capable? If you can follow instructions and use a few tools, you can set up a guitar.

I can hardly tune a guitar let alone do a professional set-up!

I will learn how to do it in the future but I find it hard to learn how to do something from instructions on the internet. Stupid, I know. But I don't want to mess up my guitar so I'd rather have someone who knows what they're doing do a proper set-up. At least this time anyway. And maybe I can watch and do it next time.

feylya

Well, any of the shops in town should sort you out. I've been playing for about 7 years and I have never had a single person adjust any aspect of any of my guitars except me.

Beecher

Musician Inc dont generally do setups and the like at this time of year so you'll be waiting a few weeks before they even look at it. Also expect it to cost a lot more than 20-30 euro, my last setup (while not in musician inc) still cost me 70 euro, and my mate who went to Derek Nelson paid 120 euro but it was the best setup ive seen ever bar none!

Killaqueen!!!

Beecher wrote:

Musician Inc dont generally do setups and the like at this time of year so you'll be waiting a few weeks before they even look at it. Also expect it to cost a lot more than 20-30 euro, my last setup (while not in musician inc) still cost me 70 euro, and my mate who went to Derek Nelson paid 120 euro but it was the best setup ive seen ever bar none!

Damn, I really thought Musicians Inc would do it. Maybe Waltons will but 70-120euro? ouch! it better be worth it.

Johnny Storm

"Sound gear" is recommended at the very end of the sticky. I have no idea what they would charge.

I'm sure most people who post here would recommend that you do learn to do your own set up. There's really nothing you can actually screw up or break in setting action, relief, intonation.
Edit(that is assuming you read the guides, have the right tools and have a little bit of common sense(after you've been reading this forum for a while you'll see that the bar for common sense is set pretty low ))
But if you're not confident doing it now then IMHO you are right to get a good set-up done by a pro.

Beecher

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

Damn, I really thought Musicians Inc would do it. Maybe Waltons will but 70-120euro? ouch! it better be worth it.

Its not really tbh. I quickly learned how to do my own setups after that, it was surprisingly easy. The only time I go to anyone now is if I need fretwork done but that would be about it.

Killaqueen!!!

Thanks for the replies. I know everyone will try and convince me to do it myself and yis probably know best but trust me, I'd screw something up! Best to leave it to a pro this time. I'll ask around the shops in town see if anyone will do it!

Really want to buy a new electric anyway....

Beecher

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

Really want to buy a new electric anyway....

Well if thats the case id put the money you were considering spending on a setup and piling that towards a new guitar. You can then pratice setting up your old guitar at a nice comfortable pace.

Really when it comes down to setting up my guitars theres only a few things I do:

Remove all strings.

Clean the neck/polish the frets

Clean the electronics out (theres a spray in Maplins called 'knob cleaner', no really there is, just squirt in into your pots etc and it will remove any dirt that may cause noise)

Check the neck angle, most people seem scared to do this but if you take your time theres not really any risk of damaging the instrument. I like to have the neck straight from the 24th to the 9th fret and then have a slight foward angle

Check intonation, this is very easily done and rectified.

Polish/Restring guitar.

I dont know if anyone else does any more steps, or has a different method to me but for me that works. It also only takes an hour or two and it saves me some money. The only part I could even see you damaging your guitar would be adjusting the neck angle but if you stick to quarter turns it shouldnt happen.

Voodu Child

Yeah, sorry for just repeating what everyone else said, but youd be mad to get a shop to set it up for you. Just read the resources and come back here with any questions.

Killaqueen!!!

Well I emailed Waltons and they said they do set-ups. I'll pop in and see what they charge and if it's unreasonable I might have a go myself. It's annoying me cos I hate playing my electric now - I'm very picky, I can't play it if it's always buzzing so I've been sticking to acoustic for a while now.

Thanks for the tips and I'll have another look at the resources sticky!

Cheers!

And Happy Christmas!

Johnny Storm

Please note that Waltons in NOT mentioned in the resourses sticky as a place to get set ups done. Know what i mean?;)

Fingers Mcginty

you really should have a go at it yourself...it's easy stuff.
There are tons of resources out there on the net for you to delve through.
Why pay some toe rag to set up a guitar for you when you can do it yourself.
It's like forking out 200 yo yos for someone to service your car when you can do it yourself for 40 shmackers.

TempestSabre

I wouldn't go to Waltons.

DamoRed

I've just got into the realms of set ups myself and as long as you don't go berserk, you can't do any damage. It may be less than more experienced members here will do, but I saw a tip recently,that said about set ups, and truss rod adjustment in particular.....no more than a quarter of a full turn a day, to allow the wood in the neck get used to the conditions.

I'm sure the guys who do set-ups all the time will exceed this, but that's because they know what they're doing. They know what's ok and what isn't. But for those venturing into new territory, a little at a time is fine. You can go slow and get there at your ease or go too fast and realise 'Oh crapola, I've just screwed up'

Slowly slowly, catchy monkey.

Damo

Fingers Mcginty

exactly....i've had to adjust the old truss rod on a vintage lately....had to turn a full 180 cw to get the neck in a playable condition....trial and error!!!!

Grolschevik

Paid for a "pro" setup last year for the first time in nearly 17 years of owning electrics (apart from refrets) and that's because the guitar had been sitting in its case in a variable temperature room for over a year untouched. Thought the neck might need looked at, as it had developed some fret buzz, and I figured a guy making a living at doing that stuff would certainly have better tools and measuring equipment and would know what he was doing.

Close to €100 later, I got a new set of strings, an admittedly nice action (but nothing I couldn't have done myself), a statement that "yeah, the neck's grand", newly crackling pots, still some fret buzz, and wax stains on my pickups (I said: "Is that epoxy resin on my pickups?". He said, really fast: "Nothing to do with me!"). Won't be going back there...

Killaqueen!!!

Why not go to Waltons? I know it wasn't mentioned in the resources sticky but it didn't mention anywhere else to get it done..

See yis are gonna laugh at me, but I can't even change the fricken strings on my electric - and that's trying to follow instructions on the internet. So I definitely amn't going to be able to find the source of that string buzz if I can't even put the strings back on properly.

feylya

Seriously, get someone to show you. Once you figure it out, you'll wonder why you ever bothered paying for it.

Killaqueen!!!

That's what I've been trying to do all along. Get a professional to show me! But there seems to be nowhere decent to get it done and nobody is recommending me anywhere! Thanks for being patient with me though, feylya. This thread is on it s second page and I still haven't a solution.

Voodu Child

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

Why not go to Waltons?

Waltons arent going to do anything to your guitar you cant do yourself.

As a beginner, theres literaly only a couple of things you need to do to remove the buzz. All youre interested in is the action and the truss rod.

Theres plenty of other things that can and might need to be done (fretwork, neck angle etc), but Waltons certainly arent going to do them, and you can worry about them when you get more comfortable working on guitars.

feylya

Killaqueen, I'm not talking about a professional. I'm talking about someone who can restring their guitar and knows about guitars. Do you have no guitar playing friends that could show you? Where abouts are you in Dublin? I'm sure there's someone on this forum near to you that wouldn't mind helping.

Rigsby

My confidence has increased a little after reading this forum. I have a G+L 2000 Tribute bass and want to change to a different set of strings. The new strings ( TI flats ) would have a lesser tension. I've never set up a guitar before. Like Killaqueen I'm reluctant to try something I'm not sure of. In my case though, I might only have to loosen the truss rod a little ( I hope ! ). I'll give it a try after Christmas.
Hope it works out for you Killaqueen.

TempestSabre

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

Why not go to Waltons? I know it wasn't mentioned in the resources sticky but it didn't mention anywhere else to get it done..

...

Waltons don't seem to be able set up the quitars they have on sale. To my mind thats not a good sign.

TelePaul

TempestSabre wrote:

Waltons don't seem to be able set up the quitars they have on sale. To my mind thats not a good sign.

Hahahahah! Yup, I have to agree about Georges Street Waltons...they're really overextending themselves, and thier supposed large inventory is really causing problems in the quality and support department.

TempestSabre

They've always been the same even when they only had a smaller shop years ago.

Killaqueen!!!

I knew Waltons wasn't great but what other guitar shops are better? There aren't many around Dublin.

Anyway, seeing as I'm getting back into the guitar (haven't been playing great recently) I decided to move off possibly the sh1ttest guitar I've ever played and buy a proper electric because though I have a nice enough acoustic, this guitar is just shocking...

So anyone know how much I can get for a Yamaha ERG121 plus the sh1tty amp that comes with it (GA10 it's called)? Can't find the gig bag that came with it and I have no decent leads on me but there's a book+cd that came with it I could throw in too.

Please don't laugh at my awful guitar haha...

Oh, and do you think I could probably sell it without getting it set up properly? I know it's a bit harsh on the buyer but I don't want to fork out money on it if I'm going to sell it (I know I know I could try doing it myself...)

Gary ITR

Jaysis Killaqueen where are you in Dublin. If your near me I'll show you how to change strings etc