Would you have your guitar set up at a major chain or a local guitar shop?

[jeremy]

i tend to stay with local shops if im not doing my own work. but im blessed to have three really good shops locally, along with a handful of others that are also pretty good. our local gc kinda sucks these days, though i know and respect a few guys who work there

 

[Securb]

Guitar Center has a well deserved reputation for hackery and stupidity among their "techs".

Stop slamming GC they do some amazing custom work

 

[Inflames626]

Absolute truth and absolutely hilarious.
I havent lived wlth guys since I was 19 years old, and I've never met a female luthier.
But if I ever do, I'll never let her get away.

Meet a female luthier, lovely accent gratis.

You're welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-pb-SLVEac

Sweetwater has a few too, I think.

 

[solspirit]

Lol .. that sweet little girl wouldnt have the time of day for me, nor should she.

 

[Inflames626]

Lol .. that sweet little girl wouldnt have the time of day for me, nor should she.

How about the guys you lived with at 19? Old roommates can be fun assuming you don't hate them and they are still alive.

 

[Wattage]

Would you have your guitar set up at a major chain (like guitar center) or a local guitar shop? I live in the NY area so I have a lot of options. Don't know if it matters or if you benefit from a place like guitar center since they will have one dedicated person doing setups all day.

GC is a mixed bag, you might get a good guy you might not.

I don't know any of the Ash guys anymore but Larry Fitzgerald was fantastic when he was there.

 

[The Guitar]

I prefer a small shop. I did take my Westone down to Sam Ash. Their tech is a luthier and when he lived in town, that's where I went. So I knew it would be a one and done setup. On top of the setup, got a Graphtec nut, which came to $155. Only $5 more than what I paid for the guitar. Sam Ash has a bridge fee and for a Floyd guitar, it's $80. Without that fee, the $75 was pretty fair for the work that was done.

 

[solspirit]

How about the guys you lived with at 19? Old roommates can be fun assuming you don't hate them and they are still alive.

A few are still around, but none of them know much about guitar setup. Now if I needed a roof, addition or deck, or maybe a multi million $ government contract ... but no guitar work

 

[GuitarDoc]

Meet a female luthier, lovely accent gratis.

You're welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-pb-SLVEac

Sweetwater has a few too, I think.

I've watched several of Daisy's videos. She's actually a very good luthier who does things the old-fashion way...by hand, with care, with passion, and with precision. I'm not sure how she can make a living at what she does, but at least you can tell she loves what she does. And she does it well. She is inspiring because she makes you fell like you can do it too.

It was because of a couple of bad experiences, like a few of you have mentioned, that incompetent techs did on my guitars many years ago even with very simple tasks, that made me think..."I can do better than that". So I decided to learn all I could, starting with pickup swaps, simple setups, then pup mag swaps and changing 2 to 4 wires, and even small repairs. Then I decided (since I have an extensive woodworking background with lots of experience) to make a couple bodies from scratch. I didn't feel ready to do anything on necks other than simple fret leveling and end dressing so I bought all of my necks. Then because of some very poor and inexcusable lack-of-quality work on the necks of expensive Gibson guitars, I decided I had to begin making my own necks.

Well, one thing led to another, and for quite a while now I've been making every part (except the hardware) of some very expensive custom guitars.

My point in saying all this is to point out that there is nothing magical about guitars, and to encourage all of you to begin learning how to do at least some basic work on your own instruments. Who knows, maybe one day you will become an Antonio Stradivari of guitars. [h=3][/h]

 

[Securb]

Who knows, maybe one day you will become an Antonio Stradivari of guitars. [h=3][/h]

He did make guitars, very few but he did make them. There are only five left on the planet, and only one of the five is playable. In some ways, it makes them rarer than his violins, actually priceless. I saw one at a museum exhibit, and it was breathtaking to see it in person, even if it was behind glass and velvet ropes.

 

[GuitarDoc]

If I recall correctly, he made several different types of stringed instruments. I've never seen any of them in person. That must have been a great experience for you.

 

[Securb]

If I recall correctly, he made several different types of stringed instruments. I've never seen any of them in person. That must have been a great experience for you.

It was, one of the most memorable times with my Dad. They had guitars from the 1500s right up to modern times. It was 20 years ago. I wish the Boston Museum of Fine Arts would bring the exhibit back. It was simply amazing. They had three guitars representing the 70's, Ibanez Iceman, Dan Armstrong Lucite and an Ovation Deacon. I own two of the three.

​

 

[GuitarDoc]

Sounds amazing and a great experience to have with your dad.

I remember in high school after several years of playing sports, my dad came to one of my track events. Then after college he went bow hunting with me. Two occasions I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life (my dad has been gone for over 15 years now).

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Guitarists should use a lack of luthier access to learn how to do at least three things:

1) Set a truss rod.

2) Set the action.

3) Intonate the guitar.

Doesn't everyone? It was one of the first things my teacher tried to teach me when I had lessons, but I already knew it, because I had t3h interwebz! B)

I once got an argument from someone posting a meme on a facebook group saying he takes his guitars to GC to have their strings changed, LOL.

 

[jeremy]

many of us started playing well before there was interwebz, you kids got it easy

 

[Aceman]

Back in the pre-internet days you got Dan Erlewine's book to learn this stuff:

 

[ehdwuld]

I remember smashing guitars that wouldn't intonate
I didnt know I could correct that

and I played guitars with extremely high action because truss rods and nut slots meant nothing to me

 

[Inflames626]

Back in the pre-internet days you got Dan Erlewine's book to learn this stuff:

Dan Erlewine is the kindly old grandfather I never had whom I wish was always on hand to fix my stuff.

As much as StewMac stuff costs these days, I feel like I'm paying for that privilege.

 

[Inflames626]

I remember smashing guitars that wouldn't intonate
I didnt know I could correct that

and I played guitars with extremely high action because truss rods and nut slots meant nothing to me

#1 fear of beginning guitarists is if they adjust their truss rod 1 mm then a nuclear war will occur.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

many of us started playing well before there was interwebz, you kids got it easy

Yeah, my guitar teacher probably did as well. But maybe he offered to teach me because his guitar teacher taught him to?

My point is that I assumed almost everyone was taught that early on by someone, in my case, the interwebz.

Maybe I'm assuming wrong, but almost everyone I know who plays guitar tends to set his/her own guitar up (at least the basic stuff that doesn't need overly specialized tools to do like bridge/saddle height and TR). I thought it was the majority that knows how to and does it themselves? Or is that more of an era-of-the-interwebz thing? (I think I started playing guitar around 2000).