Pro set up on a budget guitar?

Lestratcaster

One of my learners just took their Rockjam Strat style electric into a local shop for a basic set up, be interested to see how it plays when they get it back, action was too high and intonation was out. I presume the nut will need filing too.

57Deluxe

strings cost is £6+ alone, so not a bad price, especially if it has high frets and the the intonation needs a lot of fiddling to get it stable. BUT, as it s a cheap guitar, whey not use the oppo to learn the skills to set it up yourself?

Paul7926

When I got my epi sg I picked it up from a local shop. It only cost about 130 but would have been slightly cheaper from online outlets.

Now because I didn't want to wait and getting anything delivered to my address is a nightmare I just bought it from them. I tried asking for the difference as credit but they wouldn't budge. The reason given was that all shop sold guitars had had a proper set up.

Didn't think much about it at the time as I knew nothing and thought it might be just marketing drivel.

However the more I find out about guitars the more I find that everything on it is spot on. My tutor thinks it plays well for a budget guitar and it never goes out of tune.

So I'd say if the guitar is something the player likes then getting it set up properly is worth the money.  If on the other hand the player is hankering after a different guitar then don't bother as you will not benefit from the improvement. 

It's nice to have a well set up guitar but it's not going to make anyone a better player instantly.

relic245

57Deluxe said:

BUT, as it s a cheap guitar, whey not use the oppo to learn the skills to set it up yourself?

Not sure if your comment is aimed at me or not (I'm the OP.) If it is, then see my earlier reply. I have loads of interest in playing guitar and zero interest (or time to commit) to learning even basic set up skills. I get it that for some people it's part of the fun and enjoyment but not for me. 

stephen.wood125

I bought a Martin OM-42 for silly money and it had free buzz despite being “plekked” (I know it’s just another machine that can go wrong or be set up poorly) I think a hand finished set up from a good tech is a godsend. I’ve sorted it myself but I've been doing a fair bit on guitars for a while now so was lucky enough to have a really good tool set.

thegummy

roberty said:

OilCityPickups said:

thegummy said:

roberty said:

£50 seems a bit steep for basic setup?  Nut, neck relief, action, intonation. Probably the nut that's messing your tuning up

It's actually a lot lower than I've seen it for. Usually I see it costing more like £80.

I was going to say that ... beat me to it.

I've never paid anywhere near £80 for a basic set up. Guess it depends where you go and what the overheads are

How much have you paid?

Thing with services like this is that there's no governing body like for dentists etc., it's always just someone saying they can work on guitars.

There's a lot of chancers offering all kinds of services, the recent so-called "side hustle" trend through social media is an indication. I think it's just "entrepreneurial" people who start small businesses more than people starting them because they're especially skilled.

I'd only use someone with a prestigious reputation who maybe did an apprenticeship 40 years ago and have been working to a high standard since. Those ones I've found do charge around the £80 mark.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that a lower price automatically means less skill or experience. Nor does a high price indicate quality. It's just a warning to OP that someone offering a setup service doesn't necessarily mean they'll do it well so don't go with the cheapest quote because the guitar is cheap - it might be a waste of money - google for ones near you that gets good feedback on forums etc.

Incidentally, it's often been a lotto win fantasy of mine for my vintage guitar shop that I'd maybe do a bit of an unpaid apprenticeship with a master and go through nuts and guitars to practice on then offer cheap setups for people, possibly on a "percentage of guitar cost" basis so beginners with affordable instruments can have them improved for very little money.

thegummy

relic245 said:

57Deluxe said:

BUT, as it s a cheap guitar, whey not use the oppo to learn the skills to set it up yourself?

Not sure if your comment is aimed at me or not (I'm the OP.) If it is, then see my earlier reply. I have loads of interest in playing guitar and zero interest (or time to commit) to learning even basic set up skills. I get it that for some people it's part of the fun and enjoyment but not for me. 

Not trying to push you in to it but you might be surprised how little work / learning there is in most of a setup.

Cutting nuts etc. is more difficult but things like straightening the neck and raising or lowering the saddle height is more like adjusting your car seat and rear view mirror than anything a mechanic would do. I.e. You could do it now in 10 mins without any learning.

relic245

thegummy said:

Not trying to push you in to it but you might be surprised how little work / learning there is in most of a setup.

Cutting nuts etc. is more difficult but things like straightening the neck and raising or lowering the saddle height is more like adjusting your car seat and rear view mirror than anything a mechanic would do. I.e. You could do it now in 10 mins without any learning.

I already do the basics like string height, intonation etc. 

On my son's guitar, I know for sure that the nut needs attention and I think that my 335 could do with having the frets recrowned. I know that with either of those jobs if I get it wrong then I can leave the guitar in much worse condition than it is now so they are the kind of jobs that I want to leave to a professional. 

thegummy

relic245 said:

thegummy said:

Not trying to push you in to it but you might be surprised how little work / learning there is in most of a setup.

Cutting nuts etc. is more difficult but things like straightening the neck and raising or lowering the saddle height is more like adjusting your car seat and rear view mirror than anything a mechanic would do. I.e. You could do it now in 10 mins without any learning.

I already do the basics like string height, intonation etc. 

On my son's guitar, I know for sure that the nut needs attention and I think that my 335 could do with having the frets recrowned. I know that with either of those jobs if I get it wrong then I can leave the guitar in much worse condition than it is now so they are the kind of jobs that I want to leave to a professional. 

Cool. Same here, I tried doing nuts before myself and had partial success but partial failure so gave up.

Most guitars I've tried seem to need nut work done from the get-go, seems to be such an overlooked part of the production.

Even an American Strat I recently bought could do with the nut being lowered slightly, though it's fine in other ways and doesn't cause any problems so it's not worth fixing. It's just a little higher than my other identical neck which has had the nut worked on. Both intonate the same on the first few frets though.