Setups and repairs..do you do your own?

Do you do your own guitar maintenence?

  • Yes, all of it

    Votes: 21 42.9%

  • Yes, the minor stuff

    Votes: 24 49.0%

  • No, I take it to a tech for everything

    Votes: 3 6.1%

  • You mean I'm supposed to do stuff to this thing?

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Total voters
    49
I'm trying to learn more. I did my own fret ends and I've been trying to adjust the action on one of my Xavieres lately (truss rod & bridge adjustments). I've also replaced pickups and tuners. I'm still not very good at the setup portion of things so I'm thinking of getting the book/DVD from the guy at Stew-Mac.
 
Only very minor stuff so far. Like changing strings, and repairing the input jack one time on my Hagstrom when it popped out. I am not opposed to learning more about set up, and changing saddles (acoustic), etc.
 
I'll attempt anything but at least I know I have a decent tech to take it to if I screw it up. Normally it gets announced throughout the store that I messed up a project but oh well...I like providing constant entertainment
 
Doing a decent set-up isn't brain surgery.
If you can lean to PLAY guitar, you can learn to set one up.
Having proper tools and a good strobe tuner is enormously helpful.
 
I do everything myself.

I built a guitar in shop class when I was 16. Well, I built the body. Ordered the neck and hardware from Carvin.

The last time I took a guitar to a tech for anything was in 1999 when I took my PRS for a fret dress (I'd never done fretwork).

At this point, I think I can probably handle anything I need to.
 
Yep. I don't do the big stuff, such as fretting or finishing (although I'd like to), but I do my own setups (truss rod, action, all by eye...) and also minor repairs.
 
I do the easy stuff and basic setup work, but I've never been able to get my guitars feeling as nice as they do from the guy I took my Pearl to. He turned a crappy playing guitar into one that's effortless to play. I'll eventually take all my guitars to him but I just can't afford it right now.

Most electronicsy stuff is fine, I rewired my old strat from scratch and didn't have any problems other than horrific looking soldering and melted wires :embarrassed:

I want to learn how to bias my own amps as well because it would save a lot of time and money. I don't feel very comfortable faffing around inside a live amp though :embarrassed:
 
Basic set up I'm fine with...though like Todge, there is a tech I know who gets much better results than me...unfortunately he's moving quite far away next week, so I'm going to have to get better at it.
 
Yup - do my own setting up; haven't done much repair-wise, but haven't really needed to.

I can change pickups, do wiring, etc. The other more complicated stuff, like um, BUILDING, well that my be in my future...
 
I do all my own repairs and mods to my guitars and amps. I even dabbled in pedal building a bit. I just don't have the cash to pay for a tech. Even if I did, I don't like to trust that stuff to anyone else. I am better at repairing and modding my guitars than I am at playing them.
 
I do everything as well. Now I haven't done an entire refret job yet, but I've replaced a few. I suck at finishes even though I did a really nice job on a neck repair a while back.

It's not for everyone, but I'm a maintenance guy to begin with so it's just second nature for me. I am the guy that people usually come to to fix their stuff so it'd be weird to have someone else do it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top