And thatās the answer. Get them set up by a pro if you have no experience. But while you are there, talk to them about what may need doing and casually drop in frequent oh so how do you do that ? If they are decent techs they will be more than willing and pass on their knowledge.
And once they have been sorted, you can not only enjoy the pair but start learning how to do the basics yourself.
I like Tobyās avice, including a pro setup, but aksing them questions (and maybe, if itās not too big of a disliked thing watch some StewMac setup video at some point) and with the time get a bit more aquainted with your guitars.
And hopefully, youāll find a nice person who likes his job and helping people and not just working for money.
After all, itās just a little geometry (not to forget to not force the truss rod If it doesnāt turn easily enough.) Itās like in a car - itās better to know where to look if the engineās still got enough oil or cooling liquid, or what the correct tire pressure isā¦)
To me it all depends on how much value you have in them - if it is sentimental value then you canāt put a price on it, if it isnāt then you need to decide how much you would be prepared to spend on them to get them to play well.
Then consider if it might be a better option to sell them and buy something better than both of them.
My criteria for spending on any guitar is if the cost to get it to play well exceeds 25% of the value itās not worth it. I donāt include upgrades within this criteria, just work on the instrument as it stands.
Yeah, I get that s but if I t costs me Ā£50 to have the bridge lowered for eg then however I look at it, thatās cheaper than a new guitar.
Sure it is, but to get the action lowered isnāt the end of the job, thereās more to it than that to set a guitar up properly, thatās why I learned to do it myself.
Thereās a shop in Manchester called Forsythes, they do the sort of work that you want doing and have a decent reputation.
So thought I would come back and provide an update here.
So I had both guitars professionally setup.
The older one which had sat in my loft for 30 years was a bit warped and needed a little surgery. Truss rodd adjusted, saddled lowered etc etc.
Sounds fine now although it sounds a touch cheap.
The other, newer guitar, was setup and is much easier to play now.
Both guitars came to a combined cost of Ā£90 including strings on one of them.
Really canāt complain at that price and Iām glad I didnāt mess about with it too much myself at this stage of my guitaring days.
Hi James, I am so glad you are sorted the top priority is to learn how to play your guitar, And if you are not mechanically and or confident with setups and the use of tools it is best left to the people who do it day in and day out, As you play more and become more confident you will feel better about doing your own work, get used to changing strings etc stripping your guitar and giving it a good clean, you will soon gain more and more confidence. I build and repair guitars and I still find myself coming to the community and asking for help, that is how I met most guys in the post, one being the clueless luthier, who in my opinion is a great guy and a good man for advice, Myself I am from North Shields and I do now and I would not have a problem in the future helping anybody with guitar work, especially if you belong to this community. I personally get a great sense of achievement watching a person leave my garage with a new skill, one they have done themself with me watching over, and I donāt and will not charge labour costs, I just love guitar and music. so thatās HECs say on the matter cheers