I won’t keep you guessing for long, but see if you can guess what came from Germany in the big box (the box of 6 eggs is just there for scale)…
I’ll answer the question in a few minutes so if I’ve already answered see if you can guess without scrolling
So firstly NTD stands for New Tools Day…
And in that great big box is a notched metal straight edge 
I was adjusting the neck on my headless guitar the other day and realised I was basically guessing how straight it was so I decided to add to my guitar toolbox with a straight edge
Having checked the neck against the edge I can see it’s now dead flat (and playing nicely)
https://youtube.com/shorts/JhHz7vtfDs4?si=WotBDM7GFd1uNGDw
Couldn’t resist.
Unhhh, the voice of ignorance here:
but—just how does it work? It seems to be just sitting on the floor…
This is almost impossible to photograph because the tolerances are so small. When you are setting a guitar up, you sit it on the fretboard with the notches between the frets and you are looking for the amount of daylight between the notches on the ruler and the fretboard. If your fretboard is dead flat it will touch all the way along. If your neck has a bow in it there’ll either be daylight at either end or in the middle depending which way the neck has bowed. It’s not a tool you’d use often but takes some of the guesswork out of setting up. I’m learning to adjust my own guitars rather than paying a tech to do it so a tool like this will pay for itself over time
Thanks.
I’ve had my guitars setup,
and then again,
I’ve had my guitars setup.
Which is to say, some jobs are better than others.
I’d love to have the knowledge/skills/confidence to do it properly myself
(any excuse for more cool tools enabling greater self reliance is a big plus too 
)
I did a one day course with a guitar tech and I’ve watched a ton of stuff on YouTube relating to it. The straight edge tool takes my opinion out of the equation… I might accuse the neck of being wonky but it might be just my fat fingers that are to blame!
I’m not about to start hammering frets, filing or soldering my guitars but being able to get the neck in good shape and the strings at a nice height can help a lot
You don’t need a notched ruler to check the neck relief. You can also do it with feeler gauges under the strings (usually putting a capo on the first fret and holding down the 6th string at the 12th fret and checking for a very slight gap under the 6th fret). But it is certainly a lot easier to check relief all the way along the fretboard with the ruler. Also it’s much easier to visually see if there’s any twist in the neck by placing the ruler on each side of the fretboard (next to string 6 and string 1) and checking they are the same.
I bought a Harley Benton one (very cheap) and it’s not the best quality but ok. Mine has sharp edges and you can scratch the wood of the fretboard if you don’t take care. But it works.
@mundeli It’s really not at all difficult to do your own setup and you need very few tools (usually a hex key for the truss rod, a smaller hex key for the saddles, a small Philips screwdriver for pickup height, that notched ruler or feeler gauges, and a small precise ruler for measuring action). At labour costs of $150 per hour here in Switzerland those tools cost less than 1 setup. There are loads of videos and it’s very easy. I would say the only part of a true setup that’s a bit challenging is if you have to cut the slots for the nut height (which requires buying different size files for each slot - then its a bit expensive). I think it’s well worth learning how to do it because you can save yourself money, adjust your guitar when you need to and learn something about guitars at the same time.
Paul Davids has an entertaining one (as always).
As I don’t have feeler gauges either it just made sense to get the specific tool for the job.
I agree entirely though that more people should learn to work on their own guitars. The standard response about how you should take a new guitar to a tech spending another chunk of money really annoys me when so much can be done yourself with very basic tools and just a little knowledge. I’ve got standard screwdrivers and guitars typically come with the correct allen keys. Above that I now have the straight edge and a guide to measure string height. This has all cost less than 1 visit to a tech. If your strings are a reasonable height above the fretboard and the neck isn’t shaped like a complete banana you’re well on the way to a very playable guitar.
Fear of messing up rather than
joy of fixing up.
Heck, learning to play guitar is one continuous learning from messing up,
why not do the same with setting up a guitar?
Just now, I also don’t know enough to properly evaluate if there’s an issue, and if so, where
And (perhaps for me the largest impediment I’m cognizant of), what the probability/possibility of significantly messing up the guitar.
But, as well noted, it is painful to pay to get it set up (not to mention making the time for two round trips to the shop → though not as painful as trying to play on a poorly set up guitar…)
I do understand all of your concerns.
For the time being at least I’m leaving the nut of my guitars alone. The files needed are relatively expensive for good ones and you can remove material from the nut but not put it back!
The frets are an item missing from your list. They can be all wonky and if you mess them up then a getting a tech to do a refret is no small job. The tools for levelling frets aren’t inexpensive either.
I will have a go at the rest. The only issue with string changes is because I only do them months apart, each time feels like I’m learning for the first time. String changes on a guitar with a trem have more scope for going wrong but if you do your homework and take your time they’re ok.
People are unduly scared of the truss rod. Sure you can break a guitar if you go crazy with it but every single tutorial on the internet will tell you to do a quarter turn at a time and check the results. If you follow this advice you’re unlikely to go wrong. Having the straight edge tool makes it easier to assess the effect of each adjustment.
Adjusting the bridge is also straightforward. The most obvious mistake will be to use a screwdriver that isn’t quite the right size and then strip the heads of the screws.
Actually you can. Check out the super glue and baking soda trick. 
I was debating buying one myself but went down the feeler gauge route, as it’s a trek to get to the nearest guitar tech for me and inconvenient, I thought I’d give it a go myself for my next setup. They’re sitting in my tool kit I’ve not got around to it yet.
I know where you are coming from with that - I have a bicycle work stand because I had good intentions there which never really happened. The best excuse I have on that front is you need a wider range of tools to be able to work on modern bikes. With a guitar you can get a lot of tools for the cost of one visit to a tech… with a bike a full(ish) toolset will cost more than a single workshop visit
Remember it does no harm to try them out on an existing guitar… necks can move over time
A golf bag?
Funnily enough, I’m taking early retirement soon and my step-mum suggested I take up golf - I said the last thing I needed was another expensive hobby!
