Took my new guitar in for a setup. What’s your experience with luthiers vs DIY been?

Looks like an amazing place James! How can you stay out of there if it’s local?! :wink: :rofl:

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Oh no, I should have known, that I shouldn’t click on the link :see_no_evil: :heart_eyes:

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Yes, you are correct sir! I did not triangulate for inflation and politicians that… (self edited – figure this part out on your own and if you have the ability to vote in your locale, please vote accordingly).

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What are you doing,…this is the direct incentive to buy guitars :thinking:,…Here you have put a G.A.S. warning in front… But (or because) it’s a really good site you pointed me to before):roll_eyes:
Greetings,…

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Mine was £50 including set up, action adjustment, change of strings, electrics check, clean & polish and a re-sanding of the back of the neck, which is now nice and smooth.

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James @Socio

Peach Guitars looks fantastic, would love to visit, only problem it is 280 mile from home.

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Here in the Uk I’ve sent both my Strat and a 61 Broadway Acoustic and it’s not cheap but I know that any issues are NOT THE GUITAR!!! :joy: :rofl: :joy:

The strat is much faster now, but it did cost roughly £100 (with strings). Love the lowered action on it and much more comfortable to play.

The 61 Broadway was bought at online auction and when I went to collect it the Body stayed on the Table and I’m standing there with the Neck in my Hand, so off it went to Robby Gladwell (ex Fender Rep and Master Luthier) and £250 later I’ve got a guitar that sounds tremendous. Everyone who plays it is in instant lust! LOL. Still, its a right sod to keep in tune (the strat never needs tuning) so watching concert documentaries from the 70’s I now understand why they keep stopping to tune or take so long to do it!

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I can imagine the shock and disappointment at this moment.

I’m happy with truss rod/action/intonation myself, but for fret levelling, I’ve used a tech. I also used a tech when I got a new neck for my strat (swapped maple for an Allparts rosewood one). He did a great job on the neck - beautiful rolled edges and a nice non-gloss finish on the back. I guess I’m now the proud owner of a partscaster.

Been following this topic and it has forced me into action, and thought I would record my experience.
Got a new acoustic, Yamaha, about three months ago, came all boxed up just as left the factory on the other side of the world. Have been letting it settle down, at least that’s my excuse, I knew at some point I would need it setting up properly. There is no way I was going to do any DIY on it.
Following a recommendation I took it in this afternoon.
The luthier gave it a very thorough examination and pronounced it structurally sound which was a relief. But he said he was disappointed at some aspects of the finish on the end of some of the frets and the fret board finish, all of which is fixable. Also had a discussion on what strings to put on taking account that I am only a beginner, just started grade 2. It has 12’s at present and he felt it would be easier to play for me with 10’s or 11’s, we ended up in going for 11’s. He didn’t rush even though there was other wanting to speak to him, he did say he quite liked to work on nearly new guitars.

Will get it back early next week so will report further then, fortunately not without a guitar as my classical will get some action.
Michael :guitar:

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I brought in my guitar somewhere around spring time and it only costed me about 30 € for a small setup of the neck, pickup height and a bit of nut work. I do stringe changes myself and when there off, i just clean the neck to.

This week i brought the guitar back in since the neck had a slight backbow due the season changes. 15 minutes later and the guitar works even better than before. This time my luthier did it for free.

Full setup is about 60 €, excluding strings or other new materials used. I can only recommend letting a professional do the hard work :slight_smile:

Okay. I got my guitar back today. And can I say: Wow. It is amazing. It plays like butter and also sounds better too. There is no way I could have done even close to this myself - I mean, I’d already had a crack at a basic setup.

I originally asked for Elixir 10s to go on it, he convinced me that a hybrid set of D’addarios XS would be even better. Equivalent of 9’s in the higher 3 strings for easier bends and 10’s in the lower three strings.

The luthier did a bit more than I expected. Lowered nut slots, truss rod, saddle action, intonation. But he also releveled a few frets he found that weren’t quite perfect - I hadn’t noticed but he did - and he balanced the pickups. He lowered the neck pickup as it was dominating when the switch was in the middle position so neck/bridge were better balanced. He also adjusted the levels of the individual pickup poles so it sounds sweeter when in single coil mode. A bit of a tweak to the tuning pegs as well.

Overall guitar plays amazingly now. His comment was that it would be pretty hard to have any guitar play better than this one does now. Which is how it feels.

Oh, and a funny little nice touch. On the hand written service report he wrote the model as “Teles/Paul”. Which is kinda what my guitar is, a tele les paul. (Here’s the guitar if you haven’t seen it NGD! Fender Telecaster HH)

I know most people are on the other side of the world but here’s his website, the guitar pit stop. He builds instruments as well. https://www.theguitarpitstop.com.au/

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Always good to get that first one done by a pro. Hybrid strings sound interesting but I can see the logic. I whacked some D’addario EXL120 9.5s on my Washburns as a kind of half way house and have been pretty pleased with them.

Is a recording due :wink:

:sunglasses:

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Soon I think…

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I knew my guitar could use a setup; the action was high, the bridge was sticking quite a bit forward (Strat), and it had been sitting around a long time. I did a few weeks of lessons before deciding to go to a local shop for a setup.

Apparently, I was in luck! The luthier only comes in on Mondays and Fridays, and it was a Friday. He asked the shop owner if it was okay to do mine right now (I think he was mostly doing setups on the shop’s guitars that day, and only had time to do one more.)

Anyway, it was $65 (+$7 for strings), and he did an awesome job, as far as I can tell. The guitar feels so much better to play now. He adjusted the bridge, the truss rod, the intonation, cleaned the fretboard, properly grooved the nut, openned it up and cleaned out a bunch of dust and adjusted the height of the pickups. He asked what strings I wanted, and I told him I was a beginner, so he recommended Super Slinkies.

He said it would be about an hour, so, first I oggled every guitar, bass, mandolin, ukelele, and amp in the shop, then I walked down the street to a smoothie shop. Came back and, bam, beautifully setup guitar.

So, I’d say I had a good experience. I was afraid it would be more expensive, hence why I waited, but $65 seemed very reasonable. The luthier also has his own workshop apparently, so I may seek him out directly in the future.

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I’ve taken both of mine to a pro as I don’t have the experience or the will at the moment to learn about setting up a guitar.

My acoustic it was amazing when I got it back from him. The action was so high and I’d been struggling for ages before someone said, on here, about had I got it set up. It wasn’t even something I knew about.

It sounds like he has done a great job on yours JK and that you are loving it even more. Looking forward to the next video.

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Ernie ball do Hybrids…I switched to them when having some lessons as its way easier to bend those high strings with them on. Probably wouldn’t pick any others now.

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Superb you’ve found it worthwhile JK and pleased you started the topic, it has my mind wandering!!

@MAT1953 - Out of curiosity Michael who have you used?

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Mark @Notter
It was a chap called Shaun, don’t know his second name at the local guitar shop in Sunderland, bit far from where you live. He was recommended by the members of the local acoustic guitar club which I am member, who use him. He also sets guitars up for the local semi professional bands, I understand. He was saying when I was in on Friday afternoon that he would not get around to mine until Monday as he had quite a few to work on before the weekend.
Michael :grinning:

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Thanks Michael, hope it turns out well, sounds like a very good contact. Look forward to hearing what you think when she’s back in your hands!

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