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

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Mark @Notter

As you suggested here is an update on how I got on.

Received a text to say the guitar was ready to collect late yesterday afternoon so I duly called in. When it was my turn in the queue we went into a practice room and he suggested I play some chords, to be honest I was not really ready for that but had a go. He then played a bit himself, he said he was a lefty but could do a bit right handed. We then had a discussion on what he had done, lowered the action, if that is the correct term, in his words it was difficult play especially as a beginner, he had also put on 11’s as agreed. I mentioned last time that he was disappointed at the finish that it had left the factory. So he had smoothed the ends of some of the frets and stained the fret board as he said a nearly new guitar should look brighter than that. He final view was that the guitar was now ideal to play especially for a beginner like me.

How much did it cost you want to know, all that for 35 GBP, I also made a contribution to a local animal rescue charity that the shop supports, it also one my wife supports as well.

Didn’t get a chance to have much of a go last night, but have today, WOW, what a difference much easier to play.

I must say I was bit nervous before starting the whole process, but the whole experience was enjoyable, a lot down to the luthier, not thinking oh dear here is another novice.

Final thoughts well worth the money and if you are a beginner you really don’t know if the guitar is set up right or not, get it checked out as soon as can don’t wait a few months like i did.

Michael :guitar:

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42

Spot on Michael ! I have been saying that for years after I had my old acoustic set up for the first time after 6 months struggling with the the “F Chord” marathon. When asked to play a few chords in the shop I went for broke and it was as easy as it had been on the electrics. Sounds like good price as well. Given it was over 5 years ago the shop I used charged 24 euro for acoustic (plus parts ie strings minimum) and 42 euros for electrics.
My luthier who I found a few minutes up the road charges, was charging a little more but I was not having to travel 100 minutes to Rennes and back and pay for parking. So a no brainer !

Enjoy !

:sunglasses:

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This is for all beginners. Don’t be afraid of your music store or Luthier. It is their job to sell, fix and set-up your guitar. If they make you feel comfortable and make a good connection you will be back to use their services. Most are musicians themselves and they all were you at on point in their lives.
They are not there to mock you or make feel stupid. They want you to be a repeat customer and happy with you guitar.

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44

Exactly this.

There’s lots of rumours and memes about music shop staff, and I have always found them to be utterly untrue.

Music shops are a business and most of their customers are beginners. They cannot afford to alienate them.

Unfortunately, being a beginner looking to buy a new instrument is a naturally stressful thing, so when you visit a music shop, it’s easy to imagine everyone is judging you.

They aren’t.

Cheers,

Keith

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Thanks Michael for the follow on update, sounds like you’ve more than got your moneys worth and have found a luthier / shop for life!
Enjoy the added playability :slight_smile:

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Toby @TheMadman_tobyjenner
Perhaps it is one of things that Justin could empathise a bit more in very beginners lessons.
Beginners face enough challenges, unfortunately a badly set up guitar could easily put them off for life.

Rick @stitch Majik @Majik
You are right shops need to be aware, which I am sure they are, that nervous beginner may over the years become one of there best customers.

Mark @Notter
Let’s hope the shop will see a lot more of me over the years.
As regards playing still getting used to not having to press so hard.

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I’m sure they are Michael. One thing that my go to Guitar Shop said to me thats stuck with me is "We are all guitar players here, so try to look after each other! ". That’s one of the reasons that I think it’s important to build relationships with those that work in the guitar shops you frequent. Access to lots of advice and maybe some future deals when gas strikes :wink:

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48

Hey Shane, which town / guitar shop?

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49

Hey Tony,

Its PortMac Guitars in Port Macauarie.

Cheers, Shane

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thanks, yeah, visited them a year or so back. Great selection too

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I’ve got all my guitars setup by a luthier this year and it made a huge difference. Especially with acoustic guitar where I couldn’t simply lower the action with an allen key. :wink:

He improved the nut, fret ends, fixed high frets, improved electronic shielding, and other stuff that goes beyond what can be done with a screwdriver or an allen key.

The basic setup I prefer to do myself: truss rod/guitar action/intonation adjustment, cleaning/oiling/conditioning, setting pickup height, etc. That way I make sure it fits me.

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My last visit to a guitar shop was in 1972, before I. Who can afford one ov those at 17?decided to go for broke earlier this year (2022). I had a Suzuki Hummingbird copy when I was 17, and my school buddies raved about the Gibson Hummingbird. Who can afford one of those at 17?

Long story short, i secured one from GuitarGuitar in Epsom, 20 miles outside London (UK). The luthier was professional to his fingertips. The action came out of the box rather high, which he advised me was common. It’s easier to lower an action , than it is to raise it, apparently.

He did an initial setup, which he advised me to play for several weeks. His final adjustment, several weeks later, improved playability to what could reasonably be expected of a high-end guitar.

My point in all of this is to let professionals do the job. If you have bought a £100 / 120 USD orange box, no amount of tweaking DIY or professional, will improve it. If you have one that you like, but has a high action or other fixable defect, pay a professional.

Luthiers do not flay you, like lawyers or big-firm accountants, and most everyday problems take a couple of hours, say, £100 / 120 USD to fix. Is the frustration of a DIY trial and error job worth it, for the sake of this minimal outlay?

To come back to recommendations. GuitarGuitar have a presence in most large UK cities, and i have had very pleasant afternoons in Epsom, and Glasgow (400 miles away). While your instrument is being checked over, they have hundreds of guitars to keep you amused, from budget models to Taylors, Gibsons and others.

On re-reading this post, it looks like a sales pitch. So be it. I am a bona fide, happy customer, who admires the skill of the luthier who set up my guitar, and would like to spread the word to whomever in the UK is looking for one.

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For the first year, I couldn’t figure out why I was struggling so much to play basic chords, so I saved up and had my acoustic Yamaha professionally set up. Turns out the action was set way too high, and the frets needed to be smoothed out (“beveled”). What a difference! As an absolute beginner, how would I have known what a “good playing guitar” felt like? It was well worth the money to have this done, and now I take it back in every year to have it checked and the settings adjusted. Yes, someday I will learn to do this myself, but learning to play is more important to me right now.

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Joe @mvsopen

First of all welcome to the community.

I made a similar observation earlier in the thread and others agreed and is definitely worth repeating.

Michael :grinning:

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My first guitar was set up by the store at the time of purchase. It was a very basic setup on a relatively inexpensive guitar. After that I learned the basics of setting things up and did my own tweaks.

My second guitar was a classical acoustic, and it was set up by a professional. I don’t think I ever did my own set up or adjustment work on that guitar.

My third guitar was an Ibanez 540S (it was either the first or second year they released that line) with a Floyd-Rose style bridge. I found doing my own setup on that guitar to be time consuming, and preferred paying someone else to do it.

My fourth guitar was a steel string acoustic which was purchased used. The previous owner had it set up beautifully. Other than truss-rod adjustments, I didn’t do anything else to it for many years. Eventually the frets needed work, and I took the guitar to a professional for that. He did a great job: the frets were pretty much like new when I got the guitar back.

Since then I’ve pretty much done my own routine set ups on both guitars I already own and on new guitars. I can do the basics without much worry: neck relief, action, intonation, polish frets, etc. I have the tools and have learned to do some slightly more difficult stuff like leveling and crowning, cutting nuts, and basic wiring and soldering. However, it’s not something I particularly enjoy, so I tend to prefer letting a professional handle that stuff. I definitely prefer playing guitars over working on them. I think it’s good to know how to do it, though.

I recently had a guitar Plek’d, kinda as an experiment. It wasn’t a very good experiment since I wasn’t able to do a before and after on the guitar, but the guitar’s fretwork, nut, and setup after the Plek was excellent. In my mind the jury is still out on whether the Plek was worth it, but I’m leaning towards “yes, in the situation of buying a relatively inexpensive guitar that I’ve never played from an online retailer” – it helped guarantee that I’d be getting a nice-playing guitar that was set up to my specifications/brand of strings/etc.

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I got back into guitar during lockdown when using a luthier was not possible. The guitar I had was Squier Affinity Strat with a Nut badly damaged by a previous attempt to lower the action. I never really got it playing properly. The nut on these is 40.6 mm and it is impossible to buy an aftermarket pre-cut nut in this size and too expensive to have one made. I then bought a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele and found a Luthier who was open. I knew that trying to cut the nut myself was a bad idea. He cut the nut well but the guitar had a strange buzz only on the A string at the 4th and 5th fret. I discovered that the string had a very bad kink at this point which forced the string towards the fret. Strangely, although I had already intonated the Barrel saddles, when I got it back the saddles were in a straight line. Obviously I will not be using this guy in future.
For me maintaining and setting up my guitars is a major part of the hobby
With my 2 acoustics and a Harley Benton HB 35 I have lowered the action at the nut myself using a workaround. I remove the Nut and file from the back to bring it down. Be warned this is not easy. My most complicated upgrade was adding a licensed Bigsby to my Telecaster. It works like a charm and much to my relief stays in tune.
I think it is a good idea to factor in a set up to the price of a new guitar particularly for beginners because the action at the nut is set high as a standard which makes fretting the famous F chord very difficult.

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57

A few guitarists I know swear by and recommend Elixirs. But this happens almost every time I overhear someone purchasing strings in my local music stores, and I have had, on at least three different occasions, the salespeople recommending D’addarios. I figure there is a bonus or kickback for the store, or there is a better markup or something, or maybe they’re simply superior strings. Dunno.

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I’ve used both and D’Addarios are good strings but don’t last nearly as long. I find the windings on the G string wear through at the frets really quickly from doing bends. So I think the kick back is you have to replace your strings more often if you do a lot if bends. I prefer Elixirs for both tone and longevity.

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So much variability in guitars. I’ve never felt the need to lower the nut on my Squier Affinity Strat, my Fender Tele’s nut was really high though.

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I was pretty happy with the Elixirs, I like these D’addarios better now I’ve played both for a while. Just because of the sizing, equivalent of 9s on the skinny strings and 10s on the fat ones. Makes bends a lot easier and I’ve adjusted my heavy handed playing.

I’m sure I’d be just as happy with Elixirs in the same size too.

I’ve heard Elixir invented the coating, and when you buy Elixirs the strings are D’addario strings with an Elixir coating. I wonder if D’addario coatings are licensed Elixir coatings as well? I’m not sure.