/diy/ - Do It Yourself

[Anonymous No.775342]

Anyone have any experience setting up string instruments? Specifically guitars and bass guitars? I've always taken my new instruments to a nearby shop to have them strung and set up but I want to start doing it myself.

Is there any common mistakes I should know about? Any general tips or advice?

[Anonymous No.775343]

use google before you ask any questions

[Anonymous No.775344]

>>775343
This. A search for "setting up guitars/bass guitars" and will provide you with much richer information than you'll get out of /diy/, by people who live and breathe this shit.

The fact that it did not occur to you to do this first, and the fact that you completely ignored the part of the sticky which says "First ask Google, then ask /diy/. Your question will probably be better received if you do" would lead me to believe that it may be better for you to keep paying someone else to do it anyway. I'm not sure I like the idea of you having tools in your hands.

Good luck.

[Anonymous No.775379]

>taken my instruments to a shop and had them strung up
I didn't even know this was a thing. I've been doing it myself since I got my first guitar at 10.

[Anonymous No.775424]

>>775379
Personally, I can't be fucked.

The shop'll do a better job than I can, and I'm buggered if I'm taking a Floyd-Rose apart or going anywhere near a truss rod.

For the time it would take me to make a meal of it, I can just go to work, and pay a professional.

[Anonymous No.775439]

>>775424
Sir please leave this board.

[Anonymous No.775443]

>>775424
get out of /diy/ right now

[Anonymous No.775453]

>>775424
How has the thought never occured to you that "hey, imagine all the cash I'd save if I learned how to do all this shit myself"?

I don't think you belong here.

[Anonymous No.775454]

>>775342
There's instructions on the Internet. The only thing you need to be careful about is adjusting the bolt that runs through the neck, if you tighen it too much you can literally destroy the guitar.

[Anonymous No.775456]

>>775424
1. Yes, you need to leave, you don't belong in a DIY discussion
2. Yes, someone like you should pay someone else, you're obviously not competent to even own tools. At least you're smart enough to know you're not qualified.

[Anonymous No.776024]

Well OP, your first mistake was that you should have said "Are there any common mistakes...".

[Anonymous No.776042]

>>775424
Top kek.

>lets guitar shop rape him for changing his strings
>comes on diy to give advice on changing strings and setup

[Anonymous No.776651]

Restringing them (Especially basses) is easy, any retard can do it after they watch a youtube video.
As for the intonation, that's a job that only really has to be done once in a blue moon

[Anonymous No.776657]

>>775453
One new neck will wipe out any cash you could ever save.

[Anonymous No.776658]

>>776042
Do you guys just live near shit guitar shops, or something?

Here, you pay $15 for strings, intonation, action, pickup-height and cleaning.

To do that yourself and break even, you'd need to value your time at minimum wage, and have the strings fall out of your arse ready to drop in.

Strings come from a guitar shop. You're going there anyway. The only reason you'd set up your own guitar is if you don't really care that much about the end-result, and you place an absurdly low value on your time.

tl;dr:
>not making your own toilet paper and saving money

[Anonymous No.776678]

>>776651
Ideally, you would re-intonate with every string change.

[Anonymous No.776682]

>>776658
Even complete novice can do all that in less than 25min, why wouldnt you learn to do it yourself?

[Anonymous No.776709]

>>775342
professional guitar and tube amp tech here
just get pic related and follow the instructions

>>776658
There's no way you're getting a proper setup for $15. I charge $75.
>remove string and truss rod tension and acclimate overnight in humidified shop
>clean & oil fretboard
>buff frets (and edge/dress if necessary)
>clean electronics
>check bracing and seaming if acoustic
>clean & polish finish
>restring
>set action (truss rod and saddle adjustments)
>calibrate pickups
>intonate (don't forget the upper 5th)
>acclimate overnight at tension and readjust if necessary

>>776678
only if you're changing string gauges

[Anonymous No.776729]

This thread is a fucking joke. Worked with multiple touring guitar techs for the last 15 years for everyone from zz top to the white stripes. People fucking change strings. Do a tiny bit beyond that. all this truss rod dehumidified special isolation chamber oiling blah de blah blah shit is just pretentious as all get out and completely misleading for just about any beginning or even semipro musician. The people you hear on the radio don't do this shit. Why would you?

[Anonymous No.776745]

>>776729
>lies

[Anonymous No.776748]

>>776729
this is so true. Anyone who wastes all that time doing all that bullshit clearly can't actually play the guitar well enough to not bother attempting to compensate with a bunch of tedious work. I'm not saying you won't be able to notice the difference between a guitar that's been given all that work and one that's just restrung, but you're either going to need to use an oscilloscope or MAYBE be able to hear it in a direct comparison by ear in a silent room. Not a fucking soul will be able to tell the difference if you're actually PLAYING the instrument, though.

I just started building a guitar as a side diy project, and it is absolutely dumbfounding me how much audiophile bullshit goes on in the guitar industry. I see all these ads on ebay for "vintage" pickup wire and all this stupid shit for 5x the cost of brand new parts. If you think new old stock wire from 30 years ago is actually going to make a noticeable difference in sound, you are seriously retarded.

[Anonymous No.776749]

>>776729
>>776748
samefag

[Anonymous No.776750]

>>776749

[Anonymous No.776751]

>>776750
>babbys first inspect element

[Anonymous No.776828]

>>776709
Then you charge $60 too much.

Do you have to pay your room to hold the guitar or something?

[Anonymous No.776899]

>>776658

What a fucking stupid way to think of it. If you do it yourself, even if it takes twice as long, its free. If you're such an advocate for paying people to do shit you can easily do yourself, why the fuck are you even here?

[Anonymous No.777209]

>>776828
>Do you have to pay your room to hold the guitar or something?
Yes. It's called rent. You pay it with money (pic related), which is obtained by doing work. You'll learn about these things when you grow up, kiddo.

[Anonymous No.777214]

>>777209
>I can't read

[Zombi No.777216]

There is absolutely no reason to take a guitar to the shop for a string change, even on a floyd. It's dead easy. Intonation, truss rod tweaks, action, etc. is only done once in a blue moon, mainly if you are changing string gauges. Contrary to the bullshit on the internet it take some pretty extreme screwing up to damage a neck.

[Anonymous No.777234]

>>777216
It depends on the instrument. Some guitars are really stable. Others have necks that move with the slightest change in humidity or temperature. Most of the problems I see/correct are due to the instrument never having been set up properly when it was new. A bow will set into the neck and fight the truss rod, which is only intended to counteract string tension on a straight neck, not straighten a bowed neck. You can re-set the neck straight with heat/clamps to remedy this and then give it a proper set up. Once that's done, any tweaks it might need really are pretty simple if you know what to look for. But if it were as simple as some people in this thread seem to think, I wouldn't have a job. Not every guitarist is /diy/hard.

[Anonymous No.777402]

>>775342
>OP asks for advice on DIY instrument setup (a simple, easily-searched topic)
>Proceeds to give laundry list of excuses not to do that himself

GTFO, and take your certified audiophile-grade MOGAMI®™© cables with you.

[Anonymous No.777591]

>>775424
But the most you need is a fucking allen key to take off the locking nuts. I knew that you can take a guitar to a luthier to have your action etc sorted out if it was really bad, but seriously? Just to change your strings?

[Anonymous No.778906]

>>776658
Does your guitar shop have a back room of illegal immigrants changing strings all day or something? ...and you trust them to do a proper job?

[Anonymous No.778931]

fuck it, I'll ask here.

I play an electric bass and it gets a good amount of string rattle on some days, how would i prevent this? I like recording but it's hard when it happens so randomly and sorta often

[Anonymous No.778951]

>>777209
>I can't into questions

[Anonymous No.778990]

>>778931
Check your neck is straight
If not hex key the truss rod
Google how to do it

[Anonymous No.779002]

>>778931
make sure you hold the string down hard enough otherwise it rattles.

[Anonymous No.779159]

>>777234
>re-set the neck straight with heat/clamps
pic related
just happened to have one clamped up today

>>778931
>on some days
Sounds like your neck is moving when the humidity changes. Have it set up and get a case humidifier. Keep the bass in its case unless you're playing it. Should help.

[Anonymous No.779469]

>>777402

My only posts were this one and OP.

[Anonymous No.779809]

my guitar's pretty much gone with the head practically snapped and I used super glue to put it back together. it broke again, though, and I can't be assed to glue it back.

but replacing strings is easy. just make sure you have one of those guitar stringing tools that make it easier for you to turn the bolts/tuning things, because if you don't use those you're going to have a tough time and take all day turning the things.

[Anonymous No.779847]

>>778990

Not all truss rods are hex keys. Ibanez has a special tool for the majority of theirs

[Zombi No.779928]

Every Ibanez I have uses a hex key. Fender on the other hand uses a slotted nut.

[Anonymous No.780748]

>>775424
>taking a floyd rose apart
You don't need to do this unless you broke something. You can basically tune it, break in the strings, retune it and never have to touch it again. They're easy so long as you tune the strings in the proper order and use the locks.
>truss rod
Turn one way to tighten. Turn the other to loosen. It's not difficult. There's also the notecard trick, but not a good permanent solution.

My dad used to restore and refurbish guitars and amps on the side. He taught me a few things when I was younger and none of it is particularly difficult.

[Anonymous No.780753]

>>776658
>He can't fix the intonation, action, adjust pickup height, and replace strings by himself as well as maintain the guitar.

I knew how to do that shit before I could even play in time with a song.