OffsetGuitars.com

Hello there,
Been a while since I've been on these boards, which leads to my question...
What is your opinion on doing your own set-up? My Japanese CAR Jazzy is my best/main guitar, but is in bad need of a set-up. I was playing it last fall and while playing, the strings actually started hitting the frets above about the 5th fret, til essentially you can now only play it in first position. I took a musical break for a bit, so it lived in the case for a while, but now I'm hungry to get it back up and running again. But because it's my best guitar, I don't whether to take matters into my own hands and give it the care an owner should, or trust a professional to do it right.

What are your thoughts? I was considering buying the basic setup kit from StewMac.
http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/3910

My jazzy also needs to have the tremolo bar fixed into place (way too loose). It's outfitted with a Mastery Bridge.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Well, judging by what you wrote, it primarily needs a truss rod adjustment, so you can start from there. Plenty of info here how to do that, and other interventions, properly, so do explore the tech setup section well.

I'm trying to learn how to setup everything properly myself. I don't trust myself to get everything right, but then again I don't always trust shops either.

I'm in the camp of "you want something done right, you do it yourself" but when I don't know how to do it right, that's a problem. I end up spending hours researching "best luthier in *city*" and by the time I think I've got it dialed in with only good reviews, I find one that's a horror story.

It may seem intimidating at first but it's really pretty simple. You don't need a kit, just a couple Allen wrenches and a tuner. There's a lot of reading material on this site alone, let alone the rest of the internet. If you have any specific questions, and nothing comes up in a search, ask it here and someone will help you but it's definitely worth it to get comfortable setting up your own guitars.

Welp, I just took my guitar in to have some new pickups installed, and the neck relief measured/corrected.

Why do I get the feeling that as soon as I leave a guitar shop to have it setup with my particular instructions, that they start making fun of me as soon as I'm out the door?

I tried telling the guy that the Fender Mustang bridge rocks back and forth (isn't permanently fixed in one spot), therefore I have it pushed ALL THE WAY back for precise intonation and he didn't seem to fully comprehend what I was saying. I explained it to him, and I think they were irked that I had such a precise and particular set of "rules".

Fuck my life.

Welp, I just took my guitar in to have some new pickups installed, and the neck relief measured/corrected.

Why do I get the feeling that as soon as I leave a guitar shop to have it setup with my particular instructions, that they start making fun of me as soon as I'm out the door?

I tried telling the guy that the Fender Mustang bridge rocks back and forth (isn't permanently fixed in one spot), therefore I have it pushed ALL THE WAY back for precise intonation and he didn't seem to fully comprehend what I was saying. I explained it to him, and I think they were irked that I had such a precise and particular set of "rules".

Fuck my life. How hard are they making fun of me right now, and worse, are they going to take it out on my guitar? I've only been to a guitar service shop once in my life where I didn't feel like it was an exclusive clubhouse for elite members only, and unfortunately it's 2000 miles away in Palo Alto, CA. If anyone is in the Bay Area, Brian at Gryphon is the go-to for Fender offset guitars.

If you don't feel comfortable being there yourself, don't leave your guitar there. Especially if it's some elitist shop, take your business elsewhere. The fact that they didn't know what you were talking about in regards to the intonation makes it seem like maybe they aren't too knowledgeable in regards to your specific guitar (assuming you knew what you were talking about). Sounds like you need to find a new shop or start doing them yourself.

With all that said, your guitar will be fine, I'm sure you don't need to worry about it. The things you brought it in for are pretty routine and if they screw anything up it's on them.

All true points Octagon. Unless something extreme happened, I can't imagine being like "You know what, I just remembered something...." *packs guitar back into case, walks out the door*

[non-offset content]
My Peavey T60 had a wiring mod by some DPO that I decided to bring back to stock. I had wiring schematics from Peavey as well as from some enthusiast sites. I thought a luthier would be the best way to go because he would be familiar with guitar wiring and give her a set up at the same time, and this guy came recommended by many players in town. The guy did a basically good job and the guitar plays as well as ever, but he read the schematic backwards or upside down or something and screwed up the wiring so it's still not like stock. It's a weird circuit and I tried to show him that with the schematics but he may have just wired it the way he wires all of them and didn't even look at the schem. I know I should have called him on it and got him to do it again but I felt too disgusted by his mistake (and as mentioned above, intimidated by the elites) to want to let him have at it again. That said, I still would trust a pro with a normal set up.

So I'm goin with doing it myself. I remembered this posting from a while ago, here it is if anyone who's reading wants to do a setup:
http://www.alphabetcityblog.com/2008/02 ... nance.html

I picked up the Planet Waves dark wood fretboard cleaner/moisturizer (Rosewood), and will be performing the zip-tie fix on my trem arm, along with the trem set-up here:
http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2007 ... lo-system/

If anyone has any other suggestions, specifically from MIJ setup knowledge or Mastery bridge knowledge, I'm all ears. Thanks for the input.

I just bought a cheap Cyclone II that needs new pickups, trem, and setting up so I would have something to learn on without damaging my two main guitars. Still in the process of learning, but if I can learn, so can you.

It also helps to have some experienced friends check out your setups. A lot of times people who might not necessarily be super techs will be able to diagnose setup issues just because they know what a guitar "should" feel like when set up properly.

Yes, I have set up my Squier Strat a little over a year ago, and quite successfully. It's a different trem system, but the basics of caring for the guitar are the same.
And that is good advice regarding friends who know setups. The problem is that, as you know, offsets like Jazzies aren't as prevalent as, say, a strat, so finding that friends is the trick, isn't it?

I got so tired of relying on someone else (who may or may not know what they're doing), I decided to tackle most things myself. Forums like this and YouTube have revolutionized the DIY-er. I started small, making adjustments to my Strat, quickly discovering there's no such thing as 'starting off small' with a Strat. It takes me close to a week to get a Strat where I like it, with lots of trial and error. Owning a Jazzmaster really forced me to try and understand what I was doing and why. It was a truly frustrating process, but I came out the other side more confident I can assess problems and fix most of them. I don't think you can go wrong, understanding the instrument you spend so much time with.

My $0.02.

If you have some basic technical and tool nous, it really isn't that difficult to setup a guitar.

the holy grail order is : Neck Relief/ truss rod
String height/ radius correctness( neck to bridg)
Intonation

plenty of help out there for the starting point tolerences etc

you may need to go over this a few time till correct

This is for any electic guitar

then you may want to get into setting up a strat trem ot a Jaguar/Jazzmaster trem etc

I got my first offset about a month ago, did a lot of research, and did my own setup. I took my time (new, heavier guage strings on day 1, truss rod adjustment day two, truss rod adjustment day three, finish setup on day four, fixed unfinished setup day 5, tweaked day six, and rested on the seventh day). Now I am super happy with the guitar, it plays like a dream, and I understand what each adjustment does and how it relates to my sound. Therefore, I highly suggest doing your own setup and really learning. I haven't had any of the problems with the bridge or my strings etc, because the guitar is setup by me for me.