Guitar Set Ups.

[Woko]

Hello All.

as I have said on this forum in the past I am in love with my Epiphone Es335 dot in the 9 days I have owned the guitar I have not touched my other guitars and I have some fab equipment.

I bought the Es335 from a big U.K. music store chain called Dawsons. The guitar was on the wall waiting to be played. The set up was crap you could have cut chess on the fret board and the neck was too straight, and the strings were horrible. This guitar was for sale at £229.00 about $450.00 to are cousins over the pond.

After a couple of hours work at home and a set of new Ernie Ball's the guitar plays great and sounds better then others in my collection.

Today I tried a Gibson ES335 dot at a music store again a chain but not Dawson. The guitar set up was evan worse then the Epiphone (neck with bad relief action too low and buzzing all over the shop). The guitar was for sale At £1699.00 ($3350.00). I tell you what I do not want to have to set the thing up at home for that price.

What is the set situation like were you are?

[Roswell]

I got my Dot used (well, refurbed, it had some minor cosmetic damage and had never been played. Had to take the plastic off of everything), but according to the guy I got it from who fixed it up, he didn't touch the setup. If that's the case, then mine came setup nicely. Action's a little higher than I like but any lower and I risk buzz, but overall it's pretty good.

[Whitmore Willy]

Woko,

 

Setups around here change from guitar to guitar. I have seen some guitars hanging on walls at major guitar shops that are set up quite good. The next one, possibly the same model, unplayable. Seems to be luck of the draw...or lack of consern on the part of the store.

There are one or two dealers around that actually inspect and set up every guitar that comes into their shop.

Sadly, it seems to be the exception and not the rule anymore.

[JefferySmith]

All of my Elitists have arrived in pretty darned good setup condition. In the 1960's, I had never even heard of a setup. When I finally got my Martin dreadnought set up at a luthier in San Diego, my jaw dropped. What a difference. We really don't have a great setup guy in New Orleans. The guy I have used in the past has taken 1-2 months to get a guitar setup done. Absurd. He should procrastinate for 1-2 months, then call and tell me to bring the guitar in.

[iansmitchell]

$3350.00 is a kind of clever price for a 335...

[cookieman15061]

I just had my 2 casinos professionally set up and wow what a difference!! He filed the nut a little, set the intonation, adjusted the bridge and lowered the action. Although before having this done they played pretty good, there were some tuning issues. Unbelievable the difference it makes and would recommend to anyone to have it done.

[Dennis G]

What is the set situation like were you are?

 

My experience is "all over the place". Guitars arrive with a "factory" set, which means "playable, but probably not optimum" for you. And personal preferences are all over the place as well, hence the "factory" setup.

 

I highly recommend a professional setup. I usually play any new guitar for a week or so, see how it's behaving, what I think it needs, etc. and then take it in for a setup. Each and every time so far, it has come back to me very much improved. Prices vary but I think the $50 - $75 range is about average. My guy usually takes about 3-5 days, depending on his workload. Your mileage may vary.

[Dr. Killmore]

I am somewhat heavy handed. Any time I ever had a guitar set up by a pro it always came back way too loose and slinky for my tastes. Once I start whaling on it, it buzzez and rattles like a mother. No matter how much I tell the guy about my style, they seem to set it up to thier taste.

 

I once had a guy do a set up on a Dot I used to own. I told him to put D'adarrio's 11-49 with a wound G on it. When I picked it up, the tech said "You're gonna like what I did. I strung it up with 10 guage Ernie Balls cause I thought it would play better." I was like WTF and had it out withe the store manager. He offered me the strings I wanted and to have the guy set it up right for nothing. I said no way and took the strings and left. That was the last time I had someone else set up a guitar for me. It has taken me years to get good at it. The only thing I'm uncomfortable about doing myself is fret and nut work.

[Woko]

Thanks folks I do enjoy setting my guitars up even setting up the intonation The only thing I have a problem with is fret dressing I would love to have a go but no bottle stops me. As for my original post I just thought that they would set up a gibson to be at least playable condition. If I worked in a guitar shop all the guitars would be set as good as they could be.

ha ho

[RotcanX]

Today I tried a Gibson ES335 dot at a music store again a chain but not Dawson. The guitar set up was even worse then the Epiphone (neck with bad relief action too low and buzzing all over the shop). I tell you what I do not want to have to set the thing up at home for that price. What is the set situation like were you are?

Well' date=' first off, nobody can set up a guitar to [b']my[/b] satisfaction so I'm going to tweak it no matter how 'good' it seems to be out of the box. Many stores do not have the time to constantly check and adjust their inventory as changing temperatures and humidity cause the neck to go out of alignment. From what I've experienced with a lot of larger music stores, I'd just as soon do it myself as the store's tech invariably is a bozo. I've bought guitars with non-functioning volume controls knowing that in most instances five minutes with a hotstick will fix the trouble. From what you're describing it's a job of ten minutes to get things in order; as you say over there, a 'doddle'.

 

Now, if there's a problem after doing the proper adjustments, I'd just bring it back.

[ant7629]

Every guitar I have tried at Dawson's has had a bad set up, this is one of the reasons, including over pricing, why I don't buy from there.

 

Decent guitar stores generally provide a free set up when you are buying new, but as RotcanX says, it might not be set up to suit your needs....

[Nic]

It's my understanding that Epiphones are "set up" in Nashville before being sent out to the retail stores. I don't know what this means, or if it really happens. Though I wonder if an Epi sold in the UK comes through the US or does it ship there from Asia.

[superjudge3]

At the Guitar Center in Killeen, Texas, the set ups are horrible. This sucks because you can never get an accurate feel for a guitar. You never know if it is made poorly or if is just the intonation/set up! It makes me so mad! Because that is the point of going and trying guitars. You're better off just sitting at home and buying off of the internet because it makes no difference if you check them out yourself. And GC says they're all for the player, what ever! I hate GC sometimes!!!

[gvdv]

My hugely expensive, beautiful, wonderful sounding cherryburst Les Paul Standard (Gibson) has very sharp frets down around the bridge position, and my modestly priced (four times cheaper), recently purchased, humble Epiphone Casino was had wonderful frets straight out of the box, although there is the usual tuning issue with machine heads.

 

It makes sense to me to have a proper set up, if the luthier pays attention to one's needs and does what one says. To my mind, that can improve the guitar immensley. While the music store I bought my Casino from offers a free set up any time within the first year of purchase, I'm a little hesitant to see what kind of job they might do because it's a fairly big business, and I'm not sure about the quality of the luthiers they might employ.

[Dave]

As someone said, setups are all over the place. Some people prefer their electric to play like their acoustic. Others like a low setup. The rest like something in between. Most music stores only do it once, after you buy it. If they set it up when it comes in, they have to do it again when it sells. At least the what one music store owner told me. They will adjust the bridge and that's about it until it sells.

 

I played a guitar yesterday that belonged to an employee of the music store I was browsing. I don't think that you could slide a piece of shirt cardboard under the 12th fret. It was so low that a bend would make you feel that you were going to slide over on top of the next string. I like the action a little higher than that. There was absolutely no buzz in it though.

 

Then there are players who set one up for slide and another for picking. All over the place. Gary Rossington still slides a screwdriver blade in front of the nut for Free Bird.