Do you always spend $$$ in setting up your guitars?

[gainsucker]

or you finally learned how to adjust action, intonation, change pickups, etc.

i understand, yung iba takot galawin yung guitar pag mamahalin pero pay P500 for intonation? ganun ba talaga kahirap mag intonate?

change of nut here costs P2k pesos.... sakit sa bulsa.

[Ryn]

Basic to intermediate setup, usually I do it by myself except for pickup changes, medyo alanganin ako maghinang.

Now for the intonation, hindi siya ganun kahirap but it needs a trained ear to do it. I myself do not rely on a tuner solely when intonating my guitars, aside from that it is time consuming. Try to intonate a floyd-rose equipped guitar and you'll know what I mean.

[kernelsalonpas]

intonation is easy peasy.

adjust height kinakapa ko na lang san ako komportable. naiinis lang ako ngaun nawala ung 1/2" ko na allen...

now for other stuff.... nagpapaturo ako kay jentsen para makatipid. mahal dito eh 

[gainsucker]

Try to intonate a floyd-rose equipped guitar and you'll know what I mean.

buti na lang wala ako floyd guitar 

nasasayangan lang ako sa pera for basic set up, oh well, pag marami namang pera ok lang yun 

[kernelsalonpas]

ah sa floyd kay mark na lang ako papaturo  ginawa ko dati un sa unang gitara, di ko na maibalik. tapos dito sa isa ko ngaun nagpatulong ako langya ang hirap gawin. katakot... 

[TagaRetiro]

wala kasi masyadong budget to have my guitars set-up by luthiers T.T kaya tiis tiis nlng ako sa config ng mga gitara ko ngayon haha

Yung truss rod hindi ko ginagalaw kasi natatakot ako baka masira ko lang.

May konting idea lang ako about setting up the intonation. Any tips on how to intonate a guitar properly? Ang ginagawa ko kasi nakatuner lang tapso inaadjust ko hanggang nasa tune lahat ng frets. Ok na ba yung ganun?

[GNOB29]

Mahirap kasi makipagsapalaran pagdating sa gitara mas malaki ang gastos kapag nasira kesa ipagawa sa marunong.

[mojoefly]

Some luthiers just have that magic touch. Setting intonation isn't just simply matching the 12 fret harmonic to the 12 fret depressed note. Truss rod adjustment, nut height, pickup height, saddle height and other factors all have to be precise so the touch (action and tension of strings)  and intonation is great all through out the fretboard.

 I just had some guitars set up but because of the humidity these days, the set up was altered. Will have to fine tune them again myself. Sayang binayad ko recently.    So kung minor adjustments lang, I suggest you guys do it yourself muna. The air is too moist.

[cayle]

Basic set-up and soldering, I can do it. Refret and others that require tools i don't have, I take it to micsis. 

[BOOGIE_79]

gusto ko magpa-setup ng gitara matagal na kaso namamahalan ako. i'd like to think na sinuswerte lang ako kasi both guitars i bought brand new were setup very well out of the box. aside from that i have this feeling na pag dinala ko siya sa luthier madaming ipo-point out na mali sa setup.

[juan_alderete]

I do basic setups only on fender guitar. but on les paul/sg I can't seem the grasp how to do it correctly.. 

[cjsantos]

I do, I'm not complaining though. But I do want to learn how to do it.

How about somebody conduct a (mini) workshop? 

[Al_Librero]

i understand, yung iba takot galawin yung guitar pag mamahalin pero pay P500 for intonation? ganun ba talaga kahirap mag intonate?

It's hard to say. But based on my observation, many of us underestimate how difficult it is to actually get it. I've seen it a number of times -- guitar players confident with how they intonated their own guitars. But the moment they start soloing over the high frets... ayaw ko na makinig, lalo na pag band setting.

I've seen it lead to people blaming the hardware and/or the electronics as well. This leads to pickup upgrades and whatnot. When that happens, many players don't have the sense to be particular with height and polepiece adjustments either. They end up with souped up, yet still bad sounding guitars. When that happens, for some people, it's off to the Guitar Classifieds! 

We are lucky here in the Philippines. We have bonafide luthiers who charge for peanuts, unlike in other countries where they would've made a fortune doing what they do. I say take advantage of it. And if possible, learn from them. Then just maybe, we can start getting the hang of set up fundamentals.

gusto ko magpa-setup ng gitara matagal na kaso namamahalan ako. i'd like to think na sinuswerte lang ako kasi both guitars i bought brand new were setup very well out of the box.

I've seen so many new guitars. Nearly all of them needed at least some degree of tweaking. In my experience with my own gear, isang beses pa lang ako nakabili ng bagong gitara na wala nang gusto galawin yung luthier ko. That eventually didn't happen either, because I had pickups installed and more importantly, our nice Philippine climate wreaked havoc on its bracing. So ayun, major repair and setup din in the end.

Still, I'm in no position to doubt your assessment. Maybe you really are lucky.

aside from that i have this feeling na pag dinala ko siya sa luthier madaming ipo-point out na mali sa setup.

Medyo masakit nga sa pride. I know the feeling. But this is actually a good thing. Even if you opt not to have it set up. At least you can try studying what is wrong on your own. You still might not be able to correct things on your own. You might even ruin your guitar if you try too hard. But at least you have a chance of understanding the theory behind it.

[guitarwiz02]

or you finally learned how to adjust action, intonation, change pickups, etc.

i understand, yung iba takot galawin yung guitar pag mamahalin pero pay P500 for intonation? ganun ba talaga kahirap mag intonate?

change of nut here costs P2k pesos.... sakit sa bulsa.

Bring yer guitars to Max Rufo and you won't see these numbers.

[free2rock]

or you finally learned how to adjust action, intonation, change pickups, etc.

i understand, yung iba takot galawin yung guitar pag mamahalin pero pay P500 for intonation? ganun ba talaga kahirap mag intonate?

change of nut here costs P2k pesos.... sakit sa bulsa.

Dito 300 pesos, 8-10 nuts na, may bulalo pa.

I learned. It's fun kasi.

[stringman]

Dito 300 pesos, 8-10 nuts na, may bulalo pa.

I learned. It's fun kasi.

Ah yes! The bulalo nut.

[metalheadz]

learned except for pickups. I am too afraid to touch the electronic part of the guitar since i have sweaty hands

[markcasq]

@mojoefly / Al - you guys nailed it.

I spend money to get the right setup, because it is not as simple as tuning the 12th fret harmonic with the 12th fretted note as mojoefly pointed out.

But I do sometimes tinker with my guitars (and others' guitars) to learn.  When I setup for my friends, I still do tell them to go to luthiers to have the "right" setup.  Right setup means right notes ringing all over the fretboard, great playablity and feel (radius match, right string tension, pickup balance, string balance).

[bryanarzaga]

the only thing i spend now is time..and the time spent to gain the knowledge is well worth it,

[CrippledLucifer]

yup. ang hassle masyado ng floyd rose..hahaha! 

[09thfret]

kung kaya i-DIY ,. why not ,.
pero iba parin minsan ang touch ng luthiers  ,.

[Deadwing]

Cash + access to an ace guitar technician = walang busisi at mistakes sa pag set-up ng gitara

One problem off my mind.  The only thing to do is plug and play!

[candyapplered]

i always perform basic setups for my guitars. but when it comes to fret levels, refrets, refinishing, and electronics, i bring it to a luthier. for those who don't know how to set up guitars on their own, make it a point to learn from your luthier the basic principles behind the repairs. any guitar tech--kahit gaano pa kagaling yan--pag nahalata nilang wala kang alam sa ano kelangan ayusin at anong desired outcome, pwedeng pwede ka bolahin lang niyan, naperahan ka pa.

as a rule of thumb, no guitar can have absolutely perfect intonation across all strings all over the fretboard (anyone might make a case for true temperament fretboards, but let's not get there). several other setup factors like action, truss rod adjustment, string gauge, the age of the strings, and how you tune can all have an effect on the guitar's overall intonation. once i've individually tweaked the setup of each string, what i do is compensate with the overall tuning integrity of the guitar. this often involves playing chords high up the neck as well as chord voicings with open strings involved. this is one reason why i don't rely on a tuner for the succeeding strings once i've gotten the low E right. oftentimes i end up tuning the other strings inconspicuously sharp from the root key, but the dissonance actually contributes to a well-balanced buitar.

[Chum]

I learned how to shape/sand bone nuts and bridges from blanks to get a better understanding of how it is done, and I'm glad to note that Micsis approves of some of my, er, work  Not that I can't afford to have set ups done, but it IS quite fun to learn, and for me, I as much as possible try to figure out a problem on a guitar first before bringing it to a pro. Intonation jobs I can also do to a certain extent (especially on strats) out of necessity because I live so far away from Paranaque. But there are certain things that I tried to do, quite unsuccesfully. Soldering is something I leave to Micsis and crew, ditto adjusting truss rods or fret dressing. Maybe someday I will find the time to learn these things from Micsis and crew.

Chum

[Al_Librero]

kung kaya i-DIY ,. why not ,.

Because you can do more harm than good if you don't really know what you're doing.

pero iba parin minsan ang touch ng luthiers  ,.

Hindi lang minsan.