Just had a pro setup and refret on my 62 reissue strat- WOW!

After 7 years of very heavy use I finally took my 62 reissue strat in to get a refret and setup. I took it to a local guitar tech here in Mpls/St.Paul, Barry Haugen, who used to build the Prince guitars along with Dave Rousan in the 80's. He installed some Dunlop 6105 frets (like SRV and many other players), set my action to well suit my style of playing, smoothed out my sticky nitro neck, perfect intonation and set my pickups to the best tonal performance. All I can say is WOW! I should have done this years ago. The guitar plays like butter! The large frets make a huge differnce in playing blues runs and licks. And the tone is awesome. The adjustments he made to the pickups really sweetened things up and brought my rig to life. I am now one very happy camper. I guess I just want to suggest to any player that hasn't gotten their guitar properly set up should really consider doing this. I just can't believe the difference.

I hear you. I took my crappy (darling) black Squier to get set up (action, intonation, etc.) after I had owned her for a while, and it was such an improvement when I picked her up. The tech set the strings a little lower than I would have liked, but besides that the difference was amazing.

Fender needs to use a plek machine. Id say 99% of all Fenders need a fret level right from the factory.

Since the neck IS the most inportant part of the guitar once you get the neck right the rest is easy.

A good tech is worth their weight in gold.

how much do plek jobs cost?

$125 at most places

Yeah if I could set the action and the intonation up myself I would do it myself and save myself some money. But since I can't I take mine to a good guitar tech myself.

Setting up a guitar is easy all it requires are simple hand tools.

takes about $25-40 worth of tools to really do it right and thats it.

Well I read that action isn't hard to do. Just setting the intonation is tuff cause of having to do pinch harmonics which I couldn't do to save my life.

Well I read that action isn't hard to do. Just setting the intonation is tuff cause of having to do pinch harmonics which I couldn't do to save my life.


I don't think you really need to do pinch harmonics. Just a regular harmonic on the 12th fret should do the trick. I used to think there was some mystery about setting up guitars but you just gotta dig in and give it a go. You won't break anything and you can always get it back to where it was before. You might want to be a little judicious about truss rod adjustments but I am sure you will get the hang of it in no time. Just give the good members here a shout if you need any help, I am sure everyone would be happy to walk you through it.

Good luck,

Dan

Yeah, setups are fairly easy. I'm not saying mine is better than someone who's been doing it for 20 years, but I think it's decent for someone who only learned a year or so ago. Now when it comes to a refret and/or fret level that's a different story...

Ok so do you do a Harmonic on the 12th fret I have been trying to do it now for a long time and still can't.

You don't need to use the harmonic approach at all, just fret the note on the 12th fret and set the intonation. You don't play harmonics on the 12th fret so don't use harmonics.

The harmonic is used 'in the shop' because guitar techs don't know how you play your guitar, whether or not you press lightly on the strings, or get the neck in a gorilla grip. So the harmonic method is simply a neutral way to determine intonation. If you are doing your own guitar, you just get it in the playing position and fret the note at the 12th with the sort of pressure you normally use, so if you have tall frets and a light touch don't whatever you do press the string onto the fretboard, this will only artificially sharpen the note compared to your playing style. It is that simple.

I get by with setups 'ok'. I can usually tweak till I get it rightish.

GTo maybe I need to drop by and get some advice from you!

Mark D, what tools do you use? Sounds a silly question but when youve taught yourself to do something its hard to work out what the 'right' way to do it is.

I get by with setups 'ok'. I can usually tweak till I get it rightish.

GTo maybe I need to drop by and get some advice from you!

Mark D, what tools do you use? Sounds a silly question but when youve taught yourself to do something its hard to work out what the 'right' way to do it is.

First thing to buy is a good screwdriver set I use Craftsman Pro rubberized handles and the tip also holds screws in place. That will cost around $20-25 a 6" metal mechanics ruler $2.50-3.00 some good wire cutters and needle nose pliers and a soldering iron and some solder and some 400 and 600 grit black sandpaper. Also some auto feeler gauges.

Then you can follow these inscructions to get ya started.

http://www.fender.com/support/setup/stratsetup.php

Ok so do you do a Harmonic on the 12th fret I have been trying to do it now for a long time and still can't.

Hey Tazzboy, are you asking how to do a harmonic?

Dan

Hey Tazzboy, are you asking how to do a harmonic?

Dan

yep

All you have to do is lightly touch (not depress) the string directly above the fret (not behind it like you normally would). Just barely touch the string and pick the note. It should ring like a bell. Let me know how you make out.

Good luck.

Dan

All you have to do is lightly touch (not depress) the string directly above the fret (not behind it like you normally would). Just barely touch the string and pick the note. It should ring like a bell. Let me know how you make out.

Good luck.

Dan

You have to get the timing right though too - touch the string with the left hand, then pick it and take your left hand finger off the string immediately after picking it. Takes a bit of practice but soon it'll be like falling off a log.

You have to get the timing right though too - touch the string with the left hand, then pick it and take your left hand finger off the string immediately after picking it. Takes a bit of practice but soon it'll be like falling off a log.


Not really, you can leave your finger in place and still get the harmonic. Let's not complicate the issue until we get some results.

Dan

alright I'll give it a try tonight.

First thing to buy is a good screwdriver set I use Craftsman Pro rubberized handles and the tip also holds screws in place. That will cost around $20-25 a 6" metal mechanics ruler $2.50-3.00 some good wire cutters and needle nose pliers and a soldering iron and some solder and some 400 and 600 grit black sandpaper. Also some auto feeler gauges.

Then you can follow these inscructions to get ya started.

http://www.fender.com/support/setup/stratsetup.php

But you left out one of the Most Important.....Good Nut Files....Nut Slot height is Very Important on a Set-up...That's where the Factory leaves em pretty high.