Getting my Strat set up

[Dan The Man]

Last week I treated myself to a new strat (CP 60's series) Having spent the last 6 days 'getting to know it' I have dropped it off at my friendly guitar tech/luthier to have it properly set up and milk every last ounce of greatness out of it

Last month I got him to set up my other Strat and the difference is incredible - a proper set up can turn a good guitar into a great guitar!

I can't wait to pick it up on Wednesday!!!! I posted pictures of it on my previous post about going to look at it, but i'll stick another one on here....

[eddiewagner]

now you got to find out what he does exactly and you can do it yourself. i have all the parameters that i need for a good setup stored in my brain and on guiding lines on an old credidcard. it takes me 15 minutes to set up a guitar to my personal preferences.

[Old Cane]

I'm with you Eddie.

One thing I get confused about is what some guys term setup. I mean, a setup should make the strings even and set to a height chosen by the player (or dicated by the neck in some cases) and it should play in tune. It's like putting new shocks on a car that needs them. It should ride better but if it was burning oil before it still will be. From what some folks say about a set up I guess magic dust gets sprinkled somewhere in the middle.

Dan, that's a nice looking guitar. I bet it sounds great too. I love all shades of blue.

[Vizcaster]

Originally Posted by Old Cane

From what some folks say about a set up I guess magic dust gets sprinkled somewhere in the middle.

If you're talking about the "free" setup that the chain stores offer with a new guitar, then I agree it's worth what you pay for it. However a pro has the touch and experience to do just what's needed and make it look easy. Frankly there's a lot to a good setup - not only trussrod, trem spring adjustment, saddle height, intonation, and tightening the tuner bolts - theres also nut slot width and depth, shaping the top of the nut (which is never done right at the factory), dressing any fret-sprout on the ends, and checking to see if the frets need to be dressed and crowned, lubing the trussrod nut on acorn-nut guitars. After all that's done then they sprinkle the magic dust on. Every new guitar needs the time and attention of a pro setup because they simply cannot spend that much time on it at the factory, and things have still not settled in as far as the wood seasoning and the neck getting used to the tension - it could come out of Corona or Nashville in perfect condition and need work by the time it gets to the warehouse in Hoboken.

[Old Cane]

Hmmm, good to know after being in the business for 30 years and owning 2 music stores. I'm glad finally to know how the pros do it. I guess I didn't have a pro shop afterall.

Let me tell you, if one of my customers dropped off a guitar for me to set up and came back and I said they owed me $200 for a setup.....well, where I come from people carry guns. I probably wouldn't have lived to see the internet.

An actual setup involves new strings, height adjustment IF asked for, neck adjustment IF needed, cleaning the nut slots (where I'm from that's part of changing strings) and setting intonation IF needed. Since I loved my work I even polished it a bit. That'll be $10 please.

refrets, leveling and crowning, nut work and so on involves a written estimate and approval from the customer. But maybe it's different from where you come from. Maybe you're used to people doing what they feel like with your property. I guess I don't. I know if I ever dropped off my guitar for someone to "set up" (yikes!) and came back and they had dressed frets, cut on the nut and reset a fret or two and changed my pickup height without asking me I don't think mad would quite cover it.

If they aren't pros, and i dealt with lots of beginners, a conversation with them about what could be done to improve playability is what's called for. You don't jsut start making it your guitar without asking or educating.

Maybe it's a generational thing, doing what the customer wants instead of what I want.

[tele-jack]

Having recently purchased a used strat on E-Bay which needed some attention to the set up, I was prepared to bring it to my local tech as I've done every other time. This guy is very reasonable and will often take the guitar to the next level w/o charging, but I was feeling a little short on cash, so I went on line. After searching stratocaster intonation, I came upon this web site: www.expertvillage.com. I then proceeded to set the saddle height and intonation with satisfactory results. Not having any guages to use, I compared settings to another strat on hand by eye. Good Luck!

[Mid Life Crisis]

Originally Posted by tele-jack

Having recently purchased a used strat on E-Bay which needed some attention to the set up, I was prepared to bring it to my local tech as I've done every other time. This guy is very reasonable and will often take the guitar to the next level w/o charging, but I was feeling a little short on cash, so I went on line. After searching stratocaster intonation, I came upon this web site: www.expertvillage.com. I then proceeded to set the saddle height and intonation with satisfactory results. Not having any guages to use, I compared settings to another strat on hand by eye. Good Luck!

You did well. In this day and age, with good free advice available all over the Interweb on sites like this, there's really no reason to take a guitar to a tech for procedures like saddle height and intonation. I even recall someone who was debating taking a guitar to a tech just to adjust the pickup height . The only tools you need are an allen key, Philips screwdriver and a tuner. The rest is all down to how well it sounds and plays to you.

Once you've handled these tasks, you can then progress to other set up aspects like neck relief, neck angle etc, and even fret levelling. I've just done all this myself on one of my Strats and am very pleased with the results.