Master Luthier has an amazing theory on set up.

stratos

stratos

Inspired
Got to share this. A friend brings me a Squire "Classic Vibe" tele, and say's, here try this. My friend is a master luthier. A 300.00 guitar that he put another 400.00 in it. The dang thing plays like butter! Amazing fricking tone through the rig. I immediately decide..I gotta have this from my guitar! So, I took my strat to a local guy, ( the master luthier my freind advised me about) walk in his house, I see numerous guitars on stands in his living room.
All big name valuable guitars. Impressed. I proceed to the family room, he shows me a couple of relic'd strats he recently finished..OMG!
Both guitars played perfectly in tune, anywhere I went. With every note, the harmonic "bloom" was something I have never heard on any guitar I have played.
Been playing for almost 50 years, had dozens of guitars.
His theory is based upon the normal fret wear that occurs, the guitar is showing you where it wants the frets to be!
He does a profiling of the frets that looks like it flattens the frets. I wish I could explain further, but it would be quite lengthy, and I'm not sure I can really explain it. I was thinking my strat needed a refret..NOPE, he say's it's just now ready to be "tuned"
He spent 3 hours on my strat, and the fricking guitar is in PERFECT tune, play a chord in ALL positions on the neck..PERFECT! and the sustaining harmonic bloom is just absolutely f'g AMAZING! Never heard that in my life. He pulls out the dial micrometer, flats, gauges, basic luthier tools, lays the guitar on the neck rest, puts on a honkin' pair of thick glasses, and proceeds to fiddle press, touch, and Hmmm,...uh huh..er..hmmm..yep, no problem, probably have about 2 hours in it, 25.00 per hour.
He's an old rocker, and bad ass guitarist! Meticulously, selects certain old rejects from the custom shops, and rebuilds them as relic'd guitars. The value of these guitars starts at 1.5 thousand and up. He replaces electronics, and hardware with a painstaking vigilance. A TRUE master craftsman.
I had met him a couple of years ago, he came into the venue to meet me, after loading out next door, it wasn't I, he wanted to meet, it was my strat! He proceeds to tell me could hear the quality of the wood of the guitar as our band was finishing the last set. Kinda thought that was strange, didn't know he was a luthier then. Humble, nice big guy, very long silver hair, with a huge smile on his face, shakes my hand we talk, and he ask to see the guitar. The rest is history.
I just bought a used Epi Les Paul Custom Pro, and I am taking it to him next week!
BTW, he only worked the finger board, I will do the electronics. Currently has: HSS, Kinman's on the middle and neck, and a shitty SD tone sucker at the bridge.
The Kinman's do not match the string spacing, and need to be changed, the Seymor, well we all know that problem, it came with the guitar from Japan.
He recommends Fender Noiseless, 250k bourns, silver wire, pretty much straight forward stuff. Didn't even recommend a treble bleed.
My Strat is a 80's MIJ, with a factory installed Kahler, teflon rollers. The guitar will not accept a Callaham Tremelo, it is NOT routed out for the block and spring tree. He highly recommends the Callaham, had less issues with them than others.
Just a story for someone in the community, if you want info about him, PM me. I live in Central Florida.
 
Yup! ..Always tell people just getting into it, it's not as-much the guitar, as the set-up. You can get the cheapest guitar out there and have a real playable instrument with a little work put into it by somebody who knows what they are doing..
 
I think there's an art to it... it's a talent few have.

It drives me crazy- every 'kid' on these Ibanez groups and a lot of guitar groups think they can 'set it up themselves' by watching youtube and it's close enough to 'factory'

People don't know what they're missing, with a tech/luthier that really knows what they're doing
 
My late best friend was a master luthier that sounds a lot like this gent. He invented tools to level the frets while the neck was under correct tension long before pleking was a thing. His guitars has perfect intonation at any point (as perfect as a flawed formula will get) and his acoustics had better action than most electrics I've played. Thanks for this story... it reminded me of my bud.
 
There is no black magic to a regular setup. It's something everyone can do. Truss rod, string height, intonation, pickup height and bridge/tremolo adjustments are things I include in the term "regular setup".
 
Jeries said:
I think there's an art to it... it's a talent few have.

It drives me crazy- every 'kid' on these Ibanez groups and a lot of guitar groups think they can 'set it up themselves' by watching youtube and it's close enough to 'factory'

People don't know what they're missing, with a tech/luthier that really knows what they're doing
Click to expand...

Too bad it requires years of experience and failure to develop such perfect skills. Even if you do have all the information experience will still make the difference between an okay job and a perfect job. Even the good tech/luthier had to go through the screwing up/okayish phase. I know from bitter experience how easy it is to go overboard when you have a fret or nut that refuses to flatten just that tiny fraction. At some point frustration will take over and you will use the file too hard/too long.
 
I live in Phoenix where Roberto Venn is- so it has the most population of repair people with NO experience and just a price list of what someone that knows what they're doing should charge
 
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