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Calling all (electric) guitar players and/or experts

Jeff7181

Jeff7181

Lifer
Long time ago I bought an Ibanez RG270DX on eBay. Looked to be in great condition n stuff, wasn't damaged at all, but it never felt quite right... no where near a friend's Fender Strat or another friend's Gibson SG. I was always hesitant to adjust anything, but finally got the nerve to try to adjust the string height, since the previous owner had it way too high. But I didn't get very far because the previous owner seems to have stripped the allen head bolts that are used for adjusting the height of the bridge. The neck also seemed to be adjusted improperly, which took me a while to get the nerve to mess with it, but I finally did and got it more straight than it was before.

Recently I found some printed e-mails I had from when I bought it from him, and I just e-mailed him again asking what guage strings he had it set up for before he sold it. He replied back and said something along the lines of "I guess since it's been years it's ok to tell you that I screwed that guitar up big time trying to set it up myself. No perminant damage, everything was just out of whack, I don't even remember what guage strings it was set up for."

So... I'd like to have a properly set up guitar, or at least something that closely resembles one =) I've been searching around on the web for sites that explain different adjustments and what order to set things in. But most of them say not to attempt it yourself, and to take it to a luthier to have it worked on.

So my questions are... is it worth even attempting to correct the set up myself? Or should I just take it to a shop and have it set up properly. About how much does it cost to have a guitar set up? Is Guitar Center reliable? I know the local one sends guitars out to be set up and stuff, none of it is done at the store... but I assume a place like Guitar Center would only use the best luthier(s) possible... is that true? (BTW, I live in Michigan and my local Guitar Center is the one on Ford Rd. in Westland)

*EDIT* Another question based on the first few posts... can anyone in the south-east Michigan recommend a good guitar shop?
 
I would take it to a decent local music shop rather than a Guitar Center. Any shop that sells decent equipment (i.e., Gibson/Fender/PRS, as opposed to $150 guitars) should be fine.
 
Originally posted by: Don_Vito
I would take it to a decent local music shop rather than a Guitar Center. Any shop that sells decent equipment (i.e., Gibson/Fender/PRS, as opposed to $150 guitars) should be fine.
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So... if the Guitar Center here sells 2 or 3 thousand dollar guitars that makes it ok to take it to them? 😕
 
If I were you I'd be pissed about the seller screwing you over, and I would attempt to get my money back.
 
IMO, if you want to play guitar, you first should learn how to adjust it yourself, that way, you'll know what to do when shiets go wrong, and there's no shops around to fix it.
 
Originally posted by: CorporateRecreation
If I were you I'd be pissed about the seller screwing you over, and I would attempt to get my money back.
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As I said, it's been years... about 6.
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
... which is why I'm wondering how much it should cost to have a guitar set up properly.
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I think it cost me about $150 when I had my SG set up, but that's going back a while so I may be way off.
 
Originally posted by: ThePresence
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
... which is why I'm wondering how much it should cost to have a guitar set up properly.
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I think it cost me about $150 when I had my SG set up, but that's going back a while so I may be way off.
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Damn! That's only $50 less than I paid for the guitar!
 
Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
IMO, if you want to play guitar, you first should learn how to adjust it yourself, that way, you'll know what to do when shiets go wrong, and there's no shops around to fix it.
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The thing is, you really need an adjustable strobe light to precisely fix intonation, which is not a worthwhile expense for most of us.
 
Originally posted by: cr4zymofo
IMO, if you want to play guitar, you first should learn how to adjust it yourself, that way, you'll know what to do when shiets go wrong, and there's no shops around to fix it.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking about adjusting it. I'm talking about setting it up. When you change strings, EVERYTHING changes, not just the strings. You have to change the tremolo springs, adjust string height, intonation, and possibly the neck too. On top of that, if the neck is warped, or something, the neck will either have to be straightened or replaced... or frets may have to be filed. If these "adjustments" were simple, luthiers wouldn't have half the business they do now.
 
Well, I did some tweaking and stuff on it with guidance from someone in a chat room who said they're pretty good at setting up guitars, lol, I know, risky huh? But it worked... plays quite a bit better, but we sorta determined that I probably need some frets filed to get it any better, so I think I'm just going to leave it how it is.
 
The RG270 has a floating Floyd Rose tremelo, so it is an order of magnitude harder to set up than a strat or gibson. But there's no reason you can't do it yourself, it'll just take lots of practice. You can't do much to the bridge height since the previous owner stripped the screws, but setting intonation is fairly easy. All you need is a tuner. When the 12th fret harmonic is in tune with the 12th fret note, it's intonated properly. The neck should just be adjusted however you like it - real high if you want, or real low. Too low will cause buzzing against the frets, though. And do the neck adjustment before you intonate! Filing frets? Hell, just do it yourself with a metal file if you find any rough spots.

You don't have to change the tremelo springs. It's not like they go bad or something. They can be adjusted though.

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
So my questions are... is it worth even attempting to correct the set up myself? Or should I just take it to a shop and have it set up properly. About how much does it cost to have a guitar set up? Is Guitar Center reliable? I know the local one sends guitars out to be set up and stuff, none of it is done at the store... but I assume a place like Guitar Center would only use the best luthier(s) possible... is that true? (BTW, I live in Michigan and my local Guitar Center is the one on Ford Rd. in Westland)
Click to expand...

I can't remember ever hearing any statement that was more backwards than that one.

 
Originally posted by: Triumph
The RG270 has a floating Floyd Rose tremelo, so it is an order of magnitude harder to set up than a strat or gibson. But there's no reason you can't do it yourself, it'll just take lots of practice. You can't do much to the bridge height since the previous owner stripped the screws, but setting intonation is fairly easy. All you need is a tuner. When the 12th fret harmonic is in tune with the 12th fret note, it's intonated properly. The neck should just be adjusted however you like it - real high if you want, or real low. Too low will cause buzzing against the frets, though. And do the neck adjustment before you intonate! Filing frets? Hell, just do it yourself with a metal file if you find any rough spots.

You don't have to change the tremelo springs. It's not like they go bad or something. They can be adjusted though.

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
So my questions are... is it worth even attempting to correct the set up myself? Or should I just take it to a shop and have it set up properly. About how much does it cost to have a guitar set up? Is Guitar Center reliable? I know the local one sends guitars out to be set up and stuff, none of it is done at the store... but I assume a place like Guitar Center would only use the best luthier(s) possible... is that true? (BTW, I live in Michigan and my local Guitar Center is the one on Ford Rd. in Westland)
Click to expand...

I can't remember ever hearing any statement that was more backwards than that one.
Click to expand...

Which one? That a place like guitar center would use a really good luthier?

BTW... I found a way to adjust the bridge height... I found a torx bit that will work if I jam it in there... 😀
 
The only good guitar place I know is the one right next to me, Gus Zoppi's (Dequindre & Wattles/17 Mile)...their students have won lots of awards, but I have no clue if they'll be good for fixing a guitar. Maybe they could at least suggest someone?
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Originally posted by: Triumph
The RG270 has a floating Floyd Rose tremelo, so it is an order of magnitude harder to set up than a strat or gibson. But there's no reason you can't do it yourself, it'll just take lots of practice. You can't do much to the bridge height since the previous owner stripped the screws, but setting intonation is fairly easy. All you need is a tuner. When the 12th fret harmonic is in tune with the 12th fret note, it's intonated properly. The neck should just be adjusted however you like it - real high if you want, or real low. Too low will cause buzzing against the frets, though. And do the neck adjustment before you intonate! Filing frets? Hell, just do it yourself with a metal file if you find any rough spots.

You don't have to change the tremelo springs. It's not like they go bad or something. They can be adjusted though.

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
So my questions are... is it worth even attempting to correct the set up myself? Or should I just take it to a shop and have it set up properly. About how much does it cost to have a guitar set up? Is Guitar Center reliable? I know the local one sends guitars out to be set up and stuff, none of it is done at the store... but I assume a place like Guitar Center would only use the best luthier(s) possible... is that true? (BTW, I live in Michigan and my local Guitar Center is the one on Ford Rd. in Westland)
Click to expand...

I can't remember ever hearing any statement that was more backwards than that one.
Click to expand...

Which one? That a place like guitar center would use a really good luthier?

BTW... I found a way to adjust the bridge height... I found a torx bit that will work if I jam it in there... 😀
Click to expand...

Local guitar shops do their own work. Local guitar shops take pride in what they do. Local guitar shops respect your equipment because they love all musical instruments.
Guitar Center hires commissioned sales people who know nothing about guitars. I wouldn't be surprised if they farmed out their work. And you can bet that they don't give two sh!ts about your equipment. To them, you're just another a-hole customer.

This is true for almost any industry. You will almost always get better treatment at a mom & pop store than at a chain, but you will pay more for this service. They treat you right though because they want your repeat business. I used to go to a local shop back when I was in high school. The guy knew I didn't have any money, but every time he got something new in, he practically begged me to play it, just because he wanted me to love the thing as much as he did. And we're talking about $1500 guitars here. When I did eventually buy a new guitar, it was from (even though it was only $200.😱 )
 
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