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Posted by: Crazy_Diamond Nov 4 2010, 04:24 PM

Hello fellow GMCers,

I have always been interested in guitar adjustement and I want to experiment in this field. I live in an appartment where the weather is pretty unstable and my guitar setup has to be done at every change of season (3 months). Since I'm a university students that live WAY below the povrety limit I want do be able to do it by myself.

I have 3 guitars at the moment:
- Fender Strat
- ESP F-200 (Floyd-Rose version
- Seagull acoustic guitar

They are different thing I am principaly concern about. First my strat sound terrible my action is really high and I still hear some fret buzzzzzzzz all around the place. I want to make it sound and play great just like it was before. As for my ESP I want to change the string gauge. Since I haven't change those strings for ???? probably years I have change a lot my playing style since. It is now fitted with some 10-52 strings gauge and I want it to become more of a shredding guitar with 9-42. It is going to be a big job since it is mounted on a Floyd Rose. Finally for my accoustic I am not to much in a hurry to set it up. It's okay for now.

All that long introdcution to ask you if you have any books to recommend me for doing this kind of adjustement. I have red a lot on the Internet but at the end I always prefer good old books.

For now I have found those 3.

This one is more recent one I it looks pretty good
http://www.amazon.ca/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288881957&sr=8-1

This one looks really good (also recommended by a guy that I don't know whom has just built a guitar that is worth 8 000$), it also include some tools and way to make your own tools
http://www.amazon.ca/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879306017/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288883309&sr=1-3

The last one is mainly for stratocaster, it would be good for customizing my own strat.
http://www.amazon.ca/Fender-Stratocaster-Handbook-Maintain-Troubleshoot/dp/0760329834/ref=pd_sim_b_3

Any toughts, suggestions, impressions, review........ About all this ?

Posted by: emirb Nov 4 2010, 05:29 PM

A bit off topic as far as books are concerned, but imo it's best if you can simply HANG with some luthier - either at the shop or in private and just chat and observe. I went and fixed frets on one of my guitars and it was amazing how much I've learned just in those couple of visits! How to properly adjust thrust rod and WHY exactly you do it - besides the obvious things. action adjustments, floyd rose reparation and so on. Priceless. Even thou I searched the webs a lot on these subjects - can not be compared. But then again such a person doesn't need to be kind as this guy I bumped on and even more available in the close range from where you live..

Best of luck!

Posted by: Crazy_Diamond Nov 4 2010, 08:47 PM

QUOTE (emirb @ Nov 4 2010, 12:29 PM)

Posted by: Crazy_Diamond Nov 6 2010, 10:58 PM

Seems likes there is no guitar tech on the forum ... That would be usefull....

Posted by: Ajmurrell Nov 9 2010, 01:22 AM

I work for a guitar tech in Hampton Wick, London. We run a Guitar Shop specialising in high end vintage/pro gear but predominantly we are a well established Guitar Repair Store.

The owner, Charlie Chandler has been a guitar luthier for 30 years or so now, and has worked with some of the biggest names in guitar history post 1960's. To mention a few Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton...

Anyway, that's just to heighten my recommendation of a book he published a while back specifically on guitar repair.

The book is called "The Guitarist's Guide to Set-Up and Maintenance".

No spamming intended, its a genuinely great guide from a master luthier.

Posted by: Crazy_Diamond Nov 9 2010, 02:59 AM

Thanks for the reply Ajmurell but since it's been a few days and I don't have any patience at all I have already ordered some books and took a rendez-vous with a guitar tech......

I would have bought that book for sure it is quite inexpensive and loks very usefull.

Perhaps you have a really cool job man ... What are you doing there exactly ?

Posted by: Bear Rose Nov 9 2010, 05:40 PM

I actually own the first book you mentioned in your post ("The Guitar Player Repair Guide") and it is a great book for learning how to maintain anything you need to do on your guitar from setting it up, to fixing problems, to wiring, refretting....pretty much anything you would ever need to do to your guitar. I highly recommend it.

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Nov 12 2010, 12:45 AM

Definitely check out Dan Erlewine's videos, there are several of them on the net, and they are all very good. They guy explains very well, and he's a pro, and well established. There are some books too, but these videos are awesome. I learned a lot from them.

Posted by: Crazy_Diamond Nov 12 2010, 02:00 AM

QUOTE (Ivan Milenkovic @ Nov 11 2010, 06:45 PM)

Posted by: -Zion- Nov 14 2010, 02:37 PM

I also have the "Guitar-player Repair Guide" book and it's awesome.. Dan Erlwine is awesome..

And while you are doing this to save money, i think anything you do with your guitar, is top notch as you get a better understanding and knowledge of your instrument, and perhaps an even deeper relationship with them.. (ya, sounds weird but you know what i mean.. )

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Nov 14 2010, 06:54 PM

QUOTE (Crazy_Diamond @ Nov 12 2010, 02:00 AM)