Ah, the Difference A Good Set-Up Makes!

Subject: Ah, the Difference A Good Set-Up Makes!
From: WyoWoman
Date: 17 Jun 01 - 12:54 PM

For some time, my good Mudcat friends Bluejay and GaryT have been urging me to get my guitar checked out by a good luthier to see if my problems with hamburger-fingertips were more due to problems with the instrument than with my general wussiness. I resisted, thinking if I just toughed it out, pretty soon my fingers would get hardened and I'd be good to go.

However, what actually happened is that I found myself picking the guitar up less and less (I'm only learning to play now, after 30 or so years saying I wanted to "some day." Such is the nature of Someday ...)and feeling pretty resigned about the possibility of ever being able to do more with it.

BUT!!! The gently insistent GaryT dragged me off to his good friend Kevin Smead, Kansas City luthier of loverly guitars, who spent part of one of his precious Saturday afternoons rebuilding the bridge and adjusting the action on my guitar. And now, friends and neighbors, I'm here to tell you, guitar playing isn't SO bad once you stop crying after each session.

The setup on the guitar when I bought it would work fine for a man or strong-handed woman who played the guitar hard, but for little ol' small-handed, limp-wristed me, it was a sumbitch.

SO, the moral of this story is, Never Underestimate the Value of a Good Set-up. And When Your Friends Who Know Better Tell You to Get Something Fixed: Listen. Go, pay money to someone who knows what s/he's doing and get the darned thing fixed.

This adjustment didn't automatically make me able to play the guitar, but it ha encouraged me enough that I'm back to regular practice.

As Ever, WyoWoman

Subject: RE: Ah, the Difference A Good Set-Up Makes!
From: Peter T.
Date: 17 Jun 01 - 02:08 PM

Other good set-ups: "Take my wife..."
(couldn't resist).
Similar situation: I decided to take up the guitar after years of futsing aroung, go into a good store, spend a pretty good deal of money on a guitar, and can't do anything with it. Give up. 4 years later, I get so frustrated that I go and buy another guitar of a different type, just so I can strum something. Life improves. Finally I decide to take lessons. Lesson X, I mention that I have this steel-string guitar, a Seagull, and I have never used it but once or twice. Hated it and me. Rick F. takes a look at it and says, this is a dud guitar, the thing is out of tune for real. He burrows away on it for weeks, patches it up, and voila, I am playing it all the time. All this time it never occurred to me that I was not to blame, and that you could fix a guitar! Lost 4 years. Really.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Ah, the Difference A Good Set-Up Makes!
From: Justa Picker
Date: 17 Jun 01 - 02:35 PM

Yes, it most soitenly does.

I've recently had the action on all of my guitars raised because I'm picking more agressively than I used to (and used to have the action set very low.) But the more aggressive picking was creating lots of buzzes, and I'm now getting more into flatpicking end of things as well, and I find low action just doesn't cut it for flat picking. I have them all set to a nice compromised setting ideal for fingerpicking with single string runs as well as for flatpicking.

It is not unusual for a guitar to require a couple of set ups a year, depending on climatic/seasonal weather temperatures. (Lower climatic humidity and the top/bridge will sink a little - lowering the action; higher climatic humidity and the top/bridge will swell/rise a little raising the action.) Some people let the climate determine their guitar setups, but adjustments done by a qualified luthier can keep the intonation in check as well, which is important.

Best thing to control and keep consistent humidity is to use a "Damp-It" (or humidifier of choice) both inside the guitar body and in the case under the neck when storing. (Use the damp-its only when you're running your furnace. In the summer you can still leave them in the guitar and case as they will soak up excess humidity a little.