DIY

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rexbinary

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TL;DR - I taught myself how to setup my guitars and bias my amp myself. This made me happy. If you are not doing this stuff yourself, I think you should consider it. Probably a lot of you here already do this stuff yourself.

I used to be the guy that took all my guitars in to be setup, to have new tuners installed, etc. I would not even consider adjusting the truss rod myself out of fear, nor would I even know how to do it. Not anymore.

I was never completely happy with the setups I paid for as the techs I encountered just wanted to take the action as low as it would go. I hated that much fret buzz, plus I liked being able to get under the string just a tiny bit. When I would ask them to not take the action so low, they literally didn't know how to do it any other way. They had their one way to set it up. I had one guy get really pissed because I questioned his setup. I have worked with three different techs in my area. Don't get me wrong, these techs have happy customers, so I don't want to completely shit on these guys.

As of today, on my Jackson Rhoads I upgraded the 1000 Floyd to an Original myself. The 1000 was not holding it's tuning at all. Beside the knifes already being worn, I discovered by troubleshooting the posts were loose and moving, and also the locking nut wasn't stable.

I replaced all the 1000 parts such as the claw, the posts, the locking nut, etc. with original parts. I fixed the loose locking nut and the loose posts. I also installed a FU-Tone brass big block and silent trem springs, Gotoh locking tuners, and a Red Bishop pop-in trem arm. I have the trem 100% level and intonated everything myself. I set it up myself starting by first setting it to factory specs by adjusting the truss rod, setting the string height, etc. Then I set the action I wanted though trial and error. It now stays in tune 100% regardless how much you pull up or dive with the Floyd.

On my Jackson Dinky I did a full setup, leveled the bridge, and intonated everything myself as well and now it's Gotoh trem is 100% stable.

I also checked the bias on my amp for the first time and set it back to factory specs.

Next up is the works for my Charvel, replace the 1000 trem, install locking tuners, etc., and for my Ibanez Iron Label 7 string is a new hipshot bridge and Black Tusq XL nut. (It already has locking tuners.)

I learned how to do all this stuff from reading forums, watching many YouTube videos, and reading Dan Erlewine's book "How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!", and a lot of trial and error. It took me a couple of months of working on the first guitar alone to figure everything out.

It feels great to be independent and to be able to do all this stuff myself without spending money and relying on someone else to try to do it the way I want it done. I highly recommend considering learning how to do this stuff yourself as I find it very rewarding, and I have never been happier with my guitars.

Now if I could just play better...
 
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rexbinary

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I haven't reached self fret leveling level yet, but I'm working on it. :hbang:
 

gunch

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I have a dead fret on my AXS32 and I need to fix it
 

Hollowway

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100% agree, I haven't biased an amp, but that would be cool to learn.

And I have the opposite techs you have, lol. I started doing my own setups forever ago because 1) The techs put the action too high, and knew fuck-all about shimming saddles on Floyds, and 2) I am too impation to wait for the next business day to adjust a truss rod. :lol:

Some stuff does suck - I have to polish fret ends on one of my guitars because they are just a bit proud of the edge of the FB. (Yeah, I used the word proud there. I saw another dude use the word for something sticking up beyond where it should go, and I thought, "Well doesn't he just sound like a dandy fop!" and I've had that word locked in the chamber ever since. Until today, when I let it fly, and now I can see like a dandy fop.) I'm nervous about rushing it, so I keep putting it off. But eventually I'll do it.

And, idk about you guys, but this stuff gives me great pleasure, because it seems so much of what we do in life is just incremental, almost immesurably small, advances toward a larger future goal. Bringing something to a successful finish in an afternoon is just a great feeling.
 

TheWarAgainstTime

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I've never taken an amp chassy out of the shell to bias or anything, but I've at least learned enough to test/diagnose any tubes that need to be replaced and replaced a few fuses over the years.

As far as guitar setups, I started doing my own pretty early on when a local shop put my only guitar even further into disrepair :lol: there's definitely a sense of pride/accomplishment to dialing in a guitar to your exact taste and knowing exactly how to get there.

I've also become the go-to guy for a handful of friends for all their setup needs and advice. Deep cleaning, truss rod adjustments, general setups, electronics, etc. I haven't picked up the tools for a full fret level/crown yet, but that's a project I want to knock out in the near future for a cheaper guitar I picked up last year. I've already filed down a high fret on one of my guitars and done some minor drop fill finish repairs, though.
 

crushingpetal

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Awesome, and agree. I bought two Erlewine books years ago: fantastic investment. The best part is a setup you do has the potential to be better than a tech, mostly because you're evaluating it as you do it.

Would love to bias my own amp, maybe that's a life goal. I still take mine to a tech because voltage scary 👿
 

JDB123

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Some stuff does suck - I have to polish fret ends on one of my guitars because they are just a bit proud of the edge of the FB. (Yeah, I used the word proud there. I saw another dude use the word for something sticking up beyond where it should go, and I thought, "Well doesn't he just sound like a dandy fop!" and I've had that word locked in the chamber ever since. Until today, when I let it fly, and now I can see like a dandy fop.)

Totally off-topic, but the first time I saw proud used in a similar way was in a sci-fi/fantasy novel when describing the posture of, *ahem*, a certain extremity of the male anatomy...
 

broj15

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I totally agree, but especially as it pertains to guitar pedals. I haven't gotten into vero, strip board, or point to point yet, but populating a PCB and getting it wired is basically just electronic Legos. And when you plug it in for the first time and it works without having to redo or troubleshoot anything it's such a rewarding feeling. Not to mention you can make custom art for the enclosure/use cool knobs you either found online or scavenged from other electronics and you have more control over the quality of individual components (no audible difference imo but it will have a longer lifespan than cheap bulk components that you see in overpriced "boutique" pedals).

I think my next step is going to be DIY amplifier repair. I've been reading a lot about the art of repairing tube & solid state amps, but haven't made the investment into things like an oscilloscope or a variac just yet to quickly and safely diagnose issues, but learning how to properly read schematics and trace simple circuits has been a lot of fun.
 

Werecow

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KnightBrolaire

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I've been doing my own repairs/wiring/setups/fretwork/biasing for years, mostly out of necessity. It's very rewarding to be able to do a lot of this stuff ime.
Just with pickup swaps alone I've probably saved a fortune lol.
All the other tech stuff has helped me get better at doing scratch/partscaster builds as well.
Learning how to paint/do paint repairs, etc is the most frustrating shit for me, but I enjoy doing it for the most part (except for level sanding or sanding in general lol).

Hopefully I'll eventually get to a point where I understand amps enough to build one to my tastes.
 

laxu

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I can do pretty much all repairs to my guitars, but fret leveling and replacement I'd rather pay someone to do. It's tedious work that I do not enjoy at all.
 

TheWarAgainstTime

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Just thought I'd bring back this thread to share my most recent DIY project.

I had been considering sending off my El Capistan to be modded for an external tap tempo, but most places I found online wanted around $50 plus shipping both ways to do it :eek: After some digging, I found out the mod is just tying in two wires from the new jack to the lugs of the on-board tap tempo footswitch. Way simpler than I would have thought. The whole process took less than an hour to complete and my only "cost" was for a new jack that matched the rest of the existing ones on the pedal :metal:

20231204-161028.jpg
 

wheresthefbomb

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Wow, nice job on the pedal there.

Nothing quite as satisfying as doing it yourself. I actually just ordered some tools for spot-leveling frets and polishing proud fret ends. I've never done fretwork before but I can't possibly do any worse than the dingdong tech I took my guitar to.
 
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