I'm THIS CLOSE to buying a new guitar after not playing for way too long. I'm not exactly a beginner, but the "boomerang" is going to take a long time to come around.....eventually it will all come back.
Anyway, can anyone tell me what "set up" means, and what I should expect when I get the instrument from the store? All constructive advice is appreciated. Thanks.
Set up is where a Technician or Luthier goes over your guitar and sets the neck relief (slight bow in neck), action (height of strings above fret) checks for proper intonation. Puts on new strings and tunes it up. He should also just go over the entire guitar and make sure everything is in good order.
Some stores do setups on every guitar they sell.
Ask your local store.
Thanks again, Jim.
Definately make them include a set up in the price that you pay. Remember, it may have been played by ever tom dick and harry guitar wannabee with greasy little hands. So have it set up and tell 'em what size strings you want and how you like the action. Watch out on the string guage because there are a couple 'varieties' of 9's and 10's. You want to 'know' the actual gauge so that you put on the correct ones when you change 'em. I had 10's put on my strat and the moron put on a hybrid set of 10's which included a different size on a couple of the strings.
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Thank you, sirN, I hadn't thought about a specific gauge on the strings. What would you (or anyone else out there) recommend for me, given that I have fairly small hands, and have not played in a long time. I will be spending a significant amount of time at first just getting the muscles and tendons in my hands back up to the flexibility they once had. What do you think I should request as part of the string set-up?
Many thanks to all who take the time to read these posts and help out.
I just started back also ~ 6 weeks ago. My Ibanez has 9's and my Carver came with 9 elixers. I had 9's put on my daughter's mini strat, she is 9 today. The larger 11 on the acoustic were hard for her to play so we opted fro a smaller guage to start with. Me I like 9's as that is what I played years ago, Fender super light in the 70's. Strings are going to be a personal preferance as to the manf and tone/size you are after. JMHO
John M
You haven't said. are you looking at an electric or acoustic?
Personally I started with an acoustic with 12s and developed from there.
as a result when I bought my first electric I opted for 10s as the 9s that came with it were just too light for my taste.
I'm pretty sure I'll start with an acoustic Taylor, the Big Baby, to be exact. It seems comfortable for my size, and has a full sound. I'm thinking that the other Taylors, Martins, and Gibsons are out of my price range, at least for now. I'll gladly accept advice on other models that have a rich sound, in the same price range. Thanks to all.
By the way, I don't know if this question should be under a completely different topic, but I was wondering about humidity control. If the guitar has laminated back and sides, that should make it less vulnerable to humidity changes, right? I don't want to ruin my investment for lack of knowledge.
