Hello, I recently bought an electric and it sounds fine to me.
But, when I got it, it wasn't sent up or anything.
My question is, should I bring it to a store to have a setup even if it sounds fine to me?
Are there any warning signs that I should look for which tell me I should have my instrument setup?
Thanks in advance!
Well, there could be a few warning signs... but a guitar that isn't set-up will not ruin the guitar. Think of a set-up on a guitar like a tune-up on a car: you won't necessarily ruin the car if you don't get a tune-up when you should but it will perform alot better if you do.
Two main things are done during a setup: Fix intonation and the tension of the neck/height of the strings are fixed. So, to check the intonation, take a tuner and play an open string... tune it so it is perfectly in pitch. When you do that, play the harmonic on the 12th fret on that string, now play the fretted note on the 12th fret, they should not be different pitches (even if they are slightly off, by a microtone then you probably will need a setup).
It's hard to check the tension of the neck, but make sure your strings are at a good height. If you hear a loud buzzing while you're playing a fretted note, the strings are probably too low (although this can be a number of other problems).
Although a setup can be done on your own, I wouldn't reccomend it. Take it to someone who can do it with no problems. Chances are your guitar does need a setup, even if you can't notice any problems with it... try checking the intonation, if it is off then definitly take it to someone who can fix it.
Steve-0
