I've been playing guitars for decades but never bothered getting into the setups side of things, always taking it to a local guy to have my guitars cleaned and set up and so on. However, I've now got to the point where my guitar collection is nearing double figures, and so I don't fancy going bankrupt due to paying for guitar setups

I'm now looking to get into it and learning how to do it myself. The main things I'm looking to learn about it:

• truss rod and neck adjustments
• neck care and maintenance
• fret care and maintenance
• intonation adjustments
• improving action without fret buzz and so on

I have been Googling some stuff and watching some random YouTube videos, but many are from reputable luthiers and so on that seem to assume a certain level of entry knowledge and/or are assuming people have specific (and often expensive) professional tools for the job.

I'm looking to simply buy the basics, the minimum required, and then learn how do do the guitar (and bass) setups myself, and save myself a small fortune at the same time

 

Complete Guitar Care and Maintenance by J. Blackwood.

I don't know how many times they've reprinted it but it's all you need to get started and beyond.

As far as tools go you don't really need much for basic maintenance and setup. When you want to start changing things or start mess with acoustics you might have to invest in some tools but usually the cost of the tool is about the same as one service visit or you recoup it on the second use.

Don't buy the cheap tools to do precision work: nut files, chisels, fret pullers, fret cutters, tang nippers for bound necks (especially if you are going to mess with stainless and evo-gold) get the best you can find around you. The rest of your kit can be consumer grade tools.

 

This is a good place to start:

 

Check on the sister site and search for Dan Erlewine. He has some good videos on guitar maintenance.

 

Cheers for this. Seems like virtually all of them are offline, unfortunately. May look elsewhere for these.

On a side note, as a long time members of over 10 years, but never needed to do it, how does one request a re-upload of something?!