The Complete Guitar Setup Guide: The measurements, tools & techniques used by professional luthiers

Most guitar setup guides are so comprehensive that they can be overwhelming. This is a thoughtful, well organized, guide to a lot of really important information to help you set up and clean your guitar to make it play well. I also highly recommend Dan erlewines’ “how to make your electric guitar play great”. I would suggest you get this one first and then go deeper with the other. It’s printed on good stock, nice large lettering, clear photos, a very good purchase to get some very useful knowledge that will make your guitar more fun to play.

Has everything you need.

Not worth the money. Learned more online for free. Overpriced expected more info for that price

This book covers basics. I was expecting more detail. Not worth the price…

I am not a luthier,but I was a mechanic in Ford dealers for a long time.I did a lot of carburetor work.[little delicate stuff] Bought an old epiphone 12 string that is pretty messed up and I'm actually making progress.The book was a little expensive,but it is helpful. This could become a hobby.

I've been playing guitar with varying levels of commitment for 30 years, amassing a collection of 9 guitars and basses, so it felt time that I learned how to keep them in optimal shape without spending thousands on visits to guitar techs. At this point my goal isn't to become a true craftsman like an actual luthier, my goal is to be able to set up a guitar or bass better than the local music store tech and have the confidence to tinker with pickups and necks and bridges and so on. I'm a DIY'er in many areas, so let's add one more. This is the start of that journey.Fast forwarding a bit, I read through this book twice, confirmed that I had the right tools (I'd purchased off of a checklist and already had a lot of the screwdrivers, Allen wrenches, soldering iron, etc.), and then set up an old SR300DX bass that - as I learned through the process of evaluation taught in the book - needed neck relief, intonation adjustments, and bridge height adjustments. So I adjusted the truss rod to add neck relief with old strings on, then cleaned the body and fretboard with strings off, leveled the fretboard in 3 locations, shaped the fret edges (minimally), crowned and polished frets, cleaned all metal parts, cleaned pots (D5), replaced 9V battery, nut filing cleanup and re-glue, new strings (DR BB), bridge height adjustment. Took me about 3 hours because I was being cautious and did spend extra time shaping the fret edges. But it worked. That 2004 bass shines like new and plays like butter with no fret buzz to be found.I tell that story because I went from having a vague idea how this all worked to diving into a bass setup with tools I'd never used before and actually experiencing serviceable results, all in the period of about a week. I did look up some YouTube videos (this book author produces videos that are said to be very useful) for clarification on some points, but almost entirely used the book content. Next up is a Telecaster neck and pickup swap that will get a full setup treatment. I'll have to remember to take pictures of that one.Thanks, Scott. I learned setup basics much faster than I'd have imagined and didn't screw up my first attempt in any way. A good start to the journey.

Fantastic!!

I ordered this book thinking it would be helpful in setting up my guitar. It had some good points, but all in all, these were things that most guitar players already know or should. Thinking this book might get deeper was my first mistake, as I found after first looking through the book. At best these were novice ideas, and simply that. The material was shallow, incomplete, and one sided. I found that there was more coverage on fender guitars, and I own a Les Paul, and that information is useless to me. I don't mind addressing the Fender brand, but I need to know more about my brand, along with others. The book is not a bad one, other than it is pretty basic. I seen the book advertised on face book, but I do not download books into my computer, I preferer the hard copy. So, I ordered it from Amazon and paid $35.00 for it. This is overpriced for what was in it. I do not recommend buying this book, all I can say is look before you leap...I'm bad for falling for this gimmick Signed disappointed seasoned guitar player.