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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 120
Location: UK - Canterbury Kent | I have just picked up my Telecaster from having a professional set up. The first time ever by a luthier for me, as I always though I could do a half reasonable job. Not any more, I am converted.
What an big difference it has made to the playability. The guy altered the neck relief, removed strings, dressed and polished the frets, degreased and polish, restring, checked action and adjusted at the bridge and nut, corrected intonation and tested it, with report of before and after settings.
The interesting thing is that this is a four month old Fender USA Telecastser, which was factory set to a very poor standard. Is this normal.
I also have a 1778-LX-BCB that is only 11 months old. I have removed all the shims to make it easier to play. It is much better that when delivered, but I expect it could be better.
I wondered if any one has had a set up done on an LX yet.
Piers. |
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Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Lots of folks here, think the factory O setup is hard to beat...
Though, there are also bunch who opt for a custom setup as well..
You might want to search old posts/vault for "setup" see what it yields in addition to responses you may get here. G'Luck |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | The new O's do come a little high on the action. I prefer that to having to hunt down shims or hearing them buzz in the salesroom.
Nothing beats the finess of a skilled Craftsman! Wish I new someone in my local. |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 474
Location: Anchorage, Alaska | I know there aren't too many of us in the OFC living in Alaska, but does anyone know of a good guitar tech up here? |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | Dr. Joel Fleischmann?? |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | Only if you want your guitar to have a "Northern Exposure". I, personally, would be afraid a moose would step on my guitar. |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 474
Location: Anchorage, Alaska | As a matter of fact we had a moose in our front yard this morning. Not unusual even with me living in the middle of downtown. Moose walk right over the 4' fence to get into the yard to munch on our trees and shrubs. |
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Joined:
October 2004
Posts: 48
Location: State College, PA | Yup -
I lived 14 years in Alaska - I believe I can say that between 1980 and 1994 you would not have been wise to hand your instrument to anybody in an Alaksan Music Shop (what few there were...).
I knew some isolated individuals who had honed their skills over those long winters - and did receive some tremendous help from a few of them over those years.
But the over-the-counter guys were mostly butchers.
Don't know where you are, FlyGuy, but I lived on Kodiak, in Juneau, in Valdez and in Los Anchorage. Traveled all points in between and a few of the more outlying spots as well...
If I'd needed something professionally done, with money changing hands and relying on reputation, I'd probably have gone to Seattle. Maybe it's different now...
more sometime - might even dig out some Moose tales -
ps for you folks in the lower 48 - Northern Exposure just didn't cut it... Manhatten Transfer performed at the Anchorage Performing Arts Center (early nineties - maybe '92 or '93). Did two shows - I went to their first. Between songs Tim Hauser commented on how great it was to be "in the Land of Northern Exposure", and immediately received some friendly, but pointed, cat calls and boo birds - He replied, "Woah! I guess we'll drop that line for the second show!" and then got a big friendly laugh. They did a great show.
Alaskans get kind of twitchy about the rampant "quasi-urban-theme-parkization" of what, once you get a few miles out, is a place that is still very, very wild.
Michael |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | I've had to take a shim out from under the bridge of my LX1777, and it's better than perfect. How many acoustic guitars have this feature to adjust the bridge? I know of none. Adjustments to the neck are quite simple also with O's. Is you action to your liking on your LX?
Tommy |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | I've always believed the "setup" from all the factories CANNOT by its nature be absolutely optimal for the lowest action.
Wood varies too much from factory bench to dealer's wall, with all the climatic changes in between. I've always thought they were pretty much forced to set them up sorta high, to insure at least, they'd be playable upon reaching the dealership. Set optimally, the action might indeed be even lower, resulting in a situation that would, in effect, force the dealer to adjust the guitars. Set a bit high, and the dealer can hang the instrument and always include or (gasp!) sell a setup to the customer on purchase, or do a prepurchase adjustment if he feels it warrants it. At least the choice is the dealers.
Some may argue that this is not showing the guitars in their best light. I agree, but the circumstances of change in the wood due to climatic variables cannot be overlooked by the factory either. |
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Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | There is a trade off between lowest action and most sound. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Agreed. I've taken the thick shim out on both my 2003-vintage 1777 and 2002 Collectors and believe I will make a thin shim to put back in on each of them at the next string change for each. They just lost too much sound quality from the shim removal/bridge lowering.
Roger |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 7
Location: Va Beach, Va | I too have a LX1777 that has most of the shims taken out to make the strings lower, but I play with a soft touch which allows me to lower the strings and let the amp do the work. As to a setup yes I agree give it to a good guitar repair person to do the work. Got one in the Va Beach GC who is outstanding! And I mean outstanding. Bottom line is how you play your guitar as to what setup to use. |
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Joined:
March 2003
Posts: 555
Location: Wooster, Ohio | I too have had my eyes opened to a professional setup. I always thought that I was a reasonably good guitar mechanic. I took a recent purchase which was a 20 year old Yairi acoustic doubleneck to a professional in Akron. He did similar things polished, adjusted, lowered and did it to a perfection I could never have dreamed of. Both necks are dead on perfect. Best money I ever spent on a guitar.
Steve |
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Guitar set up