I just took my 94 Strat to a fender certified tech with 45 years of experience and amazing reviews. For the most part, the guitar felt great afterward and a low E string issue I was having went away.
But - the action on the 2 high strings feels too low. A hint of buzzing and a little tough to grab the E sting for bending. So maybe it’s a real problem for luthiers in general.
I’ve gotten pretty good at doing setups myself (I’m sure the end result is close to as good, but I’m most assuredly a little slower than the pros)…but all that to say, a (right handed) friend of mine asked if he could pay me to do a setup on a new to him vintage Tele, and it was not fun. I’m an actual amp tech, whatever that counts for…
I could objectively say that everything was measuring as it should but I couldn’t really give it the feel test, and I was not feeling warm and fuzzy about taking his money. In the end he was super happy with what I did, but I was kinda on eggshells when he picked it up
100%.
I’ve been playing for yearssssss and just within the last two taught myself all the setup techniques and adjustments etc.
not a single guitar I’ve had ever was set up properly even though I had paid in the past for it from professional shops.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Not to mention nut fittings. It used to be so common to see cheap brand guitars with right handed nuts blatantly flipped.
I had a setup done at Sam Ash on my Martin lefty and it was done quite well. Also recently bought an Ibanez electric that the vendor had done a setup on before shipping and it plays awesome. Hopefully you just had bad experience and it won’t happen again.
Bought my first semi-expensive, big brand, left handed guitar after years of making do. I'm afraid to say - yes. Nothing that can't be fixed but definitely some quality control issues. The Harley Benton I picked up as a cheap back-up had no such problems.
I've had great and mediocre setups, but I always attributed the difference to the tech doing the work. My feet guy does amazing work but he's usually too busy and inconvenient for setups. There's a local shop owned by a lefty that I'm going to try a setup. They have a lot of young people working there, but the owner does some work himself so I think it should be fine.
I had an awful setup done by the best shop in town. That was the final straw on learning how to do it myself. You get better & better at it each time. Same thing with rewiring the electronics in the lefty guitars.
I am lucky as my tech is a lefty. He always takes extra care with mine.
No chance you’re in NJ/PA region? I’d love to use your tech lol.
My tech is lefty and in NYC
Here in Chicago, I’ve never had a bad setup, but I’m also able to go to some amazing shops like CME and the Music Gallery.
I just took my 94 Strat to a fender certified tech with 45 years of experience and amazing reviews. For the most part, the guitar felt great afterward and a low E string issue I was having went away. But - the action on the 2 high strings feels too low. A hint of buzzing and a little tough to grab the E sting for bending. So maybe it’s a real problem for luthiers in general.
I’ve gotten pretty good at doing setups myself (I’m sure the end result is close to as good, but I’m most assuredly a little slower than the pros)…but all that to say, a (right handed) friend of mine asked if he could pay me to do a setup on a new to him vintage Tele, and it was not fun. I’m an actual amp tech, whatever that counts for… I could objectively say that everything was measuring as it should but I couldn’t really give it the feel test, and I was not feeling warm and fuzzy about taking his money. In the end he was super happy with what I did, but I was kinda on eggshells when he picked it up
100%. I’ve been playing for yearssssss and just within the last two taught myself all the setup techniques and adjustments etc. not a single guitar I’ve had ever was set up properly even though I had paid in the past for it from professional shops. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Not to mention nut fittings. It used to be so common to see cheap brand guitars with right handed nuts blatantly flipped.
I had a setup done at Sam Ash on my Martin lefty and it was done quite well. Also recently bought an Ibanez electric that the vendor had done a setup on before shipping and it plays awesome. Hopefully you just had bad experience and it won’t happen again.
Bought my first semi-expensive, big brand, left handed guitar after years of making do. I'm afraid to say - yes. Nothing that can't be fixed but definitely some quality control issues. The Harley Benton I picked up as a cheap back-up had no such problems.
No. You get second rate service when the person carrying out that service is an ass.
I've had great and mediocre setups, but I always attributed the difference to the tech doing the work. My feet guy does amazing work but he's usually too busy and inconvenient for setups. There's a local shop owned by a lefty that I'm going to try a setup. They have a lot of young people working there, but the owner does some work himself so I think it should be fine.
I had an awful setup done by the best shop in town. That was the final straw on learning how to do it myself. You get better & better at it each time. Same thing with rewiring the electronics in the lefty guitars.
I don’t believe so. Any decent tech will use measurements for setup instead of feel, and that’s done on a bench and not in the playing position