Guitar, bass and ukulele set-ups

I've been adjusting and fine-tuning my own instruments for many years now, so that they sound the best that they can, and so that they are easy for me to play. In recent years, I've offered this service to my students too.


Prices:
All prices include TVA and exclude new strings.

• Set-up for electric, acoustic or bass guitar or ukulele. Adjusting intonation and action (string height) for improved play-ability and/or sound. Saddle and nut adjustment, truss-rod adjustment. 50 euro.
• Full fret dress for electric, acoustic or bass guitar or ukulele. Leveling, re-crowning and polishing the frets, and set-up (see above). 110 euro
• Nut replacement, including price of bone nut. 75 euro
• Strap pins installation for ukulele or acoustic guitar, including price of two strap pins: 15 euro 
• String tree installation for Strat-style guitars, including price of string tree: 15 euro

Why get your guitar set up anyway?

• Many people give up playing the guitar after some weeks or months because they find it too difficult. They practice and try hard, but they just can't get it to sound good. So they quit. They think they are to blame: they simply have not got what it takes to play an instrument well. Often, they are trying to learn on a low-cost and badly set up guitar that a professional would struggle to play. If they had had a better set up guitar, they may have been encouraged by the sounds they were making and have gone on to be good players and make some good music, and got enjoyment from this.
• Adjusting your string height by a very small amount can dramatically change the ease of playing your instrument or the sound of it. The usual way to measure string height is by measuring between the top of the 12th fret and the bottom of the string. A fraction of a mm change here can improve things massively.
• Seasonal variations in temperature and humidity expand and contract wood, and constant use can cause wear and tear on nuts, saddles and frets (making them lower), so instruments need some adjustments and parts need to be replaced every so often.
• Even some new guitars and ukes can benefit from a set up. There are two reasons I can think of for this. First, as I've heard Tommy Emmanuel (famous guitar player) say in an interview: Luthiers (guitar builders) know how to make guitars sound great; they don't know how to optimize them for playing. Players know how to do this. Second, temperature and humidity changes when guitars travel from factory to store (often between continents with very different climates, 1000's of miles by sea and land) mean that adjustments often need to be made in the final location. Few stores will adjust guitars before they put them on display.

Mark Baxter 2015 - 2017