Should You Learn to Do Your Own Guitar Setups?

Some parts? Yes.
A full setup? Usually, no—and here’s why.

Every guitarist should learn a few basics. Knowing how to check neck relief and make a minor truss rod adjustment is smart ownership—as long as you’re confident in your measurements (hint: action gauges are not precise enough). If you’re not checking relief yourself, having a reputable shop look at it once a year is a good habit.

Hank’s Guitar Shop offers a Setup Workshop on the last Saturday of each month, that teaches the basics of DIY setups and explains why it’s still a good idea to have a pro check out your guitar every so often.

But a complete “setup”?

That’s where things get misunderstood.

There Is Almost Never a “Simple Setup”

What players call a setup is often just the final step in a much longer diagnostic process. In real shops, we routinely find underlying issues such as:

• Loose or uneven frets
• Nut slots that are too low, too high, or cut incorrectly
• Saddle height or fit problems
• Hardware problems
• Intonation issues

And that’s before we even address normal relief and action adjustments.

On acoustic guitars, the list gets longer:

• Bridge lift
• Soundboard distortion
• Bracing problems
• Binding failures

These aren’t edge cases. They’re common.

Training Reality vs. Internet Reality

In a professional shop, it takes two to three months of full-time training before an apprentice tech begins to contribute at even minimum wage—and that’s under constant supervision.

At Hank’s Guitar Shop, I wouldn’t let a new tech perform an unsupervised setup until they’ve gone through eight weeks of our standard apprentice training, plus four weeks of supervised tech work.

So when someone on YouTube promises to teach you how to do a “pro setup” in twenty minutes…
That should raise an eyebrow.

This is a textbook example of the Dunning–Kruger effect: “You don’t know what you don’t know.”

I’m sure these “setup gurus” mean well. They think their work is solid and assume unhappy customers are just “too picky.”

They’re not.

The unhappy players they hear from are probably just the tip of the iceberg. Most people don’t complain—they simply take their guitar somewhere else.

What You Should Learn

Absolutely learn how to:

• Check neck relief correctly. Use a B-string and look for a very slight bend when lowest string is fretted highest and lowest.
• Make small, informed truss rod adjustments
• Adjust electric guitar saddle heights
• Adjust pickup pole heights
• Know when your guitar needs a pro

Ignoring relief entirely can allow string tension to progressively bow a neck faster and faster, due to increased leverage. In extreme cases, a neck can move beyond what the truss rod can correct.

Knowledge is valuable.

Sign up for our monthly Setup Workshop

Or… Let Us Handle It

If you’d rather not gamble with your instrument, bring your guitars to Hank’s Guitar Shop once a year. We’ll check neck relief and overall condition at no charge, and let you know honestly whether anything actually needs attention.

No guesswork.
No YouTube shortcuts.
Just professional eyes on your valuable instrument.