I'd like to learn some guitar tech stuff

Voxman

I'm retiring end of April and one of the things I'd like to do is to learn how to do certain things including pick-up changing, changing pots, resistors, switch wiring, replacing a guitar nut, fret leveling/crowning etc.  I know this is second nature stuff to many of you, but I have no experience & I don't even think I know how to solder properly. 

I know there are you tube vids but I'd much rather learn from a real person who can physically help me & boost my confidence as I'm nervous about damaging any of my guitars if I get things wrong. I'm in North London and have been looking to see whether there are any courses I can go on but I can't seem to find any.  I'd really like to learn to do this type of stuff for myself.  Any suggestions?    

joeW

https://www.guitartechcourses.com/

I did this a few years ago.  Was very good tho I haven’t continued to do much myself as my soldering skills are shocking.  I still play the guitar I built but if I was to do it again I’d be picky with the parts to get something really special - I built a Jazzmaster which weighs a ton

bertie

Dan Erlewine book (s) are a great place to start

pt22

For the electronics stuff, I’d recommend going to a junk shop and finding an old piece of equipment that you know works and wouldn’t be dangerous to mess with. An old transistor radio perhaps? Then buy a soldering iron and take off and put back on part at a time. Resistors. Pots. The works. See if it works. Keep doing it until you feel comfortable and successful. 

Seems silly but would be a low bar of entry. 

Voxman

joeW said:

https://www.guitartechcourses.com/

I did this a few years ago.  Was very good tho I haven’t continued to do much myself as my soldering skills are shocking.  I still play the guitar I built but if I was to do it again I’d be picky with the parts to get something really special - I built a Jazzmaster which weighs a ton

Thanks for this - I've seen courses like these but they're aimed really either for set-ups or full guitar building neither of which is quite what I'm looking for. 

Haych

I did a two day course at Crimson Guitars a couple of years ago, it was decent.  I already knew most of it but wanted the practical experience of doing it under observation of a good luthier and I picked up some good tips along the way.

I also bought a cheap Strat copy or two to use as test beds for trying stuff on my own.  With nothing to lose except a couple of cheap guitars it was a very good way to learn without the fear of terminally breaking something.

As it happens, with some decent tools, some practical and logical thinking, and some time and patience, a cheap guitar can be made to play as well as stuff that is many, many times the price.

Voxman

pt22 said:

For the electronics stuff, I’d recommend going to a junk shop and finding an old piece of equipment that you know works and wouldn’t be dangerous to mess with. An old transistor radio perhaps? Then buy a soldering iron and take off and put back on part at a time. Resistors. Pots. The works. See if it works. Keep doing it until you feel comfortable and successful. 

Seems silly but would be a low bar of entry. 

Actually, that's not a bad idea.  Rather than a radio, I could pick up a dirt cheap eg Tele style guitar on Ebay or even buy a cheap HB, and learn on that.  I have a soldering kit and could watch a youtube vid.  I have soldered before, just not very experienced at it.  

TTony

bertie said:

Dan Erlewine book (s) are a great place to start

I'd second that, plus there are some DVDs under his name, as well as *loads* of clips on the StewMac site of various aspects of guitar set-up and trickery.

I'd really recommend the trial-and-error approach.  Get an old beater or two (guitars, I mean) and use them as your test cases to develop your skills and confidence.

Voxman said:

including pick-up changing, changing pots, resistors, switch wiring, replacing a guitar nut,

That is "just" soldering, and knowing which wire is which and where to solder it.  Soldering really is quite straightforward, and you'll get that sorted with very little practice.  A decent temp-controlled soldering iron, maybe with some different tips (depending on what you end up wanting to solder), the right technique/theory and a couple of practice runs and you'll have it cracked.

Voxman said:

fret leveling/crowning etc

That's a bit tricksier than soldering, but is a logical, methodological process.  Follow the steps, focus on the detail, and don't try to rush it, and you'll soon get the hang of it.  Erlewine has DVDs on this too - they're on my DVD shelf!

Funkfingers

Books can be good but the OP appears to seek someone to watch over him as he tackles tech tasks. i.e. To intervene and prevent things going wrong BEFORE they occur. Much of the art of the guitar tech is knowing how to rescue things AFTER they have gone awry. 

I concur with TTony that this is mainly about confidence. 

That could be having the confidence to unfasten the pots and switches in a control cavity to grant yourself proper access to the soldering points. You need to be able to replace the components accurately. This is time consuming but far wiser than poking about with a hot iron into the cramped cavity itself - especially on Gordon-Smith guitars!

PLOP

I bought a cheap tele for this reason. There were none of the tele shape with the specs I wanted, so I decided to do it myself. By focusing on one thing at a time I was able to feel like it was cheaper. I sanded and resprayed it (badly, but that’s part of its charm now), changed the electronics and pickups. I even routed the neck pickup slot to fit a humbucker. It’s a diabolical looking modification, but it’s under a pick guard so I don’t care. It also works, and sounds nice. I’ve thought about getting a new body and neck too but I’m not sure if I will. It’s a good way to feel like you’re getting a new guitar!  

RaymondLin

Get a kit from Thomann's, you can assemble it together, solder, fret works, even finishing, the whole thing but cutting wood.

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_eguitar_kit.htm

guitars4you

I’ve not been on a Crimson course but know a few players who have and it sounds a good ‘crash course’

Otherwise work on a budget crap guitar and make it better- This in conjunction with reading or video clips - In my experience the hands on approach with a budget guitar beats just watching a video clip and/or reading 

Obviously the right tools are required for certain work so that might deter some for what might be a one off job- ie but files for starters 

I’m not what you’d call a guitar tech in that I don’t handle re- frets, broken headstock, re-spray work etc - So not what I call a surgeon- But have competent ability to handle most set ups and handy with many solder/electrical work -I’d suggest going down this route for now

SlopeSoarer

When I started playing guitar I bought and moved on quite a few guitars and now realise I was a bedroom dealer at the time but wasn't in it to make money more to gain experience. I took this route was because I wasn't confident at going playing guitars in a shop. I was keen to learn as much about guitars as I could and in the process taught myself basic guitar setups, I never ventured into fret levelling though (just a step to far, though I have the tools). In general it isn't rocket science and I did and find it quite theraputic. You will need some decent quality tools, most aren't expensive, nut files probably made me wince the most but are here for a good while now.

As part of the learning curve I watched loads of videos, often they showed different techniques but I happily take advice in and then pick out what I think is the best route.

Voxman

Thanks everyone, lots of good advice/ideas.

Once I'm retired I'll pick up a cheap Thomann Tele and 'experiment'.  I have a soldering iron kit including a temperature controlled soldering gun and lots of 'bits' in the kit, plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!  Once I've built up some skills/confidence to change a resistor, pot, pickups, switch etc it will be great to not have to be completely reliant on a guitar tech for everything.   

guitars4you

Voxman said:

Thanks everyone, lots of good advice/ideas.

Once I'm retired I'll pick up a cheap Thomann Tele and 'experiment'.  I have a soldering iron kit including a temperature controlled soldering gun and lots of 'bits' in the kit, plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!  Once I've built up some skills/confidence to change a resistor, pot, pickups, switch etc it will be great to not have to be completely reliant on a guitar tech for everything.   

You are probably right that we take such work for granted and forget what we know - Yet via FB I often pick up new ideas and tips in some form or another 

LionAquaLooper

Voxman said:

Thanks everyone, lots of good advice/ideas.

Once I'm retired I'll pick up a cheap Thomann Tele and 'experiment'.  I have a soldering iron kit including a temperature controlled soldering gun and lots of 'bits' in the kit, plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!  Once I've built up some skills/confidence to change a resistor, pot, pickups, switch etc it will be great to not have to be completely reliant on a guitar tech for everything.   

I'm not far from north London so if you ever want a cheap guitar to experiment on I've got a 3 tone Sunburst Squier strat that i can sell you for less than a cheap Harley Benton and can probably deliver to you myself as well. Just ping me if you're interested. 

strtdv

Buy something cheap (and ideally badly setup) and have at it. 

Kittyfrisk

Voxman said:

Thanks everyone, lots of good advice/ideas.

Once I'm retired I'll pick up a cheap Thomann Tele and 'experiment'.  I have a soldering iron kit including a temperature controlled soldering gun and lots of 'bits' in the kit, plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!  Once I've built up some skills/confidence to change a resistor, pot, pickups, switch etc it will be great to not have to be completely reliant on a guitar tech for everything.   

The road to hell is paved with good intentions (apparently).
Take care you don't end up with all the gear & yet still not find the right time to do anything, despite theoretically having all the time in the bloody world to do what you always planned to do... 

Philly_Q

Kittyfrisk said:

Voxman said:

Thanks everyone, lots of good advice/ideas.

Once I'm retired I'll pick up a cheap Thomann Tele and 'experiment'.  I have a soldering iron kit including a temperature controlled soldering gun and lots of 'bits' in the kit, plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!  Once I've built up some skills/confidence to change a resistor, pot, pickups, switch etc it will be great to not have to be completely reliant on a guitar tech for everything.   

The road to hell is paved with good intentions (apparently).
Take care you don't end up with all the gear & yet still not find the right time to do anything, despite theoretically having all the time in the bloody world to do what you always planned to do... 

I'm retiring next year but now you are setting alarm bells ringing...

Kittyfrisk

Philly_Q said:

Kittyfrisk said:

Voxman said:

Thanks everyone, lots of good advice/ideas.

Once I'm retired I'll pick up a cheap Thomann Tele and 'experiment'.  I have a soldering iron kit including a temperature controlled soldering gun and lots of 'bits' in the kit, plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!  Once I've built up some skills/confidence to change a resistor, pot, pickups, switch etc it will be great to not have to be completely reliant on a guitar tech for everything.   

The road to hell is paved with good intentions (apparently).
Take care you don't end up with all the gear & yet still not find the right time to do anything, despite theoretically having all the time in the bloody world to do what you always planned to do... 

I'm retiring next year but now you are setting alarm bells ringing...

I took early retirement a while ago & now can't find the time to fix the broken alarm bell...
Not unhappy at being busy doing much needed family caring stuff, but would not really have been my first choices 
Fix those guitars now! :-D

Philly_Q

Kittyfrisk said:

Philly_Q said:

Kittyfrisk said:

Voxman said:

Thanks everyone, lots of good advice/ideas.

Once I'm retired I'll pick up a cheap Thomann Tele and 'experiment'.  I have a soldering iron kit including a temperature controlled soldering gun and lots of 'bits' in the kit, plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!  Once I've built up some skills/confidence to change a resistor, pot, pickups, switch etc it will be great to not have to be completely reliant on a guitar tech for everything.   

The road to hell is paved with good intentions (apparently).
Take care you don't end up with all the gear & yet still not find the right time to do anything, despite theoretically having all the time in the bloody world to do what you always planned to do... 

I'm retiring next year but now you are setting alarm bells ringing...

I took early retirement a while ago & now can't find the time to fix the broken alarm bell...
Not unhappy at being busy doing much needed family caring stuff, but would not really have been my first choices 
Fix those guitars now! :-D

I don't have family, other than siblings, so if I do end up with no time it will be all my own doing.