I'd like to learn some guitar tech stuff

InactiveX

Voxman said:

...plus I even have a 'helping hands' thing to help hold things whilst soldering - it even has a magnifying glass built in!

Those things are great. My set is on it's last legs (hands?) now, I must look for another.

Have fun and good luck - a whole new world of rabbit holes to fall down awaits you.

Philly_Q

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 magnifying glass is probably a good idea at our age!  Soldering is, I think, just a matter of practice.  It's one of the very few things in life I'd say I got really good at, but I haven't done any soldering for a very long time - I think I would definitely need some kind of magnifying system to do it now.

Voxman

LionAquaLooper 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.   

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. 

That's ever so kind & thank you. I'll take that 'under advisement' as they say.  The reason I was looking to start off with a T-style guitar is because I want to change the pickups in my 1988 USA Fender Telecaster so it would be very much a like for like practice. Next step would be to learn on a dual h/bucker guitar and for that I have an old Epi LP Special that I can treat as a project guitar. So, maybe Strats further down the road but I think I need to walk before I can jog! 

JJ72

There are some great tips to be learnt from watching TPS occasional  visits to Johnny Kinkade for guitar set  ups. Less on the electronic side but great for fret work and just all round useful information 

TTony

Philly_Q said:

The magnifying glass is probably a good idea at our age!  

I use a head loupe when doing any detailed / close-up work.

This sort of thing;

roberty

My start in soldering was modding DS-1s back when they were £20 used. Someone sold me a Japanese one for £20 on Gumtree. That was a good day. Sold it to a mate. Anyway it's not a bad place to start. The new ones are SMD so watch for that. Having a decent iron makes all the difference in the world

crunchman

I did my first refret on a wreck of a Squier Strat that my brother-in-law picked up in a boot sale for a fiver.

bertie

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... 

yep  this

set yourself some goals/objectives o therwise the pure relief/enjoyment of not having to work/care for oldies or what ever consumed your "non working time"   consumes you..............and before you know it,  a year or two have gone past and youve done nothing.  You feel guilty about "playing guitar" or whatever  cos there's jobs to be done,  you have all the time in the world so you put off doing the jobs.............................then it spirals,  especially when there's someone to remind you,  you havent done the jobs...........................

Voxman

bertie 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... 

yep  this

set yourself some goals/objectives o therwise the pure relief/enjoyment of not having to work/care for oldies or what ever consumed your "non working time"   consumes you..............and before you know it,  a year or two have gone past and youve done nothing.  You feel guilty about "playing guitar" or whatever  cos there's jobs to be done,  you have all the time in the world so you put off doing the jobs.............................then it spirals,  especially when there's someone to remind you,  you havent done the jobs...........................

LOL - I'm actually quite disciplined and it's something I want to learn, & I think I'd actually enjoy it - but only up to a point & certainly not advanced luthier stuff like refretting.  The starting point for me is learning how to change pickups and upgrade to a better quality selector switch or volume/tone pot.  It's really inconvenient (and expensive) that whenever I need something like this, I'm having to take my guitar in, then go back to pick it up, and be without it for eg a week.  Far better if I can learn to do certain more basic stuff myself.  More advanced stuff I'll gladly leave to the experts.  

Basher

I also want to learn how to modify guitar electrics as I would love to be able to swap out pots, capacitors etc. to more appropriate values for my tastes.

Then I remember that I have five semi-hollow or hollow guitars and the chances of me achieving this are basically zero.

Still, you might be someone with the right temperament (and guitars) for this sort of thing. Good luck!

Voxman

Basher said:

I also want to learn how to modify guitar electrics as I would love to be able to swap out pots, capacitors etc. to more appropriate values for my tastes.

Then I remember that I have five semi-hollow or hollow guitars and the chances of me achieving this are basically zero.

Still, you might be someone with the right temperament (and guitars) for this sort of thing. Good luck!

I'm just going to try and learn basic stuff on solids.  I'll leave semi's to the pros! 

Kurtis

Tbh most of the basic stuff is really easy. Soldering involves a bit of technique and you'll get better the more you do it but you can get the basics in an afternoon easy.

Frets can be a little more involved, it's more of an art. Different tools can make things much simpler though.

Get an old guitar something that's cheap because it has problems or whatever and set about it!
Check the charity shops?


That program where James may puts a strat together is a pleasant watch, for some inspiration. 

Devil#20

As other's have said, Dan Erlewine's book on guitar maintenance is great. Also, and it's a bit expensive, the following book has everything you need to know about the electrical side of things. It's brilliant. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guitar-Wiring-Everything-troubleshoot/dp/1919649425/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3KBLJ7AM1V0S8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.TBTV_vnCNI2vug-ADVAL1aMGTdlVIVWegEB4eZYSwxaTrIgA568V6esGBBUeIIU0QtPNqN9dmAuO0ESNOPofEiKvNGn0BxYm9HiPcTk_BvdGI1KD2fctq0agtvcQ4SqF3udogOvnTY1pCkTu1R0k1dxJXRpEKG23QQPp4caMC9h1cPqFZbEuZaYm-cQ-z1RBhePIq3My5j_arGp0W05YaYmPB8Qbq_AKczaj6mKh22w.qdD7q3dUzmYno_nffQ5ggdENgiNTfwcH416XhIqFjlA&dib_tag=se&keywords=guitar+electronics&qid=1709070238&s=books&sprefix=guitar+electronics,stripbooks,163&sr=1-3

Devil#20

I know you've got a soldering iron already but this one is great. Again a bit expensive but not as much as a Weller. 
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hakko-FX-888D-16-BY-Soldering-Blue-Yellow/dp/B00EK7TE2E/ref=asc_df_B00EK7TE2E/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309952971598&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14569860607692207069&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046583&hvtargid=pla-438850597847&psc=1&mcid=488eb1140f673496bbe06eb118bfe14a

Tall_martin

I wanted to learn how to set up a guitar as I had 3 to set up.

I persuaded one of the local shop techs to show me how. He set up one guitar while I took notes for a similar price to setting two up.

What about getting someone to show you how to do exactly what you want on a cheaply guitar then looking over your shoulder while you work on your nice one?

I bought a squire on here that needed regretted or a fret dress. This was to practice refretting before refretting my first bass- a 1978 music master I've had since 1994. The squire just needed a fret dress and is now super nice. I can't bring myself to rip it's frets out. Maybe I'll buy another guitar and practice a regret on that one 

Voxman

Tall_martin said:

I wanted to learn how to set up a guitar as I had 3 to set up.

I persuaded one of the local shop techs to show me how. He set up one guitar while I took notes for a similar price to setting two up.

What about getting someone to show you how to do exactly what you want on a cheaply guitar then looking over your shoulder while you work on your nice one?

I bought a squire on here that needed regretted or a fret dress. This was to practice refretting before refretting my first bass- a 1978 music master I've had since 1994. The squire just needed a fret dress and is now super nice. I can't bring myself to rip it's frets out. Maybe I'll buy another guitar and practice a regret on that one 

Nice idea, but I don't know anyone who could do that. It's not a problem, I'm sure I can learn from vids etc.  There's no rush - I'm not retiring 'til end of April. 

Tall_martin

I didn't know anyone either.

I asked In three music shops and found someone who said yes 

jimmyd

I remember taking my guitar to a guitar tech who was explaining exactly this - the best way to learn is to work on an old guitar. He was explaining how he'd taught himself exactly using this method on an old tele he'd had back the 80s, fitting humbuckers and a floyd to it. 

He then elaborated that the guitar in question was a 65 telecaster!

RelayDuzzy

If you're based in London, there's an excellent guitar workshop in Park Royal which teaches you how to build your own guitar from scratch.  They also offer a one day hands-on electrics course where you can learn the basics too.  I've done my own full guitar build there (on my second one now) and was really pleased with the end result and can highly recommend it.  Dave, who runs the place, is a great instructor and super friendly, and has years of experience in it.
You can find more details here https://www.theboatyardguitarworkshop.com/, just drop him a line to have a chat.