Taylor Setup Frequency

[Bobby Schley]

I just ordered a Taylor GC3 from a "chain" type guitar retailer.  During the process, the salesmen told me that for another 100 dollars, I would get 3 or 4 setups a year for two years.  I probably said too much when I replied, "A solidly built guitar should not need 4 full setups a year."  They disagreed with me to the point that they raised their voices when explaining how wood reacts to the environment.  As if I have never read an acoustic guitar magazine.  They where shocked.  This was pretty insulting to be honest.  The only reason I went to the place was because they offered the best deal on a guitar that was coming straight from the factory anyway.

While I agree that measurements should be taken every once in a while to track the angles of the neck, what are the odds that the neck angle changes that dramatically over the coarse of two years?  And if it did, the Taylor neck is very simple to adjust.  If the neck is straight, don't mess with it.  With that being said, while I have only done it once, I am confident in my ability to raise or lower the action at the bridge once the neck is solid.  So, I would think that setups mainly consist of a checkup, cleaning, changing strings, and oiling the fret board.

I have been playing the guitar for over 15 years on guitars 1/3 the price of this Taylor.  And the necks are fine on both.  Once I had to learn how to adjust a truss rod because I got curious about what that little hex bolt in the guitar did.  While reading up on it would have been the best route, it was easy to fix.  I keep small humidifiers in all my guitars when I am not playing.  None of them leave the house unless I am picking out on the deck.

So who is right here?  Its not to late for me to pay for the two year set up plan.  Is this setup plan a chain store gimmick or is it something I should consider?

[Tim Mace]

GIMMICK....keep yur dough!

[Bobby Schley]

Just as I suspected. Thanks Tim!

[Mike Kolb]

Ah-ha!... the "extended warranty" finally works it's way from appliances to guitars. That alone is enough to keep me out of wherever this may have been.... (initials "GC"by any chance?).

I would found their suggestion condescending and opportunistic. At that point, I'd have walked-out without the guitar. Taylor makes a fine guitar that supports your statement of "a solidly built guitar should not need 4 full setups a year". You did the right thing. The only"righter" thing would've been to leave the guitar on the counter and beat feet.

[Bobby Schley]

No sir, "GC" was right next door. The price was the same there but the employees were rude, uneducated in acoustic guitars (atleast the ones I was interested in) and did not present themselves in a way that made me trust. So I walked next door to the place that sells "music gear at the speed of sound". They offered to match the price and order direct from Taylor so I had one that wasn't tossed around their store for months. So I went for it. Looking back, there is a little shop around me that sells Santa Cruz, Taylor, and Collins. While the owner is no luthier, he knows his stuff. Its his passion. Live and learn. Next time its the little shop for me.

Thanks!

[Jeffrey L. Suits]

You can only wonder about the quality of these, "setups"...

So, yep, gimmick, snake oil, and so on. They raised their voices, and you stayed?

[William F.Eden]

If they didn't know any more than that about Guitars I sure wouldn't want them fooling with my Insturments.P.S. I guess you are 4 set ups richer now. Good luck with your new Taylor Bill."""""""""""

[Ned Knepp]

All you repair guys are blowing a good thing. Imagine, a hundred bucks to store someone's guitar overnight three of four times a year. If this caught on, you guys could add on a room for storage and let the money roll in. All you have to do is forget you integrity and learn to fake sincerity.

[Russell Vance]

Ned, you are now the equivalent author of the guitar version of "An Inconvenient Truth"

.........I'm not happy to see this sort of thing creeping into retail - two setups a year for free (how much labour involved in giving the truss rod a quarter turn) if you live in a high variation climate would be acceptable - this other opportunistic money grab is just rubbish. Sad to see.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Russell my friend -- I couldn't agree with you more on this subject..
I have guitars that are NOT Taylors and they are just fine with a lil check up and a lil adjustment that may take me five minutes or so to do.. so with that said.. I can say to Bobby to save you're money and maybe buy some sheet music and enjoy your self....
Peace, Donald

[Ned Knepp]

Yeah, Rusty, We could probably find a couple of scientist to talk about wood expansion, ambient temp, relative humidity and high pressure weather cells with some exacting string distance measurements and projections of neck movement over time to support the extra hundred buck charge. If we got a ex-highly placed political figure to act as spokesman, all the better. Book and movie deals to come later.

I can't remember the last time I felt that one of my players need adjustment. It been years... decades for one. They just don't need it, or maybe I don't need it. A hundred dollars? It's Monty Python time.

[Grahame Myers]

What a great idea to increase my revenue! As of tomorrow, I will recommend that my customers get a full setup every month, and change the strings every day for optimum results! THIS IS A JOKE (maybe, evil grin)
Seriously though, there are enough customers who'd believe this kind of cr*p, though I don't think it'd catch on so quickly here in Germany, here most of the music shops don't check the instruments at all before sale, or after sale for that matter, they sell 'em straight out of the box. One of the problems here is that Germany is a "no service" land, and most of the music shops don't have an in house tech anyway. One of my customers is the biggest music shop in Lübeck, http://www.soundhaus.de/ , and I only get to fix things if the buyer comes back with a problem,(for small money) as they don't want to pay for a check-through before it goes out the door...The profit margins are so small here that they don't have any slack to play with. The music retail industry here is fighting a price war you wouldn't believe. If I said it was brutal, that'd be an understatement :-)

Grahame

[Ned Knepp]

The thing that bothers me the most about this is the idea it promotes that guitars are THIS delicate. I can't help but wonder how many non-playing parents will refuse to purchase their child a guitar because of the high maintenance expenses. I've talked to a lot of parents who are looking for advice about purchasing a guitar for their child. Most are shocked to learn how much a guitar can cost and most need to be convinced that a hundred dollar guitar is a bad investment. Adding on a hundred dollars a year for maintenance plus the real expenses such as strings will make it much harder for them to justify the cost.

I'm sorry that sales are down with the economy but I think this will hurt the industry in the long run