5 things you should never fix yourself on a guitar

Baxter and Jonathan give you the 5 things not to do to your guitar unless you are a professional. Let us know if you are one of those guys or gals guilty of tinkering with your gutiars.

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[TVoltG]

I taught myself years ago, when I was a young teen how to fix things on guitars. Now I build all my own guitars. It's an addiction.

[frieswijk]

Done all of it and professionally upgraded my Gibson custom shop into a Harley Benton

[garrysimmons]

More things you can try without too much risk... Smooth sharp fret ends. Lightly sanding the gloss poly (sticky) finish on your neck for a more satin feel. Rolling your fingerboard edges. Replacing pickups/electronics (basic soldering skills). Replacing tuners (if the shaft holes are the same diameter). Widen nut slots (carefully) when using heavier gauge strings.

[ILuvJazzNJava]

Pole pieces on a pickup are easy peasy. They are made to be adjusted to help balance individual string volume.

[TakeASecondThereCowboyAndRelax]

These guys are the final boss guitar shop gatekeepers

[brianboley]

For me, pickups with adjustable pole pieces are a must. I hate it when all of the strings don't have the same volume and sometimes a pole needs to be raised to get a string equal to the others. It's a simple twist with a screwdriver 🪛

[devilsguitaristmusic]

I agree with most of these but not the first one at all. Adjusting your pole pieces is very easy and it's super easy to put them back to same spot. There's really no risk. I generally just leave mine alone but I've messed around with them just to see what the difference is. There's a big difference between this one and most others on the list.

[darko]

Putting new strings on a Strat is almost more than I can handle.

[icesnowflake]

I bought a Glarry guitar for 69.00, and I changed the pickups and bridge for another 69.00. The neck was like the business end of a caveman's club- it actually bulged out at the heel instead of tapering. I had no choice but to sand the neck down to something playable. After a couple weeks of elbow-grease, the neck became quite reasonably slim, and since it was sanded with the curve of my hand, it's also very comfortable.

[devilsguitaristmusic]

I just learned how to fret level and recrown. It wasn't very difficult. I did start on a really cheap guitar just so I didn't ruin one of my guitars but it worked. I've done a couple now and it's made them much better guitars.

[mastadon]

The guy on the left should never try and give himself a hairdo.

[SkunkworksProps]

Man the first thing that came to mind was scalloping your own fretboard, glad to see it got a mention. I did relic my USA deluxe strat, but I stripped the poly off and refinished in nitro first. And to be fair I'm a pro propmaker and knifemaker, there are some adjacent skills coming into play. Reshaping a neck sounds like fun but not on anything expensive because that could end up being a really bad day.

[bluesrock]

I adjust the pole pieces on all my humbucking pickups. I start with matching the radius of the strings and then tweak as needed to balance string to string volume. As long as you are just adjusting them even with the top or a couple of turns above, you will be fine. Just don’t crank them all the way out or in.

[rochat]

I love to tinker and have a pretty good idea of where my limits are. I bought a beautiful "blemished" Xaviere guitar with a quilted top from Guitar Fetish years ago and the one downside to this thing was the frets were rough. A professional crown and level was going to cost as much as I paid for the guitar, so I bought the tools off Amazon to do it myself and watched a lot of YT videos. It turned out great. That being said, I might not have taken that on with a higher end instrument on my first go, but I'm confident now if my Fender were to need it.

[homegrownson]

A Casino hat with Every New Squire Sold

[StephenFinkNRP]

I've been doing my own electronics for ages. Recently I decided to start learning minor fret work. Started with simple polishing. Now learning to do fret ends. The key is not jumping into something bigger than you can handle. I have an 83 Strat that needs some fret leveling. That will have to wait until I am sure I am up to it though.

[officialWWM]

I love working on my guitars! None of these things are difficult to do, just do your research. It’s just a guitar, it’s not that complicated.

[marions.]

One of my Les Paul guitars, I adjusted the poles, I’ve adjusted the pickup heights Anna put a new nut…Oh yeah, that guitar is over 40 years old and works perfectly!
✌️😎🎸🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶 And I relic my Les Pauls by playing them!

[anthonypanneton]

another story: in 1970 when I was 16, I took my '68 Tele (which I bought brand new w/hard case in 1968 for $170). I had seen the Beatles movie with G. Harrison playing an all-rosewood Tele, and decided I wanted mine to look like that. I completely disassembled it, completely removed the finish from the body, stained the body with a walnut colored stain, gave it a few coats of shellac, and then put it all back together. it was noticeably lighter without the thick factory finish, and it looked MARVELOUS. unfortunately, I didn't play any better than I had before. But I loved the way that guitar looked. I wish I still had that guitar.

[flapjack]

One of my favorites is people trying to adjust nut slots with needle files from the local big box store.