Lowering your guitar string height part I: Take it to a guitar technician / by The School of Feedback Guitar

Lowering your guitar string height: Take it to a guitar technician

My first piece of advice for you if you want lower guitar string height is to bring it to a competent guitar technician. Why? Because they are smart, savvy people who are excellent at addressing wide range of playability issues on guitars.

How much does setting up a guitar cost?

Guitar technicians vary wildly for their prices to set your guitar up, which includes lowering your guitar string height. I have found that the cheapest can be as low as free but the price peaks when it comes to how busy the technician is, and how badly your guitar needs it. 

So how much should you pay? This is hard to say considering the (rapidly) changing value of money. But if it were 2017, here's some ideas. Let's look at the quality of craftsmanship of your guitar, which in my opinion is closely related to how much you paid for it:

  1. If you paid less than $200 for your guitar, pay no more than $15 to get your guitar set up.
  2. If you paid less than $800 for your guitar, pay no more than $40 to get your guitar set up.
  3. If you paid less than $1500 for your guitar, pay no more than $70 to get your guitar set up.
  4. If you paid less than $2200 for your guitar, pay no more than $100 to get your guitar set up.

Sound reasonable? 

The easiest way to get your guitar string height lowered is not necessarily to do it yourself, but to take it to a professional.

If you're dead set on adjusting the guitar string height yourself, still, consider bringing it to the professional just once. This is because you can learn more about the process and pick up some tips. Also, it's an excellent way to make a new guitar-playing friend (which is useful if you are concerned with how long it'll take you to learn guitar).

I'll release another blog about this in the coming week.