Working on guitars can seem like looking into an abyss, if you’ve never gone past changing strings or changing pickup heights. Setting neck relief, string height, and intonation isn’t that hard, if you have the right tools.
Inside the vinyl pouch are a set of string cutters, thickness gauges, metal ruler, capo, string winder, hex wrenches (metric and standard) with ball ends for angled use, as well as a 6-in-1 screwdriver. Also included is a handy guide to guitar setups.
It’s certainly a well-stocked kit that has just what’s needed for doing most typical guitar setups, without going down the rabbit hole of getting every last esoteric tool for every possible situation. If you come across a situation where this set of tools can’t do a good setup, it’s a more serious situation for your instrument. Players who travel a bit would really benefit from one of these. Weather can wreak havoc on an instrument, especially during transit. Going on a tour from Maine to Georgia in January? More than likely something will shift a bit. Instruments with unfinished, open pore necks are more than likely to run into issues, and adjusting the neck relief and action doesn’t take that much effort.
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You may not be able to pull a dented fret, but it can keep you from having to employ a full time tech to keep fret action from buzzing or fretting out. Need to change string gauges, from 10’s to 11’s? You’ll want to adjust the relief, action and intonation. This kit has everything needed to do that. It might even make you wonder why you pay your local tech for his services, especially if a couple of minutes with the right tools can solve issues on the road, or in the studio (that’s usually when fret buzzing is most noticeable).
The case is also a decent size if you need to throw in a couple of sets of strings, or even those factory supplied truss rod wrenches that always flop around in a guitar case. If a player wanted to get this same set of tools separately, it could cost at least double what this neat package, retails for, so it’s certainly reasonable, cost-wise. With a little time spent tweaking, you might find that YOU can set up your instruments better than someone you’ve been paying all these years.
PROS:
Good selection of functional tools for doing setups
CONS:
None
STREET PRICE:
$59