How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!, Second Edition

For guitarists who actually want to know how their guitars work this is invaluable. One has to have some knowledge of the componant parts and not be afraid of having a go, it even covers the guitar tech's nemisis, the Floyd Rose tremolo system! If you are not confident of your ability to tackle, what can be, quite delicate areas it still makes a great bed time read. Highly recommended.

Dan Erlewine is undoubtably a world leader in guitar setup, maintenance and repair. In addition to being a treasure trove of guitar knowledge, he has a writing/teaching style that is simple, straight forward yet absolutely comprehensive. I have read similar books by other authors and none of them come remotely close to this one. If you are interested in guitar setup, maintenance and repair, or simply want to make your own guitar play great, then don't bother with any books or videos unless Dan Erlewine is the author.

This is a very informative book, written by someone who is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about guitars. I have learnt lots from reading this text. I gave the review 4 stars not five because the front and back cover are in colour making me believe that the contents were colour however, all the photos inside are black and white. Im sure that reproduction costs were cut by taking this decision but colour photographs would have been better in my humble opinion. Also the text refers quite alot to photo 6.2 or photo 7.1 for example but the photographs dont have any numbers on them so whilst mainly obvious, some photos are hard to match with the text. Overall a great book and recommended for its technical content.

Handy guide to guitar setups. Covers all the stuff you need to know to get your instrument to deliver the way you want it to. Already finding it useful.

If your a Les Paul owner and are looking for a book to guide you through the steps of maintaining and setting up your guitar then look no further. Iv bought loads of books over the years and this one has the best collection of information and settings. Would finally recommend above all others

All these years I've been messing around with my guitar "by ear"... Thank you Dan Erlwine for sharing some of your hard-won knowledge. Buy this book! Don't start setting up your guitar until you've read it all the way through. Certainly before you pick up that hammer. Then you'll have a far better chance of doing things in the right order. P.S. Just kidding about the hammer.

Great book with a lot of good tips on cleaning and looking after your guitar. Step by step guide to setting up and getting the best out of your instrument whether it's a Fender Gibson Gretch or copy. Lots of info worth reading cover to cover several times. Or just dipping into sections specific to problem areas you might be specifically interested in. I was surprised how much I didn't know.

I've never really set up my guitar. I didn't know anything on how to set up a guitar. I've never even known what radius my fretboard was - that's the kind of person i am. Yet, with this book, i've been able to do just that - set up my guitar. Believe me, it's worth it, especially if you're like me and did screw around with truss rod/tremolo saddle heights without any idea about what you're doing and subtly screwed up your guitar in the process. It's organized into neat sections on different things. It's not really a "howto" guide as much as it's a reference. It won't guide you through the set up step by step (although there is a cheat-sheet), but instead will give you a wealth of information about how to make informed decisions about guitar setup. One piece of advice - get an action gauge and a notched straight edge. This will make it much easier to set up your guitar, even if you're not a guitar luthier. Trust me.