Guitar Set-up Tools

 Always buy the best tools that you can afford. Not only do they last longer, but they also don't damage your guitar. As an example of this, cheap screwdrivers are badly made at the tip and can chew up screwheads, making adjustment or removal well-nigh impossible.

Here's a collection of tools that I have acquired over the years. I haven't described or shown you the whole lot, just those which will make up a basic set-up kit.

1. Screwdrivers.

You need a range of these but, as a rough guide, you'll need a large and a small one for slot screwheads and the same for crosshead screws. You can get sets of tips with a handle, but you don't want to be replacing tips all the time, so my advice is to use separate screwdrivers. You need screwdrivers for very obvious reasons - undoing screws - but a less-obvious use, until you come to do it - is adjusting a trussrod which has the screw at the body end of the neck. You also need screwdrivers for pick-up height adjustment and for setting the pole-piece heights. Trem adjustment is also impossible without them.

2. Allen or Hex keys.

You may be lucky and get these with your guitar, in which case, keep them with the guitar and look after them carefully. Hex keys are easy to obtain and generally cheap.

I've put handles on a couple of mine. It makes them easier to use and more comfortable. The small one is for the bridge screws of my Tele and Strat and the larger one for adjusting my Strat's trussrod. Hex keys are also necessary to adjust locking-type trem units.

3. Wire Cutters.