[strumminsix]

How do you do yours? Here's my routine:

1. Remove old strings
2. Wipe fingerboard and use a bit of Formby's lemon oil if needed - if so let sit for a few minutes
3. Use an old business card to clean crap out of nut slots and saddled saddle slots
5. Restring to taught, fill the same slots with drops of nut sauce, bring up to pitch and let it rest for a few minutes, retune, do a few times then...
6. Guitar in playing position on knee then: Capo the first fret, fret the last and ensure there is just a pinch of gap between the 10th - (medium pick)
7. Check intonation by fretting the 12th like I would when actually playing and adjust if needed

What's your routine?

[JonnyBoy]

all of the above and steel wool the frets. Make sure the frets have some masking tape to protect the finger board, and a cover for the pickups to keep wool dust from sticking.

Tighten the screws in my tuner pegs so they are tight and don't move easily.

[hogan]

smoke some headband
2000grit wet/dry sandpaper the frets. No steel wool dust
oil the fingerboard
razor blade the crusties from either side of every fret
pencil the nut slots
restring
tune
fret each string at the 2nd and stretch the shit out of the string, repeat on the the first fret and do each string. I've found this usually takes the dramatic string slipping/stretching that occurs out of the string pretty quickly.
check intonation
check the battery for juice
occasionally wipe off body and throw some carnuba wax on the body
smoke some more headband

[Cmnaround]

Get it all cleaned up, bring to tune and adjust a few times after playing with some bends and stretches - if action good and no height adjustment needed - and in tune at 5th fret, play a note on same string at 17th fret and check it on the strobe tuner. If sharp or flat, adjust string length accordingly to be spot on at both the 5th and 17th frets. Got this method from the peterson tuner manual.

[Cmnaround]

Right on Hogan

[playingdead]

You guys change strings?

[strumminsix]

You guys change strings?

Serious or sarcastic?

The funny thing is since mostly playing on SS frets and that I no longer smoke my strings are lasting forever. And yes, I would always wash my hands before playing.

[KCJones]

Ditto most of above, plus I use a soft toothbrush to get shit out of frets. I would never use steel wool, it just creates too much of a mess and gets in the fretboard poars and anyother crevis.

[donkeypunch]

smoke some headband
2000grit wet/dry sandpaper the frets. No steel wool dust
oil the fingerboard
razor blade the crusties from either side of every fret
pencil the nut slots
restring
tune
fret each string at the 2nd and stretch the shit out of the string, repeat on the the first fret and do each string. I've found this usually takes the dramatic string slipping/stretching that occurs out of the string pretty quickly.
check intonation
check the battery for juice
occasionally wipe off body and throw some carnuba wax on the body
smoke some more headband

that was great.....I do the first and last and inbetween take it to the shop....getting one back today...$115 ouch....I need to know how to do this....

[rkubik]

$115.00 seems really high for a set-up. If I don't do my own my shop charges $40 and that includes the strings.

[vwjodyme]

$115 is definitely way high! I think GC charges $50...which is still high
i've seen smaller shops run specials for $25 which is more like it

[tcsned]

I used to be good about cleaning and oiling the fretboard, setting intonation, truss rod etc. I have gotten slack in my old age. I'm lucky to get my strings changed every few gigs. It's been years since I polished one of my guitars. Luckily I don't have sweaty hands.

[tastyjams]

Clean the body and neck with cream of carnuba wax.
Wipe the fretboard down with lemon oil.
Use a microfiber cloth to clean the frets.
Spend 20 minutes trying to get the strings to fit in the damn Bigsby right.
Apply Big Bends Nut Sauce to the nut (helps it stay in tune when I'm using the Bigsby.)
Tune up, then obsess over the idea of my action getting possibly changed for the rest of the day.
I get realllly sweaty hands, so I have to change strings and clean the guitar quite often. I also use Finger Ease (that stuff in an aerosol can) when my neck/fretboard gets really grimy.

[vwjodyme]

not that i have a maple fretboard, but i was reading some where that they can't be cleaned without damaging. Is this true? there are definitely a ton of grimy ones out there

[tcsned]

not that i have a maple fretboard, but i was reading some where that they can't be cleaned without damaging. Is this true? there are definitely a ton of grimy ones out there

When they're new they're not too hard to clean - if the finish starts to get worn off it creates problems. You don't want to use steel wool are anything abrasive like you can get away with if you have an ebony or rosewood fretboard. Thankfully my old Strat's fretboard is in decent shape still.