I love getting a set up

[zedmando]

I know from guitar what a difference a good se up can make.
When I bought my 12 string guitar I loved the way it played, but when I got it set up after taking it home & playing it a couple of weeks--it played so much better.
the tech who did it was good--and he asked me what I wanted & had me play a bit--and he set it up the way that fit me.
There are too many techs that that set it up how they like it--and it might be worse than before.

But I've had good success--over all.
But along the way I learned to do set ups--at least some of the things, and I plan to learn set up for mandolins as well--but when you get a free one and you know the tech will do a good job--even better.

I took my Mandobird in for the free set up--and the neck angle was adjusted, the bridge adjusted, the frets were dressed, and it was intonated.

I loved it before--but it's a lot better now.

If you don't know how to do it--learn--but also look for good recommendations on getting a setup--it will play so much better.

[ziapack]

What exactly is involved in a set up? Never heard of such a thing until reading this forum. I don't have much exposure to musicians, pretty much self taught on the guitar as well as the mandolin. Guess I've never really been in a quality music store, who does that sort of work? I realize that is a pretty general question, but really pretty clueless here.

[Chris W.]

What exactly is involved in a set up? Never heard of such a thing until reading this forum. I don't have much exposure to musicians, pretty much self taught on the guitar as well as the mandolin. Guess I've never really been in a quality music store, who does that sort of work? I realize that is a pretty general question, but really pretty clueless here.

Pretty much what zed described in the OP. Usually done by a qualified repair person, but some people do it themselves. The truss rod is adjusted, the action is set, frets are dressed, nut is filed, intonation is set. Basically it gets the instrument tweaked to the players liking to make it play and sound its best. Usually cost 50-100 bucks depending on the amount of work done.

[JeffD]

A good set up can make a good instrument sound amazing, a what some would call mediocre instrument sound damned good, and in more than a few cases re-animate an old junker that has seen a lot of life.

Whether you decide to do it yourself (I don't) or not, I would recommend getting Rob Meldrum's ebook on how to do it, in order to recognize what needs to be done and to appreciate what goes into getting it done.

[Jack Roberts]

Setups are the best money you can spend short of lessons. For mandolins they are not too expensive, but I once paid $300 to take a junker fiddle and make it sound like thousands of dollars.

[mandobsessed]

Setup is so important for good tone. Making sure everything is sitting right can add depth to your tone and help a lot with the smoothness of your picking.

TO the setup I would also add that the occasional refret can really boost sound and playability. I was really dissatisfied with my mandolin a few years ago and I realized the frets were worn. Post refret it was a different instrument!!

[zedmando]

And a good set up can last a while--how long depends on things like the climate you live in & how stable or unstable it is, how much you travel with your mandolin (where & how--again climate factors into it), changing string gauges and quality of the mandolin, plus other factors
I had one guitar where the set up lasted for years--it hasn't needed any intonating since then, and the neck is still great.

However I may need some fret work done on it--due to worn frets.