Kiesel guitars, not for everyone?

     It is no secret that I am a huge fan of Kiesel Guitars which was previously known as Carvin Guitars. This brand is somewhat mysterious to most players as they will receive the catalogs in the mail and see that they have a completely different business model from other companies and all of their guitars are built to order to the customers specs but rarely see the guitars in real life. They are pretty uncommon because they do not have production models or sell out of brick and mortar stores, instead they ship factory direct and let you choose most aspects of the instrument from woods and colors to different fretwires and bridges. Since they are factory direct they are probably the best bang for your buck on the market given you know what you want and are looking for.
     Not being able to try before you buy hurts their popularity quite a bit as well as the whole process being intimidating. Kiesel's are not cheap guitars, a common price range is $1300-$2500, but they are hands down some of the best on the market and are far better than their $5000 Gibson and PRS counterparts. I cannot begin to give this company enough praise for their quality and all around playability. If you know don't know exactly what you want in a guitar you may be better off simply buying a production model from someone else but if you know exactly want or want something that isn't currently being made by any other brand Kiesel should be on you must play list.

Why every guitarist should learn how to do a proper setup

     As someone who repairs instruments and teaches guitar for a living it goes without saying that I do a lot of guitar setups. Everything from someone wanting to lower their string height but not knowing how to set the bridge radius to fret level leveling to even things as simple as changing strings. While fret leveling is a serious undertaking and should be left to someone who knows what they are doing most other issues can very easily be done yourself.
     You would be surprised how many guitarists who have been playing for years are still too afraid to change their own strings and will pay someone like myself a good sum of money to do something that takes anywhere from 5-30 minutes depending on the guitar. With the wealth of information on the internet such as YouTube you really should know how to do this as it is essential to have strings on the instrument. I think this really boils down to fear that you will somehow mess the guitar up, this simply will not happen. Even with the overly complicated Floyd Rose system you would have to try to cause any real damage.
     The basic setup is where there is the most controversy as how the guitar plays is a very subjective. I do however see a lot of botched setups where someone tried to setup their guitar without paying attention to what is happening as they are making adjustments, not knowing what they are really trying to accomplish and finally not doing any research or asking questions. Ultimately this guitar ends up in my hands and when I ask how they want me to set it up they respond with "I don't know, make it easy to play." With that answer is would try to read the player by asking them what style they play ect... and do a relatively standard setup for that style which would need to be tweaked for that persons preferences. This is why every guitarist should know how to do a setup.
     Most guitarists think that doing a setup involves a lot of measuring and specialty tool when in reality it really doesn't take anything you probably don't already have. Since there are so many tutorials on the internet there is no point in me going through it step by step so here's a list of what you will need.
Truss rod wrench, usually an allen wrench or socket
Small screwdrivers
Variety of guitar picks to use as feeler gauges for string height (my preference is 1.14mm, standard setup height is 1.5mm)
Capo
Set of feeler gauges if you have them, not necessary but nice to have.
That's all you need. Now don't be afraid of adjusting your guitar, it's a lot easier than you think.

1.14mm pick as a feeler gauge.

 

A little about me

     My name is Kyle and I have had a pretty chaotic life because of moving so I will try to keep this somewhat short. I was born in Oklahoma City but my parents moved to Midland shortly after I was born so I have no recollection of living there. I lived in Midland until I was about seven then we were off to Bakersfield, California until I was ten, followed by Doha, Qatar then finally to Houston, Texas when I was 15.

     My passion is guitar and all things related to guitar and music, I first started to learn guitar from my dad when I was about four but never really took to it until I was eight when would hear him listening to Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. I played guitar constantly throughout high school and the associated shifts in musical taste which led to me developing a lot of versatility on the instrument. After I graduated high school I began attending Houston Community College to work towards and degree in music theory and composition. I had a rough time during my second year between developing severe asthma which I was hospitalized for and my mother being diagnosed as schizophrenic which led me to finish all of my music classes for my associates but lacking credits for my basics. The high amount of stress involved with dealing with a severely mentally ill family member ultimately led to me not having the patience to deal with school and dropping out.

     After leaving school I decided to teach guitar and repair instruments for a living while playing in bands in my free time. Fast forward a few years and my girlfriend and I decided to move to Austin and got married shortly thereafter. About a year later she became pregnant at which point we moved back to Houston to be close to her family which has led me to Lone Star College to pursue my CCNA initially then continue to get my associates in computer science. I have always worked on computers, I record with my laptop as often as I can and have built a few so I figured IT would be a good career change.