Few questions about strings & setup

It's amazing the things I don't know after playing guitar 5 years.

First off, have any of you ever used ernie ball hybid 9-46s? What are those like?

Secondly, how much does it cost to get a guitar set up? Me doing it myself all these years was probably really stupid, but I have trust issues.

Finally, there's a buzz on both E strigns on my guitar 18th fret. It started after my guitar got dropped about a half year ago. What is the most this would cost to fix, worst case scenario?

Thanks :)

I ave used the hybrids 9-46, they are alright,but i usually use a bigger gauge ( 11's or 12's) string for a more "beefy" sound.

hmmm, i guess it depends on who you go to for the set up, I do mine myself but the place i bought the guitar at told me they would do anything free on the guitar i purchased from them. Check around, it really shoudnt be that much

For a buzzing sound try lowering your pickups first before you take it to someone, or rasing your strings etc, unless you really dont like how you tend to the guitar. A drop can push stuff out of place and whatnot. If you take it to a shop, also really shouldnt be that much.

I know it's not the pickup height, I've actually checked it like a half dozen times because a while back there was a problem with the bridge pickup being too high.

I'm not too comfortable messing with string action, although I had to mess with it a while back because a common problem with the guitar model I have is loose pickup bushings. It's fixed now courtesy of 2.5 ton epoxy, but the entire bridge was pretty much unattached to the guitar for a while, besides being held in place by string tension. When I got the guitar the strings were about half the distance from the frets they are now, hopefully that can be set right when I take it in.

I'm not in the same town I bought the guitar in, hopefully that doesn't change things too much.

No worries, it can be fixed, its probably something really simple thats being over looked. I'd have to look at the guitar to know.

Originally posted by Hammurabi
... Me doing it myself all these years was probably really stupid, but I have trust issues...

It's hard to pass something as intimate as a guitar over to a stranger. Take it in to the shop, show it to the tech, and explain what the promlems are, along with the history of the instrument.

Techs are usually very busy, but the good ones know that a lot of useful insight can be gained by talking to the owner for a few minutes. Don't be embarrased about working on it yourself - that's something they'll need to know. And most first-time customers bring in a guitar they have tried to fix themselves.

Originally posted by Lordathestrings
..And most first-time customers bring in a guitar they have tried to fix themselves.

That's what I'm worried about :) If something has to get fixed because of my attempts.

Originally posted by Hammurabi

Originally posted by Lordathestrings
...And most first-time customers bring in a guitar they have tried to fix themselves.

That's what I'm worried about :) If something has to get fixed because of my attempts.

uuhh... would you rather leave it unfixed???

I would rather it be fixed for as little $$ as possible, and I think the tech people around here tend to charge extra when they know the guitar has been worked on by someone without a lot of experience under their belt.