A Guitarist’s Lifeline: Essential Tools for Every Player

In my regular answers to readers and questioners, I often state the personal belief that it’s necessary for a guitar player to acquaint themselves with basic maintenance, setup, and repair of the instrument.  This is for a number of reasons, which include the ability to save a lot of money over time and a better working understanding of the guitar itself.  Lately, I’ve been receiving a good deal of questions from potential do-it-yourself guitarists who have little experience in doing their own modifications, and very few tools available.

This article is intended to help jump-start these individuals in the right direction, and provide them with a working knowledge of the basic tools and equipment needed to start maintaining a guitar.  It is by no means an all-inclusive article; in fact a small book could be designated to this topic alone.   It is very important that the reader understand that it is virtually impossible to list every tool that could be used, and that there are special situations where many players/techs have their own tool-of-choice.  I merely wish to provide an OVERALL view for players who have realized they may need some tools, but do not know where to begin or what to consider.  I welcome readers to modify this list as it pertains to their needs, e-mail me with suggestions for improvement, and let me know of any tools that might not be “guitar” tools, but could come in useful.  Many tools can be used creatively in modifying and repairing instruments, and there are a number of guitarists who have developed their own unique applications to working on their guitars. 

It is of importance that the reader be aware of the vast price ranges in tools; therefore I will address this at the onset.  It is possible to purchase a tool for a low amount of money, or to pay a very large amount of money for a tool that seems almost exactly the same.  There are a number of reasons, for this variation in price, but the most important considerations are quality and the frequency of use a tool is likely to see.

A tool that is the cheapest available may get the job done for one use, and break after that first job.  This is especially common among small items like screwdrivers and wrenches.   Obviously, a screwdriver of better quality that will last for a long time is desired.  At the other extreme are tools that are very specialized and extremely expensive.  These aren’t necessary for the vast majority of guitar players who simply want to setup and maintain their own guitars – they could turn out to be a poor investment over the long term if the tool sits in a box or drawer and rarely sees the light of day.  The tools I will list in this article, then, are going to be the “in the middle” variety:  neither the cheapest nor the most expensive money can buy, and useful to the largest number of readers.