Least favourite guitar maintenance task?

[maverickf1jockey]

I went for truss rod adjustment.

I hate having to unscrew that natty little cover and then try to turn the allen head without breaking the strings behind the nut (though I have been careful and this hasn't happened just yet.).

Putting the cover back on is even more arduous.

[hamfist]

I don't really do any maintenance once it's all set up to start with. Apart from changing strings of course. Maybe that means that all guitar maintenance is my least favourite.

I also rarely seem to keep a guitar long enough to need anything else doing !

[JDC]

Intonating licensed Floyd Rose bridges. The proper ones are ok as I have a tool for that, but as for some of the others, oh dear god...

What he said!

one of my saddles slipped ages ago and I've been putting it off sorting it out for agessss

changing strings on a floyd doesn't bother me at all now, I think I've just got used to it

[WezV]

we really need setting up a transtrem on there ;)

:)

but lets get that neck in position before being too hasty in taking down the ease of use

quite right... i think it will be a lot easier once we sort that

[PhilKing]

Now that I've sold it (not to anyone on here!) I must say that the Wilkinson VSVG tremolo was a pig to set up. 

As soon as you release the screws which hold the saddles to the baseplate, they can move in all directions - forwards and backwards, sideways, at an angle... so getting both the intonation and the string spacing right was a real pain.  I'm sure the VS-100 must be the same.

VS-100 is easy - they have screws into the back besides the locking screw.  I've sort of got used to Floyds now, though the first was a pain.  I used to restring 12 strings all the time without electronic tuners, so now they are a breeze!  Since I got the right tools most tasks are easier, so the one that I have to go for is changing pickups on a 335 or other semi.

[Philly Q]

Since I got the right tools most tasks are easier, so the one that I have to go for is changing pickups on a 335 or other semi.

Never attempted that, but I know it would be horrendous!

[dave_mc]

restringing anything... :lol:

[Andrew W]

All restringing is evil, though it varies by degree.  For me the scale of evil goes like this:

Quite evil : Tune-o-matic Les Paul type
Reasonably evil : Strats
Pretty fiendishly evil : Floyds (though mine's flat against the body which eases  the pain a tad)
Excruciating b-astard evil : My slotted head-stock acoustic.  The strings slide around on the posts whilst attempting to stab you in the thumb as you try to tame them.  One of the main reasons that guitar gets treated to Elixirs is that it increases the intervals between this self-inflicted torture.

[Simon D]

I went for restringing a Floyd. I hate them. I changed the strings on my Yam Drop6 this week, for the first time since I bought it in 2004 (I think - might be longer). It took me an hour and a half - a normal string change on a trem guitar, including cleaning the neck, normally takes me half an hour at worst. :roll:

[Stevepage]

Intonating a Floyd rose is a big pain in the arse. It's much easier now I have a Tremol-no but it's still awkward.

[MDV]

Intonating a floyd. You get a feel for how much the saddles have to move after a while, but till you have it dialled in its a PAIN.

After that my least favourite was correcting for an incorrectly set in neck (bowedback at the heel so that 22nd fret was about 0.5mm higher than 12th) to get the action that the customer wanted by taking the frets down (after explaining to him that this is a non-optimal way to correct the problem, and the alternatives, its what he wanted)

One after the other

Each lower than the last

By exactly the right about (1/20th of a mm) to get the surfaces in correct line with the strings.

Hated that.

Oh, it was on an Epi Zakk wylde. Avoid. Or do not purchase without thorough inspection.

[Oli]

Intonating a Floyd for me, pain in the arse!

[shobet]

Intonating a Floyd rose is a big pain in the arse. It's much easier now I have a Tremol-no but it's still awkward.

Get one of these and it makes it much, much easier.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Bridges/The_Key.html

However it doesn't work on Edge trems, and some licensed trems. Those are the ones I find to be life numbing to do.

[Fourth Feline]

My own stock / genre does not include Floyd Rose adjustments ( I feel your pain by proxy ) - but anything involving cleaning the pots - or similar in a semi-Acoustic / Archtop guitar  with only the 'f' holes for access is worth considering. 
Also starting all over again with the whole intonation procedure if you let a floating bridge on an archtop move / fall off ...

Peversely, I usually enjoy re-stringing / truss rod tweaks for string gauge changes / intonation though; as it feels like  part of the 'ongoing bonding process' - like King Arthur sharpening / polishing Excalibur ...    :)

( Not meant to sound grandiose ) .

[Johnny Mac]

After re-stringing my Feline with Sperzel tuners, Floyds take twice as long even 3 times. So that would be my least favorite but I'm kind of used to it after 20 odd years now.

I don't go near truss rods. I don't want to mess anything up. I wouldn't have the patients for intonation!