I probably should have read the original message more carefully. I agree, it could be a truss rod issue.

If you're not happy with adjusting these settings on your guitar, take it to a luthier as suggested (or perhaps contact the original one and tell him what has happened).

Thanks for all the responses. I'm not completely sure the guitar was ok when I got it back. I played it for like 5 minutes or so. I think I might just try taking it to a different place, I'd prefer not to fuck it up further. The guitar was sitting face up, in its case, maybe standing in its case for a little bit. How would I even get to the truss rod and thumb screws? Through the back generally, or under the pick guard? Or somewhere else? Just on the off chance I do try to do it myself.

The bridge thumbscrews are those wheels on either side of the bridge.

On a Gibson, the truss rod cover is at the headstock, right above the nut. See that little plastic thing with the screws? The truss rod's under there. Dunno about new Gibsons, but old ones have the vintage style truss rod, which requires a special (though cheap) tool to get in there and turn the nut. I got my truss rod adjusting wrench from a shop that just gave it to me--it was too much hassle for them to figure out a price, and just pulled one out of a box they had.

You might want to take this to a different place instead of doing it yourself. While it's hard to break a truss rod, people can do it if they don't have a feel for the stresses involved. (You should be loosening yours a touch, but do you know which way to turn it?)

If you are that unsure of doing the set-up yourself it's well worth it to have someone else do the job. Ask a few other players in the area for a recommendation or search the old interweb. In Chicago a good comprehensive set up can cost anywhere between $50 and $80 depending on the skill of the craftsman.

If you're really interested in working on your own guitar you might want to pick up this Dan Erlewine book:
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-Erlewine/dp/0879302917/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-2988529-8177269?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190142945&sr=8-1

I suggest you buy a good book (like Erlwine's) or do some studying online. I know I've posted a few times on the subject. You shouldn't even need to go beyond this forum to learn the basics of trussrod adjustment, setting action and intonation. If you choose to, the Seymour Duncan Forums also have a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Shit, I learned how to set my guitar up before I really even knew how to play more than a few chords. Basic setup is not something anyone should have to pay for pay for.

Unless you have a really old guitar, you should have nothing to worry about when adjusting the trussrod. You have to really try to break those things.

If you've owned and played the guitar for any amount of time a basic set-up should include fret dress, especially if you are suffering some buzzing. Most people not only don't own the proper straight edges and files to accomplish this but crowning a fret is a skill most lay-man don't have.

I'd say I'm pretty knowledgeable about dialing in my instruments but I'll still take my guitars to a good luthier once a year for a set up. Put it this way...you can record to a 4-track at home or go to a good studio, both accomplish the same task but there's certainly a quality difference.

Loosen the truss rod 1/8 turn and let it sit for as day with the strings loose. Then tune it up. Likely, they tighetend the truss rod when it was warmer and more humid, and now that it's colder and dryer, the neck needs to bow a little more.

Chutler wrote:If you've owned and played the guitar for any amount of time a basic set-up should include fret dress, especially if you are suffering some buzzing. Most people not only don't own the proper straight edges and files to accomplish this but crowning a fret is a skill most lay-man don't have.

I don't consider fret dressing as part of a basic set up. That's pretty advanced stuff and not something I trust myself to do. When I talk about basic set up, I am talking about the the seasonal or yearly adjustments needed to keep the instrument playable - trussrod adjustment, setting action and intonation.

Chutler wrote:If you've owned and played the guitar for any amount of time a basic set-up should include fret dress, especially if you are suffering some buzzing. Most people not only don't own the proper straight edges and files to accomplish this but crowning a fret is a skill most lay-man don't have.

I'd say I'm pretty knowledgeable about dialing in my instruments but I'll still take my guitars to a good luthier once a year for a set up. Put it this way...you can record to a 4-track at home or go to a good studio, both accomplish the same task but there's certainly a quality difference.

Yeah, I definitely won't mess with that at all. I think I'll look into trying the other stuff myself, the only place I know that's definitely trustworthy will probably cost a hundred bucks, and I'm sorta broke at the moment. Thanks for all the pointers.

So I decided that I needed to have some work done on my main guitar, because with my changing up of my guitar playing style I noticed some things becoming much more annoying to me than they had in the past. Most importantly, the E string was popping off the nut a lot, causing me to mutter epithets under my breath, which nobody wants.

I hemmed and hawed about it as long as possible, because I have never, ever had anyone work on this beast.

Pwalsh recommended a guy to me to do the work (after seeing the offending string-popping and saying "Yeah, um, you don't want that") and I left it in his hands for three agonizing days.

When I picked it up yesterday and saw the work he had done on it, I was pretty amazed. He kept the old nut, raised it a bit, polished it so it looks like new (it didn't look this shiny when I bought the damned guitar) and restrung it - I know he restrung it because he did it the "right" way, and not the "idiosyncratic" way I do. He may have even polished the fretboard and intonated the thing, I'm not sure.

Since the nut is raised, the action's a bit different, and it's a little strange to me. I like it. I was skeptical, but now I believe.