Now here is a really interesting bit of guitar technology that is fairly new. Check out www.ntune.com to see the latest in guitar tuning wizardry, a built in guitar tuner on any of your electric guitars without doing any permanent modifications to your guitar. If you purchase this system we can install it for you. (no affiliation with this company otherwise).
Archive for the ‘Guitar Repair’ Category
N-Tune On Board Guitar Tuning System
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Improving Acoustic Guitar Tone!!
Sunday, August 8th, 2010Ok, of course starting with the finest materials and having the guitar built by the best luthier would also improve your acoustic guitar tone, but for those more realistic or on a budget check this out.
Replacing your stock guitar’s plastic Saddle and Nut with ones made of harder material and custom fit for your guitar will add volume and clarity to any acoustic guitar you have, even lower priced models. In our shop we use either bone or corian for both saddles and nuts. These are hard materials that can handle guitar string pressure and wear, and will transmit the strings’ energy to the guitar top and body where it belongs.
It is a basic concept but a harder material will transmit energy(in this case vibration) more effectively than a softer material that will dampen and aborb more of the vibrating string’s energy.
For more detailed information check out my article on this topic at our FAQ and Tips section of our website.
Old Kay Guitar from Pawnshop Dan
Monday, July 26th, 2010Pawnshop Dan always brings me the most interesting guitars: old brands nobody has heard of, beat up, no name classical guitars with incredible old wood and fretboards, and this cool Kay guitar that he brought in last week. Something about this guitar I really liked. Yea, the neck was blocky and the pickup output a bit weak, but it just had that “something” from another era, and I could hear it when I played this guitar. This guitar was cool. It needed to have some grounding done on it to get the electronics to work properly, and thankfully there was this little back way into the guitar, something that EVERY hollowbody electric should have to make those repairs just a little easier. I’d never seen that before, but it made the job more managable and with less chance to mess something else up, which is always a possibility when pulling complete electronics out of hollowbody/semi-hollowbody guitars.
Turns out on the original design of this guitar the pickup switch and bridge/strings were never grounded, so when the volume was turned down there was this horrible buzzing sound. We got that fixed up, put on a new set up strings, set the intonation and Pawnshop Dan was on his way.
Les Paul Gets New Lease on Life
Monday, July 19th, 2010Bill Hibbets, a great guitar player who also happens to run Inner Knot records, a distribution company for established musicians, dropped this guitar off a few weeks ago and it was in need of some heavy guitar TLC. Not only was alot of the hardware missing or just hagged out, someone had done an amateur broken headstock repair.
I checked out and stabilized the headstock, upgraded the bridge, saddle and tuners, gave the frets a leveling and polishing, full setup, and to top it off refinished the area of the neck where the headstock damage was visible.
Here is Bill in the shop testing the guitar out with a set of 10 guage strings. This guitar has some miles on it, but its a definite player’s guitar; just enough dings, heavy body, and lots of tone.
For more details and pictures on the headstock finish repair, check out the Galleries Section of our website.
Bill Hibbets Lays Down a Funky Groove
Guitar Setups and Setup Course
Friday, July 2nd, 2010The professional guitar setup is a much misunderstood thing. I attribute that to the fact that there are alot of folks out there who think they can perform a setup just because they can tighten a truss rod, but they really dont really get it. As long as it doesnt buzz and the action is “low”, they think the job is done.
The difference between a basic setup and a solid professionally done setup can be subtle but at the same time can change completely the way a guitar plays for the better. I’ve had so many customers fall back in love with a guitar after its had a proper setup in our shop.
For more information about guitar setups you can check out our Faq & Tips page
or get the best book I have seen on the topic, Electric Guitar Setups by Hideo Kamimoto
or even better SIGN UP now for my Guitar Setup Course, where you will learn hands on how to do your own setups and maintain your own stable of guitars. More info in the Our Services section, and you can always call me for more information.
Now Stocking Premium CLEARTONE Strings
Saturday, June 26th, 2010Our repair shop is now stocking, as standard, the premium CLEARTONE strings. These are coated strings for longer lasting life, but the coating is much thinnner and applied differently than those other brands, so its not tone robbing. Plus they’re made here locally right in North Hollywood by the Everly Music Company.
We are now including these strings on all setups, fret dressings and refrets at No Extra Charge. That is an incredible value that you wont find at other guitar repair shops. These strings normally run between $12-17 per set. Everly also makes the RED brand for acoustic guitars, which we have some stock of also.
Check out their website for more detailed information on these strings, and some of their other products.
http://www.cleartonestrings.com/
