I've been playing for 30 years on and off and while I've made adjustments to my guitars in the past I've never really felt the need to take a guitar to a professional luthier. Boy, was I wrong. I had a problem with my Flying V where the Gibson plastic nut shed the high E string rendering my baby a Metal Banjo.
I'm fortunate to live near Milwaukee so a friend recommended Denny Rauen. He turned my guitar into a speed machine. He manufactured a nut from bone and worked the V from stem to stern. I never knew what a difference setup could make. So take a lesson from a long time dumbass and get that rig adjusted by a pro. You will not regret the one time cost.
And, if you are anywhere near Milwaukee go see Denny.
So, I have a 1940s-era J45 that is very special to me (family connection) needed the pick guard and bridge reglued and the B string buzzed a bit as well so that was asked to be fixed. As this person is highly reputable with a long wait time I decided to have the frets replaced as well as there was some wear.
After the work was completed, I picked up the instrument but the guitar had lots of buzzing on the frets and the luthier had me take it back and made more adjustment was made on the spot which was just raising action.
So I took it home again and, unfortunately, even after these adjustments the guitar was returned with higher action (very stiff) and it still buzzes in new places but luthier saying it's my fault for playing too hard. He says all he can do is raise the action more but it's a way higher action than it was already before my original repair job.
The guitar is totally different then it was before taking it in and I've played a 1000 guitars before so it's not like I don't know how a guitar should play. He said he put on slight bigger frets, could that effect the warping of the neck?
Any other thoughts why the action is all messed up after taking it in?
How would you deal with this? I feel awful my treasured baby now sounds and plays worse then when I brought it in (also I'm not rich and the work was not cheap! This person charges a premium compared to others.)
Hi everyone
I'm looking for an experience luthier in Philly, or close by in the burbs at least. The last guy I took my bass to stripped a brand new neck that I bought, so I'll never go back to him. And the guy I went to before him moved out of town. I'm running out of luthiers to service my instruments. Any recommendations? Electronics I can do myself, but any wood or fret work I'd rather have a pro do it. Thanks.
Edit: thanks for all the replies. Seems I have a good amount to choose from now!
Β‘Buenas noches a todos/as!
Estoy en busca de un luthier para realizar el cambio de corcho de mi clarinete. ΒΏConsejos de lugares confiables?
Estaba viendo a βFlute Serviceβ ubicado en Santiago Centro ΒΏalguna opiniΓ³n sobre esta tienda? Desde ya muchas gracias. :)!
The title pretty much says it all.
I am interested in developing my own design for a Hurdy Gurdy. I've looked over many plans. But I'd like to lay hands on one (cheaply) so I can really understand empirically what's going on with these lovely things.
If you've got one that's busted or just miserably poor quality that's fine. Message me and let me know what you've got and what you want for it.
Thanks.
Iβm contemplating going the small builder route for my next guitar so I can get something more custom than the standard stuff you get at guitar center
Was wondering what experiences ppl have had in this realm.
How custom was custom in ppls experience? Could you choose every last detail, do a custom body shape, etc?
What are some of the pros and cons of going this route?
Has anyone does high end (eg PRS) custom shop? If so, what was that like.
Iβm in the early stages of exploring this so havenβt really set a budget or done much inquiry. Interested to hear peoples experiences.
My violin had an open seam and is in for repair until Friday. Sad. At least it was still at the easy fix stage rather than major/expensive repair
Hi all, I am an aspiring luthier who is a bit cautious of diving straight into the industry due to the difficulty of making a profitable career out of it. From what I have gathered, being profitable takes quite a bit of a tact and after watching hours of videos and scrolling through many forums and threads, it seems as though efficiency is one of the key components to being a successful luthier from a profitability standpoint. This is a fundamental concept of business and production of any kind, but I have found it hard to nail down specifics in regard to lutherie because of the multitude of steps and variety of techniques. I am specifically interested in learning how to be cost effective and cognizant of time throughout each step of the process whether I am performing repair/ maintenance work or a building custom instruments.
A great example of efficiency in guitar building can be found in this video by Chris from Highline Guitars: Luthier Quick Tip 3: How to Decide On A Guitar Finish - YouTube
In this video he goes over the finishing products that he has found work best for him depending on the situation he is in. Many of his awesome videos, like this one, highlight efficiency and really valuable concepts like understanding what type of skills you have/ work you should accept and what projects/ customers you should turn down. As someone with a background in business and agriculture I greatly appreciate his pragmatic approach and his understanding of the importance of balancing expectations and sensibility in order to be a profitable business
Sourcing wood and materials that are accessible to your location and wallet is another fairly obvious, but important strategy that is mentioned frequently.
I am wondering if luthiers here have any input on this topic? Cheers!
Things like nuts and other products that may be made of commercially farmed animals. Not things like shellac which is just made from bugs.
I posted on here 127 days ago about a messed up nut on a used guitar I was given on my birthday. The guitar was a Gibson Les Paul copy made in 1993 and tbh it was really nice and the fact it was a copy gave it a kinda mojo idk how to describe it. The subreddit suggested I gave it to a luthier so I handed it to someone I know personally who then said they would hand it to their bands guitarist who works as a luthier when heβs not doing band stuff. I gave it to him on September 4th and he got it to the luthier around September 20th. Iβve still not seen the guitar come back to me and Iβve contacted both my friend and the luthier involved. My friend replied saying heβd ask the luthier and the luthier ignored my message. It seems fishy as I gave it to him over 3 months ago and all the guitar needed was a nut replacement. Any ideas on what I should do?
Good Morning! I put together a Guitar from sourcing parts. Itβs put together and now Iβd like a pro to set it up properly. I can do a basic setup on an existing guitar, but this requires tools I do not own: fret files, nut files, strobe tuner, etc. Any recommendations? Thank you.
Hello fellow guitarists!
TLDR: is it a good idea to swap a neck that is buzzy in several spots on a Squier Jazzmaster (which is my second guitar)? Or does it make more sense to take it to a luthier first? Or shop for a new guitar?
So I have a Squier Vintage Modified Jazzmaster on which I love the tone. It has MIJ Jazzmaster pickups, the original bridge that is quirky and awesome, and is completely shielded (very quiet). I also modded the Lead circuit to include Treble Bleed. This results in a fun and rowdy second guitar that I love for making noise and experimenting (my primary instrument is a Reverend Double Agent W).
My issue: its doesnβt quite function at 100% despite my best setup efforts. Overall intonation and action are great, but there are several spots where the notes donβt have the full sustain or even cut out if I bend far enough. Itβs definitely not terrible, but fairly noticeable compared to the Reverend which plays perfectly.
The logical thing to do is to take the guitar to a luthier and see if there is a leveling or a refretting that can be done to solve the issue. My worry here is that these options in my area are $200 and $400 respectively, and to my knowledge arenβt 100% guaranteed to solve the buzzing if the neck is bad enough.
Seeing how Fender sells Jazzmaster necks for $300, Iβm not sure how valid the luthier path would be. Does anyone have experience with necks bought from Fender, are they more or less βplug and playβ, or do they require work aside from the basic setup?
Finally, Iβm wondering when is a good time to cut my losses and start shopping for a new Jazzmaster? Can you recommend a good model that would have the original style electronics and hardware allowing behind-the-bridge shenanigans, but built in a way that itβs a good guitar right out of the box? Are MIM Fenders good these days? Any alternative brands that make something true to the Jazzmaster spirit? Shopping for Jazzmasters is frustrating because nobody seems to have any in stock, otherwise I wouldnβt have the last couple of questions :)
Iβm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but Iβve always wanted an Archtop guitar, yet I also learned guitar on a nylon string, and after searching I found many luthiers around the world who have made a nylon string Archtop, and they sound just as beautiful as I thought they would.
I currently have a Yamaha C40 which is a good guitar that I have started to outgrow. And soon Iβm going to want to change guitars, and I want a luthier to build me a similar guitar.
I live in Spain, so I have a wealth of good luthiers around me, but how do I know that the luthier can build the guitar I am picturing in my mind? And do you guys have any experience with such things?
I thought Iβd ask on this sub since I would love your opinion as luthiers on how to best approach the subject.
My electric bass needs her bridge pickup and/or the pickup's pot repaired and I'm not clever enough to fix it myself. :(
I took her to Melody Music and though they didn't charge me because the repair was "so quick," they didn't actually fix whatever is wrong.
Anyway, I'm just hoping someone knows of a trustworthy luthier around town and would appreciate any recommendations!
Other than google/maps etc, do you guys use anything to find local luthiers/repair-people for classical guitars? I resurrected an old guitar that needs a bit of work. I found a few places via word of mouth from other people, guitar teacher etc but is there any kind resource specific to classical guitars other than what shows up on google? I'm in the CT, NY area if there is a specific one for there.
Looking to get my electric guitar set up by a good Luthier/show locally. Wasnβt so impressed with where I went last time I had my acoustic worked on and am looking to avoid repeating the same experience.
