incipient Spring

Here in San Francisco, we may be in the middle of a fierce wet period (thunderstorms, flooding, high winds, etc...) but the perennial plants know what's coming. On our little South of Market, San Francisco city block several members of the fauna world are announcing light at the end of tunnel!

one small sector of a service industry

So in the simplest terms; we provide a service. And, like any other service oriented small business like, say, hairdressers, we exist through word of mouth and repeat visits. And that's because, like the girls at the beauty parlor (each with her own station, guiding the clients around from sink to chair to that over the head large plastic drying bubble object), our technicians gently guide the guitars from case to workbench, sometimes to the buffing wheel, sometimes to the touchup finishing area, often to the computerized fretmill (PLEK) device and back to the workbench before finally easing the instrument back into its case for delivery to it's owner. And like the hairdressers, we charge money for what we do. But it's way more than just that. The money pays the bills, sure, and makes it possible to own more guitars, but the real transaction here is community.





Any decent, thriving service-based business starts at the level of community. There's lots of colorful characters out there purporting to know how to work on a guitar. Some of them actually know what they're doing, too. But what is it that makes the simple give and take of our service into a functioning and desirable community? Is it that we listen to the owner? Is it keeping our word? Is it a comfortable workplace environment? Is there some unqualifiable cool factor involved?

We're lucky, as we've mentioned before, because we love our work. Maybe that has something to do with it.

(pics: daily activity!)

just because you can

doesn't mean you should!

TRAINWRECK (w/ Kyle of Tenacious D) Tonight, Saturday Berkeley,CA

TRAINWRECK (w/ Kyle of Tenacious D)
Tonight, Saturday Jan 30th Berkeley,CA Shattuck Down Low
http://www.trainwreckwithkg.com/tour/
They are super fun good time rockin band.
If you are not doing anything, even if you are, bring it
you will not be sorry.

"i repeat myself when under stress..."

*"the more I look at it....the more I like it!"





* - gratuitous King Crimson reference

it works great!

even though some may not consider it a guitar....

Here Gary is testing the circuitry in a Casio PG380 to see if all is working correctly. He appears to have stumbled upon his favorite mood-enhancing sound!

protecting the protection

our people leave us notes...

It was falling apart.

So we made it stronger.

This pretty blue Strat is, like almost all solid body guitars, made of wood. The original manufacturer drilled the stud inserts somewhat too close to the pickup cavity. Over time, the tension of the strings on the tremolo was transferred to the studs implanted into the body and subsequently pulled the studs and their inserts forward. This implacable pressure eventually caused the studs and their inserts to burst through the thin wall of wood, causing the tremolo to pitch forward and the guitar to be unplayable.

We removed the inserts, repaired the wood and, to make the repair solid, added a piece of carbon graphite to strengthen the weakened area. Under normal playing conditions (your experience may vary - especially if you're practicing on the International Space Station*) this modification will act as a permanent improvement, over the life of the instrument, which could be a very long time indeed.



* - in space no one can hear your space music

"My guitar doesn't play in tune...

...even though I've put on fresh strings and stretched them out carefully."

Guitars, as a rule, aren't necessarily precise from an intonation point of view. There are many (and we mean many!) ways to skin this cat. In the example shown in the photograph, it was decided that filling the original one piece plastic saddle bridge slot and rerouting the bridge for a two piece hand cut bone saddle would make the most sense. This way we've changed individual string lengths, relative to fret position, and improved the intonation of the guitar. This is one of many (did we mention many?) modifications that can be implemented on your electric or acoustic guitar (or bass) so that the instrument will play in tune.

I want to play my acoustic guitar live...

...what kind of pickup should I put on it?

We're glad you asked...depending on whether you plan to be competing with your drummer, bassist, stunt guitar player; or, if you're simply playing solo acoustic in a quiet performance environment; or something in between, there's a pickup technology that can be implemented in your acoustic guitar. Our shop carries all the popular manufacturers as well as some obscure brands too. Of course if we don't have it we can get it and, if you prefer to purchase your own parts, simply bring us that pickup system and we're happy to install it for you. We can also combine technologies and parts from various makers into a modification that's appropriate to your guitar.

The main thing, however, is that we do not charge to discuss the appropriate technology and installation method for your unique instrument and your chosen playing environment. Bring your guitar in to the shop when you find a convenient moment and we'll have a conversation about your requirements, we'll ask you some questions and we'll make a recommendation right then and there, while you wait. It's true that the informed player makes the best choices.

Our location and shop hours can be found on our website: www.brawer.com

if you're going to bust a quote...

...make sure you say it right.

"...but you're gonna have to serve somebody"*

Here Tim is serving the Bodhisattvas of Binding by crouching on the floor with a Les Paul clamped between his knees to painstakingly scrape excess material to match the shape of the guitar body. The close-up photos show a portion of the guitar (prior to him being on his knees with it) after having the new binding heated, bent, glued, taped and clamped to the carefully cleaned and prepared edge of the body using small pieces of wood fabricated to match the curves.

* - thank you Zimmerman!

an homage...

Sent to an orphanage by his Mom (she had to choose between her husband, Art's stepfather, and her own 10 year old son, and chose poorly) Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby has died. He was 89. Raised by the Clokey family in Southern California, he and his wife Ruth created Gumby and the attendant family of characters. As an homage we present the Gumby and Pokey guitars, long-standing denizens of our shop and not for sale.

(top: the guitars, bottom: the Man)

the exploded view

Here Glade is swapping the pickups, shielding the electronics cavities and wiring pathways, and doing a complete set-up on this telecaster. Sometimes it makes more sense to simply take everything apart.

(top: after, bottom: before)

a good guitar is a like a good salad...

...you have to start with quality ingredients.

We're good at recommending the right components for any guitar and within any budget. Just ask us!

(This metaphor brought to you by sunny vegetables.)

like a great white lurking in a shore break...

...the tiny furry mouse, valiantly carving out a habitat for itself and its family in a bag full of environmentally friendly packing peanuts, scrabbles to escape observation, fleeing discovery to live another day for the express purpose of terrifying middle-aged men.

(pic: our nightwatch)

Overwhelming Optimism for the New Decade!

(photo stolen by criminal masterminds!)

been a long year and a longer decade

Here is Trevor after hours, patiently guiding superthin copper wire onto the bobbin of an old single coil pickup. It's the 11th hour for the Twenty-Oughts and we're so very ready for the second decade of the 21st Century. The Eternal Optimist, our plucky little shop forges onward, every day (since the Spring of 1986) an infinitely unfolding adventure of experimentation and experience. Lucky enough to love our work, we're keen for any opportunity to make a guitar better.

a little for the pot, a little for the cook

no....not really, though visions of Julia Childs swinging a fifth of brandy liberally over a simmering pot are inescapable. Here Tim has put together a stew of bestine, shellac, olive oil and Everclear to hand finish the area where he laminated a piece of mahogany to strengthen a standard Gibson neck break. Not only strong but beautiful.

yes...it's happening right now!!!

top photo: our local deli, Ted's, loves us, and we love them.
bottom photo: the girls prepare to destroy all your careful wrapping.

"hey, put on some music would you?"

it died and we replaced it

This amusingly named onboard bass guitar preamplifier has given up the ghost. This occasionally happens and, when it does, we attempt to match the replacement with the existing pickups as well as with the owner's needs and tonal expectations. In this case, the pickups on this Spector bass were already EMGs so it made the most sense to install an EMG BTS control circuit.

Problem solved!

if you're going to have only one sticker on your guitar

this is the one to have

It's time for a Realtime Holiday Contest!

Wasn't it sweet of Ibanez to send us this cute little iPod holder along with a holiday greeting card? It's lovely blue velcro-fastened neoprene corporate logo branded envelope will gently caress your precious compressed digital audio player and the handy pocket is large enough to contain your earbuds. It also features a handy clip enabling you to dangle the object provocatively off your fashionable rucksack or pannier!

The first caller to our shop line (available on our web site) thats utters the seekrit password* (starting from the moment this post is published [today - 11AM PST, 12/19/09]) will receive not only this item but also a free set of strings when you bring in your six string electric guitar for a set-up!

Call now....operators are standing by!

Set-ups cover: truss rod adjustment, string height over the fretboard (action), intonation, string path slots at the nut and saddles, buffing the frets and fretboard, changing the strings and six (6) months of free tune-ups, while you wait, in our store.

* - "gadzooks!"

wait for it....

a body lying in the street
it's heart is all a-flutter

the dog ate my homework (a new twist for an old saw)

Gary R. likes his dogs, and they like him. Gary R. plays guitar and his dogs apparently like guitar too, up to a point. Maybe it was a particular solo Gary R. took or maybe it was that time he played the acoustic parts of "Wish You Were Here" all the way through but blew that one lick. No matter, the dogs make their own judgements. Gary R.'s pit bull, named "Lenny" (after Leonard Cohen), took a bite out of the guitar.

A cat would not do this.

what happens to all that wire, anyway?

Pickups occasionally need to be rewired. It's a slow process; the tech gently holding the wire between the roll and the bobbin, thousands of turns by the little armature on the pickup rewinding machine, an hour (or more) of your life you'll never get back. But what happens to the old wire? That material taken off of the bobbin and magnet? In the spirit of reuse and recycle, Gary keeps his pate warm with vintage copper.

Coals to Newcastle (an employee's calling)

When not building his own line of custom handmade archtop guitars or repairing and modifying any of the thousands of instruments he's worked on during his tenure at the shop, Tim Frick builds furniture. When a piece of furniture is ready, Tim has a party to celebrate it's completion.

(top photo: two unidentified party guests pose fabulously on the Orange Couch, bottom photo: Tim's legs and the Orange Couch)

Recently a man...

...wandering down our street with a box of random electronical parts and a small object not unlike a guitar was caught on camera with a wry grin.

in case there's not enough in your life already

with this knob you can increase it.

holy christ no baby no!

not dad's Guild!

to be continued....

One of a kind, just like them.

The owner of this tele bass copy was able to convince his wife to wield her prodigious talent to decorate the body and headstock.

calling quality control...

To Whom It May Concern: While precise design and branding of a logo is key, common usage words must not go overlooked in your excitement of securing the account.

it's not every day a '58 Les Paul visits...

just sayin'

solid maple vs. stainless steel

Maple wins.

The owner wanted to use Schaller strap locks on his beautiful Gibson ES 355. He couldn't use the stock Gibson strap button screws with the Schaller buttons because the screws are too wide. He replaced the stock screw with a stainless steel #6 screw which, it turns out (and among other things), was too long. As the owner recounts the sad tale, he didn't pre drill a pilot hole in the solid maple block and, of course and in hindsight, the screw snapped off. That's where we come in.

Acts of God and other Mysteries

There are many ways a guitar finds its way to us, and many stories. Stories create their own set of questions, ones that, without the ur-story, would not have been asked in the first place. In this case, one of those questions is certainly: "Is there no other place besides the bathroom to store your guitars?"

Taylor T5, RMC Piezo Pickup install with 13 pin Roland/Axon output for midi conversion.

with this device in my guitar...

...I should be able to see through time.

Guitar Tech-ing for Billy Bragg

The wonderful and outspoken Billy Bragg came to town to play a solo show at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass followed by 2 nights at the Great American Music Hall. While in town I was hired to guitar tech for him. Billy came to town with his stage manager and get it done guy Vaughn and his "able to dial up great sound anywhere" long time engineer Grant. My job was to be sure the guitars were always in tune and ready to go from sound check to pack up. The other job was to be sure they went home with at least as much as they showed up with. Everything went great and I saw some great performances.

The Devo Potato Chip, Cloud electrical problem.

We had fun working on this blast from the future. Devo was in town for 2 days and had a frozen pot issue.
The little circuit in there controls the flashing blast off lights that comes on with the pre-amp. What could go wrong?

Happy Halloween!!!!

A few random shots

we're just going to leave this right here...

two great tastes that don't necessarily taste great together

When it comes to Gibson guitars one may well think of innovation, occasional brilliance, and a remarkable musical longevity. And one may well think of Moog Music as equally brilliant and an organization comprised of fearless risk takers. If we add these two together it stands to reason the results will be orders of magnitude beyond what either entity might accomplish on their own.

Not so. Here Mr. Bill T. has kindly requested that we remove the perfectly enormous motherboard and wire the late 1970's era Gibson RD Artist as a simple two humbucker solid body electric guitar; the kind we are all so familiar with. Mr. T. would like the instrument to be a player. Sometimes the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts.

Halloween 2009 in the Bay Area

The San Francisco/Bay Area comes together for Halloween, and all the freaks come out even more than usual. This year, however, there'll be another opportunity for community for those celebrating in San Francisco but traveling from the East Bay: a BART commute. Our lovely bay bridge, part of which is in the process of being replaced, has developed a potentially dangerous flaw and so must be shut down for a time, and at the height of our traditional revelry. Taking public transportation is good for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is running into people you know. It's community, and that's what we're all about.

(above: the quiet bridge toll booth and repairs, pics coutesy of Caltrans)

to make it your own

Mr. P. Chan preferred his own pickguard design over the stock shape (his design is the lower pickguard in the bottom photograph) originally installed on his new Rickenbacker 620 12 string. He brought the guitar to us, along with a graphic of what he desired us to accomplish and Tim fabricated the custom pickguard using material from the Big Box of Plastic we keep upstairs. Mr. Chan is pleased!

"with rings on her fingers & bells on her toes...

...she shall have music wherever she goes"

Here at the shop we encourage musical development in our country's youth and, to that end, we'll move heaven and earth to make a kid's guitar play correctly. How your child expresses themselves through music is pretty much up to them (see pic) but we'll make sure the tools are working right!

stay!

A technician (in this case, Trevor H.) prefers that a bridge clamped stay put. These particular clamps, manufactured by Stewart-MacDonald www.stewmac.com, perform their task in a special way, making them uniquely suited for this kind of work. Not only are they lightweight and shaped correctly to fit inside a soundhole but they also have adjustment screws on both ends of the clamp to clear internal braces. The right tool for the right job.

a bin of beans

like pushing your hands into a bin of pinto beans...you know you love that feeling.

like brothers...

...but which one is the elder? Working together for decades, the two of them trading insults and stories, and all of those guitars...we're very happy for his band's resurgence.

"it's exactly what I wanted Gary to do - I'm going to go home and play it for hours."

So said Raleigh E. upon receipt of his beautiful Gibson ES355. Gary completely rewired the instrument using volume pots manufactured by Hamer, tone pots manufactured by Mojo and a long-threaded no-load pot (carefully modified by Gary) installed in place of the stock Varitone switch to act as a sweeping master tone pot. Doing delicate work correctly inside of a hollow body guitar is time consuming, painstaking and requires a keen focus.

"put the good stuff on it 'cuz i'm gonna play the shit out of it"

A lot of folks bring their instruments to us for parts upgrades. Their are many levels of build quality in aftermarket products and, while the most expensive is only occasionally our sincere recommendation, sometimes the owner knows what she wants. (pic: three of a perfect pair)

"you have failed me for the last time..."

because it's Fall

Here's three small pumpkins stacked up on the dining room table with a big knob on top.

some of our extended family

Edith isn't semantically articulate or even always phonically comprehensible, but she likes her BC Rich guitar and we keep it running for her. She appreciates being treated like a human being. We thought we might someday ask her what she was up to in the Sixties but well...maybe better not to ask. She's a member of our downtown San Francisco extended family and has the coolest taste in jewelry.

change the tone

Jim B. brought us his 5 string Modulus bass the other day. He wasn't pleased with the overall sound and told us he was looking for more warmth, more clarity and more fullness. As Gary is fond of saying: "You give me adjectives, I'll give you answers." Of course we looked under the hood first and, whaddya know? What the hell is that? Also, it did have a lot of knobs and, while many controls and switches are not necessarily a sign of less than appealing tone, simplicity does have a habit of cleaning things up. We ended up removing the original motherboard and running the perfectly good Bartolini pickups through an Aguilar OPB-3 onboard preamp. We also used one of the existing switches to make it possible for Jim to run in active mode or bypass the preamp altogether. This bass sounds great now.

a straight up mod

Trevor has fabricated an angled block of cocobolo wood to raise the back of the vibrola tailpiece on this Gibson Firebird. Raising the tailpiece up allows for correct downward pressure on the saddles which, in this case, helps the string to ring true by fitting solidly in the saddle slot.

it's not just about the instrument

Gary is conferring with Lucille H. during work on her Fender Stratocaster. She plays music in hospitals, safe houses and prisons, and is active in her community as an advocate of music as a tool of healing. A person (who shall remain nameless) painted Ms. H.'s first name in a naive, spidery and white cursive on top of the body of the instrument using entirely too much acrylic paint. She was not amused and came to us to remove the offending (and uninvited) graphic. Here Ms. H. and Gary find a common language in the repair of her guitar.

what kind of a statement do you want to make?

This guitar strap was handmade using custom parts carefully chosen to establish a unique mood.

that's a lot of guitars!

Since January 1st, 2006, we've performed a minimum of 2599 set-ups on various stringed instruments. That's a lot of set-ups, and doesn't account for the other 6500 or so other guitars that we've adjusted, finished, glued, smoothed, replaced parts on, etc. within that same time period.

We love our work.

(pic: Gary carefully guides the PLEK machine through its paces on a child's beginner Brian May solid body electric)

"it's just what I hoped you would do with it"

Here's Jay D. with his now clean playing Fender Tele Deluxe. We used the computerized fretmill device (PLEK) and followed up the process with a hand set-up, as we will. If you require low action and clean playing there are ways our little shop can help!

"I never thought I'd play this guitar again"

Here's Clark A. with his beloved ES 135 after Tim has completed a neck reset and repaired some cracks. "It's surreal...", he was heard to mutter on his way out.

ship in a bottle

Why does it cost more when working with the electronics on a hollow body guitar as opposed to a solid body guitar? In this photo Trevor has carefully eased the wiring harness out of the body of a Gibson ES 137 prior to replacing the stock pickups with a new Gibson 57 Plus in the bridge and a new Gibson 57 in the neck. The surgical tubing assists him in keeping track. This way he'll be able to gently extract the disparate parts of the wiring harness and then (most importantly) get it all back into its correct location. It takes more time, but time is something else we manipulate.

lined yellow paper and a pen

With these simple implements our Chief Technology Officer, Kirkwood Rough, whips up a twenty minute design for what he terms a "junk amp." An hour or two of retrospection later, he emails us a new design that he thinks may be an improvement. Kirkwood is the de-facto chairman of our brain trust, always at the ready.

Archtop Fever w/ Tim Frick

This image shows Tim testing out his most recent creation, a seventeen inch acoustic archtop guitar. The top is sitka spruce, the back and sides are European maple and the neck is mahogany. Tim's choice for a pickup is a Kent Armstrong humbucker, carefully mounted to the pickguard so that it "floats," and also including a hidden disk on the underside for volume control. We aren't engaging in hyperbolic rhetoric to call this instrument a work of art. To see a detailed explanation of the building process, please visit his photo essay (with handy informational captioning by the builder himself). Note: facebook registration is required to view the photo album.

Trevor's New Do!

With Burning Man coming right up, it's time to get your freak on! And what better way to say: "I'm a playa on the playa" than iridescent hair color? Light up the day! Glowstick your night! He's a natural!

(er....actually a trick of the light shines inadvertently in Trevor's hair. In this photograph he is testing a completed set-up on a Peavey JF1EX, a pretty guitar and brand-spanking new. One of the nice things about completing a job is being able to spend a few minutes fine tuning one's work by mind-melding with the instrument. We still love guitars, even after all this time.)

A Trip to the NAMM show

Bob Sperzel explains the finer points of tuners to Tim



Michael Manring wows them



the author pays attention to the details



the author with Roger Sadowsky



Tim Frick and the Great Wall of SVT


(byline: Trevor Healy) - In January 2009 Tim Frick and I drove to Anaheim for the 2009 Winter NAMM show. Neither of us had ever been but we’d heard many stories from Gary Brawer and others. We walked in and slammed right into the insanity that is NAMM. Ampeg built a 15 foot tall SVT stack, bikini’ed Jaegermeister girls were pulling in crowds at the booth and the NOISE! I should have grabbed those earplugs.

After moving past microphones and PA’s, the first guitar I saw was the new MOOG guitar which we’d heard about. I was surprised and dismayed by its poor set-up and total lack of innovation it’s reported to have (and which MOOG is famous for).

My main thoughts were on heading downstairs to the custom builders’ booths. I first headed to Sadowsky Guitars to say hi to my old boss, Roger. It was great to see him and we caught up on the last few years. Roger’s long time customer Will Lee was playing a set at the booth on his new signature model. I enjoyed seeing the new instruments they’ve been working on since I left 3 years ago.

There were many familiar faces and it seemed like everywhere we turned someone from the San Francisco area was walking by or showing instruments. Tom Ribbecke had his new Halfling basses and guitars which feature a half flat, half arched top. The sound of the guitar I played had a very full and warm tone. Right across from Tom was Blackbird Guitars, now building their instruments in the Dog Patch area of San Francisco. They make a travel size, fully graphite guitar which really throws people for a loop. The guitars are well designed, comfortable to play, and have a clear bright tone.

I next visited Zon Guitars, with whom I worked when I first moved to CA. Joe Zon and Mark Gullo, two very hard working guys who build beautiful basses, had sold most of the instruments by the time I got to the booth. Walking through hoards of punks with mohawks, tattooed rockers, and relentless salesmen we began to feel a bit claustrophobic. Tim and I headed off to find some beer for a little relief. I had heard there was a bar in the Dean booth, but that was about a mile away so we took what ever was closest. A bar just happened to be right next to a huge line of people waiting to get a signature from Mick Mars of Motley Crue, one of the many strange sightings throughout the weekend.

We met up with Gary shortly afterwards and headed off to the Gibson rooms. They have half a floor to themselves and have filled every inch with new gear. Gary talked with Edwin Wilson about the new Jimmy Page relic Les Paul while I checked out the Robot guitars. We’d been eager to see the new PLEK machine as well. Joe Glaser demonstrated the new system and its improved speed. An entire fret mill can now be done in 12 minutes.

It was almost 6pm now and the show was closing for the night so we headed up to meet Gary again in the Executive Lounge at the Hyatt. Our good friend Kirkwood was there too, along with friends Liz and Gary’s sister Audrey. I headed off to LA to see a friend perform and Gary with his gang went across to another hotel to check out one of the many concerts.

The next day was a blur but the highlight was meeting Bob Sperzel, designer and founder of Sperzel Locking Tuners. He was very gracious and talked with Tim and myself for a while. We learned about his new bass tuners and a new metal nut for all guitar styles that allows for easier string bending. I tried a full-step bend on the G string at the 2nd fret and it really was easy. To meet someone with his energy, enthusiasm and durability is a real treat.

We headed back over to the Zon booth to check out Michael Manring playing the Zon Hyperbass, which Joe designed for him, allowing many different tuning options both at the bridge and the Hipshot D-tuners. He dazzled the crowd with right hand harmonic pops and surely helped take in a few orders for new instruments. It was hard to avoid the big companies like PRS and Taylor but they suck you right in. I had no idea PRS made acoustic guitars and that R. Taylor Guitars was an offshoot of Taylor. The Martin booth had some stunning inlay work, and it was good to play some instruments from two of my favorite acoustic makers, Santa Cruz and Collings.

I finished off the day downstairs by saying hello to Robert Mazzulo of MUDD Guitars. He was an instructor at the Robert-Venn School of Luthiery when I attended in 1999. He was saying how much he enjoyed seeing so many former students stop by his booth as well as showing instruments of their own at the show. I’m not sure if I would go to NAMM every year but it was a good first trip and I was glad to have seen so many old friends, new products and experience all the event entails.

there are many creative ways...

...this could be explained but the truth is more interesting. A large (some would say major) guitar manufacturer has released a line of handmade-in-America guitars that look like they are forty years old and extremely well-loved. The manufacturer has taken the time to make every part of the guitar look aged and in so doing, odd things happen, even under normal use.

leave the light on for the Muse

Because you never know where she'll alight. And you have to stop whatever it is you're doing and allow her full sway. You could be anywhere...doing anything...she will have her way. (here the Muse strikes Chela on a beach in the middle of the Pacific Ocean)

“I’ll give you the groceries and you cook it up”

So says Hadi D. (L), here giving Gary carte blanche to install a sustainer system of Gary's choice into this Paul Reed Smith single cutaway. There are several choices of sustainer systems, and Hadi trusts Gary to choose the system appropriate for this particular instrument and, of course, taking into account how Hadi plays and what his expectations are from his guitar. It's a big job and requires routing into the wood of the body to fit the onboard electronics, switches and a battery box.

moral support

Tim is refretting a mid-Seventies Precision bass with the assistance of his pal Aura, who is almost five. Aura snacks on roasted pumpkin seeds and takes keen pride in getting the husks into the dustbin without hitting the sides. Work is punctuated with Life and Life is a continuous infinitely variegated panoply of joyful times. Long life to you!

Les Paul is dead.

long live Les Paul!

one is the loneliest number...

Resting quietly atop Tim's bench, this neck awaits union with its body.

a neat trick

On a tremolo where the strings' ball end is not removed (Parker, Kahler, etc...) there is occasionally an issue where the string consistently unravels at the ball end during use. This is irritating at best and Gary has a nice trick for it, dropping a small bead of solder on the wind prior to stringing up the guitar. This solidifies the spot and eliminates the unraveling.

is this our core competency?

Joseph really wants to go the old school analog synth stylee squeak, grunt and beep by triggering this frowsy 360 Systems Spectre from his Fender Strat. Gary has mounted the pickup for this suitcase audio bomb and a few connections inside the vintage circuitry had to be traced down and repaired, as well as a LEMO connector that had to be procured and spliced on to the existing cable. The unaffected sound is an inadvertent cross between an unreasonably harsh Tangerine Dream melody and Steve Hillage on a bender. Awesome.

"It's better then I could've imagined!"

...exclaimed Brent R. as he picked up his Gibson Firebrand after Tim's completion of a particularly heavy duty headstock repair. Tim had glued the large and ugly crack and also fabricated a strengthening laminate (the technology of which is documented elsewhere within this blog). When pressed for details (an endless source of fascination) Brent had allowed that roommates had been at fault and, thankfully, the roommates had expressed appropriate contrition, even to the point of offering recompense, which is only right. Brent was exceedingly complimentary of the quality of Tim's work (he is that good) and, as he departed the shop with his guitar he was heard to suggest that: "I may have to consider naming my first born after him."

hey that guitar looks familiar...

Duncan H. (L) brought in his blue Gibson robot(!) guitar for us to swap out the stock humbuckers for a brand spanking new set of TV Jones Classics. Little did he realize that earlier in the day Trevor had benched and was now at this exact moment re-fretting his beloved ES175D. Duncan paused briefly to wonder at the beauty of his guitar, helplessly laid open on Trevor's bench and being carefully and lovingly improved. Simultaneity is our middle name!

an appropriate mod

Here's Trevor (R) going over an appropriate modification of Jackie Greene's super light and supercool '66 Gibson SG Special. The slots on the original studs didn't fit the original bridge very well. Trevor has installed a TonePros non-compensated aluminum wraparound bridge along with the matching TonePros locking studs. The bridge improves tone and the studs hold the bridge down to improve stability and intonation. Jackie favors older guitars and has us make non-permanent modifications (pickups, hardware, etc) to enhance overall instrument stability and consistency during touring and recording.

some things you always remember...

"Trigger" came to us just before soundcheck for a show Willie & Friends had at the Fillmore Auditorium, here in SF. Willie's trusted cohort/runner never allowed the instrument to be more than three feet away from his body while Leo was repairing the output jack. We were, however, able to document the occasion by stealing a memorable photo of Leo holding Willie Nelson's famous guitar. Naturally we stayed open after hours to do it.



Speaking of staying open a little late, we (as we've probably mentioned already) are predisposed towards the Macintosh OS and use Filemaker Pro on a Mac network to keep track of all our data on instrument repair and modification. Naturally we're interested in streamlining our operation for the sake of working smarter. One of the ways in which we'll improve is by modifying our Filemaker system. So...we're looking for a crack Filemaker maven who likes guitars! Email us at brawer@brawer.com if you'd like to work with us.

ask for him by name!

Kevin P. (L) knows how Tim works. Every time Mr. K. falls in love with another foundling instrument he wraps it in swaddling clothes and brings it directly to Tim. He says to Tim: "do what needs to be done.", and Tim makes it so. These beautiful guitars then reveal their hidden powers; reminding us why, after all these years, we still love them.

"josie and the pussycats!"

Every once in awhile an instrument comes along so full of charm, good tone and feel it requires a mention of its own. We all fell for this Hagstrom at first glance (it had us from "Louie, Louie") but when we saw the original case, we flipped. While we were bickering it was purchased, right out from under our noses. She deserved it, she's the right person to have it, and the instrument is right for her. At least, that's what we'll tell ourselves tonight as we drink ourselves to sleep in grief.

Billy was a Seabee...

...in WW2, out in Hawaii and Ruthie was his girl. He liked to sing and play guitar. He etched his name, and her name, and his general service location into the metal of his Slingerland-built May Bell acoustic. He also placed a small sticker of his military unit on the pickguard. The guitar wasn't with him when he lost his life in action, far from home. But it's made it to 2009, a reminder of humanity in the face of violence.

cooperation is the seat of work!

Here's Tim happily assisting Gary attach a custom fabricated thickness sander. If it takes two to tango this dance wins the first place ribbon.

Dark Star Pickups for your Bass.

Hammon Engineering has recreated the Dark Star Bass Pickups. They were the Hagstrom single coil bass pickup used on Hagstrom Coronado IV, Guild Starfire and M-85 basses. They are tone!! They are also kind enough to make the shims that fit under the pickup to mount the pickup at the correct height and angle. Here is a Stock Epiphone Jack Casady reissue bass. We left the stock pick configuration completely intact and added the Dark Star pickup harness around it. This bass can now go into 2 channels of a mixer or 2 channels of an amp. If you are really feeling it how about 2 SVT's!!

Quality control, using the "good" part

Here are a pair of 1/4" jacks the kind you would see in your average electric guitar. One is an actual Switchcraft and the other is a reproduction by a major distributer. About 1/3 the price and claimed to be the same, as good, etc..... So we checked it out. Guess what, not a good fit. Sure we could bend them all into place and hope it is as strong.....But why... I called the company to try to explain the problem and even sent photos. Of course they took them all back but it was a frustrating experience... I am sure they cared , but it was a tough sell, I would hope that would want to not sell inferior product.......
The point is we try to check out the parts we stock and make sure it will last and keep you up and running.

RMC install in a Parker Guitar

The tricky part was getting the new pickups to fit and mount clean. We broke off the the legs of the pickups and mounted them into the wood with 2 of the pole-piece screws. The holes were enlarged to fit the larger and deeper pickups. The Rmc piezo loaded saddles are a little bit taller than the stock ones. We deepened the bridge route to keep the action low. The wiring harness we built up from scratch to keep all of the signals, piezo acoustic, neck mag, bridge mag and midi assembly separate. The pre-amp is the RMC Poly Drive 1.

How to make a Firebird rock a little harder

We have here a before photo of the stock Firebird, white, mini humbuckers and the stock bridge and tailpiece. The client took a photo of the guitar and drew up what he wanted in photoshop and here is the real thing reproduced. I had the tuning machines gold plated, painted a black "racing stripe" down the center, routed the body to fit 2 full size humbucking pickups and a battery box on the back for quick change at the gig. The pickups are EMG 60 in the neck and 81 in the bridge. Notice the pickup selector has been moved to the bridge pickup volume position. The old switch we left in as a dummy. Last but not least the Gibson gold vibrola trem tailpiece. WHat you can not see is the trem has been stabilized by screwing down the spring section to the body and filling the hollow section of the spring with a solid piece of wood. It was a great tip from the Gibson guys in Europe. Thanks!!

Making a thin weak bass neck practically unbreakable

About or at least twice a week, ok sometimes even daily.....some kind of broken guitar neck comes in. This one was carved thin before the break so we took some extra measures. It will be painted black to match the body. I like the way it looks in this state. We glued up the neck, carved it back to make room and laminated in the graphite layers. Then sand it smooth so it feels seamless. Just that easy, so it looks. On other guitars we laminate matching wood on the back to reinforce the break.

Very Old Musical Instruments, Guitars and fun in NYC

Here are a couple tourist shots from NYC. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a great exhibit of the history of Musical Instruments. In the showcase here is a Martin from 1848 along with a couple of very old ramirez guitars. It was great to see these as well as a great display of the history of many instruments. It was very cool to see that, Bruce BecVar, who was a Northern California guitar builder and musician has a guitar that he built in the permanent collection of the Met. He is still making some amazing music. Check Bruce out at the Met
Also having not a-lot to do with guitars.....Seeing dinosaurs all put together is a mind bending experience even if it is not the first time.

Has everything already been tried?

Certainly there are still some experiments worth attempting...it is, and will always remain possible, to tease just one more element of tonal variation out of the sum of available parts.

Gary gets to have one little (well earned) vacation...

...and look what happens. Timmy drops by with a flat of gorgeous produce (he knows how to make us happy) and, while putting uncoated strings on this handmade Ribbecke Testadora prior to having the PLEK process done (coated nylon strings prevent conductivity and a very light current is run through the strings so the sensor finger of the PLEK machine can determine where, exactly, those strings are) Jimmy's trained eye sees an opportunity for beauty and, unbidden, creates a pleasing arrangement which is a joy to behold. It's a beautiful day outside and tomorrow is the Summer Solstice. It's been very busy (lots of guitars coming and going and the phone's been ringing off the hook) and everything's fine here boss...see you next week!

sometimes

it's necessary to keep track.

Great minds think alike...

...and occasionally look alike (at least from a specific angle). Here's Joe and Gary listening intently as Chris plays some American blues through a vintage Fender tube amplifier on an orange solid body Ibanez electric guitar. Chris was comparing two similar instruments and felt that the other guitar had "more wood in the sound."

The Lam(inate) Lies Down on Tim's Bench (part #2)

Here's the guitar and the work all done. Can you see the border of the laminate? Now the neck is stronger than the original with no loss of playability or tone.

vegetable raga

today meaning is suspect; so here's a video of a tomato dancing on the strings of a drawer.

color coded contents

Hidden in corners of the shop are objects whose provenance is unknown and whose presence cannot be accredited to organizational forethought. It's a clearcut case of simple accretion. Eventually the things become part of the craptacular ornate feng shui of the place and we cease to see them.

does this career make my butt look big?

ah the stories....get your mind out of the gutter, Harrison, it's not bragging if it's true!

a continuation of a previous post

Back in late March of 2009 we posted, perhaps irresponsibly, regarding an element of furniture requiring amplification. Eating crow, it turns out the idea is feasible and even fabulous. Trevor fabricated a strip of aluminum to hold the tuning pegs on firmly and amplified the item with transducers. While he obviously hasn't tuned it correctly (see video) he is, however enjoying himself immensely. If he had another one just like it he'd have a pair of drawers.*


* - thanks Benny!

The Lam(inate) Lies Down on Tim's Bench (part #1)

The almost brand new Gibson J-200 presented with the headstock broken completely (and rather messily) off of the neck. Also, portions of the celluloid binding around the edge of the headstock were either missing or dangling off in sections. We didn't ask how it happened. Tim, empathetic to the owner's grief, shakes his head and gets to work.

First Tim glues the headstock back on to the neck - a tricky proposition requiring special attention to the alignment of the two pieces. Even using small wooden blocks between the clamps and the wood of the guitar the tendency of the parts is to slide apart under pressure. Tim takes extra steps to commingle the parts for positioning accuracy.

Next Tim carves out some of the wood in the area of the break prior to fabricating a strengthening laminate. To make the laminate he glues together a stripe of bubinga onto a piece of curly maple (using cyano-acrylate) and heat bends the resulting section to match the bend of the neck of the guitar. Cyano-acrylate (aka superglue) is used on the laminate so that it does not separate during the process of heat-bending.






After he has ascertained that the curves fit he places the curly maple/bubinga laminate onto the neck of the guitar and, to assist in making sure the fit and position is perfect, he first tapes the laminate into place and then drills four small alignment holes directly through the laminate and into wooden plugs he previously installed into four of the tuning peg holes. He then places toothpicks into those drilled holes so that the bubinga center stripe lines up precisely with the original. Once the glue on the carefully positioned laminate has set Tim then painstakingly cuts away the excess wood so the shape of the neck/body join is correct.

Now that the neck and headstock laminate is complete it's time to address the binding. Tim painstakingly cuts and installs new celluloid binding, taping it down while the glue sets. Tim has masked the pearl inlay and logo on the headstock with clear scotch tape and gently cut around the inlays prior to applying black lacquer. Once it has set he scrapes the extra lacquer off the binding and removes the tape. Then he sprays a few clearcoats of unthinned lacquer over the entire headstock and neck. As a final finish touch, he sprays amber laquer on the new binding to match the patina of the original sections.









Because of the laminate the headstock/neck join is now stronger than the original. The guitar is now ready for tuning pegs and a set-up. This process has taken Tim a fair amount of time, with breaks for lunch, sleep and diverting youtube goodness. Tim says of his work: "it's fun." He adds that it's important to remember that the good repairman "strives for his work to be invisible."

comfy

"Nothing is too good for you baby," he murmurs to his axe,"anything you need, I want you to be comfortable...and happy, I want you to be soooo happy! And secure too....look what I got for you to sleep in!"

you want flies with that?

Sometimes the summer weather in San Francisco is hot and sultry. Not often, but sometimes. When that happens bugs are not blown through the city by the constant seasonal gales, those same gales that never fail to astonish visiting tourists dressed as if they're in Hawaii. Here Tim is using the business end of Wap the Wonder Vacuum to creatively denude the shop of pesky hovering creatures while simultaneously getting some exercise.