Daily Guitar Repair

Big Changes Coming! New Web Site

2011-01-11T01:09:00.000-08:00

The BIG News......

We are slowly working on a new web site and blog.

Even bigger news is that the web store will be open soon.

Not only some of your favorite brands of guitar parts and accessories but selections from

35 years of guitar parts collecting will be coming up for sale too.

From now on please visit us at

Brawer.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-01-11T00:59:00.000-08:00

We want to say thank you for bringing in all your guitars for us to work on.

We are so grateful to be able to do what we love and look forward to more in 2011.

Have a safe, happy and healthy New Year,

Gary, Liz, Allen, Fern, Tim, Leo, Kirkwood, Glade, Trevor, Rob, Robert,

And of course the Bassets, Primo aka "Killer" and Jo-Jo aka "Bonkers"

Copper Shielding a Stratocaster

2011-01-06T00:04:00.000-08:00

There are many ways to shield and ground a guitar. I could write a book, (hummmmmm) Or did I..
I'll get into more details in the future. For now here is a nice photo of a copper shielded guitar and pickguard. Notice the seams are soldiered and it is burnished down in the cavity very clean and tight. There is a wire connecting the copper to the jack ground.
The most important thing about any shielding job is to ground what ever material you use as a shield otherwise it will act as an antenna and the noise you are trying to keep out.
I can't tell you how many times I have seen aluminum foil stuffed into the cavity of a guitar. If the guitar is luckily enough to even work it is very noisy. Another odd thing I see more often than that you would think is manufactures using shielding paint in pickup and tremolo cavities, sometimes even for cosmetic reasons with no ground attached. The pickups are a set of J. M. Rolph very authentic vintage Stratocaster pickups. We are also installing his proprietary noise reduction system (not in the photo)

Fantasy Studio, James, and his mid size amp collection, Great or Greatest amps.

2010-12-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

Gary, James and his flock.

I recently went on a house call to the beautiful Fantasy Recording Studio to do some guitar work. I always enjoy stopping there for work. While I was there I spent some time visiting my old pal James. Not only does he keep all that cool recording gear in tip-top shape he has a little collection of amps the studio keeps around for artists to rent. Here is a not so good photo of a few of the amps....and us.
There was a serious case of amp envy going on.

Upgrading a Floyd Rose Bridge

2010-12-25T17:21:00.000-08:00

Our friend Adam at Floyd Upgrades has made a great go of it building and selling custom made components to upgrade your Floyd Rose Tremolo. He makes things like trem sustain blocks made of brass and titanium, titanium stringlock inserts, custom trem arms, saddles and more.
Here we are swapping out the stock trem block with one of the brass sustain blocks. Some things make more of a tonal difference than others. We defiantly got a thicker fuller sound with this brass block. Check out his website Floyd Upgrades and see if you get inspired. We can help you decide and put it all together.

Here you can see the difference of the 2 blocks

Bits and Pieces

All ready to go!

Hopping up a Humbucking Pickups by Adding Wire 7.7K up to 9K

2010-12-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a early patten # Gibson Humbucking Pickup, very similar

if not exactly the same as an actual PAF.

Typical DC resistance on something like this is between 7K and 8K.

In short, the larger the resistance the more output, Midrange and Fatter the tone.

In exchange for that you have less clarity and high end.

I will get into winding and magnetics in a later post.

We wanted to turn this average 7.4k pickup into one of those rare higher output 9K's

Maybe a little muddy for the neck but a great fat sounding bridge pickup.

Taking the pickup apart and getting the tape off without damaging the coil is the tricky part.

Then splice on some of the same type of magnetic wire and wind it up.

Oddly enough on neck pickups we have removed coil wire to make the pickup cleaner and brighter.

Adding a 22nd Fret to a 21 Fret Strat, Getting to "D" on the high E

2010-12-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

This is a trick we used to do a-lot more back in the days before the 22 fret strat became more the norm.

The hard part is matching the finish on a maple neck. On a rosewood fingerboard you can hide it even better.

Here is a basic 21 fret vintage style Strat neck.

Removing the 21st fret and adding the wood for the extra fret.

Here is the finished 22nd fret addition.

Alen Whitman on the road with Joe Satriani, As posted on BoingBoing

2010-11-10T10:47:00.000-08:00

See the original here on BoingBoing

Rocket to Russia: "Feel 10 - Show 1"

Allen Whitman at 11:53 AM Monday, Nov 8, 2010

Guest blogger Allen Whitman, is the founding bassist of the instrumental trio The Mermen. He also writes about Internet audio with Jon Luini (Chime Interactive) as The Fezguys. When not on the road he manages Gary Brawer's Stringed Instrument Repair.

Encore (St. Petersburg - BKZ Oktyaborsky)

As bassist for electric guitar icon (and extremely nice person) Joe Satriani on a European tour I thought to regale you, dear Boing Boing reader, with the exploits of an American rock band touring in Russia.

(Dateline: St. Petersburg. Local time: 11pm. Weather: raining and cold.) Despite (or possibly because of) a soundcheck rife with technical challenges, the show in St. Petersburg comes off swimmingly. Though stiffly seated for the first several songs of the set the crowd maniacally rushes the stage as soon as the block-shouldered and packing security agents (complete with tiny coiled earbuds) usher the photographers out of the way.

The rest of the set (a total of two hours and twenty five minutes) is a joy, with audience members singing along to well memorized guitar melodies, head-banging furiously or doing the dark Russian poet thing: standing motionless with a maniacal intensity, a sort of "Feel 10 - Show 1" approach to existentialism. After the show the promoter, resplendent in groovy bling, treats us to dinner at his Italian restaurant nearby, and I marvel as our waitress (there is no other word that can most accurately be used to describe her) and our cook bicker animatedly but quietly into the face of each other about opening wine bottles and the timing of serving our meals. The food is very good but I can't finish the mountain of spaghetti carbonara on the plate. It's 1am.

During the day prior to soundcheck a group of us walk to The Hermitage, a world destination museum with over 1000 rooms and 3,000,000 paintings (not all of which are open or on display at any given time) but, as it's a holiday of some kind here (the name of which we're unable to divine) the lines across the wind-swept central square are pushing the length of three football fields. Russians apparently are very good at queuing and not always for a good purpose. Naturally we walk right up and offer tickets to those in front* to let us take their place, to no avail. We return to the hotel only slightly disappointed. Like traveling to Paris, having one day for the Louvre and, it being a Tuesday, the museum is closed, I name the experience of not getting in to The Hermitage as proof that I will return. For a transcendent cinematic experience of this place see the movie, Russian Ark with the subtitles on.

The cook (L) and the waitress (social archetypes of a Higher Order) are obviously interpreting a request with different levels of understanding which they will argue about momentarily. (Sardinia Restaurant - St. Petersburg)

Lindsay Long (chief logistician and tour humanist) displays her fabulous Russian tchoches

Our voluable St. Petersburg promoter (L) w/ his friend and his cook. "Slade? Uriah Heep? Elton John? Those are all my shows!" (Sardinia Restaurant - St. Petersburg)

Catering is uniformed! Arthur Rosato (R) - (former ass't. to Bob Dylan for ten years and now our overqualified drum tech) chooses wisely.

Tech room graffiti, St. Petersburg style (St. Petersburg - BKZ Oktyaborsky)

Thank the Maker for these signs posted by our crew. We'd still be wandering the halls, Spinal Tap style, otherwise (St. Petersburg - BKZ Oktyaborsky)

Mike Keneally (L) keyboardist extraordinaire and Mike Manning, Joe's longtime stage right guitar tech suss out yet more audio anomalies during soundcheck. (St. Petersburg - BKZ Oktyaborsky)

Galen Henson (L), rhythm guitar & tour manager and Jason Cook, stage left tech, attempt to root out sonic gremlins from the Kremlin during soundcheck. (St. Petersburg - BKZ Oktyaborsky)

The red phone, backstage (St. Petersburg - BKZ Oktyaborsky)

One last shot from St. Petersburg -- walking down the street we notice this advert which we immediately examine for anatomical accuracy.

We do Dulcimers, well Trevor did.

2010-11-09T22:21:00.000-08:00

Not only did the end of the peghead break off but it also used old style friction, or violin tuning heads. The client asked us to repair the peghead and if we could improve on the tuners while we were at it.

We happened to have some tuners that Schaller made for Ovation slot peghead guitars.

The difference being that the hole for the string it not at the end of the tuning post but in the middle.

To repair the wood we squared up the rough, splintered break so we could have a clean glue joint with a new piece. The new piece is also not open at the end, the space to string up the last string was made by chiseling out a hollow. This makes the piece we are adding stronger.

Also notice the ferrule that the end of the tuner post fits into. This piece you would normally see on the top of a guitar peghead. It supports the tuner and keeps it from tilting forward. In the same respect here it supports the end of the tuning post and keeps it from leaning forward. This is a very important addition in that it keeps the tuner post square to the housing and gear for smooth operation.

This could be the easiest dulcimer to tune anywhere.

What I believe is a 1965 Supro Martinique, with a pickup problem

2010-11-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

Back together ready for strings

This is a very unique pickups system built right into the bridge and bridge base of the guitar. Looking at the bottom of the bridge base you can see 2 small squares with a small hole in the center. These are 2 coils wound with the same thin pickup wire you would see on a strat or humbucking pickup, just a little smaller.

The 2 coils are connected in series with each other, wax holds it all in place and a single conductor shielded wire comes out to be connected to the controls. Coming out from the bottom of the bridge top are 2 magnetic rods that when assembled to the bridge base slip freely through the 2 holes in the coils. When the bridge vibrates, the magnets vibrate and breaks the field that the coils make and out comes the sound.

One of the coils were broken, we had to melt the wax that held it all in place, rebuild and rewind the coil and get it all back in there.

There was also an intermittent short on the bridge side magnetic pickup. I took off the cover and saw a loose coil wrap hanging our over the coil. When you press down on the cover it shorted out. Lucky enough it did not break. I carefully tapped and waxed it to protect the wire and solidered the cover back on. Worked great!

The 3 pairs of controls are unique, the neck pickups has a standard volume and tone control, the pickup near the bridge has a volume control and a bass cut for a tone control. As you turn down that tone control the sound gets thinner. This is what you see on many G & L guitars with passive tone circuitry, one treble cut and one bass cut. The pickup that is built into the bridge has a standard volume and tone. This pickup sounds best and is very usable with some of the tone rolled off. The down side is there is no pickup blending. At this point we just wanted to get the guitar to works as it would of stock. Next time in I would recommend adding a way to blend combinations of the pickups, converting the magnetic pickup near the bridge to a standard vol and tone control and changing the values of the bridge pickup controls to give a little less attenuation. There is a series wiring trick that I bet would work very well with this guitar. That will be for next time. Very glad to get it up and running in its stock configuration.

Empty Bobbin with the old coil wire removed

Funny movie on making a circle

Lining up the back of the coil form

Winding, slow and careful not to pull apart the coil

Ready to go back in

Those are the bottom of the 2 coils held in with wax

The 2 holes in the bridge line up with the center of the coils
The 2 pins coming out of the bottom of the bridge top are actually magnets

LC (Inductance Capacitance) Meter

2010-10-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

High quality, LC (Inductance Capacitance) meter, purchased during my late night Ebay shopping sprees.

This insures that the components we use are at the specifications that they are supposed to be. It runs off

USB power and will soon to be built into a permanent box.

Announcing the Birth of the 12 string Koa Healy Acoustic Guitar

2010-10-22T23:14:00.000-07:00

Trevor Healy, who repairs guitars with us over here, has a line of custom built acoustic and electric guitars. He just finished this beautiful Healy Koa 12-string. The photos do not do it justice. The tone is clear and smooth and plays like butter. While visiting Hawaii, the customer bought the Koa right from the man who cut down the tree. The customer is also an avid abalone diver, and all the inlay was cut from abalone legally dived for in Mendocino County. The top wood is Engelmann Spruce and the neck is Mahogany. The fingerboard, head cap, bridge and binding are all from one piece of Macassar Ebony. Two sets of open back Grover tuners were modified to fit 6 per side, end to end.

Rewinding a Supro "string through" pickup.

2010-10-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

From what I understand Valco made Supro for National and other brand like Oahu. I am not sure on all the details. This pickup turns up on many different brands of lap steels. The strings pass through a small opening between the coils and the top metal plate. The coils share the same magnetic polarity and achieves hum canceling by having the coils out of phase. Since no strings over lap 2 coils at a time the sound is not out of phase. The magnet or magnets (one is sometimes a piece of silver painted wood) are on either side of the coils and act as a spacer between the bottom plate and top plate. The magnetic field is unique and strengthened by the upper plate. The coils are made of what I call fish paper and are very hard to wind. On this pickup the pole piece insert was broken and we had to recreate it before winding the coil. We have seen a few different gauges of wire on these things and spoke to Lindy Fralin about it. He has rewound so many of these it is his opinion that they grabbed what was on the shelf and went to work. Both Lindy and Jason Lollar who has just come out with his reproduction of the pickups are amazing resources on pickup history and design.

Putting on the wire, controlling the tension and scatter wind by hand.
Here we are using the StewMac/Schatten coil winder.

The 4 metal clips need to be lifted to get to the coils

Here they are!

Looks like a kids project.

Here is the rebuilt pole-piece housing.
Thank you Leo, you are magic!

The magnets are on each side of the cover plate.
You can see how little room there is for the strings to pass through between
the cover plate and coils

A Nice Day At The Office...Batter Up!

2010-10-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Fingerboard, Frets and Inlay

2010-10-12T20:17:00.000-07:00

Here's another contribution to our side dotting bonanza. A friend of the shop has been building guitars for a little while and asked us to help out on an early guitar not yet completed. The fingerboard was installed and slotted, but the radius needed to be flattened. We planed the fingerboard to a 12" radius, refretted the guitar and installed the top and side dot inlays.

Trevor ready to drill

Home made drill bit extender

New frets and inlay

Rebuilding a 1932 Martin 1-17

2010-10-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

The magic glue pot

Bar fret is like it says, a solid bar......

Good view of the fret

New bridge with intonated saddle

This Martin 1-17, about a 1932 guitar came in needing lots of TLC. There were almost no fret sticking out, 1/2 of the bar frets had been replaced with modern tang frets in a very messy way, the neck set was so off, the string height was high and un-playble, the wood bridge was shaved down so low it would not hold a saddle and there were various cracks on the body. But it sounded good and our client wanted to play it, as we like to say "it has good bones"

On a guitar this old we wanted to get it back together as original as possible. So we recreated the original style bridge and used new bar frets (Thanks for the frets Glade and TJ) and pit it back together with hide glue. Hide glue is kept warm and has and very short working time since all your parts have to be in position before the glue cools.

SO, Off to work.

Remove the bridge and flatten some of the bow out of the top with heat and clamps. Make a new bridge to the original spec of the guitar. Reset the neck to the correct angle to match the bridge and saddle for the desired string height. Clean up the fingerboard so it could be refret with the original style Bar frets, NO EASY TASK! Once the frets are in they need to leveled and crowned. We got it close by hand and used the plek machine for the final level and crowning. We were able to reuse the original ebony nut which was a very nice touch. When we got done the guitar had a beautiful tone and was a dream to play.

Tricky Truss rod Repair on a 60's Gibson 335, 12 String

2010-10-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

SOMEHOW
We happened to get two broken truss rods in one month.
Judging by how much rust was on the broken end it had been sitting for quite some time.
You can see in the first photo how much rod is sticking out from the nut.
As the nut is turned it kept pulling the broken rod out, not tightening it.
"This is going to be fun" Says TIm
The plan,
Locate the end of the rod.
Cleanly peal back the binding and remove the fingerboard from over the area, remover the broken truss rod and anchor.
Make and install the new truss rod.
Glue the fingerboard and binding back on.
Test the new rod.
Light touch-up leaves the whole thing undetectable.
SUCCESS!!! More than likely better than new.

Since the rod is not attached at the body end it is pulling out

Ready to go..

Using ultra string Neodymium magnets to find the broken end that needs to come out.

Adding the heat

Tea Time!!!

AND......it's off clean. The broken end stuck in there.

New larger steel block ready to thread the new rod into. You can see the rod peeking out.

In place ready to buckle down

Alignment is very important, 2 hidden locator pins help.

Add Glue.

Perfect! The neck straightened right up will all 12 strings with ease.

Adding Electronics to an ALL METAL BASS.

2010-10-05T23:53:00.000-07:00

This bass was built by Kevin at Electrical Guitar Company. It appears to be milled out of solid aluminum. The front and back are hollowed out and bolted together and the neck goes down through the center. The neck seems solid and the frets are magically pressed in. I have never seen anything like this, it's amazing. The owner uses the same EMG's and Bartolini preamp setup in all of his basses. Since the controls are usually preset for live performances I hid the controls so they can be adjusted with a small screwdriver through the holes in the back. Just a volume control...... I took an aluminum rod, glued the trimpots to that and used stand-offs to keep it mounted to the back of the bass with a small space between the pot and the metal. To solve the battery box issue I got a metal flip box from ESP to blend in with the metal motif. It worked out great and completely solid.

Strat Truss Rod Repair, or what happens when the truss rod spins and spins.

2010-10-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

The fret is pulled, nut is out, fret slot is cut through.

The heat is applied

The tough part, correct amount of heat and very carefully removing the section.

Perfect! You can see the old block still in there.

New larger block, fits tight and more solid.

Tapping the block

The Fit!!

Checking the length of the new rod

Fingerboard back on, can not see a thing.

Ready to put it together and play.........

This Strat had it's truss rod adjusting nut rust onto the end of the truss rod. When it was loosened it un-threaded from the block that holds it in place under the 1st fret. Not only would the nut not come off but the rod would not thread back into the existing block. What had happened is the plastic "straw" that goes around the truss rod got bunched up at the top end and blocked the threads. The only way to do this correctly was to remover the nut from the truss rod and replace the upper block with a new piece of steel that will hold the rod in place. First step was to remove the 1st fret and lightly saw with a .08" blade down through the rosewood to the maple. You can see we heated the rosewood fingerboard with a heating blanket to soften the glue, then removed off just the 1st fret area of the fingerboard, nice and clean. We could then remover the old block, clean up the slot, make and new threaded insert and fit it in. Re glued the fingerboard exactly how it came off, a little buffing, replace the fret and no evidence of the repair .... That is how it is done!

Diz and the Rude Rhythm Bass

2010-09-26T20:08:00.000-07:00

DIZ with new Ransom swamp ash replacement body

I am sure I have known Diz for well over 25 years. Even as "kid" his ability to play bass, guitar and drums rivaled that of the long studied musician. Back in the day we had some fun playing together from time to time. Before Dan Ransom (our resident guitar builder here) became his own retailer he used to built necks and bodies to order and I assembled the instruments. Some time around 1996 we made a very YELLOW bass out of poplar wood for Diz. About a month ago he came in and asked Dan to make him a swamp ash one for a different sound. I look forward to get the report. I miss the bright yellow with RUDE RHYTHM stenciled across the front, I hope the wood is a better sound.

Those Pesky Rattling Tune-o-Matic Screws and Saddles

2010-09-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

There are a few ways to attack the problem of the rattling saddles. Fitting a spring down on the intonation screw, dripping wax in there, locktite, bending the hold down spring, washers, shims, and more. This idea came from a friend who happens to be a dentist (thank you CC). He gave me orthodontist wire but I have also used a strand from multi-strand wire or thin buss-wire. The idea is to tie the intonation screw to the spring that keeps them from falling out. This keeps them both rattle free. You can always pack the old standard away and buy a newfangled solid bridge. I will show some of them coming up.

Loop the wire around the screw and behind the spring

Pull the wires down over the spring and back under the screw

Twist the wires together and cut

Side Dots, Bigger or Biggest. You ask for it, we can do it.

2010-09-20T21:26:00.000-07:00

A beautiful bass.

BIG DOTS

No glasses needed.

Ok, thats ridicules, or is it?

A well tooled man.

Two at the 12th.

Very Very Careful!

Can you see the dots? They sparkle in the lights.

Within one month we were asked to do something that we have not done in years. Both clients were very particular about what they wanted, which was exceptionally large side dots that stand out on a dark stage. One player asked for black and the other for abalone. The biggest problem was to drill over the body to the correct place on the neck. ENTER CREATIVITY...A few companies make drill extenders but most bulk up the bit at the junction. Long bits are also made but we wanted to use out very high quality brad point bits. The advantage is the bits drill a very clean hole and do not drift. The simple solution is to crimp the bit into a piece of hollow brass tubing. As you can see it worked perfect.

Allen going on sabbatical

2010-09-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

Come in and say hi to Fern and Robert who will be running the counter for awhile in my absence. I'll be back in a couple of months!

"...after the ecstasy, the laundry."

It was this box!

2010-09-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

Ever heard Captain Beefheart's album The Spotlight Kid? Much of the fuzzy guitar licks were recorded through this handmade distortion pedal, the only one Elliot Ingber ever owned, now given to our friend Henry Kaiser as a gift by him. Mr. Ingber was a founding member of the Mothers of Invention, Fraternity of Man (along with the late Richie Hayward - drummer of renown) and played with Captain Beefheart on several albums under the name of "Winged Eel Fingerling." Mr. Kaiser tells us that Mr. Ingber's guitar playing (through that very box!) is what influenced him to start playing guitar himself. A piece of pop musical history, right before our very eyes and it sounds bitchin', too.

Sustainer install in PRS, Could be Stealth...

2010-09-14T22:39:00.000-07:00

The Suatainiac sustainer is designed to go into tight spaces. It is possible to do the same install with 2 push pull pots and not use any mini toggle switches. Finding a place for the battery may be more of a challenge, I would hide it in the trem spring cavity....

Cavaquinho pickup install, lots of electronics in a small box!

2010-09-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Notice the under saddle pickup

We got lucky and found this Fishman preamp that fit the existing hole.

BEWARE!!! Scary shielding job......

Cool Fishman pickup

This cavaquinho was brought to us with a DIY pickup install. A big hole had been cut on the side with a piece of plastic installed to hold the preamp. The sound was uneven and quiet, and I'm guessing noisy too because it had been completely covered with copper and aluminum*.

That was just the start of it...shorted turns, too much capacitance, grounding out of the circuit...the list goes on. Needless to say this system was not working well. Enter: The Fishman solution! In the past we had to order Fishman pickups in custom lengths to be able to put it on a saddle that is this short, but look what they make now. The Fishman AG-Series 094 Ukelele Passive Undersaddle Pickup is great for any short saddle acoustic instrument. In a uke it gives a loud, strong feedback-resistant signal. A battery is required and, in the case of the cavaquinho, there happened to be another hole on the side so we converted that to a pull-out battery box. This Series 094 side mounted preamp has a pull out battery compartment but we didn't use this so that the owner could have easy battery access**.

The advantage to an undersaddle pickup as compared to any of the stick on pickups is tonal clarity and resistance to feedback. We have installed many stick on pickups (K&K and B-band, etc) and they sound beautiful, more acoustic and natural than an undersaddle but if you need to cut through the mix in a loud band situation and you do not have a quality sound system you may encounter premature feedback. In a perfect world we would combine both types (internal stick-on and undersaddle) in a blending circuit.

This instrument sounds beautiful; clear-voiced, clean and loud.

* - One word about shielding, unless the shielding has a solid ground attached, it will become an antenna, attracting more of the same noise you were trying to get rid of!

** - If necessary, just about any on-board preamp can be powered with a remote battery box.

Would you buy a guitar repair from this man?

2010-09-09T23:42:00.000-07:00

My brother-in-law Sam happens to be a fantastic artist. So my wife had this idea to hire him to design a shop t-shirt. She had an idea to try out some caricatures of yours truly. These are some very rough ideas to see what it would look like. Take a peek.....I am not ready to sign off and go to press but it was fun to see. Thank-U Sam. Take a look at Sam's work.

Wiring harness for you to put in or for us to put in.

2010-09-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

RMC PolyDrive-1, Roland compatible 13-pin output plus Mag/Piezo blending.

Epiphone Casino / Gibson 335 style.

We have made many templates over the years for many things. When you put an electronic harness in a hollow or semi-hollow body guitar it is best to wire it up outside the guitar first then patiently slide it into place. We can make them up for you to "do it yourself" or we can take care of that for you.

The Myriad Ways...

2010-08-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

..in which people and organizations express their love for Gary may include items suitable for framing.

awwwww. Imagine what the walls of his garden shed must look like.

Tone Candy

2010-08-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

Capacitors.......

Among other things they control how much high end gets cut when you turn down your tone control. They can also help to equalize the tone of your volume control so your tone will not go to mush when you turn your volume down.

The type and value of a capacitor can go a long way to personalize your guitar's tone.

We have a "Decade Box" that allows you to sample what different capacitors will sound like in your circuit.

More photos and tech info on guitar tone applications soon.

"Orange Drop" capacitors & others

New old stock "NOS" Black Cat capacitors. Note cool old box!

NOS Black Cat capacitors, inside same box

Very cool vintage Russian paper in oil (PIO), Teflon & other NOS capacitors

Many were made for Russian Military!! More paper in oil (PIO), Teflon & other NOS capacitors

Mmmmm...tone candy

Stop by and see what you might be missing from your tone controls!!!

what's going on...

2010-08-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

...busy busy busy...

Tim Laminates A Flying V

Gary Wrangles A Sustainer Install

Trevor Realigns Bridge Studs

Glade Reattaches An Ovation Rosette

another reason to love your job

2010-08-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here is Trevor holding two instruments that he is full of love for.

We apologize for ending that sentence with a preposition.

Space is the Place

2010-08-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

for bass!

Here Allen is displaying a lovingly custom painted bass. Originally a drab polyester matte-finished bottom of the line Yamaha five string bolt-on and purchased for a song, it's been transformed into the Space Bass, and ready for the world.

paint by: Nicholas del Drago of Vicious Cycles

Our customers like to provide us with information...

2010-08-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

...and sometimes this may take the form of a long and involved treatise.

We like to avoid ambiguity. Who doesn't? Keep those cards and letters coming!

establishing the scene:

2010-08-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Somebody's got a funky old Fender Musicmaster, well loved and well played, and, late one night maybe everything starts to get to them, the war, their relationship, the way people don't use their turn signals while talking on their cell phones without a headset...and they snap. They grab a screwdriver and start to repeatedly slam the business end into the red paint on the back of the blameless guitar, again and again. And after they're done, they play tic-tac-toe. They win.

In the right hands a guitar can express so many facets of a person's character.

Fun stuff at the shop, gluing fingerboards, laminating necks.......

2010-08-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Glued carved and ready for laminate

Tim doing some arm exercises. That's red hot in there.

Prepped and ready to glue

Many many clamps makes even pressure

See alignment pin

On!

Here are a few in process jobs. The newish white Gibson Explorer that had a rosewood fingerboard is being rebuilt with an ebony Les Paul Custom style fingerboard. Along with the large pearl inlays we are putting on black binding to go with the black upcoming finish. The Gibson V neck has been broken twice. One great way to fix the neck is to cut away along the break, then laminate nice long grain wood along the area and re-carve the neck back to it's original contour. Tim is bending the lamination over a wood bender Gary inherited from a luthier he was learning from back around 1976. Gary was building dulcimers and bending walnut on it for the sides. We will show the 2 guitars a little more as they get finished.

a Tele fiesta!

2010-08-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

Jim Campilongo (noted tele player and sideman for Norah Jones & Martha Wainwright) has been friends with Gary for decades. Here he's testing out a couple of prototype Teles (sent to him by Fender, matching Jim's original 1959 Tele - unique for, among other things, being the only year strings could be threaded through the back edge of the bridge as opposed to all the other years' Teles which thread strings through the body) as Gary removed the treble bleed capacitor and switches the tone control capacitor (Jim favors paper and foil .05). We also cut down the bridge height screws so they do not stick up above the saddle to keep from cutting your palm, and did some slight setup work. The twang is in the house!

bringing the diagnostic

2010-08-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here Gary is sending signal from Bruce Cockburn's green Linda Manzer guitar to a small ProTools desk (kept upstairs just for small emergencies like these) to test input line level signal. Bruce has been at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley recording an album and the staff engineer suggested our little shop to suss out unwanted noise in the guitar pickup's output.

That Metal Show, with love......

2010-08-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

My wife and I are big fans of the weekly talk show on VH-1 Classic, "That Metal Show." The show is hosted by Eddie Trunk with Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson. The show moniker is "All things hard rock & heavy metal." They have alot of knowledge and opinions on the subject and in my opinion deliver with enough guests and sarcasm to keep the interest high. It has been on the air about 4 years and has gotten so much attention that this September the show goes from 30 minutes to a full hour. You can also see all of the episodes on-line at VH-1's website. Fernando who runs the shop part time had a gig at a metal-fest and happened to run into Eddie. Fern knowing our love of the show mentioned it to Eddie and they were nice enough to send us some love..... in a text photo....from the show. That's Fern and Billy from Jet Boy in the photo sending their love with Eddie.

ps:

Also check out Torturing Telemarketers by Jim (a Jerky Boys kind of thing aimed at Telemarketers)

Lots of laughing out loud.

Very cool Guitars come out of fun places

2010-08-12T23:15:00.000-07:00

Finding my dishwasher on the fritz I check out Yelp for a few recommendations on who to fix this essential item. I went with Bill who on the phone seemed to know what he was talking about. Of course somehow our conversation turned to music and guitars (I wish I had a recording so I know how that happened) and he mentioned a very unique guitar he had, and offered to bring it by. He came by the house and did his dishwasher whispering thing and fixed it right up with the ease of someone who had done it a million times before. Then we proceeded to check out this guitar. Apparently it was made for the original owner who's band played regularly in the Bay Area. The guitar quotes a few older builders (Bigsby, Moserite,etc..) but still has a thing of its own. The case speaks for itself!!!

hell yeah.

2010-08-12T12:49:00.001-07:00

Erich W. is picking up his 62 Tele, repaired and ready to go. All guitar cases should have the Sleeping Bag interior option.

nice people are nice

2010-08-11T16:44:00.001-07:00

but even nice people might sometimes forget, so here's a reminder:

Always Bring Your Instrument in a CASE!

thank you.

The Standard Gibson Neck Break (part #47)

2010-08-11T16:38:00.000-07:00

Here Tim firmly pulls the headstock back as he injects wood glue deep into the separation prior to clamping the pieces back together. The instrument will come back together very well and sound and play identically to how it was prior to the break. Looks painful but the guitar is an inanimate object and does not feel pain.

Ever wonder what a Brazilian Rosewood log looks like?

2010-08-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

I was out and about a few Sundays ago and as usual could not resist a garage sale. Turns out the guy had some Brazilian Rosewood left over from a job a while back. He said he was working with another guy who brought the wood in and he milled it up into guitar wood. Unfortunately it was not at garage sale prices, he knew what he had, and it was nice.

That 1/2 log would make a nice supply of acoustic guitar bridges.

sometimes a little diversion

2010-08-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

at the shop is necessary. We found this DVD floating around on a shelf. It holds up, too.

the right tool for the right job

2010-08-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here Trevor (l) and Kirkwood level their prodigious observational and diagnostic powers to fully apprehend the statistical density of a MOOG guitar. Hacksaws really do serve a purpose when working delicately on oddly shaped circuit boards crammed into tiny cavities in solid wood.

We jest, certainly. There is nothing wrong with the circuitry or functionality of this remarkable instrument. We did a set-up for the owner and, upon plugging it in, came on to a swoon of endless cosmic trance sustain, as well as just about any other sound that can possibly be imagined.

Cool stuff!

Making a new bridge for an old Gibson Acoustic

2010-07-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last month we performed some restoration work on a Gibson L-OO, a small body acoustic guitar from the 20’s-30’s, popular among blues and country artists. Its features include an Adirondack Spruce top, Mahogany back and sides, and Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard and bridge. The headstock has Gibson’s “stencil” logo which can help to date the guitar.

The first photo shows the condition of the bridge when the guitar was brought in to the shop. The back half of the bridge was cracked off straight across through the bridge pin holes and was almost completely un-glued from the top. We found a suitable piece of quarter sawn Madagascar Rosewood, which has similar characteristics to Brazilian, and set out to replicate the original bridge and fabricate a new bone saddle.

There were several challenges in replicating this old bridge. First off, a third of the bridge was missing so the overall depth of the bridge had to be determined by looking at it’s footprint in the top of the guitar where it had been glued on previously. Secondly, the bridge pin spacing has to match up with the existing holes. We use dividers and calipers to determine these measurements and transfer them to the new bridge blank.
Thirdly, the bridge base has to match the radius of the top of the guitar. The L-OO has a fairly pronounced radius of around 25 feet. If you place a straight edge on the top of the guitar and you will notice that the straight edge will rest on center and there will be space on either edge of the top. Many guitars have a slight radius built in to the top to help eliminate the bellying behind the bridge which can occur over time and is caused by string tension.

Luckily this guitar still had great neck angle and the bridge could be made to almost exactly the same height as the original. After the shaping of the bridge was completed and the bridge pin holes drilled out, we made a clamping caul for the interior of the guitar which has the exact opposite or convex radius to the top. Temporary wood bridge pins help locate the bridge during glue-up and for layout purposes.
Once the bridge is glued in place and we have determined the location for a properly intonated saddle, we use our saddle slotting jig to route for a new saddle. The bridge pin holes are reamed to fit the new pins, a new saddle is made, and the guitar is ready to be strung up. After some fine tuning with the set-up we were very pleased with the results and happy to hear this guitar for the first time. It has a wonderful midrange and a lot of volume.

That pesky falling out Tele Jack, The magic Stewart MacDonald tool.

2010-07-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

The kit

The Tool

The Prep

The Install

Bracket in place ready for jack and outer cup.

Modern Replacement

Possibly the worst guitar jack plate idea in guitar construction. The Vintage Telecaster jack is held in place by a bent steel plate with a hole in the center for the jack in it. It is jammed in place by it's 4 corners. The jack goes on the inside and the cup goes on the outside with a nut holding it all in place. When the wedged metal plate comes loose so does the jack. Those fine folks at StewMac have come up with a wonderful tool that collapses the loose plate and then holds the plate in the correct position while compressing it back into place. It is the best way I have seen to re-do an original installation. There are some alternatives like a flat square or football jackplate or even the new inset one the screws in from the outside you see here in the photo.

Stuffing a Sustainiac in a thin Ibanez

2010-07-07T22:31:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we have to squeeze a-lot of stuff in a small tapered guitar.

In here is a Sustaniac circuit board, bells, whistles, knobs and buttons.

It all went together with much thought going into the placement of the electronics. The control cavity had to be extended to fit the board and the battery has it's own box to avoid moving the wires around when changing the battery.

The GuitarTable or Gitable

2010-07-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

The GuitarTable, built by Dan Ransom.

We often are hired by new manufactures for advice on development and up and coming products.

Here is something made for a pickup developer to slide different pickups into to test.

There are many ways to make a guitar for sampling pickups.

We have seen guitars that slide the pickups in from the side, the back and even guitars that assemble onto the side of pickups. This was a specific design from our client.

Our Shop Manager Allen Whitman gets the call to do the Joe Satriani CD and Tour! What!

2010-07-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Allen and his world of basses

Joe and Gary talking tone

Drums anyone

Can you really ever have enough guitars

Gary-Allen-Kirkwood

Magic Mike, tuning it up

Oooooooo YEAH!!!

Yes, that tall long haired fellow that helps you figure out how we can help you with your guitar will be taking a few breaks now and again. But never fear, Fernando who you usually see Mondays and Tuesdays will be filling in, until his band Jet Boy hits the road for a small tour in November. How did this happen you ask. Well, lf you did not know, Allen is a most amazing musician and happens to be a fabulous rocking bass player. His main claim to fame is his band the Mermen, which is a 3 piece "surf-ish" but rocking band. So Allen is no stranger to holding down a 3 piece, which happens to be what Joe needed. I believe it all got rolling when Joe and drummer (an all around nice guy) Jeff Campitelli went to see the Mermen play a CD release party for the Merman CD they just finished. Joe and Jeff must of been sufficiently impressed to invite Allen to a few casual "jams" to have a little fun ;-), and check out the chemistry. Yada-yada-yada..... Off to the recording studio to record the next Joe Satriani CD. Somewhere in the middle of all that fun, Allen was also invited to join the tour that begins this fall. Most of the CD is done and what little I heard the band was amazing. A new addition is Mike Keneally on Keyboards. If you do not know Mike he has a long musical past and can play almost any instrument with precision and skill.... We did a-lot of guitar preparation for Joe and Allen before the session started. We changed strings, milled or re-fretted when needed, changed pickups, put together some new ones and got everything ready to be recorded. Even with all the prep I still had to make a studio call to check out some other guitars and to bring a few over. It was fun and inspiring to see, and be a part of it all coming together. We are Happy for Allen and Joe to be working together and look forward to checking out the show when it hits the road. Read about it here, http://satriani.com/perl/2004/news/main?thread=1&age=new

So you want to intonate a 12 string acoustic guitar

2010-07-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

The problem with intonating a 12 string acoustic guitar is many. The biggest being that most of the pairs tuned to the same pitch are of a different gauge. This make the intonation or the pitch of the string as you move up the neck different for each gauge string. The pitch difference is compensated by changing the length of the string slightly at the saddle. On most electric guitars the saddle length is adjustable on most acoustic guitar you file the top of the saddle forward or backwards so the endpoint of the string, where it leaves the saddle is in the correct place. The problem with this is the saddle is often not wide enough to intonate the difference between strings and when it is often the b string or others is resting on a small point at the back of the saddle and that is not so great for the tone. Subtle but it makes a difference. Also, a wider saddle sounds much different than a thinner saddle. You can sometimes loose the nice ring and clarity of a guitar with a fatter saddle sometimes not. What to do....... We prefer a split saddle when appropriate. Here you see the saddle getting wider towords the lower strings. This is what was needed on this guitar to keep the pairs in tune. There are tricks to finding the intonation points. First we fill the saddle with matching wood, then we have small saddle pieces of different heights that we can rest the string on and move around while the guitar is strung up and playing. After we find the correct points then we come up with the best saddle to accomplish this. Sometimes a 3 piece saddle will do the job sometimes 1 or 2. Of course strings, nut placement, height and finger pressure are other issues.

Los Tigres Del Norte, Dan Ransom Bass

2010-06-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a slightly vintage Dan Ransom bass custom made for Hernan Hernandez the bass player for Los Tigres Del Norte. Dan has built quite a few and each one has a unique "tiger" paint job painted by the bands painter.

Our own Trevor Healy on a Guitar Compilation

2010-06-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Our own Trevor Healy has a track on Beyond Berkeley Guitar, a record featuring some of the Bay Area's finest acoustic fingerstyle guitar players, which was just released on the Tompkins Square Label. Check the cd out, it is some damn fine guitar playing.

There is an interview with Trevor on the blog Work and Worry talking about the track and his repair and lutherie work.

A CD release show will happen on June 29th at Amnesia here in San Francisco. The show will have sets from all the guitarists featured on the compilation and starts at 8pm.

Amazing Space Echo Pedal Board, Any one know what this is.

2010-06-03T11:27:00.000-07:00

I found this photo on my computer and have no idea where it came from. In the 80's this is just the type of rig I would play. But a lot more wires and things all over the place.

close work

2010-05-22T13:18:00.000-07:00

Per instructions, Gary is recutting saddle slots to bring the high E string of this lefty Gibson ES 335 very slightly farther out to the edge of the fretboard. Naturally once one string has been repositioned the other strings will have to be moved to keep spaces between all the strings even. Gary is wearing helpful StewMac eyewear.

Information on Spacing

There are 3 main types of spacing between the strings. This is at the nut as well as the saddle.

1st The measurement between each adjacent string is equal.

(the center to center measurement will increase as you go from treble to bass)

2nd The measurement from center to center of each adjacent string is the same.

(the space between the string will shrink as you go from treble to bass)

3rd The hybrid of the 2, and the most preferred.

In this method the measurement between the strings gradually becomes wider as the string width becomes wider, splitting the difference between the first two.

(this method looks the most even and natural and we default to this)

Trivia.....Jerry Garcia was very specific about having the space between the strings equal. I found this out after I delivered my first scalloped brass nut to him on one of the early Doug Irwin guitars. I brought the guitar to him at the Shoreline venue which was the Dead's regular haunt. It was Steve (Jerry's tech and all around go-to guy), Jerry and myself. We were in his tent at the back of the stage before the show started. I handed the guitar to Jerry as he was preparing for the show. He looked it over really close and we talked about the guitar and guitar nuts and spacing for about half an hour as he played and warmed up. Jerry was very knowable and articulate. He usually knew what to ask for.

He went on the play the guitar most of the night and I went on to re-cut a few nuts with the equal between the string spacing. That was a fun night.

We went on to experament with pickups and midi systems and wiring as he had different ideas about what we wanted to try.

it's Tuesday...hmmm...

2010-05-08T12:45:00.001-07:00

what shall I wear today?

help for the touring musician.

2010-05-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

It's not uncommon for us to receive a frantic phone call from a harried tour manager requesting immediate assistance for a malfunctioning guitar. Usually the problem presents itself during soundcheck and someone standing around at the venue is delegated to rush the instrument to us where we do our best to keep the show going. We have been known to work miracles.

photo: Some needs of the road are found elsewhere.

Rebuilding a sitar friction tuning peg

2010-05-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

The customer had a little accident and tipped the sitar over to the tune of a broken tuner. Lucky for us they had the original half of the tuner to work from. Here Tim grafts a new post onto the original handle of the tuner. The tuners have to fit on the tight side since friction holds them in place not a gear. The trick was to come up with a way to keep the new piece from twisting off when tuning. You can see the new wood is "keyed" into the old piece to give it some rotational strength. Then fit to the sitar with a peg shaver. Good as new!!!

One of the nice things...

2010-05-05T15:46:00.001-07:00

...about our free fine tuning period (six months for set-ups and one year for all fretwork) is that while you wait you can wander the aisles of amps, guitars and pedals in the space we share with Real Guitars (a vintage instrument shop).

Like a kid in a candy store.

the more specifics we get...

2010-05-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

...the higher the likelihood of success.

Tell us everything.

a volume knob for a new century

2010-05-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

it's time.

it's okay to take your strings seriously

2010-04-30T15:31:00.000-07:00

Here's Ned D., one of our extended shop family, and a set of bass strings that he feels very strongly about.

The thing is: we'll work with you to get your instrument exactly how you want it to be, with your string choice, your tuning and taking into account how you like to play. In our world one size does not fit all.

moving our work offshore?

2010-04-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

No! But Gary displays an unexpected talent for restringing, tuning and even (almost) playing this sitar. And, interestingly enough, it's an Indian classical instrument, not a folk instrument.

Timmy Pizza, in the news.

2010-04-20T23:08:00.001-07:00

Timmy Renato Pizza

Adding a bridge Pickup to a Telecaster Bass

2010-04-13T21:07:00.001-07:00

We were asked to add a bridge pickup to this single pickup stock Fender Tele bass.

You get a-lot of bang for your buck with this mod. The bridge pickup not only lets you add high end but when both pickups are on together they act together as a hum canceling pair. We were also asked to wire it like a 60's Jazz Bass with 2 dual concentric pots, or "stack-pots". The upper knobs being a volume for each pickup the lower pots are the tone for each pickup.

did we mention...

2010-04-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Fearless Leader got hitched!

(photo: Steve Maller)

Tim does it again...

2010-04-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

Here Tim has fabricated an entire back for the body of this venerable Guild D40 (presented in a shocking condition and documented in our Friday, December 4th, 2009 blog entry). Not only has Tim cut and fitted the piece perfectly, he's done it using the original braces, the original binding and, to top it off, saving and reapplying the original label on the inside.

Don't think for a second that just because your guitar is smashed almost beyond recognition that it can't be resuscitated! We've had guitars come to us in garbage bags and depart in museum quality. Tim especially relishes this kind of work.

new new new!!!

2010-04-08T17:01:00.001-07:00

two (2) new signs are up at the shop today!

ps: this is our 300th post...woo!

Godin Multiac jack board repair.

2010-04-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Godin Multiac is a great value in a multi function guitar.

It runs off the RMC guitar system which is one of the best guitar midi

systems. On this guitar one of the contacts on the jack had broken off, this is a very rare problem. The jack-board holds the 13pin jack for midi or VG control and the

1/4" jack for the acoustic sound output.

There are 6 contacts soldering the jack to the circuit board which

are easily opened up to put on the new one and we are good to go.

Repairing collapsed bridge stud inserts.

2010-03-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

The wood that holds the bridge stud inserts upright has broken forward, and the bridge has began to tip. You can usually tell something is wrong when the bridge starts to rub or overlap the pickguard. We often see this happen on guitars that have had Floyd Rose bridges retrofitted into them and on Strat Plus 2 stud bridges. Many times there just is not enough wood in front of the insert to hold the studs in place or the wood is soft Alder or the holes have been oversized .......
There are a few ways to skin this cat (ouch) In this repair we pulled the studs and glued up all of the broken wood. We pressed the studs back in but had to come up with a way to keep it from breaking forward again. We countersunk a flat piece of graphite in front of the bridge stud inserts to hold them in place and put in some long screws deed into solid wood to hold it in place. This is a very solid repair and have not seen any fail.

Fender Jaguar / Jazzmaster Mastery Guitar Bridge

2010-03-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

from the front

from the top

Building on the already spiffy Fender Jaguar is a small company called "Mastery" which, if the hype can be believed, supplies the Best Bridge Going for this popular guitar. Strings don't slip around in the saddles and the bridge doesn't rock back and forth in the body. Notes played on a guitar using this bridge are fuller and clearer. Subjective opinion, of course, but we're like that. This piece of hardware is solid as a rock. And, it comes with a handy stash bag for your chronic.

Check 'em out: www.masterybridge.com.

the old one

the stash bag

Tim likes!

Ibanez JS-1000 Painting Metallic Silver

2010-02-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

The Ibanez JS 1600 comes in a very cool metallic silver finish. Brian's JS-1000 was only available in black. Our mission (which we did indeed choose to accept) was to convert anything and everything black to silver. First we asked Dimarzio to custom make us Mo' Joe and PAF Joe pickups with silver bobbins. The Ibanez logo was custom cut out for us in black, instead of silver (so the logo would bump from a silver background). The silver paint is actually a fine metal flake material mixed into the clear finish material and then built up on the body. The tuners, bridge, nut, knobs, strap buttons, pickup rings, screws and all the black hardware were swapped out for silver. The newer Ibanez Edge tremolo bridge was changed back to the original Edge 2 trem. The countersink for the trem was a little bigger so we did that prior to painting. It was a lot of work and came out beautifully.

This is the original Black JS-1000

Installing a Sadowsky Pre-Amp hidden in a Fender Jazz Bass

2010-02-20T16:44:00.000-08:00

Mr. Crumpler is a working bassist with a fondness for the Fender Jazz. This instrument, his most recent acquisition, needed a wider frequency range and higher output to suit his style of playing and match his tone appeal. Trevor removed the stock pickups and preamp, and installed an ivory (color, silly, not illegal endangered species materials!) EMG J Bass pickup set. Under the hood, he wired in a Sadowsky preamplifier and routed the back of the body to accept a battery box.

Mr. Crumpler tells us that the end result has turned the original signal upside down!

nuff said...

2010-02-19T17:53:00.000-08:00

Dead at 57: Doug Fieger

2010-02-17T11:03:00.000-08:00

Mr. Fieger and band, The Knack, blew the doors off the pop music world in the summer of 1979 with the longest running single of the year and possibly the cheapest. Recorded, mixed, and ready to ship in eleven days, the first album by The Knack "Get The Knack" was purported to have cost a mere $18,000. It went gold thirteen days after its June 11th, 1979 release, staying at the top of the charts for six weeks in a row.

Twenty-seven years later we received a telephone call from Mr. Fieger. He was curious to learn if we could PLEK & set-up thirteen guitars, which he would be willing to drive from his home in Los Angeles up to our shop in San Francisco. The only catch: we had to do it very quickly. We agreed and Mr. Fieger arrived in early April of 2006 in a small European station wagon completely stuffed with thirteen hardshell cases; each one containing a brand new, American made Gibson solid body electric guitar.

After getting the details for his instruments it came out in conversation that Gary And Mr. Fieger grew up in the same neighborhood, with Mr. Fieger preceeding Gary by a mere three years (a lot of time when you're a teenager). They knew the same bands, the same pizza joints, and the same hangout areas. After a long and amiable discussion about the merits of a youth spent in Detroit's Northern suburbs during the late Sixties and early Seventies, Mr. Fieger returned to his home in Los Angeles and we folded his array of instruments into our already full schedule.

Several days later, and running out of time, we brought to bear every resource we possessed to complete the thirteen instruments in time, even briefly shutting down the shop for all other projects.

Four years ago, in Spring, Mr Fieger pulled up with his station wagon and we loaded him up with his completed guitars. He expressed regret that he did not live closer to us, as he would've returned often. As it was, he left for his planned tour and we never saw him again. We mourn his passing.

Sustainer install in copypasta Les Paul type guitar

2010-02-12T22:57:00.000-08:00

The guitar in the above photographs is actually an "Agile" and is a pretty darn nice copy of the Gibson Les Paul "Axis." The Axis itself is a copy, by Gibson guitars, of their own custom artist series guitar: the Neal Schon Les Paul. The Axis (and also the guitar in these photos) features the Floyd Rose and neck heel cut-away of the Neal Schon Les Paul but does not include the Sustainer circuit and custom knob layout. The owner wanted to modify this copy of a copy to be as close to the Gibson NS guitar as possible (at a fraction of the purchase price of an actual Gibson NS LP). To accomplish this modification we moved the master volume knob to more of a strat-oriented position so it would be easy to do volume swells. The other three controls became: a passive tone control, a sustainer gain pot and a Chandler Tone-X (a wah-wah on a push pull pot). Now the owner can sustain an infinite note, change the pitch anywhere along the string length while simultaneously making a wha-wha sound.

Talk about multi-tasking!

Amazing Guitar Paint

2010-02-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

This is a beautiful example of how detailed and beautiful a guitar paint job can be. This was painted for our customer by Daneen. She has done work for many a guitarist and has mad skills. We took the guitar apart, prepped the body and then reassembled and set up the guitar upon completion.

we share space

2010-02-12T16:59:00.000-08:00

with a vintage buy/sell/trade store called Real Guitars. During your visit you can wander through a small forest of "pre-owned" instruments, amplifiers and pedal effects. Twenty-five years of accretion at your fingertips. You never now what you'll find here.

sometimes the relic is too accurate

2010-02-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the saddles on a brand new relic guitar, direct from the manufacturer. Close observation reveals the saddle screws on the A string are slightly higher than the others, resulting in the owner shredding the fleshy part of his palm, where his thumb meets his hand. This was hurting him, and he wanted the pain to stop. We contacted the manufacturer to replace the offending saddles, which they gladly did.

Small jobs are important too.

incipient Spring

2010-02-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-03T14:06:00.001-08:00

doesn't mean you should!

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

2010-01-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

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..."

2010-01-29T13:56:00.000-08:00

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

* - gratuitous King Crimson reference

it works great!

2010-01-28T16:26:00.001-08:00

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

2010-01-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

our people leave us notes...

It was falling apart.

2010-01-23T12:46:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-21T12:21:00.000-08:00

...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...

2010-01-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

...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...

2010-01-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

...make sure you say it right.

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

2010-01-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-09T11:15:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-01-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

...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...

2010-01-06T17:13:00.000-08:00

...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!

2010-01-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

(photo stolen by criminal masterminds!)

been a long year and a longer decade

2009-12-30T16:57:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-26T12:15:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2009-12-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

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