"Man, I can't put this thing down."

Gary fabricated a prototype panel to slide under the fingerboard of this acoustic bass which, with volume pots attached, controls the individual output of three (count 'em three!) discrete pickups on this upright bass. He's running it through several different amplifiers, each pickup in a different amp, and bowing it with, what he terms: "super milky tremolo," and a bit of distortion and reverb.


And then he put the stuffy on the bridge and took it to a whole new level.

use what you've got

Here Tim has ingeniously attached the mouth of the vacuum close to the business end of a dremel cutting wheel. It's not uncommon for an old nut to require being cut out of the slot. This causes a lot of particulate matter to be ejected into the close atmosphere of the shop. Having the vacuum handy and running limits the amount of bone dust we breathe. Remember that sharp, gagging smell while the dentist is drilling on your teeth?

testimonials on a busy day

In five years we've never seen it this busy...but we're not complaining.

"Plays better then when I got it" - Dave P.'s (with Gary) Spector bass

"Plays like it should've when I bought it" - Steve V.'s Gibson 336

"It's exactly what I wanted" - Sean B.'s (with his biggest fan) Martin D-41

And in the course of regular conversation we got to turn on one of our players (not pictured) to a piece of music by Kate Bush whose name and subject matter ("Hammer Horror") mirror his band's name. He became immediately enthusiastic to cover that song.

help in a hurry

Here Gary is discussing with Mark Ribot some adjustments to his Gibson Melody Maker to be effected in a Big Hurry. Mark has a show tonight in SF. The open high E string was vibrating (sometimes we refer to that sound as "sitaring") where it went over the saddle and the bridge itself had an odd and not groovy sympathetic vibration. Gary used a diamond file to correct the saddle slot and added a small piece of wood to tilt the tailpiece forward thereby increasing the downward pressure of the string in the saddle. Gary also added a pair of Hipshot locking studs to hold the bridge firmly in place.

Mark made it to the soundcheck on time.

A stiletto heel...

...kicked through the back of this Martin steel string acoustic has made a little hole. Does it correspond to a hole in her heart? Did he have it coming? Regardless, we'll fabricate a wooden pad to reinforce the area. The hole won't disappear but the instrument's structural integrity will not be compromised, and the sound of the guitar will not be decreased. Don't know if the relationship can be saved, however...a different kind of shop works on that stuff.

routing...

Here's Tim working with plastic to create several color and material variations of a specific pickguard shape. The owner wants to see what various pickguard colors look like against the body and color of his instrument. We can fabricate almost any kind of pickguard (materials, color, shape, etc...) for a guitar. Look at those hands!

one of these things is not like the other....

Alright, very amusing of course, but did you know??

Here Gary is holding is an extremely rare Kramer guitar called an Enterprize. Designed by the notorious Floyd Rose, it is highly prized by the distinctly unique breed of collectors that find these instruments desirable. A grand total of ten of these eye-catching devices are thought to have been made. With such delicacy of design something this fragile could break so easily (indeed that's why we have it - for some light touchup) that the number of remaining examples are probably considerably less.

Take a solo that boldly goes.

do we not bleed?

And do we not sigh as well? Thanks for your notes. We never take it for granted.

it didn't sound like this at the shop

There's a lot of reasons to play your guitar in a public place. You can hear how it sounds in very reflective environments, help to pass the time while your friend trades in his de-magnetized train pass for one that works, or maybe even get some lunch money. Here Trevor patiently strums a wistful tune in the Civic Center station in San Francisco, CA.

kits, cats, sacks, wives....

There are thousands of guitars and each guitar can have anywhere from fifty to three hundred parts. When you, dear owner, inquire via email or telephone about the availability of a particular (non-vintage) part for a particular guitar ninety-nine times out of one hundred we will beg to see the instrument. Though it takes up some of your valuable time the diagnostic or recommendation is free (you only need pay for the part) and you get to enter into our cave of musical toys.

the vestigial limb

Lying, momentarily forlorn on the workbench, at an odd angle and still in the neck-rest, does this neck, awaiting reattachment to its body, still feel, like an amputee, itself as a complete instrument?

the alchemical mage

Here's Tim calling down the spirits in his sekret lair while retorts bubble and the jacob ladder fizzes quietly in the background. The steam in the foreground is for breaking the bonds of neck and body on an acoustic guitar. Tim manipulates materials, bending the elements to his will.

personal expression taken to extremes

This decimated Telecaster is the result of the owner becoming excited during a performance. When the smoke cleared, appalled by what remained, he quickly became contrite. Tim spent a little time with the pieces and judged that it was possible to reassemble and refinish, though the trained eye would still see some evidence of the repair.

D.I.Y.

Here's Gary taking matters into his own hands regarding an upgrade being foisted upon a recalcitrant iMac. While we love our Mac network (we remember our 512E w/ no hard drive!) we also recognize that, like love, a certain amount of capricious whimsicality is involved ("Macs Happen") and occasionally are inspired to take steps.

the wood burned Aztec basses

Here's Tim (all the way below) holding a wood-burned bass destined for stages around the world (see man onstage). The man liked it so much he brought us another one to do the same thing once again (the other three).

Tim applied the burst style finishes by hand with a special blend of shellac and dye. Once the finishes are complete he installs all the hardware, wires it up according to the owner's unique tastes prior to a computerized fretmill on the PLEK machine.

These instruments play like cheese dreams.

see notes

Here Gary has taken detailed notes and loose estimates based on the owner's desire to have the wiring harness, pickup system and hardware of one of his custom instruments perform certain tasks in specific ways. Thankfully Gary can decode as well as encode. An attractive frame may set off the piece to maximum effect...say, displayed near the guitar wall.

"I get music from it"

What is it that makes a guitar feel good? Loren Jones (shown here with his beloved Guild G-37) says it well. Why take care of an instrument? Why invest resources when it may be cheaper to purchase something new? Some guitars make music for us.

2009 Best Year Ever!!!

This upcoming year we're going to increase transparency, begin the Re-Org in earnest, clean up our act, reconfigure our core competencies, pull the wool over our own eyes and maybe even grow up. Well....one out of six ain't bad!

(photo: Matt Zipkin attempts to decipher Gary's notes for installing two Thingamakits into Timmy Pizza's unsuspecting tele)

the cool mod completed

Here Justin Oakley shows off his completed modification: a brand spanking new Fender 12 string Strat, with an entirely non-stock pickguard/pickup configuration and wiring harness. We routed the pickup cavities in the body, installed his carefully chosen Lollar Jazzmaster-style pickups into a special order pickguard, wired & shielded everything, put it all together and performed a complete set-up by hand. Because Justin is very clear about what he wants the odds of personal instrument satisfaction are vastly increased. See our entry about his mod from Saturday, October 25th, 2008, for all the details of his control array.

these things happen...

...a noise was heard in the shop, not unlike the slow sliding of entropic dissolution or a machine taking itself apart. The sound of an endless crushing falling reverberance; inexorable, unstoppable and taking forever to end.

A stack of empty cases comes to rest. No one was hurt.

"It's exactly right!"

Here Chris Palmer is displaying his parts strat-style guitar with a freshly installed EMG 60 in the bridge position. Chris wanted the guitar's original pickup system to sound more sparkly in the high end. The original pickup sounded dull to him. Gary mulled over Chris's request and suggested the EMG 60 and Chris's reaction is recorded above. As Gary has mentioned regarding the fantastically subjective nature of pickup choices: "you give us adjectives, we'll give you answers."

what are the odds?

A man named Smith confers with us regarding the pickup in his Martin acoustic guitar. It's a normal day at the shop, well...busier than usual but progressing smoothly. Several minutes later another man named Smith appears to pick up his Martin acoustic guitar and it, too, has a pickup system that engenders some discussion. The two Smiths cause the shop mgr's. brain to misfire. Lunch: forgotten.

(above: the two Smiths. Richard[L] & Steve)

This 1976 Gibson Les Paul arrived at our shop for a much-deserved refret. During the refretting process the ever vigilant Tim noticed that the Dimarzio Super Distortion neck pickup had been worn away through years of heavy picking. By clicking on the picture to enlarge it, you can clearly see a small area of exposed winding on the end of the top of the right-hand coil. That winding, comprised of 42 gauge copper wire and thinner then a human hair, is extremely delicate and will practically snap at a glance. If that wire breaks the pickup is dead. It could be rewound or replaced of course but we offered to sidestep that expense by building up a protective shell around the hole by coating the area with a layer of cyano acrylate (superglue).

"Buy Nothing Day" equals...

...turkey sandwich for lunch. Yummmmmmm.

knowledge base

The PLEK device is a spectacularly accurate machine for smoothing and shaping frets on a guitar. Whether electric or acoustic, six-string, twelve-string or a bass guitar of four, five or more strings, this Northern European invention (straight outta Berlin!) sharply reduces the amount of time required to bring a guitar up to its all around best possible playability with a greater accuracy possible than even the most experienced technician can approach. Like any tool, it's usefulness is explicitly defined by the user. Here Gary(R), an early adopter with around three thousand guitars successfully completed using our in-house PLEK machine, explains the process to Trevor, who is learning to do the work himself. Knowledge is at its most powerful and useful when shared.

Contact us: brawer [at] brawer [dot] com for more information.

Further reading (in amusingly translated English) can be found at: www.plek.com

levity schmevity

pressure too much? worries too overpowering? attachment too desperate? sing along with us...

The Strat that weighed the least.

The owner purchased a Mark Knopfler Strat, new, online and felt that the instrument was not as advertised. Namely, the weight of the guitar did not match up to the advertising claim of "lightweight" playing. He returned the instrument, through the online retailer, and the replacement instrument he received felt still too heavy. He then contacted Fender who contacted us (since we are a warranty station for their guitars) and requested whether we would provide excellent service by facilitating the return and delivery of a third Mark Knopfler Stratocaster. Fender would ensure the satisfaction of this particular customer by going though their entire stock of these instruments at the warehouse, weighing each individual guitar and shipping directly to us for him, the Strat that weighed the least. See how helpful Fender can be? All is forgiven (almost).

Does Ed Roman do this on purpose?

Plotting from his Seekret Lair deep in the desert of the American West, does Ed Roman, in his nefarious wisdom, organize the Byzantine logistics required to have the proud owners of his instruments show up at our shop at the exact same moment? Is it espionage? Favored Nation Trading Status? Is he just trying to keep us on our toes? (Tony [L] and Ron compare their Roman guitars upon showing up simultaneously Saturday at the shop)

start the day right

Sometimes the best defense is a good offense...the morning playlist, nice and loud.

are we smart?

Maybe. But we certainly know the truth when we see it.

occupational hazard

These things happen. You wouldn't want your music to be completely and monochromatically saccharine either.

"I love it!"

Intones our customer John Rongley as he checks out his Dean five string bass after having us reinstall the bridge, mill the frets using our PLEK machine and have a graphite nut installed. His demonic demeanor notwithstanding, John is a happy person with a smile for all.

here kitty kitty....

nice kitty....you hold down the fort, okay? we'll be back soon...there's plenty of food and water in the kitchen...we'll see you soon....goooooood kitty!

Celebrate!!!

The election is over and one of our customers shows his appreciation of us, the election results and the state of the Human Condition in general by hooking us up with some of his own brew.

Weather: cool and partly cloudy.
Listening to: Stravinsky's "La Sacre du Printemps" (Valery Gergiev with the Kirov Orchestra)

Halloween around the shop and home

It's Halloween and we are up to all that wacky Halloween hijinks.

The night before Halloween I had to come up with a cool guitar for my 9 year old son Harlan.
His costume is Zora, the guitar playing fish thing from the video game Zelda that plays
a guitar made of fish bones and claws n'stuff . Zora plays in a band
the Indago-go's. I found a photo of a Jackson guitar that had the same Idea we were trying to build.
I blew up some photos sections on photo paper, cut it out, glued it on foam core and cut that out.
On one side is a mini Fender amp, on the fingerboard is an ipod that has the songs from Zelda on it.
It was a big hit!!!!!

We just refinished a customers Les Paul, Cal Trans Orange. Tim happened to wear his fathers
actual flight combat suit that had a perfect match. This is helped out by our fellow acoustic guitar repair pal Mark
from Seattle juiceing up Tim with an orange recharge...

Some friends came by for a costume photo op.
Our Trev "Springstein" and Lt. T. Frick. pose with Yoshi "Jet Boy" and friend.
Oh yeah, hippy boss there in the back.

a cool mod

Here is Justin Oakley holding up his brand new Fender Stratocaster 12-string electric guitar. Justin knows exactly what he wants and that increases his potential for happiness. It also assists us in seeing his vision through. While we can (and routinely do) provide all manner of pithy and cogent advice for the lovelorn guitarist at free (or even cheap) rates the likelihood of a happy outcome is increased by orders of magnitude when the instrument's owner knows what they want.

In this case Justin is having us install a set of Lollar Jazzmaster-style pickups. We are providing a pickguard to hold the different pickup configuration and routing the body. We'll wire the 5 position switch so that position 1 will be neck only, position 2 will be neck and bridge in series, position 3 will be neck & bridge in parallel, position 4 will be neck & bridge out of phase and in series* and position 5 will be bridge pickup only. We'll also shield all of the electronics cavities on the guitar.

After that we'll do a hand set up on the instrument; always a good idea with a new purchase.

* wiring the pickups "out of phase" cuts the signal in half for that tight, nasally sound while simultaneously having the pickups in series increases the volume and also fattens up the tone.

nice to meet you, too...

Here a chance meeting between two different aesthetics finds Billy (L) and Luke swapping knowledge and experience over a pile of used pickups. A meter is close at hand to test for DC resistance and also whether or not they work. We don't have uber-valuable vintage stuff in those boxes but we manage to keep a large assortment of serviceable single-coil, hum-canceling and bass pickups for all budgets.