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.

miraculous transformation

we get mail and we like it. How else to know (the good, the bad and the ugly) how we're doing? Keep 'em coming...