Hello,

Under the advisement of Martian, I start the following tread

"A Great Tech I Know"

This for people to post their experiences of those truly gifted techs who enhance the instruments we know and love and prove to all that they ARE out there and are worth every penny!

Ive also added a poll to see the ratio of good to bad techs people have encountered.

The following is a copy of my post from another tread.

I am lucky and have been blessed when it comes to guitar techs and thought i'd share my experience of one particular Tech.

I brough a brand new Godin Exit 22 online, it was a complete bargain. But it arrived in bad shape and in need of a professional setup. The neck had sharp fret ends and was seriously bowed, all way beyond my skill level to even consider having a go. This particular tech took great pleasure in not letting me say anything until he'd plugged in. He had a quick go and then made a scarily acurate diagnosis, gave me a breif run down on how and where the guitar was most probably manufactured, how to maintain the fret board and body, along with its prospective value. He then asked if I had any questions!

It gets better...

He then quoted me £36!, this included a set of Addario 10's!.

Even though he said he was very busy (and judging buy the amount labled cases neatly line up he clearly was, and this is a good thing as a good tech should be busy!) and it would take 4-5 days he called me at 4pm the next day to say it was ready for pickup.

*The fret work was excellent and I have never achieved action as low and free of buzz as He has on that guitar. Overall its outstanding*

Needless to say I was extremely impressed and gave him £40 but would have gladly paid twice that for the service I recived. I will always take a guitar that i haven't made to a professional (a busy one!).

Enjoy

Andy

If Lutherie is not one of the Jedi Arts its should be!

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Pending Greatness

Well Andy, apparently you and I are the only ones who have the utmost confidence in our techs. Again, that's a shame.

With all humility and I guess it's no surprise any way, I'm my own. I've been formally trained in what directly paralleled the ancient guild system of apprentice/journeyman/master in virtually all related guitar disciplines. I've been involved in this field for over 40 years now and I'm always looking for new stuff to learn and/or apply.

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You dig?

Andy.

I do my own and others. Occasionaly I take my guitar to one of two people. A guy I've used since I began playing. He worked for John Birch and later John Diggins. His list of clients includes Iommi, Blackmore, Mud, and Shawaddywaddy, even Brian May once. I mean forget Iommi and Blackmore, SHAWADDYWADDY how cool is that?

The other is a guy in Coventry, ex patrick eggle builder.

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No no and no

I do okay, but I know that there are people that are better, for example the guy that built some guitars for the band, Yes.

Jim Mouradian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBe_YAWO4go

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I have 2 guys that I go to for certain things. I started doing setups on Strats and Teles myself. One guitar tech I use if there is something I cant get quite right which doesnt happen very often anymore. The other is a luthier and I will take acoustic guitars to him to have setups done or any other fretwork or repairs. Both guys are outstanding at what they do.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

I have 2 techs that I regularly go to,one is very good but the other is absolutely brilliant.The brilliant tech was unfortunately lured away by a large coast to coast franchise company and consequently the cost of getting him to work on your guitar has more than doubled so now I rely mostly on the other tech who never bench tested my Stratacoustic when he lowered the action this week and now only half the transducers are working,I'm sure he'll put it right free of charge but it means 2 more trips to town.I had a tech ruin a 65 Strat over 30 yrs ago so now I'm wary who touches my guitars,I did all my own work refinishing, neck sets etc. until my back gave out and I got arthritis in my hands so now I'm at the mercy and extra expense of others.In fact I used to do quite well fixing the mistakes of other techs until the health issues ruined it for me.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Hi Andy: 36 pounds, eh? So for those of us this side of the pond, care to name and locate that tech for anyone as might find it useful? Sounds like he's earned a plug!

Back in the day I used to get excellent service from Graham in the gloomy basement cave beneath Music Ground (used to be called Andy's) in Denmark Street, London.

Long time Forum users will remember our conversation regarding how Graham's set up charges generally included many cups of coffee and hours of chat. Then Nikininja asked whether biscuits came with the coffee and I seemed to recall that they didn't. And then we got diverted onto how the word "biscuit" means something different either side of the Atlantic.

You know you've spent too much time round here when you can even remember the thread hijacks...!!!

Cheers - C

Hello Ceri! (hows the build coming on? Yes I'm a fan and am shamelessly fishing for a hint!)

It was a few years back now (it's been a few years since I bought a new guitar!) and i can't remember his name but he was the Guitar Tech at GAK in Brighton. I have no idea whether or not he's is still there, but I've got his number stashed somewhere. For the work he did, £40 was an absolute bargain but thinking about it I have no idea what the going rate for a full setup is!?! If any one can enlighten me I'd be gratefull.

Also....

I've had a similar "biscuit" incident and I can asure you, you were lucky Nikininja didn't ask whether a "cookie" was on offer!

Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I can only presume that everyone who hasn't already posted is busy taking there Guitars to be serviced by their local Tech! Where they will no doubt be pleasantly suprised to recieve a sterling service.....which may or may not include a friendly chat over a nice hot beverage and a cookie, Sorry i mean biscuit.

I'm sure this thread will be inundated with posts once they get back (if not to share their experiences, i'm sure they'll have something to say about the choice of snacks on offer!)

Joking aside, If there are more hacks out there than decent pro's then we are all blessed to have dedicated professionals like yourself and others who freely share their knowledge and expertise and post sound advice to those who haven't got a Graham or a Martian locally.

Martian, I'm gonna go ahead and give you an extra special mention because you really do go the extra mile....over 36 million miles in fact. Yep, Mars is a bloody long way away...quite frankly I'm amazed you can be bothered at all! I mean your internet connection must cost a fortune!

Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Andy, thank you for your kind words.

My internet connection is free as we on Mars have developed technologies you Earthlings will not discover for at least several hundreds of years. LOL

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You dig?

SHAWADDYWADDY! Dude! Thats cooler than snowmans cold bits!

I bet they're the reason Blackmore and rest use him!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I take my guitars to Art at Redbone Guitar Boutique in San Antonio. He's an absolute genius. He's even been designing and winding his own pickups and hopes to start a business selling them soon. I plan to be one of his first customers!

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

No worries dude!

You may have free Internet, but I hear the weather up there is crap! (i not gonna mention the state of your beaches)!

Enjoy!

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Pending Greatness

Hello!

I'm Bumping this thread as i can't believe that so few of us have had positive exposure to decent guitar techs. I feel its worth drumming up some support for these unsung heros (you don't hear many songs dedicated to "Dave, who just refretted and set up my guit last week and now its freak'in amazing and sonically fantastic")!

Just think if they died out the world could look like this:



Lets hear about it people

Enjoy

Andy

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Pending Greatness

[quote="Andybighair"...
Just think if they died out the world could look like this:



Lets hear about people

Enjoy

Andy[/quote]

What are you talking about? Some washable school paste, a bit of duct tape and a little strategically placed spackle would turn that guitar into a serious music machine; don't forget the shielding and star grounding!

Your mileage better vary on this one!!

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You dig?