Defect in neck

[Dr Zoidberg]

Over the years i've spent a fortune on guitar techs, each time it hasn't been right. One wired a TBX control on my Strat and when I got it back it was hardly audible, turns out he had wired it wrong. Another when asked what it played like said he hadn't tried it plugged in. The next managed to chip a headstock and then the last one charged me for a fret dress [new neck and I knew it needed dressing] and less than a month later the laquer Warmoth finished the guitar with caused the neck to choke at various points [caused by the laquer starting to strip off the fret], I thought it ws a neck defect and I was far from happy but it turned out when I looked closer he hadn't done the work he'd charged me for. The only solution I found was to set up my guitars myself.

 

[RLW]

The "luthier" in a lot of shops is just the employee with the worst sales record. He gets the job by default.

 

[-CB-]

There are Luthiers, then there are Screwthiers

Just a small point of order.....

Actually... not too many shops have luthiers.  Luthiers, are those who build (traditionally acoustic) guitars from scratch.

Those who work on guitars, repair guitars, wire guitars, modify guitars, hack at guitars, are all "guitar-smiths", no luthiers.

Arguably the best acoustic repairman on the planet, Frank Ford, does not consider himself a luthier.  He does not build guitars, only repairs them, and he really looks up to those who do build guitars.

The definition of "luthier" has been pressed into new meaning in recent times, by the repairmen, in an effort to gain some lofty marketing hyperbole.  One might say, its not unlike the chiropractor being called "Doctor", or $3.99 a plate spaghetti being called $18.99 a plate "pasta". 

 

[kreig]

The "luthier" in a lot of shops is just the employee with the worst sales record. He gets the job by default.

OUCH...dis-information, and NO I'm not either !

RLW , you should'nt post this type O' Stuff - (joke)- some take as gospel !

 

[-CB-]

You mean its not true? 

Seems like they wouldn't want to take the BEST performing sales-persona and divert them to trench... I mean repair... duty.

Maybe they take turns.  Maybe its the guy who's sort of hung-over from the night before.  Or maybe the guy who forgot to use his mouth wash.  Maybe its the shop managers nephew who needed some money to pay for his 'roid surgery.  Could be that the guitar repair guy is just some stooge they pulled in off the street because they couldn't find any real repairmen.   

Or it could be worse I guess....

 

[SkuttleFunk]

sad but true, CB

I build solid/chambered body electric instruments from raw materials, but I will not self-apply (self-medicate?) the title of 'luthier' upon myself because I have no experience in fabricating acoustic instruments. IMO anybody who self titles themselves as a luthier better be able to show some pretty extensive credentials spanning at least a decade (preferably more) and they better have a long, long pedigree of incredible instruments to compliment the years of experience ... I know of only a handful of people who can honestly and technically qualify for the title

Sadly we live in a society of people who bought a $3.99 'luthier' name tag after assembling their first parts guitar (or a task of even less competence) in much the same way that we see talentless guitarists calling themselves a pro after merely learning the first few chords to Smoke on the Water and Stairway to Heaven

all the best,

R

There are Luthiers, then there are Screwthiers

Just a small point of order.....

Actually... not too many shops have luthiers.  Luthiers, are those who build (traditionally acoustic) guitars from scratch.

Those who work on guitars, repair guitars, wire guitars, modify guitars, hack at guitars, are all "guitar-smiths", no luthiers.

Arguably the best acoustic repairman on the planet, Frank Ford, does not consider himself a luthier.  He does not build guitars, only repairs them, and he really looks up to those who do build guitars.

The definition of "luthier" has been pressed into new meaning in recent times, by the repairmen, in an effort to gain some lofty marketing hyperbole.  One might say, its not unlike the chiropractor being called "Doctor", or $3.99 a plate spaghetti being called $18.99 a plate "pasta".   

edited to fix typo

 

[OzziePete]

+1 on Skuttle Funk's last post.

I put together, for my first Warmoth, a very nice Esquire/Tele. All went well, and the set up was done by a very competent repairman in Sydney.

Full of confidence I set about doing something a bit more difficult, and, well, it was actually a lot more difficult really.

The end story was I still have THAT project to finish, it has a lot of issues. I have spent a lot more money only to realise it is a project that I should have thought of, then handed the parts over to someone who knew what they were doing.

That's all fine by me, you live and learn. But it is a lesson in not getting too cocky about your own abilities and taking each step very carefully.

I guess there will be guys who get lucky with their first build and think they can get the same result each time they try a build, and advertise around that they 'build' guitars. Then someone takes their difficult project to them and the proverbial hits the fan. :help:

D'Aquisto, Zemaitis, the guys who built the D'Angelicos, THEY are luthiers! A lot of other people working on guitars don't come within a bulls roar of them.

 

[stubhead]

There are a lot of good books available about how to set up guitars and how to work on wood, but some kind of mechanical aptitude & some previous mechanical experience is also needed for these to take root... each and every book has at least one point of disagreement with the others, too. :laughing7:

I am really leery of online "tutorials" - people seem to delight in writing out long, involved pictorial "lessons" that can be amazingly wrong. There's one out there about leveling frets with nice pictures, fonts, title headings, borders etc. - the guy advocates going back and forth up and down the neck with varying grits of sandpaper instead of crowning the individual frets?!? :icon_scratch: Well, it might be fast, at least you can say that for it. There's another one on "setting up your bass" with nice colors, borders, pictures, it all looks good till you get to the part where he says that action should NEVER be adjusted at the bridge, the proper way to adjust your bass's action is always with the truss rod.... :icon_scratch: :tard: :help: :icon_tongue:

 

[Wana_make_a_guitar]

You mean its not true? 

Seems like they wouldn't want to take the BEST performing sales-persona and divert them to trench... I mean repair... duty.

Maybe they take turns.  Maybe its the guy who's sort of hung-over from the night before.  Or maybe the guy who forgot to use his mouth wash.  Maybe its the shop managers nephew who needed some money to pay for his 'roid surgery.  Could be that the guitar repair guy is just some stooge they pulled in off the street because they couldn't find any real repairmen. 

Or it could be worse I guess....

You know I don't see whats soo bad with being the repairer, I enjoy it, or what little I have done to mine and my friends guitars.
I guess to me, guitar tinkering's a hobby

 

[Ang3lus]

wasn't john suhr working as a tech in rudy's shop in NYC ?
he turned out an alright salesperson  :icon_thumright:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

The point is basically this, be extra careful who you have work on your instrument.  Ask to see their qualifications or certification if any.  Ask to see if they have any of their completed work there for you to see.

I've even seen some that keep a binder full of photographs of their work before/after.

Remember, this is your instrument that is being worked on.

 

[Ang3lus]

my luthier does ok work i guess
but i'm doing it better
my nut set up is so perfect now i called all my friends to bring in their guitars for truss rod & nut adjustments

 

[blue313]

You know I don't see whats soo bad with being the repairer, I enjoy it, or what little I have done to mine and my friends guitars.
I guess to me, guitar tinkering's a hobby

No shame in being a guitar tech.  Just be completely honest with yourself about your limitations, and anyone who asks you to do work for them.

 

[cubemonkey]

You can try finding a good luthier on http://www.repairmyguitar.com or at least read reviews of the ones around you.

 

[po_0784]

Hi everyone, thanks again for all the suport (Major update)

Had a second tech check the work from the first luthier and also check the fingerboard straightness with the stewmac tool made especially for that. Everything is PERFECTLY straight, so the first luthier did his job right and the warmoth neck is perfect. As the luthier said, my playing style has much to do with it and im just not used to this instrument yet.

So hes the second one telling me im playing guitars with insanely low action. Oh well. Might try this specific guitar with an higher action or try to "master" it.  Maybe I just got expert at not making any string noise using my RG7, who knows. Maybe the compound radius doesnt allow super low action  :dontknow:?

So sorry for the bad press and thanks again for the support  ccasion14:

 

[simple]

Maybe the compound radius doesnt allow super low action?

It does allow for super low action. Low action is achieved through a good fret level and set up. The better the work, the lower the action.