In the world of craftsmanship, there’s a familiar adage about plumbers with leaky faucets and mechanics driving rundown cars. As a seasoned guitar tech, I found myself confronting a similar paradox. My vintage Orlando, a cherished relic from the lawsuit era 335, had lost its allure and sadly become a mere wall decoration, devoid of the enchanting tones that once captivated me. Questions swirled – Had my faithful Behringer tube amp lost its luster? Was my Orlando not the musical gem it once was? Despite an epic quest to explore different amplifiers, the elusive sound remained beyond my grasp ..read more

Guitar problem? You can’t fix it until you know what’s wrong. A correct diagnosis will lead to your solution. No matter the problem, there are not only certain steps you have to take to efficiently diagnose your guitar problems, but there is a definite sequence those steps must follow. it may surprise you to hear that over 90% of “professional” guitar techs do not know the proper sequence of those steps! Recently, on a Facebook page devoted to professional guitar techs, a tech posted the question, “What is the sequence of steps you take when doing a guitar setup?” Dozens of responses followed ..read more

Hank’s Guitar Shop is opening at 34026 Highway 19 N, Palm Harbor! Hours are: Weekdays 10am to 7pm (except closed Wednesdays) and weekends from 10am to 2pm. You’ll be able to drop in and try out the guitars of your choice. Hank buys guitars and other stringed instruments and only sells after giving each instrument a thorough refurb and professional setup, new strings, etc. Every guitar is guaranteed thirty days! Hank also offers hands-on workshops for players to learn how to do their own guitar setups! From now on, all guitar (and other stringed instruments) setup and service work will be done ..read more

I bought a bass guitar today from a guy who was disgusted with the fifty-dollar “guitar setup” he got from a local competitor of mine, who shall remain unnamed. My customer said that the guitar was playing fine but he felt it could benefit from a setup, as most guitars can. So he took it to the competitor (since that was close to the customer and the customer hadn’t yet heard of me). What he got back was basically an unplayable guitar. The customer said the electronics were badly messed up and the strings all buzz on the frets. The “guitar tech” (who actually calls himself a “luthier” on his ..read more

This photo is a screenshot from a recent post on a Setup and Repair guitar forum. Now, I’m not pointing fingers at people who ask “dumb questions”. The only dumb question is the one that doesn’t get asked. BUT I AM pointing out that this dumb question isn’t just from some random person – it’s from someone with the audacity to put themselves out there as a professional guitar technician and take money from unsuspecting customers when they absolutely do not have the know-how or experience to call themselves “professional”. Without a doubt, this is an unqualified guitar tech! But the real proble ..read more

My friend across the pond (Haze Guitars) has just sent his latest blog newsletter where he proclaims that buzzing on electric guitars when not plugged in is perfectly fine and to quit worrying about it. He goes on to say that this is why acoustic guitars have greater relief (they do not!) and greater string heights (they do). Oh boy! Do I disagree! Let’s begin with neck relief. While they can range from next to nothing to 0.015″, the optimal relief for most electric guitars is 0.010″ and is needed because strings swing wider toward the center. Relief lets us have our action a tad lower without ..read more

I’ve previously complained about cheap hardware, horrendous setups and generally poor quality control on Epiphone Specials, including Special I and Special II models. Well, in case you needed it, here’s more proof. The strings have cut deeply into this soft-metal wraparound bridge. So much so that it was difficult extracting b & e strings! And this guitar has barely been played! There is absolutely no visible fret wear. Not that it matters, because I’m obviously going to replace the bridge anyway, AND file the nut slots low enough to allow proper intonation, AND adjust the truss rod AND s ..read more

It seems that 90% of the guitar setup advice I see on forums and websites today is not just wrong – it’s dangerous! Guitar websites (with the exception of this one, of course!) aren’t much better, still tending to give a bit more bad advice than good. Why do so many people post instructions like, “Tighten your truss rod until your guitar (magically) starts playing great.” – ??? Or, “Each winter, your truss rod needs another ___ (enter random fraction here) turn.” I suppose I should send them kickbacks since they bring me so much business! My latest case is typical – Customer: “I think someth ..read more

Red text is my edits It was bad enough when humans were spewing out misinformation articles in guitar websites and guitar magazines but it’s about to get WAY WORSE! AI is here! You’ve probably already heard about ChatGPT – the artificial intelligence machine that can write articles, essays and more. But is artificial intelligence superior to human intelligence? (Wait – do you mean before or after I’ve had my morning coffee?) I’ve been trying to help guitarists with their setup and repair problems for years, and Google barely acknowledges my existence, so when I see guitar articles in my Google ..read more

I’ll be here throughout Christmas week including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, to help with questions or problems with your gift guitars, no matter where you purchased them. No charge for Chat or Email Support. Contact me via my Contact Page or the Chat link on the right of most of these web pages. Don’t let guitar problems dampen your Christmas cheer! I’m here to help online – FREE! If you need in-person help, I’ll be available at my normal hours 10am to 8pm except lunch and supper times (see Contact page) for quick, while-you-wait repairs, restrings and adjustments. ($25) (I’m working on ..read more