I can't think of a single guitar tech that is willing to pick-up and redeliver your shit, after he works on it, for a reasonable fee. I'm a fuckin' courier, driving is what I do. Why not take my two jobs and combine them? I did one today, and the pickup fee was five dollars less than the work I did to the guitar. The poor dumb bastards don't even have to stop stuffing their faces. I don't care. I'm filling a niche market, and I think it'll pay off.
Mind you, I vastly undercharge for the work I do, simply because I always hated having to take my guitars to local shops/GC to have repairs and get the fuck gouged out of me. 30 dollars for a setup? Get fucked. I can do 5 an hour, not even sweating, doing QUALITY work for less than most shops can do around here. I even have one guy outsourcing to me from time to time when he gets swamped, and he STILL makes money after paying me what I ask.
Plus, it's all fun. Basically free money, for me.
wish i had the knowledge of an experience guitar/amp tech :-\
me too. I've two going in in the next week or so and that'll be $45 a pop :(
Maybe you have less overheads? Are you paying taxes on your guitar work income? Do you have premises? Do you still live with your parents? Have you made enough to pay for the equipment you bought?
I'd never want to get into that kind of business as my sole source of income, too scarey.
Knowledge can be found in books, and by being willing to experiment, and by asking questions of course.
Sunn in Springfield you'd be ahead just by returning the gear, our local luthier is famed for being a black hole for repairs, gear goes in, but doesn't come out again.
$30 for a setup? I think GC is the only one that cheap around here, all the Mom and Pops charge $60-$80 with over a month wait. By wait I mean you make an appointment and take it in a month or so later. $30 barely gets your strings changed while you wait.
Quote from: Hemisaurus on September 29, 2011, 12:03:50 AM
Maybe you have less overheads? Are you paying taxes on your guitar work income? Do you have premises? Do you still live with your parents? Have you made enough to pay for the equipment you bought?
I'd never want to get into that kind of business as my sole source of income, too scarey.
Knowledge can be found in books, and by being willing to experiment, and by asking questions of course.
Sunn in Springfield you'd be ahead just by returning the gear, our local luthier is famed for being a black hole for repairs, gear goes in, but doesn't come out again.
Legit questions. My overheads are the same, I just get cut deals from local sources because I'm an amiable guy, and I'm willing to work for a reasonable wage as opposed to rape-people wage. I don't pay taxes on them directly, It's factored into my over-all yearly income, so in a way, yes, I do pay the taxes. I have a 2500sq ft shop that I share with a two furniture builders (this is also my jam room.) I pay my mom 200 bucks a month to live in my room, and electric... and I help around the house, she doesn't want me to go (she's got that empty nest shit from my sister, still, she's 33...) I bought all of my equipment to work on guitars to work on my own guitars... So, I never expected a return, but so far, I've paid off all of my files and shit that I've bought, and then some...
It's just side work, when I'm not slammed driving, I do this shit because it's a lot of fun, really. I get to meet a lot of people, and talk a lot about gear... lots of networking. I like it.
Ask Deaner about the quality. I had it done the first day it got here, but it took me a little bit to get back to him because I was slammed hard with other work.
Lastly, I don't call myself a luthier. I don't build lutes. I repair guitars, basses, etc. I guess the fact that I ~don't~ have to make money doing it makes it easier to charge less, but frankly, 95% of the dudes here are fucking hacks, with the exception of one, who I'd feel bad taking business from. I can't stand working on butchered axes, especially if I know the source of the butchery... makes me rage.
I charge 20 bucks for setups, that includes full cleaning, electronics checks, general tightening... you just bring your strings. I do the rest...
I charge 30 bucks for setups with retarded double locking trems, unless it's a Kahler. Kahler's get a discount on the trem setup fee, because I love them. They're amazing.
Fuck where do you live sunn?
The great state of Florida!
/sargasm
I dunno, I once let someone else do a setup, that was when I bought my second first bass, the bass was given back to me with worse action than it had when I demo'd it in the store, and I took it home and did it my damn self.
You got to wonder at people that don't just get a book and do it themselves, I mean especially guitarists, I mean they change their strings all the time :o Depending on the instrument, a half dozen setups and you just wasted an entire guitars worth of money.
Yes, Jake does a fantastic job. I only wished I lived closer so I could hang out with him while he does the work. One of the best dudes on this whole damn site.
Not every one has the gene, Herbie. Some folk just dont have a feel for it. My approach to it is "does it play like it should?" It's different for every make and model, even two of the same guitars will set up differently. Its similar to how some who whittles sees a block of wood. He sees what's inside it, not the block itself. Y'know? I can tell when an end result is going to be shitty. Also, upfront, I tell people that I can't make a 200 dollar bass feel or play like a 2000 dollar bass. Im always honest when people ask me the "is it a good guitar" question. 99% of times, no, its a piece of shit. That doesn't mean it won't play great after Im done... there is A LOT of hacks in this business, amp tech business, too... just gotta find a good guy and stick with 'em.
To me it's a science, not an art, but then again I'm an engineer, not a savant.
Quote from: Hemisaurus on September 29, 2011, 09:50:59 AM
To me it's a science, not an art, but then again I'm an engineer, not a savant.
Why'd you edit the rest of the stuff? It was an interesting perspective.
Raising and lowering action isn't science. Im no better than anyone else. Anyone can do it long as you know what feels good. Ive never put a measuring tool to a guitar in my life. Its always been based on knowing what ~good~ feels like. Its a mental thing. Ive placebo'd a couple people to see how dumb they were. They were dumb.
Fuck, you can come pick mine up and I'll tip well. I actually have a pretty good setup guy who can fix anything I end up fucking up myself. But he keeps raising his rates, up to fifty bones last time I was in there.
Quote from: bass sic on September 29, 2011, 10:58:23 AM
Fuck, you can come pick mine up and I'll tip well. I actually have a pretty good setup guy who can fix anything I end up fucking up myself. But he keeps raising his rates, up to fifty bones last time I was in there.
Fuck all that noise... I never even fucked up one of mine bad enough to have to take it anywhere, after I started getting the hang of it...
Fifty fucking dollars for a set up? Jesus. I do 99.9% of my own work. Still a few things I'd like to brush up on, but I haven't sent a guitar to a shop since I was a kid. I have a luthier friend for the shit I can't do.
Motherfuckers gettin' RAPED.
Are luthiers bigger in Taxes?
50 bucks is retarded for a setup. I can do a setup in 10 minutes, Literally, with an instrument that isn't a legit piece of shit. It takes me about 20 to get bullshit first act guitars playing half-decent. Fuck people who price gouge. That's why I love that Dan Erlewine makes those Guitar Player repair guides. 30 bucks, the cost of an expensive setup, will get you every inch of knowledge you need to work on guitars, forever. He plugs the shit out of stewmac, but it's because he's made 60% of their tool designs, so it must be mutual.
It ain't hard, it's just mechanics. Herb's profession is a wee bit more intensive, because it can kill you. It's science...
Theres a guy in town here who fixes amps. He's an old bastard who answers his door in his bathrobe, has twenty cats, and will insist on keeping you captive in his dank basement for hours talking your ear off about shit you do not care about and has nothing to do with your amp...as you constantly back out towards the door mumbling "gotta go now...please do a good job" over and over again. Everyone complained about him...he became legendary (for being a dillrod). Eventually one music store began offering a service..."we will deliver and pick up your amp to the talkative old guy for $20!!" FUCK YES!!! well worth every penny.
Quote from: deaner33 on September 29, 2011, 10:24:39 AM
Quote from: Hemisaurus on September 29, 2011, 09:50:59 AM
To me it's a science, not an art, but then again I'm an engineer, not a savant.
Why'd you edit the rest of the stuff? It was an interesting perspective.
I felt it was stuff we had covered before, in other threads, and really is a personal viewpoint of mine. I believe the quality you get on a high price mass produced instrument is much the same as a low priced one, and I believe that
Made in America is better is BS, it can be approved with a modifier of
Made in America, where the company has different factories, and uses higher quality parts on it's American brands, is better, unless you just want to save some bucks and put on the better parts yourself is more accurate.
Also note the insertion of the words
mass produced there.
Fender was the America Teisco of it's time, Leo designed instruments, designed them, to be easily and cheaply produced assembly line style. I admire that, I don't think it makes the instrument worth more though, because it was mass produced in 69 or something, and then having a
custom shop that handcrafts instruments to make them like the ones that were originally mass produced is so dumb as to be mind boggling.
But why do the Teisco's suck so bad? And on that note, Sunn those Teisco's I drool over. Would they be halfway decent if a better bridge was installed?
I don't think Teisco's do suck that much. Mind you I tend to use Teisco to describe any guitar that's not of a specific brand or brand shape, made during the 70's and 80's. Like any budget guitar some can be a little crappy, tuners may need tightened up, pickups maybe could do with potting etc. etc. I did wonder if those bridges were ideally spaced to drop a regular bridge on, but hey you can't intonate a gibson junior, and a classic fender you have to fudge it with those two strings to a saddle design.
Bottom line, if a guitar makes you happy, and you enjoy playing it, it's a good guitar.
If you're always worrying about buckle rash, dinging it, mussing the finish etc. it's a bad guitar, you should be able to pickup an instrument guilt free.
An important question nobody's asked yet.
is my 70's Les Paul or my 69 Super Bass or my 72 Orange insured when it's in your shop?
The few people that I let work on my shit when I don't have time or can't figure it out have insurance.
i don't mean to throw doubt in but hey. If you were local I'd have you work on my stuff but there'd have to be insurance.
Quote from: RAGER on September 29, 2011, 02:43:58 PM
An important question nobody's asked yet.
is my 70's Les Paul or my 69 Super Bass or my 72 Orange insured when it's in your shop?
The few people that I let work on my shit when I don't have time or can't figure it out have insurance.
i don't mean to throw doubt in but hey. If you were local I'd have you work on my stuff but there'd have to be insurance.
Nope, and I always tell people that up front, if they want to give me something I couldn't buy out of pocket. When it's IN the shop, yes, It's insured, we have content insurance because of the 150k worth of woodworking tools, plus my 10 grand worth of equipment. I doubt it'd cover me fucking it up. That's why I wouldn't take your Les Paul, or 69 Superbass, or 72 Orange, unless it was just a retube or something. All of my customers shit is locked up in the AC'd office, though, when it isn't being worked on.
Mind you, The amount it would cost to have the type of insurance you'd want, I'd have to be doing 2k or more a month in repairs alone, and that simply isn't possible in this town. Some people just don't take no for an answer, though...
Quote from: SunnO))) on September 29, 2011, 08:29:45 AM
The great state of Florida!
/sargasm
Well shit im moving to Pensacola in 4 months ill have to look you up
Quote from: Derelict78 on September 29, 2011, 05:19:01 PM
Quote from: SunnO))) on September 29, 2011, 08:29:45 AM
The great state of Florida!
/sargasm
Well shit im moving to Pensacola in 4 months ill have to look you up
I'm in Tallahassee, about three hours away.
And Roger, you'd be surprised how many of these fucks don't have ANY insurance at all.
One benefit to growing up poor as fuck with fifteen-dollar Teiscos is you learn to set up your own shit.
Edit: +10 for "sargasm"...well done !
Sorry to keep touching this (that's what she said, nyuk nyuk nyuk,) but I've had people refuse to take their expensive as shit instruments elsewhere after talking to me about them. I have this Doctor buddy, Big money doctor, who has this set of matching Les Pauls, old Les Pauls, They're great, GREAT guitars, He waited two years a piece for each one. One day he was having some issues with one of them, saying it wasn't playing like it was supposed to. I said I'd take a look at it, he was reluctant at first. I changed a few things, tuned it, and handed it back. He loved it. He gave me the other one to do the same shit to. He brings them to me every couple months now, and leaves them for almost a month while he goes abroad working. I asked him, just for shits and giggles what they were worth and he said he could buy a brand new car with each one, fully loaded. I almost shit myself. These are guitars I'm just sitting in the house playing, and they're worth the down payment on the house.
Same guy has two guitars that hang out with me all the time, a custom shop Eric Johnson strat that he said "needs some mojo," which meant he wants me to play it and give it some character. He also leaves this black SG with me when we hang out, for months at a time. They're awesome.
All of his buddies use me, free of charge because they always bring me awesome shit to fiddle with.
What the hell does a "blues doctor" need mojo for? So he can sound like a more middle aged Clapton, as opposed to a geriatric, neutered Clapton?
From a financial standpoint, it appears I've been shortsighted in assuming all guitarists/musicians learned to do their own work out of necessity/poverty...I might be able to make a buck here or there :P
Quote from: SunnO))) on September 29, 2011, 06:10:14 PM
Sorry to keep touching this (that's what she said, nyuk nyuk nyuk,) but I've had people refuse to take their expensive as shit instruments elsewhere after talking to me about them. I have this Doctor buddy, Big money doctor, who has this set of matching Les Pauls, old Les Pauls, They're great, GREAT guitars, He waited two years a piece for each one. One day he was having some issues with one of them, saying it wasn't playing like it was supposed to. I said I'd take a look at it, he was reluctant at first. I changed a few things, tuned it, and handed it back. He loved it. He gave me the other one to do the same shit to. He brings them to me every couple months now, and leaves them for almost a month while he goes abroad working. I asked him, just for shits and giggles what they were worth and he said he could buy a brand new car with each one, fully loaded. I almost shit myself. These are guitars I'm just sitting in the house playing, and they're worth the down payment on the house.
Same guy has two guitars that hang out with me all the time, a custom shop Eric Johnson strat that he said "needs some mojo," which meant he wants me to play it and give it some character. He also leaves this black SG with me when we hang out, for months at a time. They're awesome.
All of his buddies use me, free of charge because they always bring me awesome shit to fiddle with.
I worry more about shipping damage than anything happening to my gear in Jake's hands. All of the shippers are apes. One day I'm gonna send my Mustang to him for a super-duper setup. I just have to build my nerve up to pack it, but hey it made it to me from Japan. It can't be as bad going from MS to FL.
Send it over, I'll make that 'Stang play like butter.
Quote from: SunnO))) on September 29, 2011, 06:10:14 PM
Sorry to keep touching this (that's what she said, nyuk nyuk nyuk,) but I've had people refuse to take their expensive as shit instruments elsewhere after talking to me about them. I have this Doctor buddy, Big money doctor, who has this set of matching Les Pauls, old Les Pauls, They're great, GREAT guitars, He waited two years a piece for each one. One day he was having some issues with one of them, saying it wasn't playing like it was supposed to. I said I'd take a look at it, he was reluctant at first. I changed a few things, tuned it, and handed it back. He loved it. He gave me the other one to do the same shit to. He brings them to me every couple months now, and leaves them for almost a month while he goes abroad working. I asked him, just for shits and giggles what they were worth and he said he could buy a brand new car with each one, fully loaded. I almost shit myself. These are guitars I'm just sitting in the house playing, and they're worth the down payment on the house.
Same guy has two guitars that hang out with me all the time, a custom shop Eric Johnson strat that he said "needs some mojo," which meant he wants me to play it and give it some character. He also leaves this black SG with me when we hang out, for months at a time. They're awesome.
All of his buddies use me, free of charge because they always bring me awesome shit to fiddle with.
That's fuckin cool as shit. I'm near Portland Ore. p/u-deliv?
Lemme crash on your couch, I'll come play.
Swing by springfield, according to the google it only adds an hour to your journey ;D