GUITAR SET-UPS

Set-up Procedures & Helpful Hints

Intonation is directly related to truss rod adjustment & is influenced by temperature and humidity conditions.
Strobe tuners are the best way to go when setting intonation, although Peterson has a reliable mobile app that works well.
Guitars with a spring loaded tremolo will produce their own reverb chamber, clashing with your digital effects and can cause unwanted feedback.
Springs can be muted for those dead stops i.e. the 'Heavy Metal Chunk' Your studio work will come out cleaner and you'll avoid feedback at high volumes.
I specialize in repair or restoration of all tremolo systems especially Floyd Rose with hard to find parts to maintain and modify these systems.
All set-ups include a detailed check for loose frets or worn out string nut, complete finish cleaning w/ wax, fret cleaning, fingerboard cleaning/ conditioning, clean and tighten all hardware, lube tuner knob bushings & adjust tension, check electronics (if applicable), re-string, adjust truss rod and set intonation.
Acoustic guitars get an internal inspection for loose or broken bracing, warped soundboard and any other structural defects.

ACOUSTIC NUT & BRIDGE WORK

Special Nut & Bridge fabricating materials

Throughout the years many Nut & Bridge making materials have been used, all with their own unique tonal characteristics.

Some of the more highly sought after materials are Organic such as Fossilized Walrus Ivory, Mastadon Ivory, Bone and Deer antler to name a few. Pictured is a fang from a Walrus that lived over a thousand years ago. It is the preferred material I use as an upgrade for Bone, Micarta & Graphite.

Better sustain, tone and durability than other organic materials and warmer sounding than 'Micarta 'or 'Tusq'.

Remember, only Fossilized Ivory is legal Ivory.

PICKUPS & ELECTRICAL

Upgrades & Modification Tips

Get your own personalized sound with a pickup swap or make a cheap guitar sound excellent.
Neat and consolidated wiring with clean solder connections are important.
2 conductor single coil pickups (Strat type) are inherently noisy and are frequently replaced with 3 or 4 conductor pickups. shielding tape or conductive shielding paint work great.
The battery in an active circuit has the best ground, eliminating the need for grounding and producing the quietest operation.

GUITAR AMPLIFIERS & PRO AUDIO

Tube Amp Tips

Tubes lose their tonal quality long before they actually burn out.

Signs your tubes are weak include noisy operation (crackling/ popping), loss of power and or loss of EQ.

Proper Bias adjustment and ventilation prolongs the life of your tubes and gives optimum performance.

Mixing Console Common Problems

Scratchy or noisy faders and pots are the most common issue.

Jacks and other receptacles are next on the list.

Some digital effects issues can be as simple as changing out a PC board

Keyboards

Most problems are broken or sticking keys, broken jacks and dirt.

Just as vulnerable to injury as any other instrument, your keyboard should have a padded zip case or hard shell case.

Poweramps

Defects arise from too much heat, continuous high output operation above the clipping level, and just plain old hooking it up wrong.

Dirt: Just like a vacuum cleaner, these high rpm fans drag in lots of dirt clogging the fan blades, heat sinks and the other components, resulting in excessive operating temps and component failure.

ALL GUITAR REPAIR