Official Luthiers Forum!

Thank God for Tetanus shots.......

Now thats an interesting method.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

................and half the time there's cutters in the accessory compartment.

Ain't it great working with the general public sometimes?

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I find the funk on the fingerboard more disturbing than the strings.

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Me too. Hesh, you'll need a tetanus shot after working on that, and a shower.

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jw ( o)===:::

Finger cheese...

You never know when a piece of string will come in handy.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I recommend heavy duty nitrile gloves

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Lol I've had customers bring them in like that and request that I save the old strings for them!!!
My response is "sure but it will cost you an extra $50.00 handling charge."

Cal

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Remember, there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers!

I hear ya. There should be a $50 up charge for anyone who dies the dang stings in knots to the tuner posts too!

At least it looks like it is played a bunch.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Handy poster for the shop wall.

Amazing the number of times I forget the last one and hand the bio-hazard container to a toddler like a bucket of
fried chicken.

Of course - and I'd much rather have a crusty old guitar brought in than the one below. The owner of this one threated a lawsuit if we didn't pay him the full retail price of his guitar as a result of the ding he claimed we put in the peghead while restringing. He was not kidding, would not quit, and made us miserable for weeks:

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Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

Thanks everyone.....

The finger jam was scraped off with a razor blade and then a quick follow-up with OOOO steel wool.....

Regarding people who tie their string on.....

One of the worst things that I see is people who cut off the excess but then bend 1/2" of the string end straight up so that when you handle the thing you get stuck.....

Frank we hear you and try to ferret out certain sorts in advance and then find some reason to send them packing without taking in the instrument. We are not always successful though.....

Now I've only heard of this but I'm told that at other shops in Michigan it's customary to rub an unruly clients guitar on a certain part of the repair person's.... anatomy.... We call it a nut rub but I suspect that in all fairness it does not have to be gender specific.

Again I've only been told about this and would never, never.... never consider it myself....

We are in the service industry after all which unfortunately we get to deal with a multitude of personality disorders.

Hahaha. Nuts on nuts. Make sure you take care of the pointy bits at the tuners. Ouch!

Back in the 80's this cretin brought in a filthy Peavey T-60 with the strings not just tied together in the fretted area, but also soldered together. These strings were bent and mulitated worse than any set of strings I've seen in 40 years. The guy wanted the guitar fixed, and refused to believe that a set of new strings would go a long way to solving his problems. I finally uttered my best "hmmm's" and "ahhh's" while frowning and knitting my brows furiously to seem like I was considering the best plan of action. Finally told him it would be $100 to repair, and he apologized that he couldn't afford my prices... and split.

My apprentice witnessed this episode, and liked to fall off his stool in laughter when the room was cleared....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

^ Hahaha that's just incredible. Tied AND soldered! MY gawd.

I remember detecting one customer that was probably like the one Frank had above. He didn't want to drop off the guitar at the music shop like every one else did but rather come directly to my shop, that's fine. In fact I like it since then I can show some of my guitars for sale. But there was something different about this character. He expected me to stop what I was doing and repair his guitar while he watched so that he could 'make sure it was done right.' In which case I kindly informed him that all those guitar cases you see on the floor are in line first and that's just the way I do things.

I've made it a habit to take pics of guitars before I work on them, not the simple stuff but things like neck resets and so on.

I worked at a music store when I was in high school. From that time until now, I have been exposed to lots of hard evidence that there is a higher than normal incident rate of "flakes" among musicians than exists in the general population.

There is certainly good that goes along with the bad, and the good makes being around musicians worth it (most of the time). But there are days . . .

Had something similar once... A young local metal god had just gotten signed, so he had money burning a hole in his pocket. Swaggered in right after lunch, and demanded that I build him a new guitar RIGHT NOW - all the while waving about twenty $100 bills in the air. He was pretty PO'd when I told him all these other jobs were ahead of him, and that I'd gladly accept a down payment to start planning the project. He finally cussed me out, and said his band would never darken my door again. They didn't, and I missed them like a broken toe.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

What's all the fuss about?
That's how I string all mine.


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"It is easier to fool a man, than it is to convince him that he has been fooled"
Mark Twain