I got a new job... as a guitar repair man.

[j.arledge]

Well i got myself a job, my very first one. I am repairing guitars as a contractor with my local music shop. I got on thursday and have already worked on 6 guitars which means i have made around $80. It may not seem like much but it works out with me going to college (18 hours).

Anyways i thought i'd share and ask if anyone has any advice or if anyone here has ever done anything like it.

[TongueShredder]

Congrats. Man, thats a good job. Doing something that you love

[nuno]

Originally Posted by j.arledge

...if anyone has any advice or if anyone here has ever done anything like it.

i do guitar repairs for a shop, even. if i can give you an advice, whenever you get a guitar with bad dings and scratches, take pics of those before you start working on it. this will save your @ss sometimes.

good luck, man

[teokiatuan]

that's awesome j.

go for it

[Cathedral]

Hey congratulations! Don't worry about the pay, any money is good money, especially in college. Besides, I'd probably work for a few shots of whiskey at the end of the day if somebody let me loose in a workshop.

[kotornut]

Congrats. Do people good and they'll do you good. I love my repairman I aways go to him I feel very loyal, because he always does a good job in a timely manner and goes the extra mile just for the relationship. I even feel obliged to spend a bit more in the shop just to support his store (he owns it) and I spread the word to my guitar friends about it.

[nickcoumbe]

Originally Posted by nuno

i do guitar repairs for a shop, even. if i can give you an advice, whenever you get a guitar with bad dings and scratches, take pics of those before you start working on it. this will save your @ss sometimes.

good luck, man

Definately do this.

Also don't have anything heavy stored above your work bench.

You should refuse to fix anything without a double locking rem (schaller or better only) otherwise people will never learn.

[j.arledge]

Originally Posted by nuno

i do guitar repairs for a shop, even. if i can give you an advice, whenever you get a guitar with bad dings and scratches, take pics of those before you start working on it. this will save your @ss sometimes.

good luck, man

that is a great peice of advice, i needed to invest in another camera anyways.

[Distantshore]

Congrats dude! Thats a great first job!

[LuredMaul]

Never do to a customer guitar that you wouldn't do to your OWN pristine BABY!

[TAorama]

Treat customer's guitar as well as you'd treat your own. If not better. Your reputation as a guitar tech will spread quickly, good or bad. Make sure it's good. Good luck!

[j.arledge]

yeah i am taking extra special care with all the guitars i have worked on so far. Mostly they have been acoustics. I have a guy that needs a paf pro and tone zone installed in his RG so i'll enjoy that, and there are a few other acoustics i have to check on parts for.

I am thinking about maybe getting on with allparts.com as a dealer.

[warren]

well done mate!!you lucky bast@#d. how old are you? and how did you get the job, im looking to do something like that. what sort of repairs have you done so far?

[j.arledge]

i am 20 and i got the job mainly because i can wire up electronics/ pickups. One of the guys that works at the music shop has an s-470 that he needed a paf joe installed in (already had the Mo'joe in there) so i said hey i'll do it for you and show you how. So i worked on it there in the music store, and it so happened that the GM noticed what i was doing and asked the employee if he thought i would work out as a contractor.

So that was it, the next day i spoke to the GM he told me what they needed and how to it do it asa far as invoices and what thier process is.

So for instance I had an acoustic that was in rough shape, it needed a truss rod adjustment, nut shim and saddle shim on the high e side. It didn't take me much more then an hour to have it back in great shape. I had the add the shimms to the nut and then glue and clamp it so that was really the longest part of the whole setup.

I have done setup work so far, mostly acoustic guitars. The common problem i am seeing is fret buzz or a dead note on one string one fret. Mostly the kind of stuff a truss rod adjustment will take care of, and maybe a little shimm.

I had to change out the preamp on one guitar and then fit a pre amp into another. That was hard. The guitar was a classical, so the piezo was a hair short and i had to split the difference. The saddle cutout was too wide so i had to use a fairly thick saddle which ment it was tall. I had to take the dremel tool and sand the bottom of the saddle and make a channle so that the piezo pickup would fit and set right under the saddle. The bridge was still a little too wide for the saddle and that was the largest i had and i think the largest they make so i had to fit in around the bridge with some epoxy. It didn't stick to the saddle just molded around it so it would be held secure without a lot of wiggle room. The piezo pickups are horrible if they can move around the bridge, it will cause some strings to sound dead and others to be much louder.


I had an epiphone come in that had a dead note. The guitar was brand new, and after looking at it and messing with it trying to get the note, i looked it and saw it had a high fret. The fret wasn't very high it just hadn't been radiused right . I hammer it a little bit and the guitar was great, nothing else wrong.

Anyways it has been a lot of fun so far. I have really enjoyed it.

[LuredMaul]

AllParts is a great company......I use them in my Store.