Taylor GS7 Acoustic: Top Repair and Sunburst Refin
This guitar was in such bad shape when we arrived, we almost didn't repair it. By the time it went home, we and the owner were glad we did! This Taylor GS7 was accidentally dropped and unfortunately landed in an unforgiving spot. Sometimes a guitar takes a fall and a...
Vintage 1930’s National Duolian Neck Reset
We reset the neck on this beautiful mid 30's Duolian for Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. We've been privileged to do some work with Chicago's hometown heroes, Wilco. This National Duolian dates to the mid 1930's and is an interesting companion piece to our earlier post...
1960 Rickenbacker 360 – Truss Rod Repair
This vintage 360 suffers from a fairly common Rickenbacker ailment. So we used a less common approach to correct the problem, improve the guitar's performance, and maintain it's original condition. We see a lot of Rickenbacker basses and guitars in our shop. They are...
Vintage 1968 Fender Stratocaster Restoration
This vintage Strat survived the 80's, but just barely! Here's how we brought it back to it's original (looking) glory. When you really think about it, it's a wonder there's any clean and unaltered guitars from the 50's and 60's anymore. With the style tastes we saw in...
Guitar Humidifier Season Is Here – 2012
"An ounce of prevention beats a pound of cure." In this post, we'll break down the best way to protect your guitar in the cool months ahead. Chicago winters kill guitars. The weather gets dry and cold, so we turn on our furnaces - drying out the air in our homes even...
A Gretsch Corvette Becomes A Rock Princess
This is the story of how a rough looking Craigslist find transforms into a beautiful Gretsch Princess. Once upon a time, a buddy of ours found a listing on Craigslist for a Gretsch Corvette "project." It turned out to be this body/neck that had been stripped, routed...
EKO “Rokes” Rocket Refinish
We improved on some poor modifications to this Italian-made EKO Rocket. The Rokes were a mid-1960's English band that found their greatest success when they relocated to Italy. There, the Italian guitar maker EKO developed this awesome, futuristic design for The Rokes...
An Electric Sitar Gets A Pick-up-Grade
The National Slimline proved to be the perfect pickup for this Rikhi Ram electric sitar. We don't see many sitars around here, so it bears mentioning this interesting electric model. It's made by Indian builder Rikhi Ram and features a top set of six main strings and...
Martin D-28M Elvis Presley Edition – Prototype #1 of 4
August 17 marked the 35 anniversary of the King's passing. This Martin replica of his 1955 D28 is a great reminder of his fine taste in guitars. Not long ago, Elvis - or at least the actor who plays him in Chicago's Million Dollar Quartet - brought his guitar in for a...
Marshall Majors For Red Hot Chili Peppers
...or how Pat McKeever single-handedly saved Lollapalooza! Okay, maybe that's overstating things a teeny bit... August 4th, we got a call from the guitar tech for Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer that they were in need of quick repairs to a pair of early 70's...