Bad Repair Ramifications

[DystonicBlues]

Hi guys first post here so hello. Just want to get your opinions on what's happened to me and what you suggest.

I have a Martin 00016 that i got in the early 1990's. Great guitar everything spot on and never had a problem with it. i could go into altered tunings at the drop of a hat and back to standard quickly and with no worries.

So it needed a refret. i wanted stainless frets cos i play a lot and wear them out quickly. I went to a local luthier who is really good and explained i wanted this done plus i wanted the action raised a bit so i could play some slide on this as well as standard.

Got the job done. Refret was beautifully done. So on getting the guitar home it didn't seem to be intonating right and the tuning just felt off. I would get it in tune for the open chords at the nut but then it would be out further up the neck.

Put up with it for a while but then the higher action was slowing me down on my normal picking too much so i decided to take it back and get the action put back where it was. This was a shop i trusted but the luthier who ran it left and the shop was now being run by a guy who was his 'Finisher'. I explained i wanted the action put back.

Ok so now we come to the crux of things. I got it back and no matter the amount of time i spend i cannot get this guitar perfectly in tune! Chords sound sour and i know this guy had been working on the nut. My theory is he is not well qualified to be doing this kind of work and he botched it. After working on the nut the guitar was pinging all over the place when i adjusted the tuning pegs again not a good sign.

I had a bit of an argument with the guy in the shop because i'm so upset at the mess he's made to the playability of this guitar and i called into question whether he should be doing this kind of work when this is what he produces. Earlier i had spoken to him about refretting a guitar, just making conversation, and he said he couldn't do it and wouldn't feel confident!! I mean i'm just speechless.

Anyway i am now scared to take it to anyone for fear they will not be good enough to fix it or will make it worse. I know of some guys who have good reputations in shops fairly local but this has ruined my confidence as far as putting it in for work.

Sorry for this long tale but i just have to get it off my chest as when someone botches a favorite instrument it is so upsetting.

Have you guys ever had anything like this where a repair butcher has done a number on one of your prized instruments?

[rmp]

Indeed I have

not the same kind of sitch but,..

this was my Fender Strat Plus

I had previously swapped out pickups from Lace Sensors to Texas Specials.

The pickup swap was done expertly, and I was good to go. Loved the change, and still like those pickups in a strat.


I made the mistake, of letting a tech do a shielding mod to quiet the 60 cy hum. It was the normal strat buzz, but if I could tame it, why not.

Well he screwed the pickups up to the point of literally no return. Among other blunders he did, he also soldered copper shield material over the windings, thus destroying the continuity of the windings, and dropping the ohms to the point where the guitar had about half the output it once had.

of course it was quiet now, because the pickups were like running at half the Henries they should have

so I paid him to screw it up, then had to buy another set of texas specials to replace the ones he massacred and install those.

He is still around and people still inquire if I can recommend him.

I don't bad mouth the dude, but I do suggest a word to wise, just find someone else, anyone else.

sorry your guitar got so screwed,

but not all techs are bumbling clowns, some of them are VERY good problem solvers.

you need one of them!

I have one, and they are worth their weight in whammy bars.

[Mandobart]

Originally Posted by DystonicBlues

Hi guys first post here so hello. Just want to get your opinions on what's happened to me and what you suggest.

Have you guys ever had anything like this where a repair butcher has done a number on one of your prized instruments?

Butcher implies destroyed beyond repair. All you likely need is a correctly compensated saddle.

Yes this happened to me on a sentimental favorite (but not necessarily prized) instrument. About 15 years ago I discovered what intonation was and that both my guitars did not intonate correctly when comparing fretted and harmonic notes at the 12th fret. One was a cheapie Applause 6 string (sentimental, my first guitar) and my Ovation 12 string. Took them both to a local shop which was once the largest (by volume and dollars) Gibson dealer on the US west coast. Sure, they could fix them both up with new compensated saddles. It would take two weeks.

I called after two weeks. No, they weren't done yet. One more week. Called after another week - no we can't do the Applause because of the aluminum neck. Give us one more week on the Ovation. Picked up the Applause. Called back in another week. "I'll get on it right now" he says. "Don't bother" I say, "I'll just come pick it up and take it to someone who has the time."

I go to pick up my 12 string. Unplayable. Zero action on the high E and B strings. They just buzzed. I refused to pay. They no longer had the original saddle.

I took both guitars to another local luthier. In one day he made and installed new saddles for each guitar. They both intonated perfectly.

[DystonicBlues]

Yeah i just felt he butchered it so that's what i called him. He even offered me a free set of strings cos i was so pissed at the mess he'd made. I have a couple of shops locally i can take it too but this is the problem you feel you're venturing into the unknown taking it to a new place.

[YamahaDave]

Have you tried a little graphite rubbed into the nut slots using a pencil?

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=146946

[DystonicBlues]

Originally Posted by YamahaDave

Have you tried a little graphite rubbed into the nut slots using a pencil?

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=146946

Not yet but it's not so much the tuning as the intonation over the length of the neck. You get it in tune in one place and it's out in another. I suspect that when he's been filing the nut he's moved the contact point for the strings and knocked the intonation askew. I think it'll either be a complete new nut or maybe the shop i'll take it to can fix it.

[DystonicBlues]

Originally Posted by rmp

He is still around and people still inquire if I can recommend him.

I don't bad mouth the dude, but I do suggest a word to wise, just find someone else, anyone else.

Yeah i looked up Google reviews on local guitar repair places and someone had left a review on his shop and performance on another issue and it wasn't good. I was tempted to tell my story but... i don't know why but i held back. Someone told me that you can get sued for putting stuff up online or in print being less than happy about a business's performance and they can claim you caused them loss of revenue etc. I don't see how that can be true but i have heard of cases before where that has happened so thought it better to remain quiet about it. Just don't like the idea of him screwing other instruments though.

[Rudy4]

Since it's a Martin find out from them who the authorized repair facility is in your geographic area and work with them. Martin would stand behind the shop's work or de-authorize them.

There's a bunch of resources on the web (some available here) so you can learn setup enough to understand what the source of your problem is. If you don't know what is causing your problem then you're at the mercy of whichever shop you decide to deal with.

Those suggestions would be a much better option than you simply feeling frustrated and having no recourse to deal with your problem.

You always have the option of sending it to Martin to correct any problem you have with the instrument. Sometimes playing the guitar can be an expensive hobby.

[redir]

What does "After working on the nut the guitar was pinging all over the place when i adjusted the tuning pegs again not a good sign." Mean?

The reason why you might be playing out of tune on a guitar that was refretted is because now that the frets are taller you are not pressing up against the fretboard wood and hence bending the strings out of tune.

The only reason why a new fret job would cause intonation issues is if the frets are not crowned well but you stated that the fret job was done well.

[Mr. Jelly]

I know that in allot of guitar stores they have any employee work on guitars. They learn by experimenting on peoples' guitars. It doesn't take long, and they consider themselves experts. Kinda like sound men. Always research the people that you have work on your guitar. It's why allot of us have learned to do some things ourselves. By doing that we can talk to a guitar repair person and make more of a knowledgeable decision if they know what they are doing when it comes to needing some work done beyond our skills.

[IndianHillMike]

Originally Posted by DystonicBlues

Not yet but it's not so much the tuning as the intonation over the length of the neck. You get it in tune in one place and it's out in another. I suspect that when he's been filing the nut he's moved the contact point for the strings and knocked the intonation askew. I think it'll either be a complete new nut or maybe the shop i'll take it to can fix it.

I would try a capo on the first or second fret to take the nut out of the equation and see if you still have intonation issues. And what part of the world do you live in? Someone on here might have a reputable repair person they know in your area to recommend.

Mike