Who is best Guitar luthier in Los Angeles?

[Eddie's Lester]

In the Los Angeles area who is the absolute best at set-ups, repairs and restorations?

[Eddie's Lester]

Bump.

[leftyDaveZ]

What part of LA are you in? I am in the San Gabriel Valley and a guys by the name of Jon-D is pretty good.

[AndyZ]

Brett or Norik at Renson Guitar repair in Studio City at 818-761-4766

Tina Wood at The Amp Shop in Sherman Oaks at 818-817-9566

 

Both do great work and have many all star clients.

[Eddie's Lester]

 

Brett or Norik at Renson Guitar repair in Studio City at 818-761-4766 Tina Wood at The Amp Shop in Sherman Oaks at 818-817-9566 Both do great work and have many all star clients.

 

 

 

Thanks, I'll give them a try.

 

Your pet chicken is enormous!

[datru]

Dave Neely, Neely Custom Guitars 323-850-7043

 

Nice guy, lot's of big clients. On Sunset across from Hollywood Guitar Center. Authorized for Martin, Gibson, Fender, Guild Taylor and Parker.

 

www.neelyguitars.com

 

I have a Gibson LPVM, an Epi Dot and a Martin DX-1. He's worked an all of them and seems to be an honest guy who does good work.

[Roy]

Gil Chavez in Eagle Rock. There are some serious collectors at my job who own hundreds of guitars. Everyone takes them to Gil. I had a friend with an old Gibby 350 that needed work. The boys at mesa boogie pointed him towards Gil.

[raviolio]

There several very good luthiers here in town. I guess it depends how important location and convenience is to you, and what kind of work you're looking to have done.

 

I've been very happy with work that I've had done at Renson's (in North Hollywood) and Neely's (in Hollywood on Sunset, across the street from GC and upstairs from the Mesa/Boogie shop), and I currently have a guitar in the shop at Carruther's (in Santa Monica).

 

All three of these are top shelf pros with long-standing reputations, who really know their stuff (and FWIW... have a lot of high-profile professional musicians as their clients)... and each has their own area of expertise.

 

I've heard good things about a few others... but as far as personal experience goes, I would say that you can't go wrong with any of the three listed above.

 

[chriscoleman]

Eric Chaz. Super cool guy - his client list is amazing, yet he'll treat the average Joe just the same as he would any star. He was my go-to guy in LA when I lived there.

 

www.ericsguitarshop.com

 

...and his rates are very reasonable. He's one of the best in SoCal, charges $52 for a setup. My local luthier here in Boulder wants $70.

[leftyDaveZ]

I left my new LP at the AMP SHOP today. Tina has about a 2 week waiting list. I am not gigging so I am cool with it. I will give a review when I get it back.

[outtahear]

I left my new LP at the AMP SHOP today. Tina has about a 2 week waiting list. I am not gigging so I am cool with it. I will give a review when I get it back.

 

 

.......aaannnndddd?????

[kanamvar32]

carruther's in venice is great but john pissed me off when i went there for a set up so try not dealing with him. the other older guy that works there is really nice and was the only reason i did business with them.

[gloomrider]

 

In the Los Angeles area who is the absolute best at set-ups, repairs and restorations?

 

 

John Wescott in Toluca Lake does all my guitars:

 

http://www.wescottguitar.com/

 

People SHIP him guitars from all over the country to work on!!!

 

The last time I was there, I saw a shipping crate from Boston! I can't say enough about his quality of work! And his prices are very competitive for LA.

[Ryan41018]

Check our Perfect Guitar Repair and i think they are in Downey the guys name is Raul. These guys do jaw dropping set ups.

[larry50]

---

datru wrote:

Dave Neely, Neely Custom Guitars 323-850-7043

 

Nice guy, lot's of big clients. On Sunset across from Hollywood Guitar Center. Authorized for Martin, Gibson, Fender, Guild Taylor and Parker.

 

www.neelyguitars.com

 

I have a Gibson LPVM, an Epi Dot and a Martin DX-1. He's worked an all of them and seems to be an honest guy who does good work.

---

Second vote for Dave Neely.  First rate luthier, great player too.   Nice guy.  Does flawless work on electrics or acoustics. 

[FrankenSteinberger]

 

---

kanamvar32 wrote:

 

carruther's in venice is great but john pissed me off when i went there for a set up so try not dealing with him. the other older guy that works there is really nice and was the only reason i did business with them.

---

 

Really--there's someone older than John Carruther's at Carruther's shop? John must be darn close to 70 years old. How old is the "older guy"?

John himself has always seemed like a soft-spoken, non-hype type of guy to me. He has his way of doing stuff--the result of decades of experience--and with his client-list I can imagine that if anyone gave him a hard time he wouldn't bother dealing with them again. John (in my observation) believes in mathmatical precision in his guitar work, and uses careful measurement and time-tested techniques--but he loves to innovate, if he believes the results are superior and more cost effective to more conventional techniques.

Plus, I think he's from Canada, and Canadians never piss any one off, right?

 

[Wallstrafed]

At the top of the list has to be The Amazing Nick Karahalios (formerly of Norm's Rare Guitars for 15+ years and now on his own).  In the Valley 818 536 1246.  He has worked on a number of high end vintage guitars of mine (pre 65 Fenders, Gibsons, and Martins) and for many others including working on instruments owned by the highest rock royalty.  He is extremely knowledgeable about guitars, is thorough, and unbelievably diligent in getting it perfect - every time.  Reasonable prices.  Highest recommendation.  

[rebbesoul]

Norik Renson and Brett at Renson Guitar in Studio City/North Hollywood (818-761-4766) is great and so is Eric Shaz at Eric's Guitar Shop (818-780-7191) in Panarama City/Van Nuys.  I've going to both of them for years and highly recommend them.

[mrodelabass@yhoo.com]

Eric at Eric's Guitar Shop................

8101 Orion Ave #21

Van Nuys, Ca. 91406

(818) 780-7191

http://www.ericsguitarshop.com/

[drivelikejoewho]

Maybe not the best but I've been taking stuff to 13th Street Guitars in Huntington Beach for about 3 or 4 years now. The guy used to work out of a business park suite but about 2 or 3 years ago he got a store front in the same business park. He does a great job and gets excellent reviews.

[jaw444]

I just had my first experience at Rensons. Very very happy with it. Norik did the work, Brett was working there too, on electric guitars. I brought in my holy grail acoustic, 1931 Gibson L-1 which had become unplayable after i had it for a couple of years, like above the 5th fret i couldn't fret the 1st string, the pitch didn't change when i changed frets, the action was so low it was almost laying on the fret board. This happened in around 2010.

 

I was living in Santa Monica then, about three blocks from John Carruthers's shop. i had taken a few guitars to him and was ok with everything. I took the L-1 to him and he said it couldn't be fixed, not back to the way it was when it was so easy to play that it almost played itself and sounded really good, it's such a light guitar, and some previous owner had gouged out the X braces to "scallop" them, and i thought that was the cause of the guitar becoming virtually dead.

 

i was in a place in my life then when many things were going wrong and i was overwhelmed by them all and i didn't follow up with the guitar and i didn't understand why John was saying he couldn't fix it, but in retrospect, i'm thinking he had some good reasons, maybe he meant if he repaired it, it would just break down again, because of the way the braces were "scalloped," i'm not sure, so much was happening then. i have kept it in its case ever since.

 

Now, things are much different and i am into taking care of things, and i had seen Renson's Yelp Reviews---still, with vintage guitars, i always feel like i need someone who specializes in that kind of thing, so i was hesitating, i asked the UMGF (Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum) Vintage Corner if anyone knew of someone in the LA area who could do this kind of work (i have since moved to the Valley and i think Carruthers is no longer in LA) and no one in the vintage corner of UMGF seemed to consider anyone in LA to be the right choice with the exception of Gil Chavez. I have taken several guitars to Gil before and have been fine with the results, and fairly priced, and i have confidence in him, but i also broke the headstock on my Martin 0-15 around the time the L-1 died and i emailed Gil about it and never heard back from him. Because of the overwhelmed place i was in then, and Gil being somewhat far from me (Echo Park i think, not sure, LA 90042).

 

Recently when i started feeling up for getting my guitars fixed, since Renson is in the Valley too, i was feeling pulled in that direction. (btw, i also had some work done on the same Martin by Dave Neely in Hollywood, he is very nice and the work was fine, i think he repaired some cracks and holes, long long ago, but the wait was very long to get the guitar back).

 

The people on UMGF mostly recommended shipping my guitar off to highly regarded people far away, which i was reluctant to do. Then a friend of mine who has some vintage acoustics said Renson is his only guy and has been his only guy ever since he got the best set up ever on an old J-45, my friend being a very picky guy, and that pushed me over the edge to having enough confidence to go to Renson. Again, the Yelp reviews are stellar. 5 stars. And they include people who have had work done on electrics, acoustics, hopeless guitars, special beloved guitars, everything, all excellent).

 

So---it was a good experience in certain ways. One, Norik is a nice easy going friendly guy. Two, he has a can do positive attitude. Three, he's clearly experienced with all kinds of instruments and has been the guitar tech for a lot of famous people who tour, people who have rare and expensive vintage instruments. He will use hyde glue if at all possible. He will explain pros and cons pretty well. The way he talked made me feel confident that my instrument could be resurrected. He said if worse came to worst and the repair didn't work over the long term, something else could be tried. He was puzzled that Carruthers said it couldn't be fixed.

 

i had also taken the guitar to Michael DeTemple, the custom electric guitar builder in Van Nuys who is lifelong friends with a friend of mine who recommended him. He showed me that the guitar had a cracked brace which was probably the main reason for the problem, although he wasn't sure, and said he could try fixing it but didn't know if it would work. He showed me the crack and when i got home i made photos of it, that's when i posted about it on the UMGF forum.

 

Another great thing about Norik Renson is that he gave me a quick turn around estimate, a week, which i thought was very quick because he clearly has a lot of work and gets calls about work while i've been there on three occasions, with other customers coming in while i'm there and leaving guitars with him. It seems like if it's a smaller job, he will get it done and out of there, it's a really small shop. He was giving other people quick turn around estimates too.

 

It was clearly important to him that i would be happy with the guitar and the set up. We had talked about what string gauge i wanted. He was recommending 11s. i agreed. But later, i changed my mind, after reading the description of how the guitar was set up when i first got it because that was really perfect, it had extra light gauge strings with a light gauge 6th string, and it was recommended that either extra lights or silk n steel be used on it because it was such a light guitar. When i got it back, Norik had put silk n steel extra lights on it. I've never played a guitar with silk n steel that i remember, and when i played the guitar, it didn't have the bright sound it used to have, and it wasn't the same, and i expressed that, and Norik offered to change them to regular extra lights and set it up accordingly which he did. The outcome is that i now have the guitar that i loved more than any other acoustic i've ever played, it's back.

 

When i got the guitar back yesterday, it was like its old self again. He glued the cracked brace and something else that was loose although it wasn't clear what that was. It plays and sounds the same as before, the holy grail lives !! i have been playing it a lot and am beyond happy.

 

​When i left the guitar with him, i also left the 0-15 Martin with the broken headstock, to repair the headstock and also to replace the Schaller tuners with some open back tuners that are more like the originals, mainly because the Schallers are heavier than what the guitar was designed for, it was my first steel string which i got in 1967 and i replaced the original tuners in around 1971, thinking i would never have any problem with stuck tuners again, and that is true, the Schallers work like new. But i've been advised repeatedly to replace them with something lighter for a few reasons, so i expect it to be more than a week before i'll have that guitar back. He said possibly next week. When i get it back, if i have anything different to report, i will update. i expect it should go fine.

 

I have other guitars waiting in line for some smaller repairs and setting up so i plan to be a regular at Renson's. I can see why he gets good reviews, he's busy yet he comes across pretty laid back and happy to be doing what he's doing.

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have a friend who works at the Fender Custom Shop who has gone thorough all my guitars and set everything up. They all play like butter... if anything, they could play better, but I always make him raise the action from where he starts at - he's a master at setups, but just because he "can" get the action super low without buzzing doesn't mean I prefer it that low.

 

John Carruthers does good work, as does Steve Soest in Orange County. I haven't had him do any work for me in ages, but Alex Murry at Gard's Music in Ontario also does good setups and repair work.

[semajmiyta]

I know this is an old post but I recently just came across it. I saw an old friends name . Nick Karahalios. Nick has worked on several of my guitars when he was at Norm's Rare Guitar. Although it's been years I know Nick has only honed his craft of guitar repair (which is absolutely top quality work). His deep knowledge and understanding of stringed instruments is unsurpassed. But the stand out quality you walk away with once you meet him is his attention and focus to listening to you (the customer) about your needs and concerns and what the end result you want and how to go about achieving that. The prices are extremely fair and the work is done in a timely professional fashion. Highly recommended for high end customization and repairs of any type of top of the line guitars.

[epi56ebony]

I've taken guitars to everyone that's been recommended.

 

All of the people did excellent work except for Wescott, he would be my absolute last choice. I'd take it to the Guitar Center dudes over him.