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Guitar Repair in San Francisco/Bay Area?


elsupermanny14

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Hi guys, quick question for the Bay Area/SF residents. Where is the best repair shop to take my guitar too? I'm trying to get a complete re-wire for my Strat with a push/pull pot and pickup shielding.

 

What guitar shops do you recommend and anyone have any idea of how much this might cost?

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Brawer's good but there's a long wait to get your instrument worked on. SF Guitarworks are also good, and I think the wait is shorter.

 

 

Brawer does great work and is a terrific guy but last time I sent a guitar there it took 3 months to get it back. Probably would have been faster had my case read Schon, Hammet, Gillis or Chaquico like many of the cases I saw there did...

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Got an estimate back from Gary Brawer. $150 for a complete re-wire to the following specs:

HSS pickups, volume, tone, tone (push/pull) pot for seven pickups combinations.

I provide pickups and pickguard and will purchase all controls from them.

Complete shielding.

 

Or for $100 everything minus the shielding.

 

What do you guys thing? Sound fair? I'm inclined to think that's a fair price for the work.

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It's a bit on the high side but I've taken my guitars there a few times and he's always done a perfect job.

 

One great suggestion he had when rewiring my guitar was to use a different value component so that my tone knob had more of a useable range. Basically I never used 0-5 on my tone because it was way too dark, I just used 6-10. He changed it so that the entire sweep of the knob went from 6-10, if that makes any sense.

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I go to either Antone at Antone's Music in Newark or Benny Rodriguez in Concord. Benny is probably one of the coolest dudes I've ever met and knows his {censored} more than anyone else I know of.

 

 

Brawer has done top notch work for me but that wait is looooong. Also had a neck built /pleked by Danny Ransom in the same store.

 

Benny Rodrigues is indeed as good if not better then Brawer. Benny is a true pro and nice guy.

Also, Greg Day is a young fella that was taught by Benny and Greg does good work for a great price. He works out of Danville Music in Danville. Ask for Greg Day.

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How about the South Bay? I have an acoustic I'd like to take in for a professional setup (it may need a neck reset, but I want confirmation), and I was thinking about Keith Holland in Los Gatos. Any feedback on his work???

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How about the South Bay? I have an acoustic I'd like to take in for a professional setup (it may need a neck reset, but I want confirmation), and I was thinking about Keith Holland in Los Gatos. Any feedback on his work???

 

I've used Keith a couple of times and bought my Reverend from him as well. I've had him do a setup on my tele when I couldn't get it to intonate myself for some reason, repair a hole I punched in the side of my acoustic and refret my strat with SS. He is somewhat opinionated...gee what a surprise for a guitarist :D but I personally have been happy with his work and his prices (he was the cheapest I found for refretting in SS although he said most people don't like them :idk:). If I need more work done I'll go back to him again FWIW

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What shop does Benny Rodriguez work out of? I googled him but I couldn't find a place a business. Think he would be cheaper?

 

 

He used to work out of this one:

 

http://www.guitarheaven.com/

 

Think he still does. But, he goes on tours and whatnot sometimes with touring bands to tech. I think he might be a little cheaper then Brawer. But, his {censored} is top notch. He set up my G&L tele and it was a first class job.

I would say Greg Day would be cheaper. And, I know he has gotten pretty good at soldering and wiring because Benny taught him and he'll work for Benny sometimes, afaik.

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