Whole Lotta Love for.....

[JVG]

After contributing to the "if there's anything I hate" thread a while back, I started to feel guilty for whining. The main theme there was that a lot of guitar repair guys are poor at estimating job times, and lousy communicators.

So, I want to even up the "cosmic forces" and send out admiration for someone who breaks this mould. ( Otherwise I fear I may be reincarnated as Floyd Rose tremolo and suffer eternal indignity at the hands of a spandex-wearing shredder....)

Hopefully this doesn't come across as a sales pitch!

The person who has impressed me is Peter, from the Pickup Wizard, who has been awesome every time I've enquired about something, and during the purchase sequence. I've dealt with him several times, and he has always responded to emails within 24 hours, given unbiased information, and provided accurate build time estimates.

I'm sure there are plenty of other great people out there too.

Cheers!
J.

[Shadoweclipse13]

I'll bite. I try not to complain too much, but I'll say that I've talked to a few people who've blown me away as far as courteous and helpful when you've got a question or a request for something you want to buy or need help with. Not affiliated with any of these guys myself!

-Jaime from The Creamery: awesome dude to work with in building pickups, and will do absolutely anything you want on his pickups. Great communication, and quick work.

-George from GeorgeBoards: always has a TON of suggestions for alternatives when you've got a question, replies after I'd think he would've gone to bed, and just cool to chat with about stuff.

-Bare Knuckle pickups: I've talked to several of the guys when I was having them build the Mules for my offset Tele project (body should be here soon!). They can make ANYTHING happen with their pickups, and have amazing suggestions and communication.

-Steve from Prymaxe: I probably can't say anything too specific, but he's always helpful, and actually remembers me when I get on their chat to ask a question.

-Ken from Roadhouse: friendly and always is helpful. I'd like to have a beer with him at some point

[JVG]

Communication is the key, as you point out.

Usually I don't mind if it takes 3 days or 3 months to get the job done, provided they are honest in their estimate upfront.

Ironically my next Whole Lotta Love recipient is Tommy from USACG, who actually isn't the most prompt communicator in the world. I don't think it's intentional at all, just the result of being snowed-under with work. But I do know he's as honest as the day is long, wants the best for all his customers, and has a great sense of humour. They've recently put on extra staff to help answer queries and stuff, so hopefully that will free Tommy up a bit.

[marqueemoon]

John Fromel (works out of The Guitar Store here in Seattle). Turned around my pedal repair in 24 hours exactly as quoted. Nice guy. Big gear nerd. Builds great amps.

On the guitar side, Jesse at Mike & Mike's guitar bar does great work. I'd definitely take anything vintage and/or offset there. Not cheap, but you get what you pay for.

[Ceylon]

Ken at Rose Pickups is probably the most service-savvy seller I've ever communicated with. All my e-mails and messages were answered within the hour of me sending them, nothing I asked for was a problem and I had a pair of custom pickups wound and mailed from the US to Finland as quickly and inexpensively as I'm sure it could have been done. Very much impressed.

[eggwheat]

Funny I found bareknuckle to be crap.....twice sent vintage pickups back saying they can't be re-wound due to construction, and apparently had no idea how to fix a pickup with low magnetism.. Andy Blake of Wizard Pickups fixed them all within a week, old school with a ton of knowledge you see.....shame he's now retired! Although apparently eternal guitars have now taken over his business.

Edit: Eternal Guitars have taken Wizard pickups over.. So I can recommend Dave there highly.

[Jaguar018]

My order from Creamery pickups took a little while, but the communication with the excuses was prompt. I'd use him again for sure.

Recently got back a refinished guitar from MJT. That was cool.

My 'local' amp repair guy, Pete Cage (who also builds amps), is the bee's knees.

Used FX Doctor for rehousing a guitar pedal. Easy to deal with.

I have had lots and lots of good interactions with people from all over. USACG, Fender Custom Shop, Ron Kirn, MJT, Lay's Guitar, and many others.

It's harder for me to think of "bad" experiences than good ones, but I have had some of those too. Basically, if you are a reasonable person with an ounce of patience there are people all over the planet that can make cool stuff.

[StevenO]

Peter is the best. I'll most likely never buy pickups from anyone else, if I have the choice.

[LBx]

My order from Creamery pickups took a little while, but the communication with the excuses was prompt. I'd use him again for sure.

He's almost a month late at this point for me. Can't wait to hear 'em still...

[LBx]

re: ^above^

His package arrived two days after that post and they do sound great.

On the very off chance I need another set of something specific I'd get in touch again. Def recommended (if yr not in a hurry)...

[bacongrease]

a lot of love for wes montgomery's dark tone
& jenny lee's (warpaint) dark bass tone

& new Metz

[HNB]

Props to:

Couch Guitar Straps. I got a used strap online and one of the three metal rivets was missing. I emailed them to find out how to find a replacement. They sent me a shipping label and repaired it for free. Since then I have purchased probably five to ten new straps from them because their stuff is awesome and I know they are good guys.

Zvex. Similar deal. Got a pedal used online. The switch started going out. They sent me a label and fixed it for free. Great people.

Dwarfcraft. Similar deal. Got a pedal with a switch issue. They repaired it for free.

MJT. Did a custom guitar through their site. They matched what I asked for via picture examples really well and sent lots of picture updates.

[Embenny]

I'll repeat the props for Couch straps (have 8 straps, a wallet, a belt, and a t-shirt). Always great to deal with, over very many years at this point.

Same for MJT. I've had refinish work as well as a new body from them. Always willing to discuss projects via e-mail and offer their input.

I'll add Spitfire to the list. Made me a mint guard and aged it to perfection - it was for a vintage partsmaster using original pickup covers and hardware. I sent them a photo of the vintage parts and they aged the pickguard to the perfect degree so that the pickups (claws and covers) matched the guard in terms of wear.

Curis Novak. It's not news on this site, but the man is a genius/wizard/mad scientist. I've ordered several totally different types of pickups from him and not only are they always amazingly-built and great-sounding, but his advice is just as high-quality. I've e-mailed him with descriptions of tones I'm looking for, and he always seems to have a wide variety of experimental offerings that aren't listed anywhere on his site (like Guyatone goldfoils surface-mounted to a Jaguar pickguard so that you don't need to rout, or a laser-cut adapter to hold two vintage lipstick tubes as a humbucker on a Jazzmaster bottom bobbin with "stealth" fake polepieces so that it looks like a regular JM pickup externally). I cannot say enough good things about this guy.

Lastly, a whole lotta love for the OSG members in the sale/trade forum. I have had multiple deals with people who have been honest and easy to deal with. We have a great community here, not just for sharing knowledge, but also swapping gear!

[HNB]

Oh yeah I forgot Spitfire! His stuff has always been super awesome. I have three guitars still that have his pickguards and they are so beautiful. Nothing I have seen is like them.

[DesmondWafers]

Local guy, but it is impossible for me to overstate how great Rick Cremer of Cremer's Guitar Works is. Every single time the work has been perfect and completed promptly. The wait times suck, but I would rather wait 2 months for great work than have some glorified tech fuck up my guitar.

Chicago music exchange has also been very good to me. I bought a super reverb from them and it had a rattle-y speaker, so they tried to fix it. When they couldn't, I received a brand new speaker in the mail.