01/31/2024
I have been working on setting up my new room for my Divine Hammer School of Guitar Repair and trying to network to get this message out. Guitar repair is a closely guarded skill because the professionals doing the job have never had an actual teacher or any real guidance so I believe most of us aren’t willing to share our knowledge because we aren’t completely sure we are right!! I know a f**k ton about headstock repairs and fretwork and acoustic building but I am still a beginner when it comes to stuff like rewiring electronics. So I made sure I had those fundamental skills in my other founding professors for my school(hey-it’s my school-I can call my people whatever I want haha).
A couple days ago-I saw a post that my friends guitar player was wondering if anyone knew of a good bridge you could replace a Floyd Rose one with and I did a small amount of looking and said I didn’t think they really existed except I sent a link for one but it still was pretty much a Floyd Rose - he then said the names of three companies that make them and that he was just asking if anyone liked the ones out there. So I said oh that’s great thank you for this info-I’m starting a school and this is good to know. Then I saw someone comment that they should privately message him about doing it for him or talking about it or whatever. So if I was dismissed for not knowing something that I also asked 2 colleagues about and they agreed with me right away - not knowing these parts are out there…..
In every profession and skill and job out there- people usually SHARE INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE TO BETTER THE WORLD AND THE THINGS WE LOVE IN IT. The people who know this stuff are going to die with that knowledge and I want to be the place that archives the brain of every repair person and luthier alive.
I am not embarrassed to say that I only know how to build acoustic and electric guitars and refret them and repair them professionally. I’m sorry I haven’t spent all my time memorizing the catalogues of every vendor for gear upgrades. I work with my wonderful friend Jon Brunette who loves to do the s**t with guitars I hate like everything to do with electronics. We are a team. Our brains think differently and we see the value of helping each other.
My shop Kari Bunn Guitar Repair and school will be a place anyone can learn how to set up their own instruments. I want everyone who works on guitars to be a part of it. The door will always be open for anyone who works on guitars to come and tell me what you have learned in your time and become another founding professor. This is the Wikileaks of guitar repair as far as I’m concerned.
My dream is one day you will walk into any guitar store and every f**king guitar will be playable and set up right because it won’t be a magic trick anymore!
In the words of my founding professor and mentor Max Robert Maxwell “The job of guitar technician should not exist!”
