Tacoma Guitar Setup and Repair

10/10/2024

This was the first acoustic guitar that I built from scratch. It features a bear claw sitka spruce top, mahogany back and sides, Ebony fingerboard and bridge, D-45 style inlay on the neck and pick guard, and custom inlay on the headstock and bridge. The fingerboard has 90 separate pieces of mother of pearl, the pickguard has 21 pieces of mother of pearl, the headstock and bridge have another 13 pieces. There is so much abalone bordering the top, sides, back, and headstock that I can't even count it all. Not bad for my first guitar. I gave this guitar to my son as a Christmas gift.

10/10/2024

1961 Les Paul/SG Junior

Someone tried to perform a Who impression and smashed this guitar. Wood chunks broke off. Parts went flying. The neck joint was cracked. The electronics area was cracked and in pieces. The back had several large sections broken off and separated from the body.

Despite the damage, this guitar still had most of the original parts! After restoration, it played great and the P-90 pickup sounded amazing! The guitar has a custom blood red finish.

10/10/2024

1966 J-45

This J-45 met an unfortunate accident. But, not just the hole in the top. A previous repairman had done a poor job of replacing the top. The repaired top then got damaged.

This guitar became my "experiment." If I wanted to learn a new technique I tried it on this guitar first. Everything visible from the front has been replaced at one time or another.

10/10/2024

1950's ES-225

This guitar had quite a repair history. I found evidence that it had been refinished at least three times! Someone used paint stripper on it and let it drip inside the body. I had to remove the back just to clean it up.

Once I removed all the dripped paint from the inside of the guitar the restoration could begin. The guitar features a custom off white/yellow finish. Coincidentally, I had all the hardware and electronics from an ES-175 sitting in a box at the shop.

10/10/2024

10/10/2024

I'm embarking on a new journey. I've wanted to do this for 40 years. I'm opening a guitar repair business. I invite you to check out my new website. tacomaguitarsetup.com

10/10/2024

One of my favorite things is finding trashed out guitars and restoring them. This is a 1958 Guild. It came into the shop stripped of all it's parts. The binding had shrunk and separated from the body. In fact, at one point, the binding had pulled away and almost made a complete circle away from the body. The pickup cavities were in the wrong place and had to be moved. I used TV Jones pickups in the bridge and neck position and a PAF humbucker in the middle position. I wired the middle pickup with an on/off switch. The TV Jones pickups sound incredible. They are punchy without being muddy and bright without being shrill. All in all, this was a fun project.