AZG to the rescue!
Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2014 4:01 pm
A few (9 or so) years ago there was a well known tiff between myself and Lee Garver who runs GMW Guitars over some issues I was having with my new custom guitar.
There were a few issues, which Lee did sort out when the guitar eventually came back to him, except the biggest issue I had, the frets were not stable.
I had had them professionally redone to no avail. Lee just milled them flat again and they were again uneven by the time I got it, and also quite low at this point.
Trying to get the guitar going myself I had a new board ordered to the same style, initially glad it was thicker, until it was ok and I realised that changed the feel of the neck to where I didn't like to play it. How annoying!
Part of my trip here included a visit to GMW to see Lee in person, to patch things up and try to get my neck fixed.
Unfortunately Lee did not really want to do anything further to this guitar past the bare minimum, which entailed shaving down the existing too thick board, adjusting the radius along the way. If an inlay or two is lost then that creates new problems which are annoying so there was no telling how it would all end up.
So, I may have missed meeting him in person bit I spoke to Tom earlier and he is taking on the build of a new birdseye maple board with ebony sharkfins to the thickness of the original faulty board.
How did GMW stuff up my guitars board when they are known for impeccable fretwork? It was another example of fixing something the easy way rather than the proper way.
During the build I mentioned the sharkfins inlays and reply was that the guitar had dots. I referenced the build sheet which said sharkfins. No problem, we'll fix it. So they planed a bit of the top and put a thin laminate over the top.
The original shots were still there and didn't line up with the new top. I discovered this as we removed the original board to replace it. Finally it was clear why this board had problems.
Thanks to Tom I hope to finally be able to enjoy playing my one and only total custom ordered guitar.
Thanks Tom, I will ship it to you before I leave the US.
There were a few issues, which Lee did sort out when the guitar eventually came back to him, except the biggest issue I had, the frets were not stable.
I had had them professionally redone to no avail. Lee just milled them flat again and they were again uneven by the time I got it, and also quite low at this point.
Trying to get the guitar going myself I had a new board ordered to the same style, initially glad it was thicker, until it was ok and I realised that changed the feel of the neck to where I didn't like to play it. How annoying!
Part of my trip here included a visit to GMW to see Lee in person, to patch things up and try to get my neck fixed.
Unfortunately Lee did not really want to do anything further to this guitar past the bare minimum, which entailed shaving down the existing too thick board, adjusting the radius along the way. If an inlay or two is lost then that creates new problems which are annoying so there was no telling how it would all end up.
So, I may have missed meeting him in person bit I spoke to Tom earlier and he is taking on the build of a new birdseye maple board with ebony sharkfins to the thickness of the original faulty board.
How did GMW stuff up my guitars board when they are known for impeccable fretwork? It was another example of fixing something the easy way rather than the proper way.
During the build I mentioned the sharkfins inlays and reply was that the guitar had dots. I referenced the build sheet which said sharkfins. No problem, we'll fix it. So they planed a bit of the top and put a thin laminate over the top.
The original shots were still there and didn't line up with the new top. I discovered this as we removed the original board to replace it. Finally it was clear why this board had problems.
Thanks to Tom I hope to finally be able to enjoy playing my one and only total custom ordered guitar.
Thanks Tom, I will ship it to you before I leave the US.