The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Whom do people trust with their guitars? I'm not looking to drive all the way to Palo Alto so please don't say Gryphon. I'm talking Oakland, San Francisco, or Marin County.

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  3. #2

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    There was a pretty good guy in Marin, I think he used to do Eric Schoenbergs repairs. Name escapes me though
    Maybe SS can suggest someone

  4. #3
    I called Schoenberg and they told me any project they send to their luthier is at least a 4 month wait.

  5. #4

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    I remember now, Chris Berkov

  6. #5

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    I haven’t been in there in years but Gary Brauer has a shop that’s in the back of Real Guitars which is on Lafayette and Lafayette it’s just south of Mission and a block from Van Ness

    Gryphon in Palo Alto is highly regarded
    Last edited by Crm114; 05-11-2022 at 12:41 AM.

  7. #6

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    It’s Gary Brawer at Real Guitars. I won’t go into detail but I prefer San Francisco Guitarworks over him. I have used SF Guitarworks at least a half a dozen times in about 10 years and have been completely satisfied each time.

  8. #7

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    I have been disappointed with every luthier I have tried in recent years here in the Bay Area. Ralph Novak is gone (he moved to Eugene, Oregon and hasn't worked on other people's guitars since the 90's in any case). Paul Hostetter has died. Chris Berkov is not taking new customer's to my knowledge and Gary Brawer is pretty much just taking orders and letting his staff do the work (I have heard some less than stellar reviews).

    I have been doing my own guitar repairs in recent years out of necessity. Good luck Oomph! You are going to need it. If you find a good luthier, let me know!

  9. #8

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    John Jordan in Concord.

  10. #9

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    I've had two jobs done by Brawer's shop. One was a Plek which actually didn't make any noticeable difference. The other was lowering the action on a Godin Nylon Multiac. They didn't lower it as much as I wanted. The tech (not Gary) thought it shouldn't be that low. Later, Hideo Kamimoto did a neck reset and the action came out exactly as I wanted. Hideo was retired last time I reached him.

    A friend spoke highly of John Mello in Kensington, but I don't know his work first hand.

    For a setup, I'd suggest reading the instructions on the Fender website and watching some youtube videos. It's easy enough and hard to break anything (gentle with the truss rod!).

    For something that requires actual skill and experience, I go to John Jordan in Concord.

  11. #10
    I had a refret done on my 1953 ES 175 by Gary Brawer's shop and I will never take another guitar there again.

    Sadly Stringswinger is speaking from the same trial and error I've experienced. The best I've dealt with so far is Geoff Luttrell from SF Guitarworks but he's extremely expensive: $1k for a refret plus some minor custom work.

    I'll have to check out John Mello and John Jordan.

  12. #11

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    John Jordan stopped working on guitars several years ago and now focuses on violins and similar stringed instruments.
    Jordan Violins

    SF Guitarworks has one of the best reputations for guitar repairs. I've not used them since their prices were too high for my needs.

    As others have stated, Gary Brawer's shop is inconsistent unless Gary does the work. That said, he did a fabulous re-fret and Plek on my Heritage H-157 Custom back in the early 2000's.

    Another option is Hiatt Guitar Repair. Guitarist, Terry Hiatt does great repairs out of his home in San Mateo. It's likely out of your way, but he works hard to please customers. He's done most of my repairs and set-ups over the last 15+ years.
    GUITAR REPAIRS | mysite

  13. #12

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    Looks like the drive to Gryphon may be worth it…

  14. #13

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    I have also worked with John Mello many years ago. Much better option than Brawer IMHO if he is still around and interested in what you have. I think that he is in San Pablo or thereabouts. Telling that some people here have not had good results from Brawer. I still prefer Geoff at SF Guitarworks though since their SF shop is very close by and their work is consistent and they honor a redo adjustment if necessary. I have never had a refret by SF Guitarworks so I can't comment on the cost. The stuff they have done for me over the years wasn't necessarily cheap but it was done right.

  15. #14

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    I would recommend Stephen White at Guitar Tech in Berkeley without reservation. Good luck.

  16. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by vance h
    I would recommend Stephen White at Guitar Tech in Berkeley without reservation. Good luck.
    Back when Ralph Novak was my guitar Tech (1980's), Stephen White was his apprentice for a time. I have never tried him, but will in the future. Stephen learned from the best!

    Guitar Tech

  17. #16

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    I have had great results with Geoff at SF Guitarworks. He did a very tricky job of loosening the fingerboard on a '94 Gibson R8 which was necessary to straighten the neck. He said it would play better than when it was new, and he was right.

    As to his prices, no he isn't cheap. But neither are (some of) my guitars! I don't think I've ever had a cheap guitar tech, on either coast. YMMV etc.

    Having said that, OP has not stated what kind of guitar he wants worked on. If it was a vintage Martin or Gibson acoustic something like that I might try to find a specialist.

  18. #17

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    Am in Alameda and I used 2:

    1) Mike at East Bay Guitar repair, good work

    2) Recently discovered the guys at Wood Street Guitar in West Oakland and they are doing a fantastic job.

  19. #18

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    Just came back from a highly productive visit to John Jordan, luthier in Concord Ca.

    John is definitely still working on guitars. He also makes violins.

    Here's my trip report.

    My Yamaha Pacifica 012 cheapie is more comfortable to play than my Comins GCS-1.

    I wondered about nut slot depth, tailpiece height, whether it might make sense to install a trapeze.

    The Yamaha also stays in tune really well and the Comins does not.

    John looked at the Yamaha first, measuring action with a ruler and looking carefully at the neck. He praised the guitar for its playability.

    Then he looked at the Comins, taking the same measurements. He concluded that the guitar needed a truss rod adjustment and did it on the spot. The action came down, even a little lower than the Yamaha. He had me test it all over the neck to make sure that I was happy with the way it played. I was.

    He then raised the stop tailpiece quite a bit. I'd done that before, but I was way too timid.

    He said that a trapeze might make some difference but he thought that the truss rod and tailpiece adjustments would achieve most of what is possible.

    He also showed me how much play the bridge has on its posts, explaining that the tuning stability problem was the result of that play.
    He said that Gibsons have exactly the same issue.

    He suggested that a pro solution would be to replace the bridge with one that locks to the posts via a setscrew. Tonepro. I asked if I could accomplish the same thing by shimming the posts -- he didn't seem impressed but did suggest using plumber's tape if I wanted to try that.

    He spent some additional time patiently answering questions.

    I was very pleased with the outcome and recommend John wholeheartedly.

    Disclosure: no other relationship than a satisfied customer.

  20. #19
    Hey all,

    In the past I have used Gary Brawer (when at Real Guitars), John Mello/Al Milburn (when in Kensington), and John Jordan (in Concord) and all were top notch and close to where I was living/working at the time. My unconfirmed understanding is that Gary Brawer is not operating out of Real Guitars in SF but out his residence in Berkeley. He reportedly is still doing work. Last time I used Gary Brawer was in mid 90s and he did the work himself (electric solid body). Top notch but even then he was backlogged about 6 weeks. A friend recommended John Mello in Kensington and Mello referred me to Al Milburn who shared his space at the time. Mello was focused on acoustics and Al did electrics. Al is a great guy and luthier and did varied work for me including complete refret, finish repairs, setups, etc... Unfortunately I understand he became ill, the building in Kensington is now vacant, and the last I heard of him was of a benefit to help pay for medical expenses. Last but certainly not least is John Jordan. He was the first "luthier" I ever used and brought him a Talkamine acoustic and electric in the mid 80s for proper and complete setup on recommendation from the owner of Countrywood Music in Concord. Playing, intonation, recut nuts, made all the difference. Jordan is still operating at the same Concord location. I have always been completely satisfied with the entire experience. Jordan has been doing guitar work and his high end violin business for quite some time and I doubt you will find a more attentive or professional luthier in the area.

  21. #20

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    Is it just here or have all the good guitar (and amp) techs grown old and surly, or just gotten out of the business? Maybe there’s a new crop of people who are keeping their skills a closely guarded secret, but I don’t know who I’d have work on my gear anymore.

    I can kind of understand, because it’s a high skill, low pay profession in many cases. Maybe people are just getting smarter about what they won’t do.

  22. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan0996
    Is it just here or have all the good guitar (and amp) techs grown old and surly, or just gotten out of the business? Maybe there’s a new crop of people who are keeping their skills a closely guarded secret, but I don’t know who I’d have work on my gear anymore.

    I can kind of understand, because it’s a high skill, low pay profession in many cases. Maybe people are just getting smarter about what they won’t do.
    The Bay Area is super expensive. I don’t think you’ll find that many guitar players that will appreciate the quality and be able to pay for it.

    I live in San Mateo, pretty close to the guitar center. A few years ago, I started talking to their tech a few times and ended up bringing an electric for him to setup. He was under 30. I was pretty impressed so I did that a few times. Then one day I brought a fancier guitar for setup and I was told that he had been hired at Gryphon.

  23. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by MidnightStrummer
    Hey all,

    In the past I have used Gary Brawer (when at Real Guitars), John Mello/Al Milburn (when in Kensington), and John Jordan (in Concord) and all were top notch and close to where I was living/working at the time. My unconfirmed understanding is that Gary Brawer is not operating out of Real Guitars in SF but out his residence in Berkeley. He reportedly is still doing work. Last time I used Gary Brawer was in mid 90s and he did the work himself (electric solid body). Top notch but even then he was backlogged about 6 weeks. A friend recommended John Mello in Kensington and Mello referred me to Al Milburn who shared his space at the time. Mello was focused on acoustics and Al did electrics. Al is a great guy and luthier and did varied work for me including complete refret, finish repairs, setups, etc... Unfortunately I understand he became ill, the building in Kensington is now vacant, and the last I heard of him was of a benefit to help pay for medical expenses. Last but certainly not least is John Jordan. He was the first "luthier" I ever used and brought him a Talkamine acoustic and electric in the mid 80s for proper and complete setup on recommendation from the owner of Countrywood Music in Concord. Playing, intonation, recut nuts, made all the difference. Jordan is still operating at the same Concord location. I have always been completely satisfied with the entire experience. Jordan has been doing guitar work and his high end violin business for quite some time and I doubt you will find a more attentive or professional luthier in the area.

    I'm happy to hear that John Jordan is still doing guitar repair. I may check him out for my next project. Sad news however, about Sam at Countrywood Music. He recently passed away and the shop closed.

  24. #23

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    I've had a few really good experiences with Stewart Port, here in Oakland, and Wood Street Guitar Repair looks really promising.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
    I'm happy to hear that John Jordan is still doing guitar repair. I may check him out for my next project. Sad news however, about Sam at Countrywood Music. He recently passed away and the shop closed.
    Sorry to hear that about Sam and I miss Countrywood.

  26. #25

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    Thanks for the heads up about Wood Street Guitars.

    I used to take my guitars to Gary Brawer, but as others said the work from that shop became extremely unreliable if anyone other than Gary was doing the work, and I basically gave up a while ago. The last three times I took a guitar in, there were major issues, which they were always happy to correct, but after waiting six weeks for the work to be done, I found myself getting increasingly pissed off, so just stopped.

    SF GuitarWorks has done some great work for me, but their hours don't work for me as they are exactly the same as my own business, so I can never get there.

    There's a very good tech in Santa Cruz, a woman named Lucy; her business is called Lucy Electrix. She does impeccable electronic and setup work, but I haven't had her do anything really complicated.