Maintenance marathon!

[Bob Womack]

I’ve let some of my guitar maintenance pile up, so I have a group of guitars that need to visit my friend and excellent luthier/tech, Kenny Marshall, who does all my work. I’m going to invite you to come along on my journey and see what happens. Here are the candidates:


2021 Martin OM-28 Standard Reimagined. My lovely wife gave this guitar to me last fall and has suggested I take it to Kenny to be evaluated for optimizing. Though it was set up pretty well at the factory with a Plek machine, my feeling is that the nut is a tad high.


2018 Gibson Les Paul Standard T (“Traditional”). Gibson set up this guitar with a Plek machine and did their premium Plek job but the nut seems a tad high for me and it still has the classic Gibson tuning problem, ie., after a good bend on the upper strings it tends to end up off pitch. I’m also going to get Kenny to install the toggle switch “poker chip.”


2013 Fender American Standard Telecaster. The setup was pretty good from the factory, but it has come into high demand in the studio and I want it optimized. 25.5” scale isn’t native to me so I want it to be as comfortable as possible.


2004 Taylor 710ce. This is a truly new-old-stock 2004 guitar without a scratch on it. The action is relatively high at both bridge and nut and feels a bit clumsy. I have no idea whether fret work will be required to bring it down.


1999 Taylor K14c. This is the silver tuna. Purchased for me by my lovely wife, set up by Kenny back then, and played by me for twenty years, its frets are getting pretty low. Refret? Probably. Kenny has referred me to the Jescar site to consider fret sizes and I’m trying to figure things out. Will it be stainless or nickel silver? He says Taylor’s ebony fingerboards tend to be pretty dry so it’ll want extra care as he works.

Kenny is quite popular with professional clients and has a constant stream of work coming in from clients in Nashville and other out-of-state locations. He’s got a professional resume’ a mile long with some really impressive names. As a result, he has a backlog of work at all times. When I called him, his backlog was over twenty instruments. He serves a few large bands and orchestras that have a deal with him where they can save money by being willing to drop off a group of instruments for repairs and wait for months for him to return them. That allows him to insert them into any slack times. He said that if I waited a bit, we could set a date when he expected to catch up reasonably well and we could insert my bunch into the work stream. We arranged a time, so this morning my wife and I travel to the adjacent town where he has his bench. We’ll catch up on lives, have a consultation, and leave the instruments to be worked on.

So, it is a maintenance marathon. I've rounded up the usual suspects and put a set of new strings in each case. I love to watch Kenny work because he is so knowledgeable and experienced and he just exudes that experience with a casual competence. I’ll be fascinated to see what he thinks of the guitars and what work will be needed. I’ll report after the consultation today.

Bob

[rollypolly]

Cool. But with a set of nut files you could avoid the wait and save whatever it will cost to have all those set up.

[jaymarsch]

Nice collection there, Bob. It’s great that you have a trusted tech to tweak these to your satisfaction. On a side note, I changed strings on 4 of my guitars last weekend and got them wiped down and gave them each a once over, checking the frets, nut, saddle, etc. Feels good to get them refreshed.
You’ll enjoy them that much more when the work is done. Thanks for including us on the journey.
Best,
Jayne

[Mr. Jelly]

I just took a guitar in for some nut work and a K & K install. It's a three week wait. What might the turnaround time be for these guitars?

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by rollypolly

Cool. But with a set of nut files you could avoid the wait and save whatever it will cost to have all those set up.

There a came a time in my life when I no longer wanted to wield sharp objects around the expensive ones. They were also being used for sessions, where I needed a really good job done. When Kenny does a setup it goes far beyond cutting nut slots. If the guitar needs the frets leveled and crowned to get the action down he'll do that. If it needs the fret ends rounded he'll do that, plus filing the bridge for intonation if necessary. On the electrics he also sets up the pickups. I found that he was capable of far more than I am. Now I am... um, spoiled.

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

I just took a guitar in for some nut work and a K & K install. It's a three week wait. What might the turnaround time be for these guitars?

Kenny and I have worked together for a long while and I've been a reliable customer so he uses a sightly different system for me. He'll give me an estimate for when he can take me in and we set up a date for then. He reserves time based upon my needs. For instance, this time I waited two weeks, but the instruments were still in my hands. Typical turnaround from the start of work is fairly short, a week or so, but this is a lot of work. I'll find out more this time when we talk.

Bob

Cool Bob! I work with Ian Weston here in Ottawa. He's the best in town by far but he has made some business changes in recent years to maintain his health, sanity and long term success that have made his shop less accessible. Everything is booked online now with no walk-ins and drop off dates in his calendar only open up when he has capacity. Therefore I have a backlog of instruments that I haven't brought to him for setups, etc. Once dropped off the turnaround is only about a week on a setups/minor stuff though.

[rollypolly]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

There a came a time in my life when I no longer wanted to wield sharp objects around the expensive ones. They were also being used for sessions, where I needed a really good job done. When Kenny does a setup it goes far beyond cutting nut slots. If the guitar needs the frets leveled and crowned to get the action down he'll do that. If it needs the fret ends rounded he'll do that, plus filing the bridge for intonation if necessary. On the electrics he also sets up the pickups. I found that he was capable of far more than I am. Now I am... um, spoiled.

Bob

Gotcha. I wouldn't mind have someone like that for times where precision is needed. I have admittedly fudged up a nut or two!

[nuchdig]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Kenny and I have worked together for a long while and I've been a reliable customer so he uses a sightly different system for me. He'll give me an estimate for when he can take me in and we set up a date for then. He reserves time based upon my needs. For instance, this time I waited two weeks, but the instruments were still in my hands. Typical turnaround from the start of work is fairly short, a week or so, but this is a lot of work. I'll find out more this time when we talk.

Bob

That's a great relationship, and a pretty cool business model

[Goat Mick]

I do the vast majority of my work myself and can do a pretty good job of setting up a guitar to my liking. That being said, there are times when it goes over my head and I'm glad I have a really good builder/repair guy that I can go to. He has been working on my guitars for about 25 years and is an absolute wizard. Looking forward to your progress reports.

[Dru Edwards]

Bob, that Les Paul is a beauty. Not as nice as your 70s LP though .

Did the toggle switch poker chip come as case candy?

[jricc]

Very nice guitars Bob. I'll be following along on the work being done. Personally curious to know what your tech does to optimize that beautiful OM-28!

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Bob, that Les Paul is a beauty. Not as nice as your 70s LP though .

Did the toggle switch poker chip come as case candy?

Thank you and thank you, and yep, the poker chip and the pick guard I'm not installing came with the guitar. I never thought I let one go without, but it is a pretty top.

Bob

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Did the toggle switch poker chip come as case candy?

Okay, I’m going to plead ignorance here: what is a toggle switch poker chip? Please provide a photo of one so I can see what you’re talking about.

Thanks,


Wade Hampton Miller

[coder]

A.k.a toggle switch plate: It is just a large-ish plastic "washer" that goes under the nut that holds the toggle switch to the guitar. It usually has the inscriptin "Treble" and "Rythm" on it. If you google the term, yo will find pictures and videos of them.

[Wade Hampton]

Okay, thanks.


whm