I first got interested in electric guitars and basses when I was a freshman in high school, in New Jersey. I'd discovered some of the "guitar gods" - mostly from watching TV and because I'd finally started listening to FM radio - as opposed to Top 40 AM. The guitar heroes I first became aware of included Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Ted Nugent and, of course, Jimi Hendrix.

I think partially out of being a kind of geeky kid, and partially because I was convinced I'd neevr really be ABLE to play (this was the tail-end of the pretentious prog rock era after all), I got very interested in the actual gear that these guys used - the cool guitars with names like Stratocaster, Les Paul and SG.

I decided to build my own guitar .. which provided a really good excuse to start going into a lot of guitar shops and looking at catalogs. The Jersey Shore at that time had a plethora of guitar shops, including one of the earlier "vintage shops", Guitar Trader, in Red Bank, NJ.

Walking into Guitar Trader in 1979 was pretty amazing .. rows of 50s and 60s Strats, a few 50s goldtop and sunburst Les Pauls, etc etc. And the prices back then would make you cry today ... despite the fact that Guitar Trader was considered one of the more expensive places to buy an instrument. A mint '67 Strat might set you back $800 at Guitar Trader, whereas it might be more like $650 at Red Bank Music or Jack's across the street ...

Anyway .. I was fascinated by the shapes, names, chrome, colors and the stories .. and then two more pivotal events occurred to create a nascent "guitar freak".

One was that I saw the movie, "The Kids Are Alright", with John Entwistle's legendary fantasy sequence that showcased his vast guitar collection. Two - I went to see Cheap Trick at Convention Hall in Asbury Park - and Rick Nielsen trotted out gorgeous, colorful guitar after guitar during their show - sometimes he'd be playing with three guitars stacked on-top of each other - jumping up and down as the Fiesta Red Strat bashed into the Red Firebird which was bashing into a Hamer Standard or an Iceman or something. Craziness!

Another evolution occurred over the following year and that was my discovery of the musical underground - starting with the tail-end of the punk scene, with bands like The Clash. The Jam and Ramones, and leading into the amazing "Post-punk" scene that included Gang of Four, PIL, Killing Joke and so on. Seeing these bands convinced me that though I'd never be the next Jimi, I could probably make some kind of noise that at the very least would agitate someone, somewhere.

Throughout the 80s I ended up playing the stripped-down distillation of musical aggro know as "hardcore" - a music and scene that epitomized the philosophy of DIY - Do It Yourself!! I played on many stages, in many basements, in many garages .. anywhere! In some ways I really felt that hardcore was a sort of folk music of its time .. there was (literally) no barrier between the audience and the band .. and anybody could be in a band if they had some drive/motivation.

During that time - while I was still fascinated with guitars, my focus was more on cheap utility instruments and very loud amps .. if I managed to play a nice guitar it was because some kid in another band on the same bill lent it to me !! The instruments I owned were limited - a 70 Precision Bass (still my #1 bass), a highly modified Kimberly guitar with a Dimarzio Super Distortion, a Squier Bullet, also with a Super Distortion, and later a stock 1974 SG Standard.

It was quite a few years before I had enough semi-disposable income to actually start buying guitars, but from 1992 on, my collection accelerated rapidly. I remember making a list of the one dozen guitars I "really wanted" around 1994 ... by the end of the decade I was up to around 80 and my collection currently tops out around 120. Not sure if I got all the guitars on that "hot dozen" list ...

As I started collecting and becoming more knowledgeable about instruments, I realized that if I was willing to buy "fixer uppers", I could get examples of instruments that otherwise would have been completely out of my range. I had always been good with my hands, having taken 4 semesters each of woodshop and autoshop in high school - and worked on all sorts of old Ford Mustangs, Porsches, Datsuns, etc.

A few individuals were also kind enough to give me advice on how to do repair and refinishing work - namely Vinnie Gulizia (formerly of Vinnie's Vintage Guitars, in Chelsea, MA), Jim Mouradian of Mouradian Guitar Repair, and Clay Herrell, who got me started on the "art" of refinishing with his encyclopedic knowledge (check the link to his website in the sidebar).

Over the course of 12 years, I built my repair and refinishing skills to the point where I decided to start my business during the Fall of 2007. The past year and a half have accelerated my learning at an unbelievable rate - I honestly would have to say that I learn something new every week - whether its some bit of information about a vintage instrument, or a new technique, material or tool to use in repair or refinishing. I think it'd get boring if that wasn't true !!

Anyway - that's my story - subject to update of course !! read more →

For all you Soundgarden fans, here's an old Guild S-100 guitar - Guild's answer to Gibson's SG Standard. Kim Thayil used a 70’s S-100 on at least the first 3 Soundgarden albums.

This guitar is equipped with two factory Guild humbuckers, with volume and tone controls for each pickup, wired through a pickup selecter switch, plus a smaller (factory original) phase switch for the two pickups. The phase switch allows the two pickups to be put in or out of phase: the out of phase sound is similar to what Peter Green (early Fleetwood Mac) got from his rewired ‘59 Les Paul - a kind of compressed humbucking sound. The in-phase setting gives a nice full-throated double-humbucker sound.

This guitar dates to mid-1973 based on the serial number. The pots date to the 10th week of 1973, which is consistent with the mid-73 serial number. The wiring is 100% original and untouched - in fact when I opened the back control panel I’m pretty sure it was the first time it had ever been opened judging from the appearance of the internals and the screws.
Note the factory label on the inside of the control cover.

The only on-original parts on the guitar are the strap-pegs - there is one extra strap-peg hole (filled) on the butt-end of the guitar body. This is illustrated in one of the pictures - its not too noticable. Everything else - pickups, electronics, Grover tuners, frets, bridge, tailpiece, etc. etc. - is original.

The clear plastic pickguard is in excellent condition, with a clear clean logo. There is some wear on one of the volume knobs, as you can see in the close-up view. The headstock overlay and pearl inlays are in PERFECT condition, with no evidence of peeling at the edges.

The finish is also a completely original natural finish over mahogany - though there is wear on the back of the guitar down to bare wood.

There is also some arm wear on the front that has dulled the finish - visible in the 2nd picture if you look carefully. There are of course various nicks and chips in the finish on the edges, as this guitar is 36 years old! The primary structure of the guitar is just two pieces of very evenly grained mahogany - one for the neck and one for the body. There are two small “wings” of mahogany glued on for the sides of the headstock. The grain of the mahogany on the body and neck is beautiful - as I tried to to illustrate with some of the close-ups.

The back of the guitar could easily be refinished in clear nitrocellulose, but I chose to leave the guitar as-is since it was very close to 100% original. However, if the winner of the auction DOES want the back of the guitar refinished in clear nitro, I would do that for an additional $100.

The guitar plays extremely well - with low even action across and along the entire neck. The guitar has obviously been played over the past 36 years, so the frets do show some wear - with a little less wear on the highest frets - as would be expected (unless some one constantly played shrieking leads on it!!). There is plenty of fret height left to allow dressing. but in my opinion the frets are NOT in need of any dressing - the guitar plays great as is. The rosewood fretboard is also in excellent shape -with no scratches or gouges and excellent mother of pearl inlays.

The total weight of the guitar is approximately 7.5 lbs - making it medium weight - roughly the same as a mid-70s Gibson SG Standard.

Finally, the guitar comes in a non-original TKL hardshell case, which is an excellent fit and will protect the guitar.

This is a rare opportunity to own an unmodified, unbroken Guild S-100 - a guitar that was arguably superior to the Gibson SG’s of the same period and produced in much smaller numbers.

SOLD!! Thanks to Richard in NJ - hope you enjoy the guitar and play it mightily !!!
read more →

Usually the first step in the refinish process is removing the existing finish on the guitar. In some cases this is very easy, requiring just some sanding with a random orbital sander and a block - and other times a standard chemical stripper, such as ZipStrip, will work to cleanly bubble the finish off.

However, there are also a whole breed of indestructible finishes - starting with Fender's polyester finishes of the 70s and 80s - and including a whole variety of other recent instruments. These finishes have the advantage of being very chip resistant and pretty much wear free - for example, the back of the neck on my 1970 P-bass is still shiny shiny - while the body, which was finished in lacquer - is missing about 1/2 the paint from age and wear. The problem with these super tough finishes arises when you want to remove them.

In the past, I have worked on a number of 70s Fender - and in those cases, I simply sanded/ground-off the polyester finish, usually leaving a good portion of the clear sealer coat underneath, since it was equally tough.

Recently, I was asked by a customer to strip an 80's "shred" neck - and then apply a thin satin finish on the wood, to improve the feel of the neck. The neck had a VERY shiny black finish - with binding - which I carefully masked off.




I first tried a standard Methyl Chloride-based paint stripper - this is Ace Hardware's version of zipstrip or 5F5 - all pretty similar. Unfortunately, after letting the stripper sit for about 40 minutes, the gloss was barely even dulled by the stripper - and the finish was certainly not going to be coming off anytime soon.

I then decided to search for what I heard referred to as "Aircraft Stripper" - which was supposedly made for the purpose of stripping paint off of aluminum skinned aircraft (e.g. when USAirways took over Piedmont Airways and repainted all their planes). After a little calling around, I found the product pictured below at AutoZone - $13 for a quart container.



I applied it to the neck - left the basement for 20 minutes - and when I came back - I was able to scrape off a bit of the finish (with a plastic scraper) - finally something that at least softened the finish!

After another application - I was able to remove the entire color coat with the scraper and some steel wool - but this revealed a clear coat under the black paint.

I started again - with a heavy coat of the aircraft stripper - and let it sit for 40 minutes. This did soften up the finish - but I had actually still use metal scraper - CAREFULLY - to get the finish off . I didn't scrape the neck completely bare this way, as I didnt want to damage the maple neck, but what was left was sandable and loosened up anyway.

I am impressed with the capability of the aircraft stripper - I guess the ultimate test will be on a 1979 Fender body - if it can strip that, it can strip ANYTHING !!

A final note - WEAR GLOVES WHEN YOU USE THIS STUFF !! - it will start to burn your fingers within a few seconds of you getting it on bare skin - and it really hurts if you get some on more tender skin, like say the insider of your forearms !! Hear me now and believe me later .... read more →