Brian Watson Sick String Guitar Repair
Forum Replies Created
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@DaymakerMusic some really solid perspective here, thank you. You’re so right regarding the bit about some of the more abusive customers being the most obsessed with cosmetics, to paraphrase. Also agree about the “race to the bottom” chasing minor chip and ding touchups. It’s cool that you have that experience with art restoration and how that community views it vs the guitar world. <div>
I really like your suggestion about keeping documentation of standard practices and methods, I’m going to start doing that. I’ve kept copious notes over the years, but still find myself experimenting with certain things–like looking for a faster way to achieve my ideal result for final fret polish, etc. And I’ve tended to change my setup procedure a bit depending on the guitar, e.g. I’ll follow the G&L manual procedure when setting up a G&L, but I follow a bit of a different set of steps for a Gibson. Keeping it all in one place and handy to present to customers is a great idea.
These replies are so insightful, just another example of why I’m enjoying this community\resource. Thanks again!
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Really appreciate this thoughtful reply. I think your perspective is helpful–the idea that luthiers hold themselves to an impossible standard sometimes definitely rings true. It does sometimes feel like we’re supposed to be clairvoyant when seeing an instrument for the first time. When I had my brick and mortar shop, I spent a lot of time chatting with customers at intake but I didn’t have a very formal process or any kind of releases or paperwork for them other than a handwritten intake slip where I made notes, and then filled out as the work progressed for their receipt. I’ve been learning a lot hearing about other people’s intake and evaluation process (and looking forward to Doug’s presentation on it tomorrow.)
Those tips about good habits for tool storage and moving around a guitar are smart, and especially the bit about heat when scribing and etc. That’s not a step I’ve done unless something has been stubborn to remove. I’ll have to keep it in mind in the future!
Do you ever heat up the tongue of the guitar on a bolt on neck? That bass situation is the one that still bothers me in retrospect. Only time that’s happened in like a thousand times removing a standard fender neck. In hind sight I should have paused and given it more thought when it felt so sticky.
Thankfully the bit about communicating with customers is a strength. I totally agree that’s always the right move.
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+1 interested in hearing about this. I know a few people have had some pretty successful techniques for poly touch-up repair but I’ve never mastered it. IIRC, Taylor guitars used to offer training on this at the higher tiers of their warranty repair program. I got through a couple levels of their training years ago but didn’t get around to finish repair, so maybe I’m wrong. I was under the impression that they would blend out the area of a ding with different sanding grits and create a bit of a concavity around the repair area, and this somehow made the witness lines on drop fills much less noticeable on poly.
Any further info on that technique or this acetone idea would be really interesting–maybe some of it already exists in a ding kings segment? I’m just beginning to navigate the site and haven’t seen it all.
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Totally, good Qs. It really varies by the band. Some bands own their tech stations. Some techs have one that just gets shipped around for tours and stored when not in use. I had a tech station built for me when I first started that the band bought off me when i moved on.
One of the challenges in my situation is doing lots of fly ins and international dates where the band is shipping minimal gear and renting backline. For a while I was constantly going back and forth re-packing my touring tools. You really need to end up owning 3 of everything if you’re going to have a home shop, fly rig, and a dedicated tech station that gets freighted.
Currently most of my essential tools, including my tuning setup, fit in basically a carry on size pelican air. I’ve seen some really cool custom tech stations–one acquaintance used OG Nintendo controllers for drawer pulls, pretty sexy. I’d love to do some video interviews with other techs, like a rig rundown just for the guitar tech.
Definitely most bands have some kind of dedicated supply trunk, and it’s best when it’s more than you think you would need. With one band I’ve worked with a lot, I’ve got a guitar vault with some storage, plus 2 tall supply trunks with a ton of spare pedals, tape, batteries, picks, strings, raw cable and connectors, and whatever other supplies I can stuff in. My main tools still travel in my little Peli, but I have a fold out table built into a case door I can use when needed.
With some bands we carry a couple random pelicans with strings and supplies. Sometimes I share my supply case with production, so like, printer, passes, first aid shit, whatever, strings and gaff and etc etc. There are a million ways to do it.
I do make a point of obsessively organizing, labeling, and separating stuff in the cases when I come into a job. I’m a little shocked how many touring guys are kind of sloppy about that stuff–one guy I took over for had loose gummy bears and nerds all over the drawers– but I’ve seen some really great luthiers with pretty disheveled shops, and my bench at home is always a mess.
I think it’s even more important to be organized when space is at a premium, so if I’m forced to stuff all my supplies in one pelican, I try really hard to compartmentalize it inside the case. That way if I’ve only got 30 seconds to find a patch cable I can minimize my panic. I buy lots of pencil cases for little bits, and anything else I can come up with to separate things. Plenty of cardboard boxes getting re-used, and plastic bins of all shapes and sizes, but they rarely all fit in the case I want. So duffle bags, thrifted backpacks, army navy ammo bags, whatever. Weight is always a big concern, so I constantly have to compromise on the ideal in order to just make it fit and be able to grab the right bag\box\etc.
In terms of the actual parts and strings and so on, I have to think about the player and give myself just enough wiggle room that I’m pretty sure I won’t run out of strings on a Sunday in Geneva or something. For main guitars I try to keep about 1 set per show on the run. For some guys I change strings every day, some it’s every few, some want them to be as dead as they can get away with so I have to gauge it. A lot of players have instruments they only use on a couple songs a night, so I order on the assumption that the most I’d change them is every 5 shows roughly–mando, banjo, pedal steel, baritone, tenor, things like that. They always complain when strings are fresh and crispy sounding but if you let them go too long, you know how they can start to sound like all the character disappears.
In terms of bits and pieces, I carry as much as I can reasonably fit after I’ve packed all the more essential tools I can in my fly case. If I can, I match stuff up to the guitars I know I’ll be seeing, but if I’m not sure I take my best guess. Little parts don’t take up that much room but can be impossible to find when you need them. I bring a baggy of pickguard screws, a few 3 way switches, a few pots, output jacks, a bit of hookup wire, a baggy of baking soda for nut shims, switch tips, spare nuts and washers, but you’ll always be forgetting something. You’ll bring pickup springs but not have a string tree when you need it. Usually you figure out a way to get through a show. That’s where foam and tape and creativity come in handy.
I guess that’s a lot of words with no clear answer, but I think generally you bring as much as you can get away with and try to anticipate all the things you hope you won’t have to touch. If you do need a random item that you can’t grab easily locally, you’ll look like a genius if you have one in your pack, whether it’s a fuse, bushing, strap button, or whatever.
One thing I never expected before I started touring was just how much every little piece of hardware gets shaken up and loosened just from travel. Guitars, pedal boards, amps in their cases, all sit in a truck and rattle around for hours every night between cities. As far as I can tell all the vibration acts like an ultrasonic cleaner or something–tons of vibration that just slowly shimmy screws out of their beds. Going around and retightening things seems like half my job sometimes.
IDK, I hope that’s somewhat interesting or useful!
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Hi Peter,
I got into touring by meeting musicians through repair work. I started out in a cool little used and vintage shop in Portland called Old Town Music. I started doing a lot of repairs for Modest Mouse while they were working on their album “we were dead before the ship even sank,” and they asked me to join them on the road for that album cycle, so I did. Many of the other artists I’ve worked for came through my shop in the same way, (Dandy Warhols, Stephen Malkmus, and others,) but the touring industry, once you’re in, is a very small world. Almost all my gigs have come through word of mouth. When tour managers need to fill a tech position they tend to reach out to their rolodex of techs and other managers, and referrals get sent along that way.
If you wanted to get into touring, it wouldn’t hurt to mention it to any clients that are already bringing you work that you know bring a touring crew on the road. It might also help to network by picking up side work at a venue as a stage hand if possible. There might be an opportunity for you to bring in a little tech tool pack if you’re doing load ins etc, and make your services available to bands coming through. At worst it’s a chance to meet some touring personnel and maybe pass out some business cards. There are also some online networking opportunities through Bobnet (kind of a message board for touring job postings and resumes, but can be super hit and miss, and I’ve never used it,) or linked in.
The work day can vary a lot depending on the type of production you’re on–stadiums vs clubs, etc. At the indie rock level, doing mainly theaters and large rock clubs, small amphitheaters, and festivals, the day is often about 10am-12am, give or take. Whichever way you slice it, the day goes something like load in, set up, patch the stage, do your string changes, maintenance, any repairs or other projects you need to get to, line check, sound check with band, break for dinner, changeover, show, break down, load out, shower, bus call, drive overnight, do it again. Somewhere in there you might find a couple hours for lunch, a walk, a nap, self-care, phone calls, or whatever other priorities you can squeeze in depending on your needs. Most departments are pretty autonomous, and as long as you’re getting done what needs to be done for your world to function and for everyone else to do their job around you, there’s some freedom in how you manage your time. But it can definitely be a grind. I’d say that learning to find your own balance and persevere through the schedule is one of the biggest skills you have to learn on the job, and how you adapt to the realities of spending days in a row in small spaces with the same group of people is a huge determining factor in whether things work out or don’t between you and the band. Just being a person that other folks on tour enjoy being around, being a team player and having patience and flexibility are as important as your technical skills, if not more so.
As far as tech-to-the-rescue stories, I don’t know how memorable they all are. A good show is a boring show from my perspective. When something goes wrong, seconds feel like days, and your value really comes through based on how quickly you can ID the problem and remedy it. If something cuts out, or starts buzzing uncontrollably, or breaks, or the artist decides to dive into the crowd, you really need to be able to think fast– what got unplugged, did a pickup, tube, speaker, cable, switch, or power lead die or get pinched, stepped on, shorted, half-jacked? Do you need to race to patch in an extension XLR so the singer can take the mic with her as she’s suddenly crowd surfing? Did you notice the guitarist forgot to switch his tuner mute off right before launching into a solo? Some artists almost never have technical problems and others insist on performing in a way that pushes the physical limits of their gear on a daily basis, and then you’ll have anxiety dreams about work for weeks after you get home–bc ultimately your job is to try to anticipate what will and what *could* happen, and try to be prepared to keep everything running smoothly, while remaining mostly invisible to the audience. The better you know the artists you work with directly, the better you can stay on top of things and keep them in the moment, even when things go wrong. The things that can and do go wrong have practically infinite possibilities.
