[Doug Proper Guitar Specialist]

I’ll jump in on this one. Our shop has been a warranty center for almost every brand that I can think of (Martin, Fender, Gibson/Epiphone, Guild, Santa Cruz, Taylor, Ibanez (Hoshino), Ovation, Gretsch, etc.) for at least some part of the last 35 of the 40 years we’ve been in business.

Each manufacturer has their own criteria, method for consideration, ideas about training, application process and procedures for approving a shop as a warranty center. In very many of the cases in our shop, most of those manufacturers sought us out. Others we applied for, sometimes at the behest of a customer.

Back when we started our shop in the mid 1980’s, there was no internet, no amazon.com, no YouTube – nothing. If you wanted to be able to get factory parts from a manufacture (and at a discount), you needed to be a warranty center or dealer for them or they wouldn’t give you the time of day. The same goes for technical support. Without the benefit of being a warranty center for a given brand, you were stuck calling their consumer support numbers if you had a problem that you wanted advise on. Take Fender for example. FMIC’s warranty support is among the best in the biz as far as I am concerned. If you are a warranty shop you get a dedicated number for tech support which is typically staffed by looths who really know their stuff and can actually help.

So, for us being able to get factory parts and help when we needed it to solve a head scratcher was why we did it.

In every case, i can tell you from a monetary standpoint, it probably isn’t worth it. Warranty reimbursement rates for repair are usually less than half (sometimes much less) than the retail rate you would normally get from the end user of the guitar for those same services

There are advantages and disadvantages to accepting warranty work.

The Advantages:

– Access to factory parts that are sometimes unavailable for public purchase and at a significant discount. If you are in an area that is tough to get your hands n factory parts – this might be a good enough reason.

– in many cases access to dedicated support for answers – the quality of those answers can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer

– All those certifications can look impressive hanging on the wall – they of course don’t mean anything, they’re just a piece of paper and say nothing about the competence of the shop they hang in – but some customers find it reassuring.

– It can drive customers to your shop. Guitar owners, especially inexperienced ones tend to contact the manufacturer (by phone or website) when they need service and look up the nearest warranty center in their area. Even if the service is not in warranty, they feel better dealing with a “Factory Authorized” shop. If a customer finds you because the output jack on their Gibson fell into their guitar or the switch on their Fender started acting up – and they like the service they got from you – they’ll likely turn into repeat customers with other guitars they have once they have found you. without that initial warranty contact – you might have never landed that customer.

The Disadvantages:

– The pay stinks. It varies from awful to bordering on insulting. Some are better than others – but pretty much all warranty reimbursement rates are terrible compared to what you would normally charge for the service on a retail level. The better (and longer) your relationship with a given manufacturer, the more flexibility there might be. In recent years we’ve had some FMIC repairs come through our shop for Fender Custom Shop pieces that needed warranty finish work. They worked with us, very generously, to make sure that we felt taken care of on the money side. It still wasn’t close to what I would have charged a customer outside of warranty – but it was respectable and i felt valued by the folks at FMIC for the gesture.

– In very many cases today you can find almost any part you need on the Amazonian Super Store – and sometimes for less $$ than what my dealer discount from the manufacturer is. So because the availability of parts nowadays is so much more ubiquitous, there’s less of a need to be a warranty shop if this is your reason.

– Warranty Customer can be among the neediest customers on the planet. They can suck up time from your shop like vampires. There are often some very high expectations of what should be covered under warranty – and more often than not – it’s not covered. Martin customers can be some of the most entitled people on the planet, for example.

Sorry if I got a bit wordy – every shop has to make its own decision whether to pursue warranty work. On balance – I would say it’s not a bad thing. We have developed some good friends at many manufacturers and have some good relationships as a result. Many a customer who first brought us in the “Whatever Brand” guitar for warranty service over the years have become lifelong customers of our shop – they may not have shown up otherwise. On the other hand – some of the biggest headaches I’ve suffered as a result of customer service problems usually could be traced back to a customer pounding their fist on my front counter while asserting their rights under some manufacturer’s warranty – and in most of those cases, the manufacturer wasn’t much help.

I will say this – I would highly recommend it if you are early in your career in this biz. In large measure the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. We have been scaling back the amount of warranty work we do over the last ten years, then again – I am much closer to the end of my career than the beginning of it.

I hope this lends some insight.

[Doug Proper Guitar Specialist]

Hi Robert,

I’ll try to offer as much advise as I can. I’m a little biased as you can imagine but I’ll try to do my best to be impartial.

I don’t know based on your question whether you do more building or repairing – so I don’t know which to address. We are a full service repair and restoration shop – so I kinda see things from that perspective.

Firstly – I think you probably expect this – but I would recommend the Proper Guitar Workstation. To me it is the ultimate guitar holder. It allows me to position a guitar in any position for virtually any repair I can imagine. Furthermore, as to your desire to work whail standing erect? I have barely bent over in almost a year – lol – To be honest – and this isn’t a sales pitch – I actually don’t get any $$ when someone buys a workstation – I hardly use anything else but the workstation any more. I use it in conjunction with the Crossover Mini if i want the guitar to tilt and spin (if you are doing structural repairs, it’s a must have). If I am doing fretwork, it’s typically in the workstation without the Crossover Mini.

A word about the Crossover mini – I helped design that tool – and it is , in my opinion, an indispensable tool – it will allow just about anything in your shop – vises, jigs, fixtures, whatever – to tilt and spin on any axis, 360 degrees. Once you have experienced that – there’s no going back.

The workstation and the Mini have changed the way I work – I won’t go on – but if I were designing my shop today, a year after the workstation was introduced, I would barely have any benches anymore. It would be all pedestals and workstations with rolling carts to use as tables to hold whatever tools I am using.

Enough of the workstation – I could go on for another 30 paragraphs – but I won’t.

The Pedestal is the ultimate in stability and adjustability. I think it is the best pedestal on the market. However – I will say this. You have to bolt it to the floor. When bolted to the floor it is a solid as a rock! If it is not bolted to the floor – even with the extensions – there will be a fair amount of deflection and wiggle. While it won’t tip over – there’s enough play there that I couldn’t work with it if it were not bolted down – that however, would go for any pedestal. Others have come up with creative ways for avoiding the bolts (bolting it to some other heavy base etc.) , but for my purposes – I prefer it bolted to the floor.

As to the vises themselves – the #7 is the most versatile in my opinion, it’ll grab a neck like the #5 or open wide enough for a body if you are doing neck resetting or body work

The #5 is the lightest and closest in functionality to the SM Big Red Vise (which I regard as useful as a boat anchor in a guitar shop). The #5 is nice an light but limited in t’s use unless you use it with the Crossover Mini – then it’s usefulness in positioning is multiplied exponentially,

The #10 is a solid vise – it’s a big sucker. Recent modifications he’s made to the 310 would make me hesitate to put that in my arsenal. It’s a great vise – don’t get me wrong. It has a front jaw that is stationary and a back jaw that swivels, like a traditional patternmaker’s vise. He recently changed the back jaw to limit the degree that it swivels – for that reason I think it has severely limited it’s usefulness (I told him as much – but it’s his company he can do with it as he pleases).

In any case – whichever vise you go with – and as I typed all of that – I still come back to the PGW – and to be honest – I actually rarely even use any of my other vises anymore if I’m using them to hold a guitar. I do use some vises while holding other pieces of work (parts, bridges, wood, etc.

regardless of which way you go – you are going to want to get at least one quick docking station – the ability to move around your shop and have multiple places to dock, not just your vises and workstation – but to free up bench space when you don’t need a vise – is priceless.

I’m worried that all of this probably just added to the confusion – I think it all boils down to what you are doing and how you want to work.

<font face=”inherit” style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>As a starting place – and this is just my opinion – I would </font>recommend<font face=”inherit” style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”> starting with:</font>

– The Proper Guitar Workstation (complete package with the Quickdock and Crossover Mini

– The PGW expansion Package – if you want to do things like holding a body without a neck, neck resetting, string tension simulation and so forth

– A telescoping floor pedestal (If you can commit to bolting it to the floor

– A parrot vise plate – to bring your parrot vise into the Total Vise System – you actually have yet to experience how useful your parrot vise can be until you can spin it 360 degrees on EVERY axis

I would then stop there – you can always go back and buy some more stuff later if you want. My advice would be to then familiarize yourself with the system – get used to the modularity of it and the flexibility of it – having it in your shop will begin to let you see the possibilities.

If you have any more questions – feel free to ask them here – otherwise you can always reach out to me directly, here or through IG.

I hope this helped more than it didn’t ;0)

[Doug Proper Guitar Specialist]

I’ll echo what both Ian and Joel said. Yes, it’s achievable. You’ll get yourself inti trouble by trying to rush the removal. Expect a fair amount of finish repair, if you’re not prepared to do a great deal of touch-up or refinish work, then I would reconsider the job.

Being a recent convert to the dry heat method, I would recommend the foam cutters, but You’ll probably need a few strategically places and can move them around, especially in the pickup cavity. Dry heat is the way to go. The K11 foam cutters by hote-wire foam factory are only $35 bucks a piece, don’t need a temp controller as they maintain a consistent 200 degree temp (Fahrenheit), which is perfect for neck pulling.

I’ve only ever pulled 2 EB-2 necks one went great with little drama, the other one was a nightmare. In reality, it’s just another version of a 335 – I’ve pulled many a 335 neck over the years and they all presenttheir own littleadventures. One of the luthier supply sites has a blueprint of the EB-2 which might be some help to you.

Ian is on point with the advise about water and adhesives. The only two things I’ll add are, (1) be careful how close you get to the binding with heat, especially all the way up next to where the body meets the neck. And (2) Whatever you plan on charging? Double it. It’s going to take you twice as long as you think and these jobs are easier to do if you aren’t taking it on the chin financially as well.🤑

[Doug Proper Guitar Specialist]

Anything 190 proof or above is fine. I use Everclear for most all my shellac and resin mixing and find it easy to procure in NY. By definition, if it’s 190 proof it has no more than a 5%water content. The 5% water content is not a problem. 200 proof, which is pure ethanol would theoretically have a 0% water content, until you open the bottle. Moisture from the air would immediately degrade the alcohol level and introduce some measures of water hygroscopically. 150 proof everclear does not contain enough alcohol content to sufficiently dissolve shellac into solution.

[Doug Proper Guitar Specialist]

If you are adventurous enough and interested in the Eric Clampton Jig, here is the parts list:

All parts were sourced from McMaster Carr. The Threaded rod – I have in house in 4 foot lengths but included it in the parts list anyway. Everything was sourced from McMaster-Carr.

I’ll try attaching a picture – not sure if I know how to do that though.

Low-Strength Steel Threaded Rod 1/4″-20 Thread Size, 6″ Long
Part number
91565A565

Low-Strength Steel Threaded Rod
1/4″-20 Thread Size, 4″ Long
Part number
91565A558

Low-Strength Steel Threaded Rod
1/4″-20 Thread Size, 2 Feet Long
Part number
98790A029

Nonmarring Swivel Tip for Screws and Threaded Studs
5/8″ Diameter
Part number
84875A41

Zinc-Plated Steel Knurled Inserts for Hardwood
1/4″-20 Thread Size, 0.473″ Installed Length
Part number
94738A310

Black Phenolic Plastic Knob
Knurled Grip, 1/4″-20 Threaded Hole, 1-3/4″ Diameter Head
Part number
6479K18

1-1/2″ Long Corner Bracket for 1-1/2″ Rail High Aluminum Bolt-Together Framing
Part number
8809T62

Low-Strength Zinc-Plated Steel Hex Head Screw
5/16″-18 Thread Size, 4-1/2″ Long
Part number
91236A601

mcmaster.com

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