Fair Warning: Luthiers/Repair Guy Reviews

[ken_j]

...
I don't know how this rates to the fret work that others here have seen, but it's by far the worst job I've seen personally.

The worst I have seen, especially the end dressing. If the fretboard was removed the wood on both the neck and fretboard were not properly fitted/preped IMO. The problem you have now is in order to eliminate the dents and gouges you will need to take the wood down to that level or replace it.

[walker]

Fortunately, I think the damage can be sanded out and still have the inclusive radius of the neck & fretboard true. The replacement frets can be cut to accommodate that difference. I'm pretty confident that this is something Jeremy at Rudy's can do and do well.

My fingers are appropriately crossed, of course.

[johnallg]

It looks like the frets were dug out with a spoon.....

[walker]

*sigh*

Fortified with your daily source of wood and metal protein...

[johnallg]

Hey, weren't the RM fretboards trimmed in CB?

[manta]

I think one of the problems many RIC owners encounter with finding a qualified set-up tech type or even full-blown luthier is many of these folks don't understand how RICs are made in the first place. There are many who know Gibsons and Fenders but have little working or personal knowledge of Rickenbackers. I can name about three people I'd trust my RIC with for anything major and that's about it. I know a handful more I'd trust with a proper set-up. So it truly pays to shop around for quality work and experience and leave the price factor out of the equation. If you know your guitar fairly well and are confident of what you're doing, just use a bit of patience and the manual that comes with a new RIC. It has good advice. This is better to do than trusting many "guitar techs" I know. Just my 2 cents.

[8mileshigher]

...
The problem you have now is in order to eliminate the dents and gouges you will need to take the wood down to that level or replace it.

If you got the fretboard edge Bound, wouldn't the Binding cover up the dents and gouges and tuna/relish problems ??

[walker]

RM 1999 basses don't have binding. My aim is to get it back to spec as close as I can.

[walker]

...just my 2 cents.

Good perspective, Tim.

[ajish4]

Mark,

I truly am sorry you had a bad experience.

I'm SO very paranoid about just anyone working on my RICS.

LOL, My CS NEVER had a "professional setup" until Joey was at my place and did it himself....about 14 years after I received it new.

[jwilli]

I have had my share of problems with repair guys/"luthiers" and I won't go into any of that. Chip has repaired, restored or worked on a number of my guitars. He even custom built a 50's roller bridge for V86 that matched the fretboard radius perfectly. Sorry that Mark had problems. SMH. I hope that this problem gets rectified.

[walker]

Not Chip Little, Chip Sallot.

Sorry; had to go there. Thanks for the input John. It's a relief to know that there are others who have fared much better with his work. I've heard equally shining praise from others, hence my decision to go with him. Why he did such terrible work on pretty much all aspects of this particular job is beyond me. When my mind reels looking for answers, I imagine that by influence of outside monetary incentive or psychological defect, he intentionally sabotaged this job. When you look at the work, it really is baffling. It all looks like something done by somebody who's never fixed a guitar in their lives. Maybe he's training his dog in the craft of luthier work and let him do it. ???

Fortunately, I've been able to fix most of what had been messed up, so I'm pretty close to wrapping up this unfortunate story with a happy ending. It's just the refret, and fretboard reset & repair that needs to be taken care of, and I'm confident that Jeremy at Rudy's music here in New York will make quick & easy work of it.

[aceonbass]

I recently built a wiring harness for a '66 450 to replace one Winfield had previously done. The customer had asked Winfield to make a 5-control guard (which they did well) and wire it. Although CTS pots were used, they were the current issue and didn't have the correct appearance like the vintage style I use. The tone caps were Orange drops instead Ajax Blue caps. Although the Ajax caps I have are slightly different in appearance, they are real 60's NOS caps. The wire was current issue vinyl insulated wire that wasn't even the right color, while I use red and green cloth insulated wire. The worst part was that it wasn't wired even remotely correct. It ended up with two master volumes, no working tone controls, or blend control. I don't know who at Winfield did the work, but the customer's happy with it now, and it looks and works like a 60's harness should.

[walker]

...I don't know who at Winfield did the work, but the customer's happy with it now, and it looks and works like a 60's harness should.

Another case of someone having to correct a Winfield job. Too bad. For what it's worth, in the five years I was associated with Chip, he never made any mention of having any employees or there being anyone else under his employ that did guitar work.

[collin]

I recently built a wiring harness for a '66 450 to replace one Winfield had previously done. The customer had asked Winfield to make a 5-control guard (which they did well) and wire it. Although CTS pots were used, they were the current issue and didn't have the correct appearance like the vintage style I use. The tone caps were Orange drops instead Ajax Blue caps. Although the Ajax caps I have are slightly different in appearance, they are real 60's NOS caps. The wire was current issue vinyl insulated wire that wasn't even the right color, while I use red and green cloth insulated wire. The worst part was that it wasn't wired even remotely correct. It ended up with two master volumes, no working tone controls, or blend control. I don't know who at Winfield did the work, but the customer's happy with it now, and it looks and works like a 60's harness should.

Just playing the devil's advocate here, but did that customer specifically request a perfectly accurate 60s reissue harness down to the last detail?

Some people just want a working harness and don't mind what it looks like (after all, it's under the guard).

No excuse for it not being wired correctly though.