Do all guitar techs think they are the best in the world?

[cragginshred]

The guy that works on my guitars is incredibly good or I would not go there. BUT,.. he builds crappy pick ups and thinks anyone who uses them is the best in the world and that all other pick ups are the same and suck.

He cannot play guitar and uses hearing aides but is a tone expert. Am I missing something? Seems like every tech thinks they are a luthier and has stories of doing lights for Skynyrd back in the day or something silly making them seem more important.

This guy's pick ups sound like the presence is on 17, I'm sure it has nothing to do with his hearing loss?
Everytime I have him do work for me I have to go through this banter with him about why what I (the guy who hears and plays I guitar) chose sucks and on and on
Finally I say buddy I'm paying you to work on my gear not argue with you, then he shits up but man what an energy vampire.

 

[holoholo]

If they are anything like Psionic Audio, then yea

 

[JasonE]

I don't think all techs are that way but I have met some characters over the years. The worst ones I have met were new to the craft and they thought they knew a lot more than they actually did.

 

[la szum]

Better than having a "local amp tech guru" build you an amp with his crappy ears.

 

[la szum]

25 year old "Life Coach."

 

[JasonE]

25 year old "Life Coach."

I knew that the certification to be a life coach was some BS when I saw someone that is in great need of a life coach get the certification. It was further confirmation when I saw this person take one of their clients to a bar that was trying to stop drinking. I can't even make this stuff up.

 

[joezlo]

I've met several in my life.
Only 1 was/is the real deal.


Loudo Guitars Website
Loudo FB with sounds, pics, etc

Pete has dedicated his life to guitars, and his knowledge base is close to Einstein level.

His axes never disappoint, and his electronics put EVERYTHING else to shame.

Sorry for a plug, but the real deal is the real deal.

Its good to know some are out there.

 

[cragginshred]

Where i live there are very few options

1 guy has all the "luthier' tools but is lazy and will not look at the gear for weeks then finds out he cannot fix it
2 guy has a day job and takes forever
3rd guy is the one I spoke of and does fast killer work but I need to put up with his trash talk so I go with him. Case in point last Fri I text him as ask 'can you do a couple of treble bleeds in 2 guitars'. He ends up doing them for 40$ while I sit and wait, cleaning up my solder job and giving me a lesson in soldering too!

 

[AutomationBias]

The guy I've been going to lately is awesome. He's a huge crank, probably mid-70s, and I am routinely shocked by how little he charges. The only drawback is that sometimes forgets to tell me when the work is done, so I have to wait until a reasonable amount of time has passed and drop by. "Oh, did I do that? (opens case) Yeah, that's all done."

 

[DrewJD82]

One thing I will say from experience—

I’d rather deal with a tech that thinks they’re God’s gift to guitars than one who has lost the passion for what they do but still do it for a paycheck.

One of those guys are FAR more likely to fuck up something you care a lot about.

 

[DrewJD82]

Also, I’ve met 3 outstanding techs in the last 30 years, the one thing that stood them apart from everyone else and it was immediate- the second I handed them a guitar they started looking at it, reported what they were seeing and then physically showed me what they were seeing.

To be fair, I’ve only used maybe 4-5 tech the whole time I’ve been playing and it was either for frets or broken headstocks, but the lesser-than techs just took the guitars without discussing much first, wrote what I wanted on a slip, stuck it in the case and put the guitars out back. The 3 great ones wanted to see what I was dealing with and hear it from my mouth directly.

 

[Devin]

The one local guy I used once certainly thinks more highly of himself than I do

Brought new-to-me guitar to him for a full setup....a day or two later he calls me and tells me it's ready so I head back out there

He hands me the guitar and I try it and the strings are literally laying on the frets....open strings would just buzz and die out

So I hand it back to him and I'm like dude.....what the fuck is this?

So then I have to sit there for like 45 minutes while he struggles to make it playable again

Ended up taking it home with a shittier setup than when I brought it in

 

[spawnofthesith]

Yes and this includes every joe blow on forums too that owns a caliper

 

[TSJMajesty]

I have to go through this banter with him

Not specifically about his self-proclaimed abilities, but thinking of what it must be like to work all day by himself, I'm bettin he's parched for conversation.

 

[Ed DeGenaro]

Well guys on guitar fora Think they can play…

 

[cragginshred]

Well guys on guitar fora Think they can play…

I guess it's 12 o'clock somewhere!

 

[TSJMajesty]

Well guys on guitar fora Think they can play…

I can play...
What I can play.

 

[Sleezy E]

As a pseudo tradesman, all I can say is...

A humble tradesman is an honest tradesman.

YMMV

 

[la szum]

Yes and this includes every joe blow on forums too that owns a caliper

 

[laxu]

Where i live there are very few options

1 guy has all the "luthier' tools but is lazy and will not look at the gear for weeks then finds out he cannot fix it
2 guy has a day job and takes forever
3rd guy is the one I spoke of and does fast killer work but I need to put up with his trash talk so I go with him. Case in point last Fri I text him as ask 'can you do a couple of treble bleeds in 2 guitars'. He ends up doing them for 40$ while I sit and wait, cleaning up my solder job and giving me a lesson in soldering too!

4 is the guy who takes the job, says it takes 2 months due to backlog. Then 2 months go by and you need to pester them every week only to get told "next week". Took me 6 months to get a guitar refretted instead of the initially mentioned 2. This was the most recommended tech in Helsinki. At least the work was good, but never using his services again.