How to have a great playing guitar.

It starts with a set up.

A set up is the complex adjusting of a guitar to is its optimum playing condition.

Our set up includes: A thorough cleaning of the instrument, check and tighten all hardware, check for cracks, loose braces, and any other defects and advise the remedy and prevention of future damage, clean and condition fret board, polish frets, Proper neck relief adjustment, clean and polish the string saddles and bridge, adjust string height, adjust the nut action and lubricate the string slots, Proper intonation adjustment over the entire fingerboard, proper setting any tremolo system, Check and adjust electronics and recommend any replacement of defective components. Restring with fresh strings and test play.

This the key studio-quality sound and playability.

It is also the key to learning to play or play better. There is nothing more discouraging than a hard-to-play sour sounding instrument. Life really is too short.

Bone Nuts and Saddles

Probably the best thing you can do to improve the tone of your instrument is to have a custom made bone nut installed.

Nowadays, even expensive guitars have soft hollow plastic nuts and saddles that act more like a insulator between the vibrating string and the eager wood.

What a pity. Bone will conduct the transfer of energy from the string to the wood to produce tone and they will all sing together.

I have a simple reason why bone is the best material to produce tone. Every sound that you hear is made by a bone in your ear.

Fret leveling and dressing

Over time frets can become worn and uneven. This causes fret buzz and bad intonation that cannot be cured by a set up alone. Even on new guitars sometimes the frets may need to be leveled and re crowned.

In about half the cases if there is enough fret left, a fret dress can restore playability and true your intonation. We start with set up. Then we remove the strings, tape the fingerboard, and level the frets to the plane of the lowest point with a 24 inch straight bar, careful to maintain the proper radius.

We re-crown the frets with a series of diamond crowning files and sandpaper until polished to a mirror finish. The guitar is re-set with fresh strings. This will most likely make the guitar look, feel and sound better than it ever has before.

Fret replacement or Refretting.

Refretting a guitar is considered normal maintenance in the case where a well played guitar has fret wear beyond the point where fret dressing is feasible. Refretting is the cure for warped fingerboards. Refretting also cures a "rise in the tongue" at the end of the fingerboard that can be a problem even with new guitars.

The guitar is initially set up to map the problem areas. The strings and frets are carefully removed and the fingerboard is planed back into it proper shape and radius.

At this time a custom radius or compound radius can be done.

The fingerboard is then polished out to 1000 grit to produce a smooth feel. Custom frets of different sizes can be used. The new frets are custom fit to the guitar into the properly cleaned and resized fret slots, then glued and pressed overnight.

The frets are then completely re-leveled, re-crowned and re-dressed to a mirror finish. This results in an ultra-precise fret board that is noise-free and true. We include a new custom bone nut and final set up with all our refrets.

Electrical work and Hot-Rodding.

Many guitars come with absolutely pitiful electrical components.

Cheap Chinese jacks, pots, switches and pickups that are noisy, harsh, scratchy or that fail altogether can be replace with high-quality components that will perform trouble-free for 20 years or more.

We also do custom wiring and body routing if necessary to give you the sound you're after. We carry and install a full line of Seymour Duncan, Fender Custom Shop and Gibson pickups.

Acoustic Guitar Pickup Installation.

We carry and install the full line of Fishman acoustic pickups.

Neck Breaks and Headstock Repairs.

We are the best. Why? Because I have always gone for invisible repairs from the beginning no matter how long it took me. I may not get there completely on say a run over ex-wife guitar, but that is always my goal. The repair is guaranteed never to break in the same place again. And includes a full set up that may make it play better than it ever has which is nice.

Bridge Replacement and Brace Repair.

Bridges and braces can come loose over time. Going through seasonal changes, dehydration and exposure to heat can cause wood to warp and glue to loose it's tack, resulting top belly, bridge delamination, and uncomfortable playing action. We can cure most of these problems through rehydration combined with bridge, bridgeplate and brace repair.

Body Crack Repairs

Neck Resets

Custom Construction

repairs@atlantaguitarworks.com

repairs@atlantaguitarworks.com