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Frustrated?

No disrespect to the people who know what a ‘luthier’ is. However, there may be some folks who don’t recognize the term. No brain surgery here, a luthier is a ‘guitar maker’. A person who repairs, upgrades and builds musical instruments. Obviously we are talking about guitar makers here.

All luthiers are not the same. This statement is made so you understand that some guitar makers specialize in certain aspects of guitar repair and some do it all. Certain luthier company’s even supply tools, so you can do it yourself. Not a recommended task to take on without experience. Plus the tools are expensive, making it economically unfeasible for most people.

Pardon me for a second, I want to take a second to fill you in on another unusual word I ran into a while ago that reminds me of the word luthier. The term is ‘farrier’. Anybody know what that is? Simply put, a farrier is a specialist in equine/horse hoof care, including the trimming and balancing of a horse’s hoof so as to fit shoes to the horse’s foot. A blacksmith of sort. Enough said.

It is not a secret every guitar I buy, new or used gets a good setup job and DR strings. The only guitar I have have ever played that did not need to go to a luthier was the ‘Lenny’ Stratocaster Fender Custom Shop guitar. Of course it only costs 17000.00 dollars, so one might expect that type of quality and ‘love’ to be put into the instrument for that kind of doe. I hate beating on Gibson Guitars, because thay are terrific pieces of equipment. To be honest, they are so poorly setup from the factory I find them hard to play. Of course, they play great after a competent set up.

The only other guitar I have played that probably could have gotten by without a setup is my Eric Clapton Custom Shop guitar. I set it up because that is what I do to them all of my axes. But that baby is a better player than ‘Lenny’ after the setup. I find it more versatile as well. But that is personal.

Not all luthiers, guitar-makers are ‘fungible’. Fungible means ‘equal to’. For instance, there may be differences in work quality, or perhaps the parts used, one luthier may use lower quality parts than another luthier. The point is to choose a competent guitar maker who fixes the guitar in the best possible interests you have. Don’t choose by price only is the vibe I want to get across.

Guitar Players Center preaches that a good guitar set up will bring the maximum playability out of your guitar. We practice what we preach. Realistically speaking, you can then extract more of the tones that your guitar hero gets, and that increases your gratication and progress, along with some logical and effective practice techniques.

Thanks for reading this. Please leave a comment or share it with other frustrated guitarists. Enjoy.

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