Necro said:
Guitar Connection provides a good service but they gave me the impression that there're salesman more than luthiers.
I have a few bad experiences there when I was quoted a large servicing fee for problems that were brought up that was not to my knowledge.
I do like the results I get from GC, but perhaps lutherie should be more of a passion, an artform and not become solely a money-driven, cashflow motivated business as that might jeopardize customer service.
Dear Necro,
Thank you for your thoughtful and honest appraisal. I am driven by money just as I am driven by passion. What's the point if a big name star uses my services but I'm living in poverty?
Sometimes, during a repair, we only realise a problem when we look deeper into it. Skeptics might say that is inexperience but I'd think not. There was once when I was repairing a Jem Jr which had its wood at the bridge area cracked badly. After fixing it and stringing up, there were plenty of dead spots on the upper frets so I called the guy to inform him. Thing is, when I called him, he said that it was an inherent problem.
Therefore, sometimes the player has to highlight to us the problems as well. Similarly, when you consult a doctor, the doctor will ask you what symptoms you have. The doctor can't be possibly be giving full body examinations for every patient. That's only possible if he gets less than 10 patients a week.
With regards to our repair service as I prefer to call it, reaching out to more people is integral to our business and I think we are priced in such a way to do that. We could easily increase our pricing and still be affordable. But could this mean a young kid who cannot afford it giving up the instrument because his/her guitar doesn't play well? Possibly. If that happens, it goes against the very reasons of why I chose to become a tech.
Everyone justifies their service fees in different ways but for us, we prefer to look it as giving more people the opportunity to experience a better playing instrument. Elitism would be unthinkable for us. That's not to say everyone can afford our service, but sometimes, even students can save up. Its just like saving up for that PRS or Les paul(Gibson or otherwise). Unfortunately, tech services are usually taken for granted.
Necro, I'm not writing this as a rebuttal and I'm glad that you can appreciate what we do. I could have easily choosen NOT to be a tech if I wanted to. If money was what I wanted, I would be absolutely mad to achieve that means via being a tech. In any case, I may not be the friendliest guy on some occassions but if you drop by the shop, come and say hi. We are approachable people. Most of the time *ahem* 8)
Thanks for reading,
KC
Guitar Connection