Guys... I really don't get what the fuss is about. Buying guitars and the choice of doing mods is something that belongs as a buyer's perogative. No one forces a gun to your head and says whether or not you MUST do it.
No one forced me to either. Let me tell you guys my personal experience with 2 reputed guitar tech options mentioned in this thread.
1. Guitar Connection
Yes, I said it. This is the shop mentioned in the beginning. I've been going there quite a bit for my work. ALL my guitars have been touched by Kelvin there, and have never had problems.
When I first got to know Kelvin, I asked for a refret on a CIJ ST68. It took a while, but when I got it back, there was no problems with the frets, and they were level. No buzzing, and no dead spots. The frets were done exactly the way I wanted it to be, with minimal briefing from me to him. I was rather happy with the whole experience.
But Kelvin's guitar workbench isn't the cleanest in the country, and therefore the brand new Ash body with thin nitro paint was slightly blemished. (actually, it wasn't a pretty sight, and I was rather agitated) But what surprised me is that Kelvin merely told me to play the guitar for a while, and when I was already used to it more, bring it back, and he'll redo the finish for me FOC. And he apologised for the damage done even before I noticed it and asked for compensation.
Note: I barely knew him. This was probably the 2nd time I had ever been in his store (2nd hand guitars aren't really my thing). What he charged me was an ok price, which included a bone nut job and I went back there time after time till today, he still does most of the work for me...
He is a professional musician, and has given me valuable insights to the practical applications of certain specifications of guitars, which I'm glad to say, have truely been useful to me.
2. Malcolm Tan
What can I say? He's obviously got some skills. But I will never go back to him again. Why? Read on.
I asked for a replane and a refret from 7.25" to 9.5" on my 62 AVRI. He said he can do it. I told him, if necessary, please dress the frets because I'd like to have them even. He told me he doesn't believe in doing so. He said he preps the neck well enough that it's not necessary. Fine. I believed him. Throughout the process, he was professional, and courteous.
When I got the guitar back, I noticed that the work was clean, and the frets were indeed nicely done.
Then I began to play it.
The frets weren't as bevelled as I liked, and Malcolm did explain this to me before that he prefers to have more fret length so that the guitarist has more room to vibrato the 1st and last strings. But whenever I ran my hands up and down the neck, they felt very intrusive to me. Almost painful. Logical the idea may be, it certainly wasn't for my hands.
Then there were some dead spots (about 3 to 4 if I remember correctly) that Malcolm spent quite a bit of time touching up the frets (I dunno the term) one by one. Again, he stresses to me how important it is not to dress the frets completely because you lose fret life, and it's not good for many luthiers to do so.
Honestly, at this point, I was actually losing my patience. I did ask for a fret dress initially, but was told it wasn't necessary. I don't have the time to come down and test the guitar for every single dead spot and WAIT for each problem to be sorted out.
Eventually, I left with a not-so-favourable impression. But Malcolm did offer to tweak the guitar for me if I still had problems. But for what? the problems were obviously deeper than just buzzing and dead spots. It was me not being able to accept his "theories" on how a guitar should be built.
This guitar has been sold, and is no longer my problem. But the experience has been filed away in my brain for future reference.
For the price I paid for this job, it wasn't sky high, as I recall, but I think it was a bit higher than what I paid for in GC. Of course, a replaning is probably more work, but I'm not a luthier, so don't quote me. Worth it? I'm honestly not sure. But the GC experience to me was far more enjoyable than this one.
So why didn't I complain?
The key thing as to why I didn't complain to Malcolm much about this unhappiness was because I chose to partake in this deal. I agreed to try his services and philosophy. I just had problems accepting the outcome. But because it was my choice, I can't go blaming Malcolm for my unhappiness. He did what he claimed. He stuck to his guns, which I give him credit for. I just don't agree with it.
Because he's got his beliefs, I know that no matter what I try to ask for, I cannot bring myself to a compromise on these matters, and there's no point generating angst for a matter I chose to take part in. So I simply let it go.
I don't have to be a world class guitarist to know what I like. I am a paying customer which gives me every right to decide what I want to do with my money.
For those who have used Malcolm's work and liked it, then good for you, because I know these things are subjective. What we feel with our hands is something only we can feel, and others will always feel different.
So in the end, to me it's very simple. Do I like to go to somewhere to do something? Yes? Then just keep going there. No? Then don't. No point sitting here bitching about who's what and how and why.
I think we all have better things to do. No?
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