FIRST SOLO CD BY CHARLIE X
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When surfing the net, please visit some friends who have supported this project at these links! Also, see my new section on Guitar Repair below! Check out a GREAT Philly band "Blue Train" These guys COOK and I jam with them every chance I can! See their site for upcoming gigs! They are also some of my best friends, so check out Perry, Malcolm, Gene, Pat and the rest of BLUE TRAIN at their website. Check out Diane Hubka at: http://dianehubka.com/ You can now download my entire CD OR individual tracks for .99 cents each from Kimberlee
Traub Got Music? GUITAR REPAIR IN PHILLY! Ok, I have tried the folks below..some good, some not so good. Here are my experiences. Please email me if you think someone should be added here, or if you think I left out someone good. I will bring them some work to them and post my experience. Remember, this is only what happened to ME with these guys..your mileage may vary. PHILTONE Guitars in Baltimore Md. (posted Aug 2010) My main guy is Pete Brown at S. Jersey Guitar (see below). However, Pete is generally swamped with work these days, and I have been working with Phil at Philtone guitars in Md. Its a hike for me, but must say, his work is among the very best I have seen (and by now, I think I have seen all or most in the area). He also is the only guy outside of NY (on the east coast) that have a Plek machine. I had 2 guitars worked on by Phil. I started out concered about the web reports saying his wait time was unacceptable. I guess a few folks had some experiences that didnt work out. I did not have any of those issues with Phil. He gave me a time and basically stuck to it. I had my guitars back (both times) in a reasonable time and much less than some other places. Again, your mileage may vary, but I had no issues. Phil is one of the very few in my area (outside of Pete at S Jersey) that will work with stainless steel frets. I wanted to try them, but could not find anyone local that would work on SS. Phil does the SS fret job for not much more than the standard fret job rate in Philly! In fact, with the Plek it was not that much more expensive than a fret job at S. Jersey. I cannot say which is better...both are fantastic and the only problem is that when one of these guys replaces the frets on one of your guitars, you have the urge to bring them ALL of your axes! Its hard to play on nice new high frets then play one of your old guitars that need new frets. Phil is personable and highly knowlegeable. His shop is small and very organized and professional looking. I would trust Phil with ANY repair on ANY guitar regardless of value. The drive from Philly is not real bad and his turn around time is fine. I am planning and extensive mod from Phil coming soon. He is going to change the shape of the cutaway on one of my thin line guitars. This is major surgery. I would like better access to the upper frets, and Phil offered to take it on and for a very reasonable price. Phil is going to make a soft cutawy into a sharp cut and give me more room for my fingers to get up to the top of the fingerboard. This should be FUN! Its great to meet a guy like Phil who doesnt shy away from a challenge and will go the extra mile to meet a customer's request. Its very rare and when you find pros like that, you should support them. Pete Brown at S. Jersey guitars is one of the VERY best in the biz. His work is impeccable and he's a good guy. In recent months, he has gotten VERY busy and wait time has increased. See my experiences below with Pete. I know there are some other really great guys in the Philly area, but I would not hesitate to have Pete work on any guitar whether its a vintage Gibson or Korean..he can work miracles on anything. UPDATE on S. Jersey Guitar Repair. (The following was posted in 2007..see additional comments below) I just tried a new guy. His name is Pete Brown at South Jersey Guitar Repair near Haddonfield. He did some electronic mods for me that everyone else seemed to 'shy away' from . I have a Raines 7 String and wanted a new wiring harness. Beyond that, I wanted to add a single coil pickup between the 2 buckers a la the Gibson Alvin Lee model. I routed the cavity myself and then took it to Pete where he did the harness, new pots switches etc and installed the pickup. He configured the electronics so that I could get the sounds of position 4 of a strat. It was not sure I could get the sound of a strat from this config. Well, IT WORKED PERFECT!! I can nail the sound with this guitar and this Korean guitar has become my main axe for the moment. I am now considering having a guitar built by possibly Koll or Moll, and having them deliver it with NO electronics. I will then take it to Pete and get the same config for the new guitar. I am now totally Gibson and Fender FREE!! Its like going to a Mac and never having to feed Bill Gates again...feels GREAT. Check out Pete, he does a great job. His turnaround time was among the best here, but as of late he is getting very busy as the word gets out.. Check out S Jersey Guitar Repair. The price for this extensive electronic mod was 1/4 of the price others estimated. His fret jobs are around $350. I had Pete refret my Epi Regent with 6100s. He did a great job and that guitar plays great now especially with the Bartolini on it. Frets make all the difference, so I am having Pete do around 3 or 4 of my main guitars. He is about 75 to 100$ more than average Philly prices at the moment. Ok..here is the update: I brought an Ibanez Af 207 7 string to Pete on 6/7/08. I bought it from Daddy's Junky Music (those guys at Daddy's are the BEST!). The neck showed up with a bow in it and the guitar was strung with 10s. This was a tip off to me that the neck had a problem. Who would string a jazz box with 10s unless there was a problem? I then called Pete and over the phone he diagnosed the problem and assured me that he could make it work fine. He did not think anything of it. I brought the guitar over to him and he said if i like the guitar, I should keep it as the neck is fine. He did a redress of the frets and turned it around in LESS THAN A WEEK!! I had the guitar back the following Friday. When you ask Pete a question you get a VERY detailed answer, which I like. Pete is not guessing when he talks about guitars. He KNOWS what he is doing every inch of the way and I TOTALLY trust him especially on the stuff most guys wont touch such as certain neck work and experimental electronics. I also learned he does finishing. His fret work was great however the frets on this Ibanez are pretty low and will soon have to be replaced anyway, so I'm sorry I did the extra work as Pete will be pulling them out soon. If u get one of these guitars you will want new frets right off the bat. I Don't want to do ratings of guitar repair guys here...the purpose was only to tell you MY personal experience in Philly. Your mileage may vary. But if anyone asks me where to take their guitar, I tell them South Jersey Guitar Repair if they really need some great expertise beyond set up and the basics. His work,talent and extensive knowledge is an easy 10. Not that I'm rating anybody :) Just a note on the Ibanez af 207...i recently put the original pickup back on it..but without the cover. I also changed the magnet to an Alinco II. I am really liking it but Im not sure if the mag is making the difference or if its just that the cover is off. If you have one, and hate the sound, try taking off the cover...it may be the ticket with these. Otherwise, these are great playing guitars for the money. OK...11/150/08 UPDATE- Went back to South Jersey Guitar Repair with 4 guitars. An 83 Fender "The Strat" , 2 Kramer Focus 3000s, and my AF 207. I was replacing all the strat pups with Dimarzio Area 58, 61 noiseless pups. I also wanted a 'quick change' terminal on my archtop so that i can quickly and easily switch out pickups without fishing to the pots. Pete was also setting up the guitars. Here is why SJGR is better than the competition (and i have NO affiliation or investment in this place). Pete noted on one of my Kramers that the Floyed locking nut was place on the headstock about .40 from the nut. This would cause my intonation to be slightly out. The guys who put this on my Custom USA guitar neck put it too far from the nut. Pete noticed it and fixed it. You would not get this kind of attention to detail at GC or Sam Ash. Also...and this is huge for me...Pete did not just wire in the pups and call me. He checked each guitar to make sure the volumes were matching when I switch from one to another. This caused the wireing to be modified for the various pup configurations that I wanted to have. I think most places would have soldered the wires and called me. He also lined up the neck so that the strings would line up with the pup poles...this was lacking when I first got the guitar back from another shop (before I knew about South Jersey Repair) and it was almost like having a 5 string guitar, since my high E was too far from the pole. Pete did a lot of other 'small stuff' on this job, but the end result was that all 4 guitars are rock solid and are set up just the way I like them. I did not have to tweak when I got home. The prices are great also. The servce at SJGR is something you MUST check out on your next repair..i wish i did get some kickback here! Another repair person I used was Mark Burkert in Manyunk, Pa (215-280-3903 be sure to tell him Charlie X sent u!) He did a refret on a Korean 7 string that I am trying out. He did an excellent job and kept in touch. But most of all he was FAST. I had my guitar back in 1 week. Mark is not the lowest price in town, but he is very meticulous and he also plays, so he knows how it is supposed to feel when he is done. Mark also does custom electronics work, but I have not used him for this yet. He's a good guy, but keep in mind, he works on a CASH only basis (or Paypal) so save up before u bring him jobs. UPDATE ON MARK 6/15/08- I cannot say enough good things about working with Mark Burkett. In 2 instances since I met him, I brought a guitar over to his shop. Once for a set up on my Ranes and once to check out the neck on my Ibanez. In both cases Mark did not even charge me! Can you beat that?? He took a look and gave some free advice on the AF 207, and on the Raines, since he installed the frets and I was getting a buzz, he adjusted it FREE! Mark is awesome to work with and is in the Manyunk, Ridge ave area, near Roxy Guitars. Also...both times I did NOT have to leave the guitar. He did it right there while I waited. The guy is awesome! Superior Guitar Works in Manyunk. I am not recommending them so I will not provide a link. Horrible wait time...im talking more than 6 months for my last guitar job. I had Tim set up my L5, do extensive work on my '64 SG, and many set ups on various archtops including building a new bridge for my Johnny Smith (which I later learned was unnecessary) and a refret on my 175. He may be the most expensive guy in town. He charged me by the hour, which included time he spends on the phone with other customers while my guitars are on the bench. This can get expensive as his phone rings off the hook all day long. I was ok though, since I thought he did a good job, however, my last experience with him was some work on my SG. He put in a pickup, cleaned up some wiring issues and installed tuners. My bill was $750 and it took 8 months. I'm not kidding here. These are not jokes. On my bill was a $75 dollar charge for lacquering the back of my guitar neck, which was a part of the job that I had cancelled. There was no lacquer on my neck. I didn't notice this until I looked at the bill at home. I also noticed when I got home, that he made a new nut (which I asked for) but that the string spacing was atrocious. The 3rd and 4th string are right next to each other and the others are at random widths apart. I could have done this better blindfolded and ended up having to reinstall the nut that I wanted replaced. $125 for the nut job. He never returned my calls when I later complained. I asked for a quote for a refret on my JS. This guitar has the 'nibs' and elaborate binding on the fingerboard. He quoted me $850 to refret and keep the nibs. This is a difficult job to do cleanly and he probably has the talent to do it, but I got it done by Ron Ruggerio MUCH cheaper and Ron is guy I trust (see below). I wont likely go back to Superior now that I have met some good solid and reputable guys who do GREAT work. RON RUGGERIO, look him up as he has no website. Google Ron and you will see a long list of satisfied customers. He can be temperamental, but did a GREAT job my my Johnny Smith (kept all the nibs). This is the only job I have used him for so far, but I would recommend him for most repair. I waited about 5 weeks for the fret job, which is probably reasonable (but eternity compared to Mark). Bluebond Guitar. They have a website, but they never answer any emails. No voicemail either, but you can usually get Rich on the phone to answer questions. Rich at Bluebond (4th and South st) is a really nice guy, but may take awhile to finish a job. I still use him for simple jobs and refrets but I only take guitars to him that I don't need back for a few months. He has been averaging about 3 months to turn my fret jobs around. He does a good job on frets and his set ups are absolutley first rate. He may be one of the least expensive guys in town. But...you will have to wait a good long while to get your guitar back. When I called, he would promise 'next week', which came months later. I tried an elaborate pickup system on an acoustic guitar once. I waited almost 9 months to get it back, and the idea didn't work after all. I keep it simple with Rich and I don't expect my guitar back for 3 or so months. I must repeat though..the guitars he has refretted and set up for me are some of the most playable ones i have now. TOP TEN MUSIC in Glenolden. For a reasonably fast job (couple weeks) for easy stuff (putting in a new pickup or set ups) no one is cheaper than Top 10. They also sell a lot of used gear and you can REALLY find some deals, especially on amps. I used him to rewire one of my Strats and the wiring was not right, but he offered to check it out free if I brought it back. I just did it myself. They also changed the bias on one of my Marshall combo amps to accept EL-34s. They wired the speakers out of phase so when I got it back there was no low end (on a Marshall this is crazy talk!). I found the problem myself and rewired it, but the rest of the bias job was ok and looked pretty clean. TOP 10 is good for easy stuff and VERY VERY low cost. They are friendly there too, which is important to me.
AMP REPAIR As far as AMP REPAIR goes in Philly, there is only one name you need to know. Jim Walton. Don't even look anywhere else. He is in NE philly. I brought a Marshall 100w super lead (1971) to him expecting to need a cap job. It did not need it but he replaced tubes and resistors that were blown. He also explained a lot about what he found in my amp and takes a lot of time with his customers explaining every thing which I like a lot. I also brought my 68 Dual Showman reverb to him to be blackfaced and learned that most of the mods had already been done. His prices are excellent and turn around is only a few weeks. He keeps in touch and will do whatever you want and nothing more or less. I would not consider taking my amps anywhere else in the Philly area after working with Jim Walton. Google him and see how many others are saying the same thing about Jim. PLEASE EMAIL ME WITH YOUR FAVORITES! I am always looking for those who are good. EMAIL ME!! |