All Strings Attached

If you value your guitar, do not entrust it to this man. I wish I had never heard of this place,

When I finally got so frustrated that I went and l got the guitar back, the man did not even know where some parts of the guitar were.

UNPROFESSIONAL. GO ELSEWHERE!



I received a brand new Gibson guitar that I had in my possession long enough to inspect, assess repairs, and provide to this guy to fix. Guitar needed exactly two minor repairs: re-glue pick guard to bracket, and remount pickup selector switch in its grommet. Two superficial shipping repairs that I could have performed, but asked him to do since I wanted it set up with different strings anyway. Picked up guitar over two weeks later and found numerous finish scratches mostly around where he performed repairs that were NOT there when I brought guitar in (despite his objections). Additionally, a significant dent in the neck heel area was noticed that was also NOT there previously. When challenged on the damage, he denied any culpability and suggested they were already there....



Let me say that I received this guitar on a Friday afternoon, inspected it meticulously for damage (per my allowed inspection provision), and put back in case to bring to this guy for aforementioned repairs and setup Saturday morning (made appointment to drop off with his "trainee"). Less than 8 waken hours I possessed this guitar; I didn't even bother tuning the guitar to play it. The guitar was flawless with respect to its finish...it was, after all, brand new. These scratches and dent were NOT present when I dropped it off. He denied any wrongdoing, but "would be happy to try and buff out scratches and fix dent while I waited, even though I don't know how they got there." He still charged me for the "repair" work.



In hindsight, I should have paid attention to my first impressions of STRINGSATTACHEDONLINE. The shop is a complete mess...inside and out (notice the pics posted by other reviewer don't show floor/counter, etc.). Guitars in various states of fix strewn about (I realize this is what he does, but they should be stored for glue setting and forming in a safe place, not on the reception counter, floor, etc.), customer reception area littered with trash, unplaced inventory in boxes on the floor, guitar cables plugged into amps running across floor...ALL TRIP HAZARDS. Counter covered with in-fix guitars, disheveled papers containing customer information and his own business bank account number on top of a check stamp in plain sight for anyone to jot down! Guy has his buffing wheel in a separate room from his work bench forcing him to carry guitars through a half-open steel bar door (security?) that is an obvious guitar finish hazard...he even put duct tape over SOME of the most likely contact points, but nowhere near enough. Why a security door in the middle of the building??? How many guitars have been dented/scratched this way? Take it down??? His work bench is NOT where you would want your expensive guitar being worked on. MINIMAL consideration for protection of your guitar's finish! Vice, tools, not padded to avoid accidental contact, bench and neck support were minimally padded...I couldn't believe it...damage didn't happen on his watch???



Watching this guy work while he tried to repair the mystery finish damages to my guitar convinced me of my mistake...I should have gone elsewhere. My impression of this guy as a luthier is that he is a complete klutz with no regard for his customers' prized possessions. It is obvious his disorganized and unprofessional business practices create an atmosphere in which he cannot provide the attention to detail that customers expect when handling their instruments.



It appears that the other reviewer had a good experience with this guy; this reviewer did not. My advice: if you have a yard sale junk guitar that you want fixed...I am sure he can do it. BUT, if you care about your guitar at all...TAKE IT ELSEWHERE!!! Taking your valuable guitar to STRINGS ATTACHED would be like dropping your daughter off at a playground in gangland for two weeks and expecting her to be fine when you pick her up.