Questions
Five, answered the way I would answer them across the counter.
- How long will my instrument be here?
- Look at the queue page — that is the honest answer and it changes weekly. Roughly: a setup is a week or two behind whatever is in front of it, a refret is three to four weeks, and a neck reset is four to six because a fortnight of that is glue drying. There is one bench and one pair of hands, so everything is genuinely sequential.
- Do you quote before you start work?
- Always, in writing, and nothing begins until you have replied to it. If I open something up and find more than the quote covered, the tools go down and you get a second number before anything else happens. You are allowed to say no at that point and collect it as it is.
- Do you ship?
- Yes, both ways, and about a third of the bench arrives in a box. Ship it in a hard case inside an outer box with the strings slackened — not off, slackened. Insure it for what it is worth to you. Return shipping and insurance go on the quote.
- Will a refret change how it sounds?
- A little, and less than people fear. Fret wire size and material make a small audible difference and a large difference to how it feels. If your instrument sounds a particular way because of an old, worn, low fret job, then yes — that goes away, and we should talk about that before rather than after.
- Do you work on old finishes?
- Yes, carefully, and sometimes the recommendation is to leave a mark alone. An original finish with honest wear is worth more than a tidy one that has been sprayed over, and I will tell you when I think you are about to spend money making something worse.