Bluebird is a one-man repair bench in a converted garage on the east side of Nashville. I'm Wes, and I do all the work myself: no drop-off counter, no apprentice, nobody else touches your instrument. I work on acoustic and electric guitars, and on basses and mandolins when asked nicely. I do not do refinishing (I can recommend someone) and I don't sell instruments or strings, so I have no reason to tell you your guitar needs more than it needs.

Most of what comes through the door is a guitar that plays harder than it should. Nine times out of ten that is a setup, and a setup is $40. Please read the price list before you e-mail so we're starting from the same page.

Cash or check. Prices are for standard six-string guitars; 12-strings, basses and anything with a locking tremolo run a little higher and I'll tell you up front.

A setup is a series of small adjustments that make the guitar play the way it was supposed to. Here is exactly what I do, in order, because a lot of people have been charged for a "setup" that was one turn of the truss rod and new strings.

1. Talk to you first. What do you play, what gauge strings, do you play slide, do you fret hard or light, does anything buzz. The right setup for a bluegrass flatpicker is wrong for a fingerstyle player.
2. Clean and inspect. Fretboard cleaned and oiled, frets polished, body wiped down. I check for loose braces, a lifting bridge, cracks, and loose hardware. If I find something outside a setup, I stop and tell you.
3. Neck relief (truss rod). Adjusted with the strings you actually use, at pitch, so the neck has just a hair of forward bow. Not straight, not a banana.
4. Nut slots. Checked and filed to the right depth for your string gauge. A nut cut too high is the number one reason a guitar is hard to play in the first three frets and plays sharp on open chords. Most guitars come from the factory this way.
5. Action at the 12th fret. Set at the saddle (acoustic: sanding the bottom of the saddle; electric: the bridge saddles) to where you want it. I'll write the measurement on your ticket so the next guy knows what you like.
6. Intonation. Checked at the 12th fret against a strobe tuner. Electrics get the saddles moved; acoustics get the saddle compensated or a note that it's time for a new one.
7. Pickup height and electronics check on electrics; check the endpin jack and battery box on acoustics that have them.
8. Fresh strings, stretched and tuned, and I play it for a few minutes to make sure nothing buzzes that shouldn't. Then you play it before you pay me.

• Setups: about a week. Sometimes sooner if it's a slow week; I'll tell you when you drop off. I don't do while-you-wait, because I do them in the order they come in and I don't rush them.
• Nuts and saddles: about a week. Same as a setup.
• Pickup installs: one to two weeks.
• Refrets: three to four weeks. Frets take time to seat and I want to see the neck settle before I level.
• Crack repairs: depends. Glue has to cure and the guitar has to be humidified first if it's dry, and that alone can take a week. Figure two to four weeks and I'll give you a real date when I see it.

If you have a gig, tell me the date and I'll do my level best. If it's a Saturday gig and you bring the guitar in on Friday, my level best won't be enough.

I apprenticed from 1989 to 1992 under a repairman who had been at it for thirty years and who would make me do a nut over if a slot was a few thousandths off. (He was right.) I've been on my own since 1992, first out of a spare bedroom and, since 1995, out of the garage shop where I am now. I play, a little, mostly bluegrass rhythm, badly enough to have great respect for the people who bring me their instruments. I've worked on guitars that get played on television and guitars that get played on the back porch, and I set them both up the same way.

I do this work because I like making a guitar that somebody has given up on play easy again. That, and I'm not good at anything else.

Hours are by appointment only. I'm at the bench most weekdays from about 9 to 6 and some Saturday mornings, but because I'm the only one here, I don't keep the door open. E-mail me at [email protected] with what you've got and what's wrong with it, and I'll write back within a day or two with a time to bring it by. If you don't have e-mail at home, most of the guitar stores in town have my number on the wall. The shop is on the east side of Nashville, a few minutes off the interstate. I'll send directions with your appointment. [email protected]

Folks I've done work for who have pages here: Songwriter's Corner and the Hometown Pickers Bluegrass Jam. If you're shopping for a used guitar, Vinyl Junkie won't help you but it's a fun read.

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Last updated: September 20, 1999  •  © 1999 Bluebird Guitar Repair & Setup, Wes C., Nashville, Tennessee
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