Electric Guitar Repair, Restoration and Setups Gallery

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From Telecasters and Strats, to vintage Guilds and Gibsons or other beloved electric guitars, an experience luthier will make all the difference. David's years of electric guitar repair, restoration and setup work will prove significant to the end result. Trust the hands that have worked on instruments for some of the most noted musicians of the past few decades, as well as those local Cincinnati musicians who covet their electric guitar.

We provide 3 galleries to peruse at your leisure. The Before and After Gallery gives you a solid idea of the extent of our major guitar repair and restoration work. The Repair and Restoration Gallery offers brief overviews of the work along with a shot of the guitar once the repairs have been completed. And the Guitar Setup Gallery shows some of the fine guitars that Dave has setup over the years.

Electric Guitar Restoration and Repair Before and After Gallery

Simple click any of the below repair and restoration images to view them larger.

1968 Fender Paisley Tele - Complete Guitar Restoration

Stripped off old wallpaper and replace with original Borden company wallpaper. Installed B and E Bender. New metallic sunburst, custom plexiglass back-plate. Complete guitar setup.

1980 D'Aquisto Jazz Electric - Guitar Restoration

Pigment for the D'Aquisto brand on the headstock was falling out. Replaced black filler material. Lacquer had to be aged and sprayed to match the rest of the guitar. Complete guitar setup.

1970's Gibson SG - Guitar Neck Repair

Neck was broken off. The guitar neck had to be completely re-built with a new setup, and cream lacquer touched up.

1950's Gibson ES350 Archtop Guitar - Repair

Repaired the holes and cracks in the sides, matched the sunburst paint and finished it with Nitro lacquer. After a complete guitar setup, this guitar repair was close undetectable.

1954 Fender Telecaster - Complete Guitar Restoration

Customer found in a Texas pawnshop. Starting off, Dave stipped off many, many layers of paint then stripped the neck. After new frets, decal, blonde finish and completely overhauled electronics, did a complete guitar setup.

Early 70's Gretsch Roc Jet - Complete Guitar Restoration

Original pick-guard restored. Removed and replaced all frets. New bone nut. Cleaned the guitar finish. Complete guitar setup. "Your work made it the great guitar that I always knew it could be." ~ Mark C.

1960's Guild Starfire - Complete Guitar Restoration

Stripped off battered finish. New 3 tone sunburst around the entire guitar. Re-wired electronics. New frets. Complete guitar setup. One amazing sounding guitar!

Gibson ES335 - Neck Repair and Setup

Steamed off fingerboard, faulty truss rod system, installed new truss rod system, fingerboard, new frets, rewired electronics, complete setup, new bone nut, new nashville style bridge

1968 Paisley Tele - Guitar Restoration

Guitar was cracked badly. Wallpaper missing on back. Filled in to match wallpaper. Leveled finish to the rest of the instrument. Glued all loose finish cracks and touched up. Added custom neck shim. Complete guitar setup.

1959 Fender Stratocaster - Complete Guitar Restoration

Completely stripped old finish. Re-finished 2 tone sunburst with Nitro lacquer. Leveled Brazillian Rosewood fingerboard. Installed new frets. Replaced input jack. Complete guitar setup. One of the nicest Strats I've every played!

P Bass - Guitar Restoration

The body was like someone took a chainsaw to it. It was completly restored and refinished with a 3 tone sunburst, vintage aged neck lacquer, new decal (missing), new frets and a new bone nut.

50's Les Paul Gold Top - Guitar Restoration

"From a 50's Les Paul 'Basket Case' to 1957 Goldtop specs. In the early-mid 80's it was a radical procedure. I still have that guitar and it's an all-time favorite." ~ Frank Potter

Electric Guitar Repair and Restoration Gallery

These fine electric guitars came to Dave in need of major repair and restoration. But we simply dropped the ball and didn't think to take a picture of their "before" state. All were completed by Dave himself. One luthier on every instrument, all the time.

Simple click any of the below repair and restoration images to view them larger.

1960's Gibson Johnny Smith
Made new custom pick-guard.

1940's Gibson ES
Made new custom pick-guard.

1960 Fender Strat
Fiesta Red re-finish and re-fret.

1962 Fender Strat
Sureline Gold re-finish and re-fret.

Phantom II Vox Bass
Custom pick-guard and re-fret.

1960's Silvertone
Customized restoration.

Early Gibson Mandolin
Made new custom pick-guard.

Gibson Archtop
Made custom ebony pick-guard.

Electric Guitar Setup Gallery

It's been 30 years of electric guitar setups and more. Experience matters when it comes to guitar setups. Here are some of the finer electric guitars that Dave has setup on in the more recent past.

Simple click any of the below images to view them larger.