Guitar Tech in the DC/Northern VA area

[HackRabbit]

Can anyone recommend a guitar tech in the Washington DC/ Northern Virginia area?

My '78 cherry sunburst Gibson Les Paul KM wants some TLC, but not from me.

[tonestack]

Can anyone recommend a guitar tech in the Washington DC/ Northern Virginia area?

My '78 cherry sunburst Gibson Les Paul KM wants some TLC, but not from me.

Phil Jacoby in Baltimore is the man that you want to see.

http://www.philtone.com

[Phil_S]

+1 on Phil Jacoby. It's worth the trip. In addition to being an ubertech on the neck (pithy rhyme, sorry) he's a nice guy and will give you an honest shake.

His business name is PhilTone. He's on Fort Avenue, which is on the south side of the city and very accessible for someone coming in from south of the city. He's located near Ft. McHenry. Take the drive. Visit the Inner Harbor/Harbor East while you're here!

[HackRabbit]

Thank you Tonestack and Phil_s for the reply.
Phil Jacoby was also recommended to me by Pete Cage.
Phil appears to have a great reputation.
I was hoping for someone closer.

Shout out to Pete Cage who did great work on modifying my BF Fender Bassman to get the 5F6-A/AB165 channels.

Now, if I could only play as good as my gear deserves.

[HackRabbit]

FYI-A co-worker knows two working guitar players, one was a touring player with Ryan Adams, and they both recommended www.actionguitar.com.

[Phil_S]

FYI-A co-worker knows two working guitar players, one was a touring player with Ryan Adams, and they both recommended www.actionguitar.com.

At the risk of boring you, this is lifted from the Action website, between the "++++++++++++":

++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SETUPS

Standard setup includes: tighten and lube tuners, check nut height, clean fretboard, remove tarnish from frets, adjust trussrod, adjust neck angle (if possible), set bridge/saddle height and radius, clean electronics, restring, tune, intonate, test, and polish.

Acoustic 6-string and all 6-string electric guitars WITHOUT locking tremolo systems: $65 plus strings

Locking tremolo guitars (incl. Parker guitars), setup also includes leveling trem, tuning, and intonation: $85 plus strings

Truss Rod Adjustment
At peghead: $15 Acoustics: $15
If neck must be removed to access truss rod: $25
Double-truss rod instruments (e.g., Rickenbacker): $30
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You can figure this out for yourself, and I'm not commenting on quality, as I know nothing about Action and the people who work there.

Last time I went to PhilTone, he did setup work on two guitars.

One is a Larivee Parlor guitar. It had been kept in a dry place and the frets were protruding. He filed the fret ends, did a little fret dressing, a bit of filing of the nut slots, a bit of fiddling with the saddle, checked and tweaked the truss rod, and, of course, put new strings on.

The other is a PRS Soapbar II (Korean, under license), which needed a general setup, as intonation was not right. With the exception of the fret ends, treatment was similar to the Larivee.

Afterwards, intonation and playabilty made both of them seem like different instruments. I got to speak to the guy who did the work, he did it while I watched (didn't ask for this), and it was $60 for ALL of the work. He was done in exactly one hour and the charge was for his time at his standard rate. Granted, it was a couple of years ago and prices may have gone up, but, from what I can see, Action would have charged $80 PER GUITAR + filing of the fret ends on the Larivee. IMO, it's worth the dirve to see Phil Jacoby.

That Action price list looks a bit like a car repair model. If the mechanic can beat the flat rate manual, he gets to bill for the flat rate. If he's slower than the book, he absorbs the time over the flat rate. I don't have any probelm with people making money this way. My point is that you have choices, with both cost and quality being relevant factors.

Just my 2 cents and I'm not meaning to offend anyone.

[gearhead]

Philtone is $80 an hour now.

[Phil_S]

Philtone is $80 an hour now.

Thankls for the info. Even so, he's still half the price and IMHO he's top notch.

[HackRabbit]

Thanks for following up.
I appreciate the additional information.

[gearhead]

Philtone is $80 an hour now.

Thankls for the info. Even so, he's still half the price and IMHO he's top notch.

He's not necessarily half the price; it just depends on how long he takes and what he does. He goes by appointment only. If that's your thing, that's great. If you want to drop it off on your schedule, and pick it up later, it's not. If it takes you 60-75 minutes to drive up, and same to drive back vs 15 minutes, gas ain't cheap and time can be a limiter.

I'd suggest calling both, telling them what you need done, and go from there. I've never had Action work on my guitars, but talked with them about doing so. Very upfront about all items we discussed. Never followed through because his waiting list was a month long. Should be shorter now.

[Phil_S]

Anything's possible, but I can't imagine that Phil Jacoby would object to a drop off or even shipping it to him. I agree that the thing to do is call and ask.