Here you will find the widest range of vintage, restored, repaired, reloved and revived stringed instruments. From 1890 parlor guitars to our brand new Custom Wallpaper Tele’s, we got it all. Check out our Guitars, Banjos, Mando’s, Ukuleles, Basses, Solid Body’s, Hollowbody’s and a wide range of Pencil Crayons. Click the about us pages to see a little of our story so far, our friends page to see who we rub elbows with and of course take a look at all our fancy stringed things.
so these are our new digs. you like? yes it has been long overdue but we were finally sick of being reminded of all the guitars that we had to see go. Â So here we are with a brand new website for your viewing pleasure. Stick around, have a nosy about, and we know you will like what you see. oh! by the way stay glued to this page for lottsa, lottsa new stuff. But don’t be afraid to drop in and say hello ‘coz what you see here is only a small portion of the wonders and joys that live inside The Guitar Repairers.
This guitar represents the essence of what the Guitar Repairers are all about. It’s a short story, however I think you’l like it.
June of last year one of our regular “irregulars†the Rev. Justin Petrie wanted to give us a guitar that he had sitting in a cupboard for nearly ten years. Several “consultants†had been deemed the guitar worthless, irrepairable and worst of all, these same folk had told him to chuck the old girl in the bin!. We could see great potential in this old gem and I gave Justin 150.00 for her as that seemed the right thing to do. I now realize that a thousand dollars would have been more appropriate!
Once we had restored and modified certain aspects of the Tempo, she just sang. A big fat bottom end and woody midrange was a real surprise and took us all on a short journey back to those great blues legends like Big Bill Broonzy. Note from John…….Hendrix’s “Here My train A Comin’†really rocks on this guitar.
We were honoured to have Mark Lizotte (aka Johnny Diesel) )(Diesels’ Site) buy one of our Harmony “Gene Autrey†cowboy guitars and one of our semi acoustic “Hot rod†P90 monsters
which he tells me is all over his new album. He really took a liking to the Tempo and said that someone he knew back home in Sydney would be very interested. A few days later we found out who that somebody was. Getting a morning call from Jimmy Barnes (yes, that’s right kids, that Jimmy Barnes)(Jimmy’s Site) is a really cool way to start the day. Anyways, Jimmy ended up buying the Tempo, a 1943 Walielea 0 Size guitar
and A beautiful little 1935 Rickenbacker lap steel. Needless to say that He loved them all…. Now, here’s where it gets interesting, please, please please read on.
Jimmy has a show on Music Max called “My first Gigâ€(My First Gig). Jimmy has special guest artists appear on his show to talk about the earlier parts of their vocation, such as first bands, first cover songs they learned etc. The first guest finished the show by playing “Lola†on the trusty ol’ Tempo. He loved it and wanted one just like it. A few days later I get a call………â€Hello this is Mark…Jimmy Barnes sent meâ€. “Hi Mark how’s it going blah blah blahâ€â€¦it took about a minute for “Mark†to intervene in the conversation to humbly inform me…. “Sorry John, the name isn’t Mark, it’s actually Neil…..uhmmm Neil Finn†Neil $%^&*Finn!!!!!!!(Neil’s Site) Two National Treasures in two days… Neil wanted another 12 string like Jimmy’s. We did have something similar in the form of an beautiful old Stella 12 string
. Neil also bought a mid 1920’s Regal parlor
and a 1967 Guild 12 String that he gave to Son Liam as a Xmas present (Lucky Liam!)(Liam’s Site). We had to fast track the restoration and stayed up half the night packing them all up in order to get them to Neil, before Xmas. However, The icing on our already overflowing cake was this….. Neil really needed these guitars because he gets “special†songwriter friends to fly in for a week over the Xmas/New years break. Each individual is paired with another that he/she has not worked with before. The result is an album and a three night tenure at a 2000 seat theatre in Auckland. These performances help cover the cost of the project…… so who were these “special†friends????? KT Tunstell, Johnny Maher (ex Smiths), two Chaps from radio head (citiation needed) and two from wilco (citation needed).
The last band being in our collective top five best ever bands! Are we happy? Are we proud? Should we be telling you this story?? We think so…. And to think it all started with Mr. Lizotte and a Tempo 12 string guitar that none wanted.
This is our Tempo here as Neil Finn and Jimmy Barnes play “LOLA”
This is our very own Handmade GTR Mandolin made by Kallquist Guitars. Back, sides and neck are rose mahogany cut from old VJ’s used once in a Presbytery in Kerry. soundboard and braces are bright spruce from an old German Piano.
“it sounds awesome!, loud, bold full, everything you need in a Mandolin” – Luke Kallquist, 2010
Stay tuned for more in the GTR Line by Kallquist guitars
We saw the brass saddle pieces out on the market and thought, hmm we could make some of them. So we did! These are our handmilled brass bridgepieces that we custom fit to your Ashtray Bridgeplate.
This is a custom order. Pastel Blue, 2 piece ash body, High output vintage style pick ups, all brass hardware and hand milled brass saddles (check these out in the Unique and exciting products section.). Makes for quite the blues machine. We make these guitars to order starting at around 1500.00
Ah yes! Yet another in our series of wallpaper “T†style guitars. I think this one is the most bodacious that we’ve produced yet. Just look at it! A lot of people have asked just where do we get our wallpaper from? I’ll let you in on a little secret. The Japanese have always been the masters of fine print product and the “wallpaper†is actually super high grade gift wrap. We have a local supplier who helps us in this area and we invite anyone who is interested to personally check out these prints for themselves. These guitars are made to order starting at 1800.00.
Now this little baby was a real challenge. You would be amazed at just how much electronics can be jammed into such a small guitar! Those crazy Swedes must have had too much time on their hands. That said….isn’t she just soooo cute. No bigger in size than a Mustang (reg.needed) and a neck so slender that it would put an Ibanez RG reg. needed) to shame. This guitar was built in 1961 by the Hagstrom Company. We have rebuilt her lovingly right down to the Tortoishell scratchplate which was fashioned by young James who is following in the footprints of his forefathers (that’s me and Luke by the way). Oh! And by the way, when we re fretted the neck it was still Gun barrel straight after all these years. I cant even tell you what Scandinavian timbers were used on these guitars, however I would loooove to get my hands on some. STOP PRESS! Sorry all, Skritch of The Mary Trembles has snatched it……However we will be getting more so let us know if you wish to be in the loop. Average price for these cuties is 1500.00 inc Case.
This old girl is just a tad bigger than a 000 size and therefore has a little more bottom end. A ground up restoration has just been completed using our vintage X brace modification.We have ascertained that she was Built somewhere between 1910 and 1920 she sports a solid……back and sides, a solid Adirondack soundboard and a Brazilian rosewood finger board. I only wish we could source more of these gems. Priced at 2300.00 inc case she is a bargain (Q. how do we date these guitars? Plse refer the FAQ section)
These beautiful all solid mahogany Grand concert (00 size) guitars were built by the Harmony company of Chicago in 1959. We rebuild them from the ground up. We use the same techniques here as we use in all of our vintage restorations. This also includes the use of Recycled piano timber to replace the original bracings. We usually have at least one of these either on the way from America or on it’s way to being finished. Oh!!!!what do they sound like! You gotta hear one to believe it. They are loud and fulsome. The bottom end is fat, but compressed, the midrange is round and the tops are surprisingly crisp given that we are talking about a mahogany soundboard. The lack of “boomâ€makes these guitars great recording and/or live guitars. PS. Want to know about appropriate (non invasive) pick up systems? Refer our “ Unique and exciting ideas†page. The average price for one these truly unique guitars is 1700-1900.00AUD inc case
We get a few old Gretsch’s through, however we don’t often see them in this condition. Built in 1969, it is hard to believe. I would say “near mint†is appropriate in the case of this guitar. We set this guitar up and replaced the original roller bridge (it still comes with the guitar) with a more functional tune-o-matic affair. Aside of this, the guitar is totally original! For this reason the pictures show the guitar with both bridges. Plays and sounds wonderful. The best part about this vintage collectable is the price $3200.00 inc a Gretsch Case
Welcome Guitar Geeks, to our humble online abode.
