Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm very happy to announce that our new shop is up and operational after taking a month to move the business out of the epicenter of Ann Arbor.

A couple of years ago Dave and his wife Karen purchased a new home on five acres a few miles south west of town. The property came with an out building that had been a workshop where an airplane was crafted by the prior owner.

Dave thought it was perfect for the next gen A2G (Ann Arbor Guitars) and so did I. So here it is or what we will show for now of the progress. I work on our first ever guitar in the new shop tomorrow.

There is an equally sized space in the back and more of the shop on the right side of the wall so lots of space for expansion. The back will be the tool room for all the machines.

Our business model is changing too. We were turning away around 60% of the work that came our way and constantly on guard to prevent people from shipping us work, we never did or wanted to do shipped in work. So we are far busier than we want to be. Even warding off work and taking a lot of our time to do it I repaired over 600 guitars last year working part time in the middle of the night. A repair is at a minimum for us a full set-up for around $100 and I did fret work, pup installs, cracks, bridges and countless other things too.

After a decade in the old shop taking walk-ins that's over for us and we are going to be much more selective now and by appointment only. On Monday alone Dave reported over 30 calls for repairs.

Our pro player/gigging musicians also continue to receive priority service and that was always a big hit with them.

Doing great work, guaranteeing our work and same day service or next day service on set-ups grew the business in leaps and bounds. My contention that the set-up is the user interface to the instrument and as such super important was shared by countless clients who left five star reviews. It's also a great stalking horse to other needed repairs such as fret work.

But Ann Arbor is expensive, highly regulated so much so that it's altered my personal politics to some degree.... and our overhead expenses were high.

This move cuts our overhead by 2/3rds which is huge and also permits us catching our breath and still having it all be worth it. For a business to cut expenses by 2/3rds is huge and very welcome here.

As for me it is once again Dave's business we had been equal partners in the past. I signed over my half as promised the last day of last year and I am now a contractor billing under the name of Hesh's Guitar Repair. This was always our plan and if you remember Stan who was an OLF member and apprentice for Bill Moll that's the model of my role now going forward. Going to work as much as I want going forward combined with some photography excursions such as Yellowstone next year. When I can't handle the valuable personal property of others anymore or shouldn't be handling it I will be the first to bow out for good.

But we are not there yet....

And best of all our shop has as Padma would call it "a bench doggie" named Kibbeh. She's Dave and Karen's pooch and very cool. She likes to push me around and I like it too. If I don't bring her something every day she makes me pay for it.

So wish us luck please. The OLF took me from a newb to co-owning a very successful, high volume, nationally known repair business and back again eventually to my rocking chair. It's been a wild ride but there is more hopefully to come.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Hesh, congratulations on the move (and moving a working shop in a month is no mean feat) and your new life as hired gun soldier of fortune . The space looks great, tons of light and space.

My only critique of your post is that it lacks a photo of Kibbeh

Congrats on the new house to Dave and the new shop space to you both! The old building is rich in history and such a cool location, it’s too bad the current business and political climate was working against you.

The new shop looks great. Plus I expect less gymnastics to maintain humidity.


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God bless you two, Hesh and David!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Looks like a great space Hesh. Sounds good all around. Always good to have a shop pooch or in my case a shop kitty =^,^=

Nice looking work space. Ground level is a plus. Now you need to fill it up with tools and guitars!

Nice!

I wish you all the best, Hesh. I am looking forward to many more pristine, in-shop photos

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-Marcus
http://www.bailieguitars.com
Instagram | YouTube

Congrats! Wishing you, Dave and Kibbeh many years of happy and profitable guitar work in the new space.

Sweet!!

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Thanks Josh and I'll get one of Kibbeh tomorrow. You're right moving a Lutherie shop is a nightmare. Dave did it all since I am laid up and having surgery later this month. While moving he did the remodel you see in the pics. Pretty impressive and when you tap the walls they sound good too

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Thanks Brad yeah the old place was cool but by no means easy to maintain RH. The new place is very sealed up in the front where the instruments and we are so that will be a joy. Heat pump tech too and I'm pretty impressed with how well it works and how quiet it is. It's a shorter and easier drive for me too so I dig that as well.

Looking forward to it.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Thanks Chris and thanks for the consult last year too that helped me a lot.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Thanks JF and if you are ever out this way I think that you and Dave would really hit it off, I already like ya He has two cats although I have not seen them, yet...

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Exactly and I did have two flights of stairs to the old shop and so did our customers, not optimal by any means.

Thanks Clay the parade of guitars and other instruments starts tomorrow but by appointment this time.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Thanks Ed.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Thanks Marcus I'll try to make that happen.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Many thanks Bob.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Thanks Terry now we need an X-ray rig

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Looks good, definitely a step up! About the only thing missing are the strange antics out the window on the street in AA and I think you’ll do fine without them:)


Steve

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yep exactly leave all that drama behind for sure.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Wowsa! Nice shop, all the best to you all!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

That’s great, Hesh! It’s a beautiful shop .You both deserve it for all the hard work you’ve done.


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Awesome! Congrats


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What’s the first gutiar you’re gonna work on?