Tuners can be a great improvement for your guitar. They can make your guitar play (and stay) in tune for longer periods of time, improve your tone, and even look better!. In considering repairs to your guitar do not leave out the possibility of a tuning machine upgrade.  Dr Fretgood carries a great selection of tuners in all different sizes, colors and models. Ask the Dr. what kind of tuner will work better for your guitar.

HEADSTOCK:

A broken headstock is a very common guitar repair we perform. Usually headstocks break from a hard fall, occasionally just from a tiny tap, and since each breakage is different we’ll need to see your instrument to decide what kind of guitar repair is necessary. At Dr. Fretgood, we use many different kinds of glues for each job. Very badly damaged headstock or re-breaks might need a little extra reinforcement. Pieces of new wood (called splines) are inlaid through the break running with the neck’s length and against the grain for a stronger bond.

95% of factory instruments, even the most expensive ones, come with a plastic nut. Nuts are a great factor in the over all tone and sound of your instrument. Sometimes an annoying buzz might be caused by a low nut that is allowing the string to vibrate against the frets.  The slots in a nut might be too high causing bad (sharp) intonation on the first 4 frets and offsetting any possibility of having good action and playability throughout the rest of the fingerboard.

Fret Level: When a basic set-up won’t get rid of fret buzz it’s time for a fret-level. Fret levels are very common in guitars that are exposed to climate changes. Sometimes these changes make the frets pop up or move around creating hi or low spots. A fret-level usually takes care of this problem by making all fret nice and level again. We often need to reseat frets if they have risen due to changes in the fingerboard moisture content.

A fret-level includes recrowing and polishingof all frets. At Dr. Fretgood we have developed a technique for simulates string tension while we perform the level.  This allows for an extremely accurate level.  We can almost always get your action lower than it came from the factory.

Re-Frets:  Re-frets come in all sizes and colors. Some people just don’t like the frets that come with a brand new guitar and prefer to get them re-fretted right out of the box. Other musicians are after different type of fret shape or size to accommodate a certain playing style.

Re-fretting a guitar is a great opportunity to get rid of many of your guitar’s action and playability troubles. Abnormal buzzes caused by very low or loose frets can be eliminated. High action resulting from old warped necks can also be repaired here.

At Dr. Fretgood we are very proud of the fretwork we do. We use one and all methods for re-fretting: hammering, pressing and the glue in method; all depending on the different instruments and circumstances. All re-frets include: Level, re-dressing, crowning, clean and polish of all frets. Re-frets usually create the need for a new nut (and saddle if acoustic), since the tops of the new frets are higher than the old ones. Ask about our re-fret and nut guitar repair packages.

A setup can be defined as a tune-up for your guitar. Many musicians neglect their instruments and only bring them to the shop when something breaks or need to be replaced.
A setup can increase the healthy life of your instrument and might save you some money  long term!!!

A basic setup includes: re-dressing the frets (which cleanes up intonation, reduces the buzzing and increases their life expectancy) cleaning and oiling the fret board, tightening all hardware, restringing, adjusting nut slots, truss rod and overall action, balancing tremolo and intonation, cleaning and checking all electronics, adjusting pick-ups heights, cleaning and polishing of the instrument.

At Dr. Fretgood we believe that instruments should be set-up every 3-4 months to improve playability and eliminate potential problems. In 3-4 months the weather has most likely drastically changed and/or all the little parts on your guitar have moved due to vibrations.  Ask the Dr. about our Health Insurance Package with which you can receive a free setup! 

Pickup installation: This is a very common guitar repair upgrade for many musicians, after-all the pickups are the main voice of your guitar.  Upgrading or swapping pickups will improve your tone, sustain and overall sound. At Dr Fretgood we are always on a tone quest, we’ll provide your with all of our knowledge about the subject.  We can order a vast selection of Pickups out of our extensive catalogues, or you can just bring your own and we’ll install it for you.

Acoustic Pickups: From a simple transducer to a complex blend, singe coil or humbucker, we install all kinds of acoustic pickups. We carry: L.R. Baggs, Shadow, Fishman, K+K, and many more...

Upgrades: Cheap wires, jacks and pots, non existent shielding and poor soldering connections might cause a lot of problems on your axe: static noise, shorts or week or no tone/sound. Low end guitars are more prone to encounter this kinds of problems, but they are not the only ones. Years and years of dust, corrosion, weather, humidity, hard use, and heat usually deteriorate the components. We carry only the best parts in the market.

Custom wiring: We offer a great variety of custom wiring such as coil-taps; kill switch, series/parallel, phase switch, and more. We can work with you to have your guitar wired the way you always wanted it.

Hardware Upgrades: Another way of improving the tone of your instrument is by replacing the hardware. Upgrading saddles, bridges, and tuners is a very common thing to do and many musicians are surprised at changes that this brings with them.
We carry a vest selection of hardware.

Broken strap buttons can be a very annoying thing, especially if the screw broke inside the whole! Bring your guitar in, we’ll take care of that.  We could also install a strap lock for you!