Searl Guitars

It’s pretty cool to see what happens when a guitar company pays attention to, and then addresses every detail. Ibanez makes a lot of great guitars, and they’ve certainly done more than their part in getting instruments into the hands of young people just starting out. But it’s easy to forget that they also have a whole other gear that you don’t get to see very often.

This is a grown-ups guitar. It needed a fret dress and the lowest set up I think I’ve ever done. I can’t play this guitar, but maybe when I’ve grown up and stopped hitting the guitar like a caveman I’ll be ready for it.

Pretty sweet custom shop Les Paul, I mean Tele in for a fret dress.

What a beauty.

‘50s Gibson ES-125. It needed a refret, and the capacitor had been robbed from the tone k**b. Refret’s done, and the tone k**b is now working.

I’ve gotta say, options are cool, but one old P90 pickup, one volume control and one tone control, can still create a lot of versatility. This guitar doesn’t do everything, but what it does do, it does exceptionally. I love that.

Such a clean Harmony H-77. It needed a set up, some troubleshooting with the wiring, and a couple of k**bs (thanks eBay!)

Dealing with the wiring in hollow body’s is always challenging. But when you combine how brittle the old stuff is, with lots of switches and k**bs, and interesting ideas with how it’s all put together, it can be a lot. The last picture show’s some of my special tools for fishing parts into their proper place. The only thing missing from that picture is all of the steam coming out of my ears.

So excited for when this isn’t such a gnarly project. Restorations like this from start to finish are so so so daunting. But when you narrow your focus down to just doing the next thing, it’s rarely hours of labor, and it also allows you to focus all your energy into executing on one fairly straightforward thing. In this case, it was time to glue the face plate back on. That was it. Now it goes to the back of the line ready for whatever the next baby step is.

A beauty! 1967 Martin D-18. Came in with some loose and missing binding, and really old strings. So I glued the loose bits, and replaced the missing strip. Gave the guitar a good deep clean, and prepared myself for whatever “setup” surprises lay in wait. Turns out with a new set of strings, everything was exactly where I wanted it to be. The guitar plays great, and sounds incredible! There’s probably a neck reset waiting to happen, but for now it’s ready for some pickin’ and grinnin’.

This one’s blurring the line between vintage and antique, and when I’m over 100 years old, I hope everyone’s alright with me doing only what’s necessary to keep me playing too.

There are black guitars, and then there are black guitars. I like this black guitar. A lot. After all this time and all these guitars, it’s little details that start to bring the excitement. And the way a thin black lacquer finish sinks into the grain of the wood is a detail that really gets me excited.

Side splits. Lining things up, then gluing them. Not my favorite job. But it’s getting more satisfying.