Help! Looking for Luthier in Ottawa

[BR183]

I hope someone can help. I am looking for a good acoustic guitar tech in Ottawa. I used to deal with Marc Warren who used to work out of Metro Music....he was awesome but he no longer does repairs. I know that OFC and most other music stores have repair services but I would like to get a reference from somebody who really trusts their guitar tech. I would hate to experiment and find out the person does sloppy work. I hope someone has some info.

Thanks,

Stewart

[WarrenG]

Terry at Long and McQuade on Bank St seems to really care about his workmanship. He used to work with Brian at the Ottawa Folklore Centre but since leaving tends to work on a lot of electrics. An acoustic guitar is a welcome change for him...

I used to go to Brian but he pissed me off with some of his "repairs". Although he will do good work if you're "somebody".

These days I go to Gord Mylke at the Kingston guitar shop. Former apprentice of Oskar Graf's. Wicked work and worth the trip (to me).

[BR183]

Thanks for the tip. I had similar experiences with Brian at OFC.

[PaulS]

to the north of you, a place called Rockingham is an excellent tech, Kevin Hall of Timberline music. Excellent work if you can get a hold of him. Bit of journey for you though.

[Luthier]

Hello!
If you are looking for a good Luthier in the Ottawa area, just take a look at this guy site!

http://www.germainfortin.com/

[radapaw]

I worked in the OFC shop with Brian and Terry in '97, both are awesome guys to whom I owe a great dept for getting me into the luthier game. I've watched Terry spent full days to get a stubborn ukulele playing to absolute perfect perfection, and seen Brian rebuild a shattered harp by the splinter which looked brand new when he was done. They are both capable of INSANE work.
Brian (http://www.magma.ca/~musicdoc/)
OFC (http://www.ottawafolklore.com/main.asp)
L&M (http://www.longandmcquade.com/)

I've also been hearing great things about Mike Ktenas repair work
LINK (http://ottawa-blues-jazz.ncf.ca/prmikek.html)

I mostly build, but do some repair too.
LINK (http://allgower.bassunion.org)

As far as 'questionable repairs', I'd just say find out exactly what your repair options really are before you leave your guitar on any bench. I would expect in any high volume repair shop, that the choices made for each repair are often based on the cost of the instrument (ie: "is a neck reset worth it on a used $100 Epiphone" ). This may seems obvious, but if you want the job done 'right', like a restoration or heritage repair, always (always) make sure to get that across... Crazy glue doesn't come off, but it does hold wood together really well.... perfect for that epiphone, but not so great on your 20's Gibson.

If your guitar is worth more than $5000 I would contact the factory (assuming it still exists) and ask them if they have any recommendations or a repair division for that matter.

[zdogma]

I do most repairs with Brian, I like him a lot, but it took half a dozen visits before I felt comfortable with him. The key with Brian is spending a few minutes to tell him exactly what you want.

I had Terry do some wiring work on my Les Paul, it took a over a month, he charged me $100, and he put the pickups in backward (screw poles to the middle of the guitar), so I had to take it all apart, and reinstall them in the right direction. No biggy, but a bit of a pain.

For the big stuff, especially Martins, Twelfth Fret in Toronto is the best. All of their techs are good (they have 5) Doug Harrison did a neck reset for me that was flawless back in 2004.

[STGuitarworks]

Still looking for a Ottawa area luthier?

I operate a guitar repair shop in Ottawa West / Nepean. I went to a guitar building / repair school on Vancouver island 2003-2004 and worked for a guitar manufacturer 2004-2006.

Cheers

Sean Thompson
613-698-8832
www.stguitarworks.com
stguitarworks@gmail.com