Leemonster creations

 No I had my hollowbody guitar held hostage for three weeks.
Again, I learned, with grace and impunity, that it takes 50+ min
of a drive either direction from here to find reliable and decent people.
I'd wondered why and how that the last several times of going to the local
shop that you get worse service. More ever since the prev owner handed down
communications and ownership. One feller there is very stand up and good.
But the new luthier said they'd teach me how to do it on my own and to
do it "the right" way. I was trying to pay someone to do a service and to
help me out.
It was crazy because they are so booked with customers that they will shrug
off anything they don't want to have at. But in this really smarmy and rude way.

It took me checking in three weeks or more later on since dropping it off.
That they didn't look at or address a wiring issue that I was not wanting to
remove myself and guess at for getting it right. It wasn't where I felt alright
toward overlooking what someone possibly more experienced could catch and
correct and for me to pay them for that service.

But that place is going through multiple luthiers a year at this point and with the
ownership change, though still kept in the same family, I don't think the
range of demand for repair and service meets their stressor levels.
Just that one worker gets smarmy as hell and had before said a guitar I owned
sounds absolutely awful but probably because it was not composed of a giant
piece of cheese for him to chew and gnaw and eat and feast upon.
That is right. A giant block of cheese.
But i had successfully beforehand removed a rat from the understature of a house.
And one was enough.
Just that the person did a complete setup on that instrument, without me asking
Or requesting that at all.
So I was told it was "about normal" for that ground hum to be there, especially
with it being way worse when flicked to the bridge pickup via the 3 way switch.

That I could deal with that even if it was a humbucker and not a single coil
Single coils have that there as an expected noise level to get out of audio level
with a noise gate and so on. But the humbucker and small line/wiring run in the
potentiometer spaces meant that it was fixable and serviceable, and just that they were
too lazy or didn't want to work on my instrument. And I notice that so much in this
area, like shit is in the water, and no one is really good at what they do, or they
shrug off anything that is more than they want to do. And there are endless slews of
college kids or hipsters they can make money off with no effort.
Just I needed a hand with some wiring that I had tried again and again to sort out myself.
And decided to ask about it. And my guitar just sat in the same shop for 3+ weeks
without a thing looked at. Call me so I can get it back sooner then if you don't feel like helping.
But for God's sakes don't do a "setup" on an instrument especially without an OK for it,
and if the guitar style of playing wasn't called for having the action as absolutely as low as possible.

Your shop is a drag now and one of the brothers is a complete c*nt. The other is super decent
and I feel for him. 
Every time I drive nearly an hour out, though, places like Rochester or wherever, people seem real.
And human. And if they are nice or not, you know, they seem real enough.  And you can find people
representing their service or skill or craft. And you can commend them for doing decent or standing
behind their claim and workcraft.  
It's good and it's real and you can have a decent conversation, without finding any little jabs
slipped in.  Lots of businesses close or scatter around here and there is a huge reason for it.
The demand is too high, though, for this local shop, so they can continue to halfass it through
before the legacy of what they'd been handed down starts to really effect too close to home.
And they'll go through however many several luthiers that they do. The last one was really decent,
and personable, and had a great rapport. And I can't help all but think he left. On his own accord.
The new one has that famous in-town smarmyness and will talk over you, cut you off,
put you off, have this snide kind of sassyness that makes you really have to deal with any service
if you all but can't help otherwise. 
It's like a lineage of quality or service that rides on the trustworthyness of the past. The elders that
carried it. But those are my family members. The instruments. 
And the wiring had a clear and real solving needed to be done but all I heard was it was "too much of a pain" to get to and just to "try to find a way to play it as it is."
Basically its like, ok you don't like me, you dont want to work on my gear.
Cool. Just say it like that. I tried learning it on my own so I wouldn't have to go down there
but instead found way cooler communities and people who seem like they do care for their craft.
Just when you drive that far it takes a toll on fuel cost and all that.
I'd of been happy as anything to run through the wiring and see where the blip was. Because I want to
service all of my own instruments. Just that "it's a pain to work on" is that crossing between me paying that good money to make an instrument right.  And I question the actual skill of them at this point if getting someone's project to a playable and satisfied level is something they dont want to do because they aren't up for the job on it.  Just say "it's too hard and I don't feel like doing it for you as a customer" because we get so many other customers, and can make bills that easy, and we don't want you or your money back to our shop.
and I sound like the salt that splays on the roads and eats up the underside of vehicles saying all that, but assure that all the other counties I check out have at least close enough of an A-Game and it's been fun chatting with them or also supporting their services and seeing them interested enough of putting their work where their words are.
And so anyhow I can re-setup that entire instrument when it's electronics are good to go.
and have a couple places now that seem more caring even if it is that much further of a drive out.
I just was a bit offput, more than that, when I saw nothing was even looked at in the slightest when it came to that wiring. And I should just "deal with it how it is" and it was "normal" to have some antagonizing 60 cycle hum.  Like, damn, I was going to pay you what you though it was worth.
But opening the case and seeing a whole setup done without me asking-- was like, so you did touch the instrument, you opened it up and altered something on it, but not the 'tronics I signed a slip out to have fixed-- like what are ya thinking? Am I supposed to be sorry I'm not a rich college kid or whatever and I'm there for services rather than throwing money down to buy brand new stuff?

They're my family, instruments. And to turn anything dour into something more worthwhile, when the shop with more heart and grace and workmanship skills has it ready, should it be repairable and viable, I'll be happy to not deal with it as is or try and push through some grounding issue. And have a really nice clear sound and presence. To introduce a full hollow body to recording some tunes and using to play some of the grit and rawness but also atmospheres and short story scenes.  I don't care however many miles it is to and back, or maybe even I won't mind how into my pockets I'll be.  It's that soul pact with your devices, your instruments, where when they are happy enough and in a place of being a tool as settled in and dialed in to reach their apex and capability, that you can bond with them and pour out really who you are.

Just with some of the places local, for what you are expected to have to deal with, I feel taken for a ride more often than not, comparing that afterwards to  some of the actual care and quality I find outside of this town. This town gave up on itself and is crumbling at a fastpace like I'd never seen a place do before. This does tie in aptly to my much revisited hipsterdom and gentrification rants.
If enough prayer or spirited pursuit level into my world or momentum, I can likely say that a relocation to any of these outside places moves my own pallette of life and interests to just plain living there.
Just you don't fook around with a wallaby's guitar is the main gist of that.