Who does good Fret work in the Portland, Or. area???

[taddertot]

Anybody ? Suggestions? I just moved here, and my 78 Ibanez GB10 archtop need a little attention. thanks.

 

[Knuckles]

Highly recommend Portland Fret Works on NE Alberta.

 

[taddertot]

Highly recommend Portland Fret Works on NE Alberta.

Thanks Knuckles. Someone else suggested The 12th Fret. Any experience there?

 

[Barefoot]

A number of well known builders live in the Portland area...Chapin, Saul, Soloway.

Sorry if I hacked up the spelling of the names.

There are others as well....

 

[succor]

Highly recommend Portland Fret Works on NE Alberta.

I can attest to this. Great experiences here.

Thanks Knuckles. Someone else suggested The 12th Fret. Any experience there?

I've avoided them during my 7 years in town, but only due to the reviews I've seen online. There seems to be a trend of customers needing to return for incomplete/unacceptable work. I stress, however, that I have no personal experience with them.

 

[taddertot]

A number of well known builders live in the Portland area...Chapin, Saul, Soloway.

Sorry if I hacked up the spelling of the names.

There are others as well....

Yeah, I had a chance to talk to Bill (Chapin), Before I moved here. Super nice guy.

 

[Knuckles]

PM'ed you, Taddertot.

 

[Knuckles]

A number of well known builders live in the Portland area...Chapin, Saul, Soloway.

Sadly, Jim Soloway is retiring from the luthier biz. Nice guy and very cool fingerstyle jazz player.

Saul Koll builds stoopid cool guitars, but I'm not sure how much straight-up repair work he or Chapin do - may be more into building than fixing.

 

[tnt365]

I had a "bad experience" at 12th fret, so I can't recommend it. I've also had some "bad experiences" at 5 Star Guitars and Guitar Center (go figure lol).

 

[kiki_90291]

I've been very happy with Portland Fretworks.

 

[taddertot]

I've been very happy with Portland Fretworks.

Going there today to drop it off. Thanks everyone.

 

[Shiny McShine]

Highly recommend Portland Fret Works on NE Alberta.

Me too. I had Mike refret my Custom Shop Strat and it came out great. They also build the guitars for one of the guys here who has his own custom design if that helps also.

 

[Deathmonkey]

If cost isn't a big issue, and getting it done superbly is more important than getting it done quickly or cheaply, Mike Lull up here in Seattle does fantastic fretwork.

 

[fuzz_factor]

I've only taken one guitar to the 12th Fret, but it was a good experience. They put a new tailpiece on my archtop and fitted a new wooden bridge. Their work was better fit to the guitar's top than the (Gibson) factory bridge.

I've used Portland Fretworks for everything else and have always been happy with their work. Super friendly guys, too.

I took a guitar in for a quote from Eastside Guitar Repair (I think that's the name - they used to be on Division and are now on Hawthorne) and didn't like the guy's personality. That said, one of my co-workers took an old banjo into him for some extensive work (re-fabricating a tone ring or something) and he was very pleased at how it turned out. He said the guy was cocky, but lived up to it. Price and turnaround time were good too. YMMV.

 

[taddertot]

Me too. I had Mike refret my Custom Shop Strat and it came out great. They also build the guitars for one of the guys here who has his own custom design if that helps also.

I dropped it off today. Mike was a super nice guy. He also said how much he likes to work on the Benson GB10's. Thanks god I can get away without a complete fret job. The price of fret work has gone WAY up!

 

[taddertot]

Got it back, and man it's GREAT! I'll be taking a few more things over to Mike. Great work and super nice to deal with..fairly quick turn around as well.

 

[Knuckles]

What was it...5-6 days? That is a fast turn. Congrats.

 

[succor]

Got it back, and man it's GREAT! I'll be taking a few more things over to Mike. Great work and super nice to deal with..fairly quick turn around as well.

I'm glad it was a good experience for you. Mike is awesome to work with.

 

[tnt365]

If Eugene, OR isn't too far for you (2 hours south of Portland), Rick Kneale http://www.rknealeguitars.com/ does amazing work. My favorite tech from both Portland and Eugene by far, very friendly as well. I've tried almost all of them, Portland Fret Works did great work as well.

 

[dblazer]

Another vote for Portland Fret Works. They have worked on both acoustic and electric guitars for me; first rate communication, work and timeliness.