Glenn Freese - String Instrument Services

04/12/2018

Refretted and reset, ready for another 20 years of musical adventures. Thank you to master luthier, Glenn Freese - String Instrument Services. Plays so beautiful, sounds so heavenly. 🎶✌😊🎶

17/10/2018

Another one for the books. 1972 Martin D18. I'm just finishing up the neck angle reset. Earlier, it got a new small maple bridge plate and a custom, hand made bridge from quarter sawn Honduran rosewood with a bone bridge saddle. It'll get new frets and lightly scalloped bracing next. Gonna sound massive.

25/09/2018

1950 Martin 000-18...havin fun now

07/08/2018

Then I made the cauls from plywood to fit

07/08/2018

Resetting the bridge on this Weisenborn-style guitar required making clamping cauls that fit between spider-pattern bracing. Using small magnets, one inside, one outside, I traced the position of the braces.

17/09/2017

Hey, sometimes your bench is a big wood clamp, right?

28/05/2017

What I'm doing today: I just finished some minor repairs on this gorgeous, Weissenborn-style guitar. It was built sometime in the 1920's or 30's in the Los Angeles, CA shop of the Kona company. It is not unlikely that Hermann Weissenborn had a hand in the building of it as he was known to do some work for the Kona company. The body, neck, and peg-head are solid figured Koa, a hardwood that only grows in Hawaii. The rope-style binding, made of dozens of small maple and Koa blocks signifies that this instrument was made to occupy the highest level of the ones being produced by the company.

03/02/2017

04/09/2016

Cool old upright bass c.1830 Thanks, Mark Leue

03/12/2015

This guitar, created by Dana Bourgeois of Lewiston, ME, is one of the prettiest I've had in my shop.

23/09/2015

You know, Ken Cartwright, sometimes you just need to get pressure on a seam so you just improvise.

27/06/2015

I really appreciate getting feedback from customers:
Hey Glenn,
Wanted to let you know that I have really noticed some nice changes related to tuning since you widened the slots on the nut. The guitar was really more difficult to tune and keep in tune before. Now it tunes up nicely and smoothly. Thanks again.
Sam

01/05/2015

The man in the picture next to this very unusual violin is John Dopyera. John and his brother, Rudy, invented the Dobro resonator guitar. They were also involved in starting the National Resonator Guitar Company. John built this dual resonator violin for his own use and it's a one of a kind. I was fortunate recently to meet John's daughter who has recently inherited it. The violin was shipped to her with the bridge taken down and the strings slack. She brought it to my workshop to inspect it, reset the bridge and set it up in playing condition. The body is made of aluminum and is finished in pearl-colored gold paint. The sound is warm and loud. It was a pleasure and honor to hold this piece of history. (Note: some of you may be acquainted with the owner, I have not named her in order to protect her privacy)

18/04/2015

Repairing a 1964 Gibson B-45-12 with a broken truss rod

11/04/2015

I love it when I get feedback like this from my customers:

Hey Glenn - Just wanted to drop you a note to thank you for doing such a great job on my guitar. It plays like butter! I've never felt such a smooth fingerboard.
Craig

14/03/2015

Gibson 12-string

04/03/2015

Does your strap button looks like this? No?
I can fix that!

27/02/2015

13/02/2015

12/02/2015

This Carvin LP-style electric came into the shop to improve on the factory-installed wiring and upgrade the pots. The photo on the left is the before... It came away with greatly improved depth of tone

12/12/2014

I'm working on resetting the bridge on this cool old Weisenborn slide guitar. Probably built in the early 1930's and rare because it has no upper bouts.