STRINGED INSTRUMENT REPAIR

Collopy Guitars is an established stringed instrument repair business in the Richmond district of San Francisco, located on the corner of 4th Avenue and Balboa Street, two blocks north of Golden Gate Park. Along with repairs and adustments, a significant amount of work involves stringed instrument restoration.

On this site you can read through a series of articles that go into more detail about guitar repair and adjustment. I've been repairing and restoring guitars for more than thirty years. Over time, I began to realize that a thorough understanding of stringed instrument design is essential when making decisions about repair procedures. It is quite a challenge to determine how the construction of a guitar affects the choice of repair techniques.

I try to present very complex issues in a way that makes it possible for someone with little or no experience in stringed instrument repair to make decisions based on their individual needs. Descriptions of repair techniques are limited, I'm more interested in the concepts of design. This discussion of stringed instrument design is based on daily conversations I've had with customers over many years and an explanation of repair problems is my starting point. On a regular basis I'll be adding new pages that go into more detail about the great variety of repair situations you might face.

Feel free to email or call with any questions regarding the problems that you are having.