I finally got the Hamer Eclipse re-strung and the new bridge installed.  I just checked it out through my rig (a Fryette Sig-X into a Universal Audio 6176 mic pre/ comp) and it sounds fantastic.  It's exactly what I wanted and all the sounds are very very good, especially the single coil ones. I've never been a big fan of coil taps on humbucking type guitars. I've always had Fenders around, so it makes more sense to just grab one of those for those sounds, but this Hamer now does a really convincing Strat impersonation!

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks again....well done!

John Davis

December 31, 2009
(photos coming)

O.K., get ready for a long winded tale. But I couldn't give you the scope of Dave's work without it. I have to preface all of this with one thing that is a seller to me: When your gear is with Dave, your babies become HIS babies. Pro from the word go and he'll take care of your instruments as if they were his own.

I have had two guitars and one 4X12 cabinet worked on by Dave. ALL work was done with the finest attention to detail.

Case #1: The Jackson- Ah the old trusty Jackson. My workhorse, my go-to, and also affectionately known as "the wife". Now, I have to start the story by telling you that, sometimes like our real wives, this girl had been taken for granted. It was time to give her a "spa day". The spa happened to be Dave's. I took her in for a general set up and action adjustment. She came out looking like she just had plastic surgery in all the right places (if ya know what I mean). Seriously, Dave paid attention to every detail imaginable on this guitar. Every speck of dust in every possible crevice was cleaned and polished. From the Floyd Rose to the tuners everything was immaculate. This guitar hadn't looked so good since the day I bought her! Now, I like my action LOOOOWW. I mean, I want to fret a note, blow on the string and have it sing. The challenge proved to be no match for Dave. Beautiful work! To top it off Dave had tightened the nut on a loose knob and re-soldered a loose tone wire. As a TRUE "musician's friend", he never asked for additional money for the extra work. He just knew that it needed done and took care of it in the course of "setting it up".

Case #2: The Carvin Ultra V- Yes the dirty little bird. This is my get down and get dirty guitar. This thing begs to be ridden hard and put away wet. She's affectionately known, quite simply as, "the whore". To shorten a long story, this guitar was left in the care of someone I used to call "a friend" when I moved to Arizona from Wyoming. The guitar used to be the most singing, sustaining instrument in my small arsenal. When I got her from Wyoming, she was anything but. She had a fret buzz that would not go away. I don't know how many hours Dave invested in this guitar, but I KNOW it would have cost me a small fortune if I would have been charged by the hour. Dave took this project on as his personal "I'm gonna get you sucka" challenge. As it stood, Dave was working with a guitar who's truss rod had decided it didn't want any part of the action (i.e. it was screwed!). I've been told by another "guitar repair shop" that a guitar like this is one that you "retire". I'm not sure what Dave did to this guitar. I don't even want to know, but it's certainly no where NEAR retirement. I got the guitar back and she sings like she did in the old days. Dave, you are (to put it bluntly) MY FRICKEN HERO!

 Case #3: The Hughes and Kettner 4X12 cabinet- This is where Dave was worth his weight in gold. I bought this cabinet off of eBay, paid $200.00 shipped. Now, I knew when I bought this thing that there was going to be an issue. Nobody sells an H&K for $200.00. Especially one loaded with Celestion Greenbacks. However, I'm a gambling man and made the purchase after confirming with the seller that the cab itself was, in fact, "loaded". After it arrived, I understood why the poor fool who owned this thing wanted to get rid of it. It crackled and fizzed and did everything but smoke. After consulting with Dave, I took it down for him to "look it over". Dave had this thing diagnosed in literally minutes. The fool who owned this thing before had it wired completely wrong. In the process he blew one of the Greenbacks. Dave re-wired the entire cabinet and replaced the now departed Greenback (R.I.P. ya little rock and roll soldier). In the process he had noticed that the cabinet, itself had some "custom work" previously done (i.e. a sloppy job of painting the grill and break down + re-assembly of the cabinet itself). Dave purchased the materials to "tighten the cab up" and re-assembled the whole works. All he asked for in return was the cost of materials. Needless to say, Dave's been added to the will. For the price of the original deal + the cost of Dave's work, I got a cabinet that at one time retailed for over $1100.00. The biggest steal I've ever come across. Bad economies and even dumber people make for great acquisitions with a guy like Dave in your corner.

I have one more deal ready to head Dave's way in the short weeks. I happened to land a Zakk Wylde Les Paul that I know will sing like no other once I get it down to Dave. BTW, she's been deemed "the girlfriend" (noticing a trend, here?).

To let you know how impressed I am with Dave and his work, I'll let you in on a little something. I don't live anywhere near Dave. I don't live anywhere near "The Valley". I'm from Show Low, Arizona (almost 180 miles from my door is Dave's door). I drive my guitars personally down to Dave so that we can sit face to face and discuss EXACTLY what I want out of a particular project. This is a practice that Dave is VERY comfortable with. Dave has many guitars lying around set up to many different action preferences. He'll  let you play and give him feedback on how similar or different you want YOUR action set to. He hasn't disappointed yet. You might ask "why I would drive so far to get a guitar worked on?". The answer is simple. It's worth it. Now, don't get me wrong, I typically don't schedule a trip to Dave's just for guitar work (there's sometimes a barbecue or jam session worked in there). Actually, I try to hit him up while I'm in town anyway, but the fact remains: Dave is my guitar guy. Period. There's word around town of a guy here in Show Low that does some decent guitar work. I wish him all the best and hope he has more work than he can shake a stick at. But MY work travels with me to Dave's place. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.   

Oh, and Dave, fire up the grill and warm up the tubes on that Marshall stack. I'll be headed down with the ZW Les Paul shortly.

Sincerely,

Randy Gonzalez
Email Randy