You will find the answers to the most common questions, here. Kindly take a moment to look through. If your question was not answered here, feel free to contact us.
Please note, in some case, if longer discussions are needed to resolve challenging issues, a paid consultation might be required. To avoid this additional cost, kindly take a moment to read through our technical challenges page.
What is the turnaround time?
That's always impossible to predict. Guitar Quackery is literally the smallest guitar repair shop in NYC and servicing take a bit longer because of the level of service that this shop is known for. When a new service request is booked, the order is always placed at the end of the line. Our policy is that we cannot commit to any turnaround times and we strongly advise that you have at least one other guitar to play, as your order works its way through the list. But we do whatever is humanly possible to get it done in a reasonable time.
How does your fret leveling service compare to PLEK?
A PLEK machine is a marvel of German precision engineering. If we had one, we would certainly use it when appropriate. Neither approach is inherently better than the other. A useful analogy is comparing a car with a manual transmission to one with an automatic transmission. If both get you to the same destination, the type of transmission is not the deciding factor. What ultimately matters is the skill of the driver, regardless of which car they are driving.
Can I send an entire guitar to be serviced?
Regretfully, no. Our PO Box will only accept mailing tubes, not oversized packages. Any packages that are larger than a mailing tube will automatically be returned back to sender.
Can I send a neck from outside the US?
Regretfully, not at this time. There are too many potential complications with international shipping.
Can I send a bass neck?
Regretfully, not at this time, but most likely yes at a later time. Hopefully soon.
What if I want a smaller service than recommended?
A good analogy is to think of our service like a medical facility for guitars. If you go to the dentist hoping to resolve an issue with a filling, but the dentists shows you on X-rays that your roots are infected, the dentist will not attempt to fix the job with a filling - in that case you will need root canals.
When we asses your fingerboard, frets and the nut, we see all the issues in a high resolution, up to 20 microns. The objective is to give you back a guitar neck that reflects our level of quality. We are not going to attempt to fix uneven frets by polishing, etc... If you sent your guitar neck to us, you are seeking advice as well as execution of a service.
Our services are only suited for customers who are seeking the best results.
Can I request a partial service?
It depends. While this is a full service facility, some partial services might be accommodated. For example, if you want the frets to be serviced, but you want to make your own nut, that is fine. But if your fretboard has uneven frets, we would not be able to agree to a fret polish, without first leveling the frets (or refretting).
Why are your services so expensive?
These are high level services that require high skills and highly specialized (and expensive) tools and equipment. We believe, people need to be paid decent wages, not only to survive, but to thrive in life and to have a sense that they are not being taken advantage of, at their jobs. Also, Frets by Mail and Guitar Quackery offer services that are amongst the highest quality on the planet - so, they can't also be the cheapest. We don't compete on price, but while our prices are high, we actually offer great value. There are other, less costly options available from other service providers. Those might be better options for some guitars and some customers, but we only offer premium level services.
Why does the A string on my guitar wobble?
The "weird" looking vibration of your A string only appears under some household lights, and is just an optical illusion known as the stroboscopic effect. It happens because your household LED or CFL lights are not actually shining continuously; they are flashing on and off extremely fast—usually 100 to 120 times per second. The A string on a guitar vibrates at a frequency (110 Hz for open A) that is very close to the harmonics of the LED's 100/120 Hz flicker rate. Because the string’s vibration is nearly synchronized with the light's flashes, the string appears to move in slow-motion, wobble, or "jiggle" rather than just blurring. If you take your guitar out in the sun, this will not happen.
Should I send the neck with the strings on?
Well... just kidding. No one actually asked this... yet. But you never know. We get all kinds of questions.
