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goobster  ·  1058 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: May 5, 2021

Got my favorite custom-made bass back from repair. (The luthier uses the image of MY bass as the header image on his web site.)

He made it for me about 20 years ago, and the trials and tribulations of a number of countries, moves, climates, and playing, the wood of the neck needed some love. It's a wenge fretboard, and the the grain had expanded over the years and left the neck slightly twisted and gaps in the wood. So the nut had to be replaced and re-cut to narrow the string spacing by about 2mm, the gaps in the wenge wood filled, and new frets installed.

Mike Lull Guitars did the work. Mike himself passed away last year, but his sons and the luthiers he had on staff are carrying on the torch and doing amazing work.

Funny thing is, when I was growing up a metalhead in the Seattle's "Eastside Metal Scene", everyone knew you went to Guitar Works to get anything done on your guitar. That was THE shop to go to for ANYTHING.

Turns out that was Mike Lull. Before he started making his own instruments, and making a worldwide name for himself.

So.

I used my Stimulus Check to pay a second-generation, local luthier, to repair a custom-built one-of-a-kind instrument, so I could continue to make art with it. I can't imagine a more lovely way to spend that money from the Federal Government; on local craftsmen, so an artist can make more art.

In the mean time, I made new friends ... of people I have known for decades.

AND... because Spencer Lull liked my instrument so much, he went ahead and did a full pro photoshoot and gave me the photos to share with Tony Thompson, the original luthier.

Everybody wins.