State College Guitar and Amplifier Repair and Sales

Ooooffff.... Well... lets get to work!!!!! First job... get ALL the old glue out!!!!!

We didn’t build this beauty, but we’re doing sine fretwork, modding the pick guard and installing a new Creamtone ABR! Wooooo. Fretwork!!!

We will not be open today, Saturday September 26th for a childs Birthday Celebration.

Mmmmm. I love SGs!! This one’s in for some fret sprout and a verrrry tiny little ramp at the end of the fingerboard. The Katana and the end block have done their jobs.. The Billy Baroo file is on task now!!!!!

Raw video... no editing.. enjoy!!!

This old The Paul came to us with the neck just rattling around in the pocket! The owner said it had gotten wet and when he tried to adjust the truss rod... the neck popped loose!!!!! We believe him! These guitars are made of multiple pieces of good old American Walnut, and the water had caused separation along several of the body joins and the glue join of the neck had totally failed, except for one small piece of the neck tenon that had remained glued to the side of... the body mortise, which was all that was holding it together!!!! (it was removed and put back on the tenon before glue up) So... first, We glued the piece back in the tenon, spead the cracks in the body, cleaned them up and forced glue into them (especially the one running through the neck pocket) and then clamped everything up and let the glue dry. Next, all the old glue was scraped out of the pocket and the tenon, and the tenon was fit correctly to the body, nice and snug. (If you look at the old glue line in the apart picture... you can tell that the neck wasn’t really making good contact in the bottom of the tenon from the factory) We then verified that the neck angle was correct after the repairs, and glued it back into place. Then the guitar was unclamped, checked, the glue squeezout removed and put back together. A new bridge was installed as the old one was completely shot, (one of the adjusted studs rusted itself completely on to the bridge... fun!!!!) however, once hit with some DeOxit... the controls all worked flawlessly!!! That’s a very old Super Distortion pickup in the bridge, and a very old Dual Sound in the neck, and it sounds amazing!! Call me crazy, but love the feel of old gibbys with wide flat frets as well!!!!! Video to come!

2019 PennTone Pearl. This is the last Penntone guitar built while Mark Ross was alive and had direct input into every facet of construction. It has a maple neck set into a single piece poplar body with a bound rosewood fingerboard and mother of pearl dot inlays. The paint is vintage correct 50’s Sonic Blue in modern 2K urethane basecoat/clearcoat. We actually traced the original Ditzler color code through several ancient books and finally...microfiche.. to find th...e proper pigment recipe for modern paints. You see... there is no direct reference to sonic blue’ from that period that translates to a modern mix code for the 1950’s Chevy automobile colors that fender used as guitar colors.... but... Chevy wasn’t the only company Ditzler supplied that paint code to!!!!! (And the rest is super secret squirrel stuff!!!!!) The pickups were hand selected by Mark. The neck is a custom Curtis Novak Blake Mills gold foil and the neck is an original 1960’s Guyatone and the electronics values were tweaked, twice, to his ear! This guitar is actually still under contract to Mark, and thus his surviving family, so, thats where the bulk of the proceeds will go! Marks asking price was $1,999. If you knew Mark, you knew he always had a good guy price, and that still applies, so, if you are looking for a piece of local history, and feel like a good haggle, stop on by!!! A certificate of authenticity will be provided by Huss Electric Lutherie as to the details of this guitar. (There is one more PennTone under construction that was started with a general guide of set neck, black paint, tuneomatic bridge and tortie guard, but the pickups were not set in stone, so it will be finished with a set of Lollar P-90s, which Mark highly approved of as well. However, there will be no aaaahhhhh... I’d like to hear it with a one meg pot and a .033 capacitor and a series/parallel treble bleed with flat wound strings before I take delivery!!!!! No... none of that!!!)

Mesa Dual Rectifier Roadster. Great sounding and very versatile amp. $1499 (That’s a STEAL!!!!)

Today, while we ponder how a dead cat was registered to vote, we’ll finish up the fretwork on this Epi acoustic! What can we do for you? (Besides helping you register your pets as voters!!!)

They have arrived!!! We are now Babicz Full Contact Hardware dealers!... The full contact design of the saddles on their bridges really does increase sustain and resonance in the guitar... and they are LIGHTYEARS more comfortable than the palm pokey, set screw sticking up, Fender bridges that this particular model is intended to replace! These are already sold, but if you’re interested in a Babicz bridge for your guitar.. give us a shout.. shipping takes only a couple days direct from Babicz, we’ll match the big box price you see online and we’ll be happy to install it for you and set up your guitar!

So..... if you look closely, you’ll see a plug going into this The Loar mandolin. Yep.. its now electrified! We just installed a K&K Mandolin Twin transducer set in there!!! This was one of the more.... perplexing... installs we’ve done... we use a special tool for installing the jacks in hollowbody guitars and acoustics that really makes the job a lot simpler.. however.... being that the only place to get the endpin jack into the body of the mando is through ...the round end of the f-hole... this presented a problem as the tool and the jack wouldn’t fit when coupled together.. so... we dropped back and punted... and modified the tool!!! K&K are masters at ingenuity and improvisation. They provide the do it yourselfer with improvised tools to get the job done! Usually involving the locating and mounting of the transducers. This sets super special installation tool:... an aluminum roofing nail bent at a right angle!!!!! (Last time it was a golf tee and a plexiglass plate) We have a better tool... but... We gave the nail a shot.. worked!!!! (And then we used our tool just to be sure the transducers were secure!!)

Well, the Acoustiphonic unit is alive in the Epihone Wildkat!

One of our favorite gizmos is being installed into this Epiphone Wildkat. The Graphtech Acoustiphonic system! This unit actually makes your electric guitar sound like an acoustic. We were never that impressed with a piezo bridge alone, it adds some schmaltz to clean tones, yes, but if you wanted a true acoustic sound, like in the beginning of Fade to Black, you had to have an acoustic guitar mounted to a stand and then switch back to your electric for the heavy stuff. ... Well, now, you can just flip a switch on the guitar and go right over to your magnetic pickups and hit the distortion!!! We’ll hide the unit up under the hollow center of the Wildkat for a nice, clean install! Sound clips soon!

Complete rewire to 50’s style wiring and a pickup swap on this beauty today.. braided wire to the switch and back for the best noise reduction, and.. yanking the evil PCB in the process!!!! First... polish the frets and oil that thirsty board!!!