My name is Steven, and I'm a part time guitar builder,repair tech, and I also make and repair pickups. I've been involved with this since 1992 when I had a partnership in a small music store. Now I've got a real job and I do this guitar stuff on the side where I can ENJOY IT (my "day job" is as a military helicopter instructor pilot). I decided to throw this site up to help out all the other guitarists who'd like to do it themselves, or know a bit more in general. As far as my own gear goes, it's a bit "odd" by most standards, but then again I'm not much of a player. My only other real affliction is motorcycles and especially my Duc.

Now about the rest of the website: The "Theory" section is titled "Theory for Idiots Like Me", and that's what it is, guitar theory for idiots like me. I do not claim to know all about theory (or anything for that matter), it's a series of lessons as it was taught to me in a simple to understand format.

The "Pickup Winding" section is a short description of the method I used to convert a small drill press into a pickup winder. It is no longer exactly what I use, but still quite similar. Includes a tutorial on how to custom hand wind pickups and convert old pickups. Also includes a page on all the factors influencing a pickups tone and output.

The "Wiring" section mostly contains links to helpful information on the web for wiring guitars. Additionaly, I have probably designed at least two dozen custom guitar wiring schematics, only to send them off in an e-mail and delete them. That seems stupid, especially considering I've wound up redoing a few due to duplicate requests. From now on the guitar wiring designs will be added to this section as suitable. Includes a Table of color codes for common pickup brands.

The "Building" section contains links and information for the do it yourself guitar builder. Includes a tutorial on custom building your own guitar and other guitar related projects...

The "Repair tips" section includes links and tips for repairing guitars and making usefull tools. Includes a tutorial on routing a finished guitar body to add pickups, doing a guitar neck refret, doing a fret level and crown job, repairing a broken headstock, and other useful stuff.

The "Pickup Swap Shop" is where I resell and trade used pickups I get in trade or other associations. Occasionally I'll have some vintage pickups, usually some very nice ones, and not listed I have a bunch of ok pickups.

The "Links" section covers everything else guitar related that I have found useful on occasion.This site will continually be updated, If you have a link you think should be included here, or find a link which is bad, let me know!

Thanks For Visiting!!

on to the rest of the site