FlagView of the Day

Flagstaff, not too long ago... before the snow.


FlagView is back. I've decided, however, not to attempt a FlagView post (almost) every day as I once hoped to do. This will help with maintaining my sanity as I attempt to try, once again, maintaining a (somewhat) consistent blog.

eBay Offerings

We've been offering a lot of bargains and special items on eBay recently. I want to have at least a couple items up for auction every week. These bargains can be bought at the store for the Buy-It-Now price, or you may enter a bid at the store if you like.

Click here to view our eBay page. Click on Items for Sale on the left, under our logo, to view current auctions.

FlagView of the Day

The Orpheum theater, downtown Flagstaff. Many good shows come through this venue.

Solstice Concert Recap

The concert last Friday was awesome. Thanks to everyone who came out and to the bands Ink Child and Mokshya for playing. We're going to do this more often through the summer.

Pro Deal CoOp

We have officially started the Custom Sound Pro Deal CoOp... a cooperative special ordering program that gets you insider pricing on everything from strings & accessories to pickups & effects. We highly encourage comparing the prices offered through the ordering CoOp with other online stores. The prices you get by collaborating with us on orders will exceed your expectations. Keep reading for some basics and what to expect.


How it works:

The program is designed as a special ordering email system. You pay an annual membership of $35 and are immediately enrolled into a special, private email list. We never share your information with anyone. At that time, we will start sending emails informing you of our ordering schedule, letting you know what products are being ordered and details as to available wholesale prices.

For example, if you compare our CoOp prices to "online prices" (musicians friend, guitar center, music 123, etc.) you will get deals that are 23% lower, on average, through the CoOp. This means that a $160 order will save you more than the annual membership cost, if you compare that same order to the prices of a typical online store.

Local Flagstaffonians can come in the store, if they prefer, to order and pay for the program. If you live out of town you can call or communicate exclusively through email and paypal. Call us at 928-779-1000 or email us to get started...

I'll update this post in the next day or two with a printable, detailed one-sheet on the program. Give us a call or send an email (csiflag@gmail.com) if you would like more information immediately.

-- Ryan Elewaut

FlagView of the Day

Downtown Flagstaff.

The Weatherford Hotel & Charley's Bar.











-- Ryan Elewaut

Freakishly Good

Just thought I might make mention of Mr. Danny Gatton while I have a minute here. The only thing I can say about this guy, when ever he comes up in conversation... WOW! A true virtuoso. If you've never heard of Danny Gatton, this is a must watch. People like this are on a different level. Gatton is a perfect example of what I call an elite level of musicianship. This is what's achieved when extreme technical proficiency constantly connects with the soul of the musician. The instrument becomes a mere extension of the player's mind, body and spirit. Rest in peace Danny.



-- Ryan Elewaut

CustomCasters

We are now building CustomCaster electric guitars. These are solid body, bolt-on-neck style guitars designed to your specification, exclusively by Custom Sound Instruments. We have a couple demo models available to try at the store, but all instruments are built to order. The purpose of a "built to order" guitar is to fine tune all aspects of the instrument to fit your exact needs.

Buying a CustomCaster is different than buying an ordinary guitar. When people buy guitars they are usually fitting themselves to an instrument. When we build a guitar with the musician, we are fitting the instrument to you the player. We spend a fair amount of time sitting down with you (or exchanging emails) just to spec out the options and figure out exactly what kind of guitar you want... pickups, tuners, strings, neck style, body, electric modifications... the list goes on and on. Often, people don't realize the amount of variables that can be tweaked to make a truly customized instrument... one that suits your tonal palate, fits perfectly in your hands, and one that looks unique and speaks to your personality.

We have compared our demo models to similar "mass-produced" instruments... and frankly, there's no comparison. We'll put these guitars up against any main stream bolt-on style guitar, anytime. And the prices will surprise you. In most cases we can build a much better guitar for about the same price, if not less, than say a USA Fender. And better yet, it'll be absolutely one of a kind.



-- Ryan Elewaut

FlagView of the Day

Just to be clear, not all of the FlagView images are taken by me. Some are given to me by friends. Some I just have in my collection of photos. Here's a perfect example of a summer day down Lake Mary Road... just outside of Flagstaff.









This is the large meadow out past Lake Mary. You can see the San Francisco peaks in the distance.

-- Ryan Elewaut

Free Restring Day

Custom Sound Instruments and D'Addario strings are sponsoring a free restring day. Bring in your guitar for a free set of strings and let us show you how to properly restring your instrument. We will give you some tips on proper maintenance and minor adjustments so you can start taking better care of your own instrument.

The free restring day will be on June 21st... the day after our summer solstice concert. Contact the store for details or questions.

Glue that Back back On

You may be wondering, why so many clamps?

I had to remove the back (which was already lifting in various places around the seam) on this Kamaka ukulele to replace a back-brace and reglue another brace on the underside of the top. This is a small soprano uke, so the only way to get inside was to remove the back. The problem was originally caused by dryness. Coming from Hawaii, the instrument did not take well to the dry climate of northern Arizona. Because the instrument had been dried out, braces were lifting and the body was slightly warped.

So, this is why I needed so many clamps to properly glue the back in place. Four of the clamps are being used to simply hold the sides in the correct shape to accept the back into proper position. Because the wood had dried and warped, after the back was removed the sides didn't stay in the same shape... i.e. they were being held in place by the back prior to its removal.

As to why so many different types of clamps were used... I didn't have enough spool clamps for the entire job... also, spool clamps would've gotten in the way of the the clamps that were used to keep the sides in the correct position.

This was a beautiful, authentic Hawaiian uke with some great pieces of koa wood. It was a pleasure to bring this instrument back to life. After the structural work, I did some minor fret work and made a new bone saddle.

-- Ryan Elewaut

New Addition to the Family

Meet Andrew Lauher. A fine string instrument technician and accomplished luthier. Andrew has built guitars for many Flagstaff musicians including Rafe Sweet, Jeff Lusby and Jeremy Russel. He is now helping out in the repair shop (because we still have a consistent back log of about 35 instruments... damn!) Some of his guitars will be on display for the First Friday Art Walk in August. We'll keep you posted as to the models he'll have on display and the location.

FlagView of the Day

On that same hike to the top of the San Francisco peaks, about half way up the mountain there is a boulder field of lava rocks, the trees are cleared and this is the view, looking west.

-- Ryan Elewaut

Saddle Routing

Here are some pics of one of my favorite jobs... routing saddle slots. This is one of my favorite jobs because this is probably my favorite jig to use. I like to rout saddle slots on the guitar, with the bridge already located and glued. In most circumstances this enables us to actually intonate the proper location for the saddle... a unique privilege for an acoustic guitar. Electric guitars have movable saddles, which makes adjusting the intonation easy. Acoustic guitars have a fixed saddle placement.

So, this series shows two guitars having their saddle slots routed. The first one is a classical, which I was just widening the slot for the purpose of making it clean and true... the original slot was ugly... so I was just making it right. The second guitar is an old Harmony. I was showing Nate (my repair assistant) how to set up the jig and make the rout.

Setting up the jig.














Routing the slot.

Done. (But not a very good pic.)



















Nate's turn. Checking the alignment of the jig.














Routing and watching.














Done. Hard to see the slot in this pic. We routed this as a "through saddle slot," like what you see on older vintage guitars (or vintage-style guitars.)













-- Ryan Elewaut

FlagView of the Day

Hiking the San Francisco Peaks... the mountains shown in the blog banner at the top of the page. This is a pretty strenuous, yet absolutely beautiful hike to the summit... the highest point in the state of Arizona. Even the ground is beautiful. Is there a pattern to be found on the ground?

-- Ryan Elewaut

Have a Heavy Solstice

Announcing the Custom Sound Summer Solstice Concert: featuring the bands Mokshya and Ink Child. Come enjoy the solstice with us while we try our new outdoor venue.

We're having our first outdoor concert of the summer on June 20th, at 7pm. Join us for a free show, out back on the patio behind the store. There will be some heavy funk jams early on, then some heavy, tribal, experimental rock while the bands Ink Child and Mokshya play.

More info to come...


-- Ryan Elewaut

Doumbek Solo

This guy is the best Doumbek/Darbuka soloists I've ever seen. He really jams out at the end of this video. Custom Sound Instruments is currently building it's percussion section and we'll be getting in more hand drums over the next couple of weeks.




-- Ryan Elewaut

FlagView of the Day

I've been in Flagstaff for about a decade now, and I can truly say I love this place as much as anyone can love a home. I've heard all the complaints... but to me it's all 'grass is greener' bs. I see Flagstaff as a small city at the brink of it's greatness. Flagstaff has some problems, but the ever revealing and manifesting potential of the town is inspiring. Rarely a day goes by that I don't look at my surroundings here and get completely astounded and humbled by where I live. I'm very grateful to be in this town, and doing what I love.

I'm going to start showing a view of Flagstaff (almost) every day to share my admiration of the town and surrounding area with you. Welcome to the FlagView of the day.

--Ryan Elewaut

Vintage Restoration

This is the introductory post to what will be an ongoing restoration project. I will be making various posts throughout the process. The series of posts will show:

-Full dovetail neck reset.
-Complete re fret
-Remove and replace pickguard
-Remove and re glue the bridge

In addition to these topics, I will be showing and exploring many other general setup procedures and restoration topics... and other things that happen along the way. With a job like this, more things easily come up along the way.



This is a gorgeous, vintage 1962 Martin D12-35. I bought the guitar for the shop with the plan of restoring it. I haven't decided whether or not to keep it after the restoration is complete. The Brazilian Rosewood is beautiful. Below you can see the three-piece back with the Indian Rosewood in the center.














Look at the way they matched up the wood figure at the heel. This is a really great looking piece of Brazilian.













Here you can see how the bridge is lifting, and the pickguard. The bridge isn't too bad, but since we're resetting the neck angle it'll be best to fix this so as to correct the overall geometry of the guitar. I'll be using hot hide glue for the two major glue joints... the bridge and neck joint













-R.E.

Repair Pic of the Week

The repair pic of the week (on the right of the blog page) shows the beginning stages of a Martin neck reset. After heating up the fingerboard extension, I used a pallet knife to loosen the glue joint. This way, when I steamed out the neck joint, the entire neck would pull off the guitar in one piece.













The guitar being repaired is a 1951 Martin D-18... classic. The guitar had been played a lot, as you can see by the look of the top.






The final product was a restored, beautiful vintage player. New bone saddle, rosewood bridge pins, fresh tortoise pickguard, new frets and a bone nut, along with some Waverly tunning gears. We decided not to do any finish work to the wear on the top.









--R.E.