On Sept 14th the band "Need to Breath" was featured on the Jay Leno show and sure enough there was Bear Rinehart, the lead singer and guitar player, playing his custom "Songhurst" guitar.  Bear said he also used it on a number of songs on their new album The Reckoning.  Bear could play any guitar he wanted but he chose his Songhurst.  If you want to know why you should play one! 

Check out the video of Need to Breath on Leno here.

Check out Songhurst Guitars here.

Songhurst Guitars trusts The Guitar Medic to install the electronics, do the final fretwork and professionally set up their amazing guitars before giving them to their customers.....shouldn't you? 

I got a call last week from Jerad Finck, a singer songwriter based here in Spokane, WA.  He had recently become a Gibson endorser and they sent him a beautiful Custom Shop ES 335 (BTW the ES stands for Electric Spanish). He wanted a piezo system installed that would sound enough like an acoustic to allow him to not switch guitars during a show but it also needed to be bullet proof enough to withstand touring.  On top of that we agreed that no new holes for switches or knobs should be drilled in the guitar just in case he didn't like the piezo and wanted to go back to stock.

Here's a picture of the stock guitar and the Ghost piezo system to be installed. 

First I had to get the strings out of the way.  Normally I would just remove the strings and install a new set but Jerad had just installed these so I just loosened them up and removed the tailpiece. To help keep the strings straight, I take some velcro strips and "sandwich" the strings between them. I put one up near the nut and one near the bridge and this will keep the strings from getting tangled up and unusable, saving my customer some money.

Next I had to drill new stud insert holes for the new bridge.  This was the only modification to the guitar and should not affect the value at all, in fact Resomax bridges are generally considered an upgrade to most guitars.

To make sure the new bigger hole would be perfectly centered on the old smaller hole I took a drill bit that matched the original hole and made sure it was centered.  Then I installed the bigger bit for the new inserts and drilled to the desired depth.  Hint: to avoid chipping the paint turn the drill bit by hand in reverse with just enough pressure to scrape off the paint, then drill as normal.  Always use sharp, good quality bits.

Then I checked the fit and pressed in the stud inserts.

Perfect fit!  These bridges have magnets to keep them from falling off the posts when changing strings, It's nice addition.  I then removed the bridge pickup to access the electronics (this is how you get all that stuff in and out of these guitars and can be a real hassle sometimes).

Okay all the wiring is done and tested now I just have to put it all back in.  Uhhh............has anyone seen the guitar?

I notched the pickup ring to allow the wires from the bridge to feed into the pickup cavity without getting smooshed.

The battery and preamp are right under the bridge pickup for easy battery changes.  The battery lasts about 500 hours of playing so it only needs to be changed about every 6 months for a working musician.  (insert joke about musicians and work here) :)

Here she is all buttoned up and ready to go.  You can see the individual saddle wires running under the pickup

And here's Jerad taking her for a test drive.  In his words "it sounds freaking awesome"!

You can check Jerad out here: Jerad Finck Music

Nope it's not made of "real" gold and not really worth a billion dollars (but the owner is).  This beautiful singlecut goldtop was made by Songhurst Guitars here in Spokane, WA for Paul Allen the owner of the Seahawks, the EMP (Experience Music Project) and a heck of a guitar player.  We were fortunate enough to get to do the wiring, fret leveling, bone nut and setup on this and many other Songhurst guitars.

Our Promise To You-

The Guitar Medic is dedicated to honest, high quality guitar and bass repair at reasonable prices.  We know money is tight right now, especially for musicians (okay always for musicians), so we make this promise to you.

"The Guitar Medic will never make a repair on a guitar that isn't needed"

This means if you bring us your guitar for a fret level due to string buzz and we discover it just needed a truss rod adjustment to fix the issue, we will only do the truss rod adjustment.  We'd prefer to lose some money but gain the trust of our customers. - "What does a man prosper who gains the whole world but loses his soul."

If you have any questions regarding our services or want to talk about your guitar......or my guitar......or guitars we wish we owned give us a call at 509-209-6091.