If you have a stringed instrument that needs some "love" in Arizona, you'll find no one more passionate and professional than "The Guitar Dog" AKA James Knopp. He works on just about any string instrument and gets the work done in a timely and cost effective manner. If I could give 6 stars James definitely would deserve it. I met James after finding him online via his website http://theguitardog.com.
Now I have an old ukulele that has been in my family for a few decades. The instrument was kept in storage for the vast majority of this time and due to improper storage conditions the instrument was just falling apart. All the glued seams were coming lose, the frets were tarnished, and the old koa wood really had seem better days. I wasn't sure how cost-effective it was going to be to repair it, but since it was a family heirloom I had to give it a shot. After reviewing the portfolio of work James has on his website I decided to give him a call and send him a few pictures of the damage to see what he thought. He meets by appointment only at his private studio workshop. To make a long story short, he gave my old sad heirloom a head-to-toe makeover! From re-gluing and re-varnishing all the seams to replacing the old rusty tuning keys with some new geared hardware. The bridge was reglued, the frets were polished, and some wear-n-tear was tended to all about the instrument. It is seriously a resurrected instrument and sounds fantastic! It's such a joy to hear the old Koa wood brought back to life!
He completed all this work in just a few short weeks and charged me a very reasonable price for all his time, talent, and expertise. James is a truly great guy and even surprised me when he replaced the old vintage case that the uke had been stored in for all those years with a new sturdy case for no extra cost! The old case was about as protective as wrapping the uke in wet paper bag (exaggerating, but you get the point) and James knew I was planning to travel with the instrument to take back to my family. It was beyond thoughtful for someone who has already done such an amazing job.
I will say, "JOB WELL DONE" Guitar Dog! If you have a guitar, bass, violin, banjo, whatever and you need a bit of help with it, you can trust James Knopp "the Guitar Dog" to get the job done!