I'm a very casual player, and the quality of my guitar reflects that, but after Ronnie got finished with the set-up and a bit of rehab I couldn't believe the difference. The acoustic tone was richer, and it was so much easier and smoother to play. The man definitely takes a great deal of pride in his craftsmanship. I can't recommend him highly enough! read more

My acoustic guitar was delivered to Ron Pace on May 15, 2024, and remained in his possession for a total of 533 days. During that time, he began minimal work but continually offered excuses for why the project was not completed. Eventually, I drove from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to his residence to retrieve the instrument and paid him in cash for the limited work he had performed. When I arrived, he assured me that if I allowed him two more weeks, he would finish the job. However, after 533 days, I no longer believed that would happen. I'm sharing this review to make others aware of my experience so they can make an informed decision before doing business with him. Proceed with caution. read more

So if you need a talented luthier, go to Pace Guitar repair. Ronnie is super knowledgeable and helpful and he's the best. I'm new to guitars and he helped me get my new Squier Telecaster tweaked today. Thanks Ronnie! read more

Great work as always! Ronnie Pace is the best in town! Attention to detail is top notch.

If you're patient enough you will get a miracle! Needed a set up for my strat, and the job was perfectly done.

Ron Pace fixed a beautiful Martin CEO-7 for me. The setup on the guitar was wonky resulting in the strings being too high near the 10th fret making it unplayable up the neck. Now it sounds great. He also took the time to repair the finish where the tobacco burst was ruined by Deet, the ingredient in lots of insect repellent. Deet destroys a guitar finish in short order. Trust this guy with your instruments. He is good and a pleasure to deal with. read more

Brought in my Taylor for a setup. Ron asked about my preferences and playing style so he could dial in the just right setup. He was very kind and patient throughout the process. I dropped off the guitar on friday and it was ready for pickup by monday. The guitar sounds and plays better than ever. If you want high quality work at an extremely reasonable price, look no further. read more

What an amazing professional! Ron is such a great guy and wonderful to meet. Had 2 guitars, electric and acoustic in and out in 2 weeks. Emailed and responded same day. Quality of work 10/10!! Highly recommended for the discerning musician. If quality is the most important aspect to your needs, look no further. -Zimm (Houston Producer) read more

Pace Guitar Repair - Guitars - Musical Instrument Services Near Me - Houston, Texas

When you are looking for the very best - look no further. These guys know what they are doing. My Martin HD28E has never played better.

Ron Pace is an incredibly gifted luthier and a great guy. Since 1996, Ron has refretted seven high-end guitars for me. I recently entrusted him to repair my beloved 2005 Martin HD-28V, and the guitar now plays like butter and looks like new. Ron is an absolute perfectionist. If you are in the market for budget work done quickly, go elsewhere. If you are looking for perfection, Ron Pace is your man. read more

Ron does truly incredible work for very reasonable prices, and I would absolutely recommend him. He was really really nice, and took a good amount of time with me initially to make sure he understood everything I was looking for(which was a lot of work on a high end custom guitar), as well as talk me through certain options I was looking at for parts. He gave me an estimate both for time and cost, and delivered faster than promised, with hands down the best luthier work I've found anywhere in Texas. Overall he definitely gets 5 stars, and I won't be going to anyone else. read more

Excellent work, nice guy BUT it took right at 4 weeks to get my guitars setup and strings. He has a lot of business because he is good. He's just is overworked. Once again he does great work. My guitars played excellent. If your not in a rush he's the guy but if your a working guitar player and need it done quickly he's not your guy. read more

His work speaks for itself. Guitar built from the ground up, painted, vinyl decal applied and beautifully clear coated. For once a guitar that plays as good as it looks. Sent Ronnie a box of parts from Chicago based on his reputation all the way out to Texas and I'll continue to do so in the future. Can't recommend his work enough! read more

Pace Guitar Repair - Musical Instrument Services Near Me - Houston, Texas

See all

If I could give no stars I would. I dropped off a guitar in December with no updates from him. Called in February to inquire about it, all I got was attitude from him about how everyone is calling to ask about their guitars. Sent a followup email in June with a deadline - no response from him. Showed up on Wednesday 7/12 to pick up the guitar because heaven forbid that I have my own timelines to follow. He said it would be done today - Saturday. I show up, not done and more attitude. I had lost my cool by then and let him know that his inability to time manage and taking on too many jobs is not my problem. I get the impression he thinks he's doing everyone a favor. I don't recommend, I got shit work back-unfinished. Had my guitar for 7 months - says he didn't have time to work on it. Read the reviews read more

This guy is a complete fraud. If you give him your guitar you better stay there until it's finished or you might lose your guitar for ever.

Took an Ibanez bass guitar that my son took apart to refinish and lost the picture on the wiring. Ron rewired the guitar and performed a complete setup. Guitar works like new and sounds great. Highly recommend Pace Guitar Repair. read more

Excellent work on my guitar. Set up perfectly, and the frets dressed. It feels like a new guitar. Communication was great, and a reasonable turnaround time. Any future repairs are going here. read more

I left my guitar with Mr. Pace in August 2010 and was told it would take 2-3 months. It is now March 2011 and I am still without it. I had called 10+ times and left 3 messages with no response. When I finally did get through he said, "I'm working on it right now. The longer we spend talking the longer it will take for me to finish." I drove to his shop and he gave me attitude like I was inconveniencing him. I don't suggest you go through Ron Pace. read more

I took two guitars to be fixed by Ron and he turned them around overnight. The work is outstanding - the set up amazing and his service and attitude awesome. read more

Everyone's review below is correct. Allow me to simplify it: FACT #1: IF YOU NEED THE BEST, HE IS THE BEST. I used to go to Nedd Guitars. That guy is considered one of the best, he went to the best lutier school in US, recommended by Rusty Cooley no less, but when I changed over to Ron Pace, Ron found all kinds of subtle yet important improvements that should have been done on virtually every guitar I brought in. The other guy missed these things. Not because he is lousy...NO. It's because Ron Pace is simply that much better than the other lutiers I've ever met. He can show you subtle discrepancies right before your eyes that the other guitar technicians didn't even bother to check or didn't even know about. FACT #2: HE IS SLOW. IF YOU ARE TOO PATIENT AND NOT CAREFUL HE'LL KEEP YOUR GUITAR SIX MONTHS for something that should be done in a few hours. This happened to me once. I really hate to say this, but you might have to call him and act impatient to get him moving if he's overloaded. I didn't so it took six months. I called him today and he THOUGHT I was complaining (he misunderstood) so he got a little irritated, said something snippy, got off the phone, and got to work on my guitar. FACT#3: HE IS CHEAP. This is why he's so busy and that is why FACT#2 is true. He has low prices and he's really good so everyone comes to him, even the kids parents with the first Fender Squire or whatever. I was really torn here on the rating. I really would like to give him 5 stars for being so knowledgeable, but I thought maybe 4 stars to penalize his lateness. But he's late because he's so busy, and he's busy because he's so cheap. So maybe I shouldn't blame him for being so cheap. But actually I've decided that it is his fault because his rates are so cheap we are waiting too long for our instruments. Also, I just learned he has a "rush" option today. I checked his website. There is no clear mention of a rush charge, and for a business that's often taking too long with professional musicians instruments, that is in my mind a blunder. So I gave him 4 and if I find he has raised his rates or made his rush option clear on his website I will happily change it to 5 because he is the best. read more

I can't help but agree with Vince's assessment of Pace Guitar Repair. While the shop is in a very unassuming neighborhood location, the work that comes out of it is top of the line. Pace Guitar is a factory-authorized service provide for Fender, so Ron took my Custom Shop Stratocaster with a busted pickup and fixed it up as good as new at no cost (thanks to the lifetime warranty on it). As Vince mentioned, because he does such great work, there's usually a line of guitars in front of yours, but at the end of the day, you want it done right more than you want it done fast. read more

I had a large chip on my strat. I took it to Pace and while there had him do a set up and replace the frets. They did a great job. The chip repair was fantastic and and the guitar plays better than I ever remember. read more

This place is a diamond in the rough! Ron fixed my kiddo's guitar so that he could play left-handed. I had no idea there was even a difference. We came in late on a Friday evening, and he saw us right away. On top of that, he was able to take care of the kiddo while we waited. I know, however, that this is not customary because he had a TON of guitars to work on/was working on. The reason he took care of us immediately [he says] was because flipping the strings was a relatively small job. This place is great! The customer service is exceptional, and the knowledge in the shop is tremendous! Mr. Pace does great work, and there is no doubt why folks come from everywhere to have him repair their guitars. read more

The repair work was fine, but it took more than 2 months to get my guitar back. Seriously. I was quoted a week, then it got drug out. Go see Neil Sargent and you'll spend less, get it on time and have a quality repair. read more

Can't understand any of the low reviews here. I took Ron a beater that I still practice on that needed some love. He worked with me to come up with a reasonably priced solution for what I needed. Finished on time and then held my guitar for a few weeks because I asked him to. Polite and straightforward. I'll take my Tele and my Rick to him next time. read more

This dude had my Guild and Kramer bass for a year and a half. The Guild repair was okay but he didn't seal the cracks with a varnish thread. The bass had a non functioning pre amp and rather than calling me to fill me in, he Jerry rigged it. The only reason I got these back when I did is because I told him I was relocating. He's obviously taking on more work than he can handle. In my case I'm pretty sure he rushed to fix my stuff because of my relocation. I will admit the Guild was basically crushed and he did a good job on it. And the refret on the bass was nice. Hard to get a hold of. Agrees to deadlines he can't honor. Pretty pissed off about Jerry rigging the bass because I now have to yet again deal with another repair guy to make that right. When I dropped these instruments off he told it would take 3 months....... read more

Ron Pace is quite simply the best luthier in town, maybe the region. I have seen him take a vintage Martin with a hole in the back and make it look like there was never anything wrong. He may be a witch. The only thing about Ron is that he's in high demand because he IS the best. So it might take a bit longer for him to take care of you, but unless you have a gig that night, it's worth the wait. His works out of the workshop behind his house with three assistants working at a frenzied pace. If you need the best, this is the place to go. read more

Ron has worked on my acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and mandolin. His work has been exceptional. If you want your instrument to sound like it was meant to, let Ron and his crew work on it. Couldn't be more happy with their work. Thankful that he is in Houston! read more

I've been taking instruments to Ron for the past 10 years. He does excellent work. Everything from set-ups, refinishing, fret work, to repairing guitars that were so wrecked you'd think it would take a miracle to restore them. Over the years, however, the wait time has increased significantly. This is natural considering that his shop is a licensed repair shop for all Houston area Guitar Centers and just about every major manufacturer. The guy is busy, plain and simple. But he's never sacrificed quality work for the sake of quantity. The long wait time isn't a problem for me, personally, because I have several guitars to use while 1 or 2 of them are having work done. Ron is a down to earth guy that's pretty much seen it all. The only negative press I've heard about the guy is from first-timers who go to him without researching beforehand. If you take a guitar in for a total refret and new tremolo bridge routing, you should expect to wait a few months. Depending on which day you go in, his personality could be interpreted as apathetic and unpleasant. But you have to keep in mind that the guy is buried up to his neck in guitars, has a very important reputation to maintain, and at this point in his career, has a pretty low tolerance for bullshit from pushy and impatient clients. If you want it done right and can wait patiently while it's done correctly and with attention to detail, take it to Ron. If not, look elsewhere. read more

My rating is a 3. That's 5 Stars for Quality, and 1 Star for Service. Ron does some paint and repair work that you just simply can't get done anywhere else in the region. If you have gone to three other shops and they can't do it, and (this is important) you don't mind leaving your guitar for 6-12 MONTHS, and calling 6 times, and driving over there 3 times, then Ron Pace is your guy. If you need normal stuff, take it somewhere else, or you will regret it. Ron is a fantastic Luthier, but a horrible businessman. Unless you need the best, do Ron and yourself a big favor and go somewhere else. He has mountains of shitty guitars stacked up in his repair center (aka living room) that he should have told the owner to f off and throw that crap in the dumpster, but instead, he accepts the order to do an $80 setup on a $100 guitar. He should fire most of his bs customers and only do high end work, but no, your $3,000 Gibson that you can't get fixed anywhere else will sit for MONTHS while he does minor, piddly stuff on guitars that would be of better use as firewood. read more

Been going to Ron for years. There is some wait time because hes in high demand. But the wait is worth the quality. Hands down best luthier in houston/texas! Un surpased! read more

I don't normally leave reviews for businesses but I feel a responsibility in the case of Ron Pace to help warn other potential customers against wasting their time at this business. I had read the reviews, most of which mention facts like "Ron does good work" but also accompanied by "He may be slower than most people but.." I can't vouch for his quality of work on my guitar since he never got around to starting work on it but I can tell you that the way he runs his business and treats his customers leaves a whole lot to be desired. After reading reviews and doing some research on Ron I decided to bring my guitar in for him to do some restoration work on it. I just needed the standard guitar setup package with the addition of some minor glue repair on the back of the guitar along a seam. He wrote up an estimate for around $300.00 (which I thought was a little high but could deal with it) and then tacked on an estimated completion date of 4 weeks from the time I brought the guitar in. I patiently waited those 4 weeks without bothering Ron once. A few days after the estimated completion date I gave him a call to check on the status of the guitar. He said he didn't remember getting my guitar but hold on let him find it. He put me on hold for 10-15 minutes then came back and told me they had not started working on the guitar but were planning to start on it today and should be finished in a week. He also adamantly told me "we will call you when the guitar is finished, calling us just delays it" which I took as "don't call and bother me even if I've been holding your guitar for months without even picking it up to look at it". After a week passed I called him and just told him if he still hadn't started working on the guitar then I would like to pick it up and take it somewhere else. Ron lied to me and told me that they had started working on the guitar and it should be done in a couple of weeks. Again, I patiently waited without bothering Ron. When I called a few weeks later (Ron has now had my guitar for 2.5+ months) and spoke to him he told me they had still not started on the guitar and I could come pick it up if I wanted to and that it would help lighten his load. Well darn Ron why didn't you tell me this weeks ago??? I could have had my guitar that I've been missing for almost 3 months?!? After my conversation with Ron I looked again at other options for guitar repair and ended up calling another luthier in town. The guy I spoke to over here was able to give me a ballpark estimate over the phone which was substantially cheaper than Ron and also told me they could have the work done, glue dried, and guitar back in my hands in about 1 week.... 1 week! This place also had 30+ positive reviews from other people having them do repair work (quite a bit more than Ron) Please save yourself the trips to see Ron, he is obviously too busy to take anymore customers right now but he has no problem lying to you about your guitar to keep you barely hanging on until he gets around to it. If he has any of your guitars and it's been a while then I advise you to go pick it up now to help "lighten Ron's load" as he requested I do. AVOID THIS PLACE!!!! Look to Neil Sargent or Great Southern Music or countless other options in town instead! There are many great luthier's in the Houston area, but they don't conveniently come up in Google's first search result when searching for "guitar repair Houston" like Ron does. Good luck with your business Ron, I hope one day you realize that your customers are people and they deserve honesty in business dealings with you. I would not have even left this review had you been honest with me. read more

Absolute worst experience I have ever had with a business of any kind. I dropped off a guitar to have a neck reset performed. I was provided with an estimated turnaround of three months and a cost of $390.00. It took THREE YEARS and it was only finished within that three year timeframe because I advised Mr Pace, that I was moving and needed the guitar back regardless of whether he had finished it or not. Once he realized that I was serious and he stood to lose the money, & that he had no more time to make false promises and just let my guitar collect dust in a corner of his workroom, he finished it within the week. But, the story doesn't end there... When Mr. Pace called to advise me that he had finally finished the repair, he had tacked on an additional $300.00 to the original price!!!!!!! Now he wanted $690.00 for the work!!! I was livid. I said, with all due respect, you have had my guitar for 3 years! AND the original was $390.00. He hemmed and hawed and said that he had to do additional fretwork to make everything right. I told him I never agreed to any of that and then he begrudgingly said that he understood that and that he would knock off 100 bucks for the inconvenience. You heard me right. He did additional work without my consent and then said I had to pay for it!!! NEVER GO TO THIS GUY TO HAVE WORK DONE!!! Go to Neil Sargent on Washington Avenue. Neil is honest and does the job right and will tell you up front everything you need too know, and he will not be duplicitous and lazy. unlike Mr Pace. Go to Heights Guitar Tech. Go anywhere, but do not go here!!! I repeat, go anywhere but do not go here! read more

I am really surprised that Pace Guitar Repair has so many 1-Star reviews, this is not even close to representing the experience I had there. I brought my boyfriend's guitar in, probably 10ish days before Valentine's Day -- I knew that he needed the action adjusted, some new strings, and just a general tuneup, but I am not the primary guitar player and did not know anything about my boyfriend's preference on tuning and setup and whatnot. Ron took all of this in stride, was very kind to me as someone pretty ignorant when it came to guitars that certainly did not have all of the information that would have helped him to have an easier time, and was very eager to make sure that I got it back in time to have it on Valentines Day. Keep in mind that when I walked in, Ron's work room was absolutely stacked with guitars that needed to be repaired, he's an extremely busy guy -- he's got loyal customers that he's been serving for decades, he has a reputation among musicians in the Houston area, and he does excellent work with expensive pieces of equipment -- he's swamped. Because of this, he did ask that I send him an email or a text the following week to just check in and make sure that the project was on time to be fixed for Valentine's Day, but that was absolutely no big deal. The work on the guitar ended up being complete within a week, and my boyfriend absolutely loves how his guitar sounds. Ron was excellent, and when I picked it up, he was very dedicated to doing a good job, and was very encouraging about having my boyfriend stop by with the guitar after he received it if it didn't sound the way he wanted it to -- Ron is very dedicated to doing quality work and maintaining his reputation. We will be bringing all of our basses and guitars to him in the future. When I picked up the guitar, I asked Ron about the reviews on here where people have to wait for months, and he said that sometimes he doesn't have much control over the amount of time it takes to repair a guitar, because he'll have to order a part from a manufacturer, and they sometimes can take a long time to send the part necessary for the repair. My experience at Pace was fabulous, I would encourage anyone to take their guitars to Ron. read more

I had him work on my white Strat about a year or so ago. The problem was that the guitar would lose sound off and on when plugged into my amp. Then it lost volume altogether. Ron sent it out to another location to be repaired. It took more than three months to get the work done, and the work was lousy because within a short time I had the same problem with it again. I paid a bit over $100 for this substandard crappy work. No one ever bothered to check the pickups apparently. He said there was nothing wrong with the pickups. Well, he was wrong. read more

This place s$#@cks. They screwed up my P/U install on my new Martin and even charged me twice to get it right which they never did. They gave me my guitar back all untuned and after causing me time and grief and still with the buzzing from the install that they seemed to be deaf to the obvious buzzing noise. Hope they took a picture of me. See Ya Never! read more

i took my Martin D18 to ron pace for a set up i will admit he is very knowledgable with what he does. he showed me the things that he was going to do on my guitar and gave the price he would charge, it was more pricey then guitar center but i thought to myself, its fine because little businesses like this need to make money. I asked him to lower the action because it was to high and it was uncomfortable to play said that the action was really high because the neck was bowed then he said that he didn't want to lower to much because he didn't want it to buzz and i said man your the expert it doesn't have to be super low just where its comfortable and won't buzz. When i got my guitar back the action was fine i think it might be a little too low especially when i tune down a step for different songs i do get some buzzing. i have wanted to call him and set something up but in all honesty i do not want to go back. he wasn't the nicest guy and made me feel uncomfortable i tried to have a conversation with him and ask questions but he was kinda rude. and when i picked up my guitar and payed he charged me if i remember correctly 75$ so i reached in my wallet and thought i pulled out two fifties and payed him and he started doing something on the computer i thought he was printing a receipt and was going to get me my change and it was taking a while so i was trying to keep a conversation with him and he just seemed bothered. then finally he looked up at me and asked rudely "what are you doing are you waiting for change or something?" and i said yes then he responded, because you only gave me seventy dollars then he showed me the bills were a fifty and a twenty i quickly apologized and tried to explane i thought i gave him to fifties. then with a bad attitude he said to not worry about it. i said i couldn't do that so i took out my other fifty i had in my wallet and gave it to him and he gave me back the twenty and got change and I left. long story short i will not return to his shop maybe he was having a bad day or something i don't know if you go and he treats you kind thats great i wouldn't recommend him because of my experience. read more

I play bass and a little guitar. I've known, and been doing business with Ron Pace since 2004. Ron and company have fixed and modified a few of my instruments. All I can say is Pace Guitar Repair does outstanding work for your guitar needs. Whether it's a simple set up, a modification or repair, Ron really meets the standards of the job at hand. They treat your instrument is if it was their own. My recent experience was Ron putting Seymour Duncan Blackout pickups and Grover locking tuners on my Gibson SG. When I got the guitar, All I could say was wow... Sounded and played great. Ron Pace did it again. Now granted, there is a wait involved. I can only speak for myself when I state the wait doesn't bother me since having another instrument to go to. Just have Patience. Ron is easy to reach on phone & via email. Ron even called me when there was an issue with my bass & the options he gave me. The little things like that shows he cares. Great customer service. All in all, I'm happy with Ron's work. I would recommend friends and family to Pace Guitar Repair. I'd do business With Pace Guitar Repair anytime.. read more