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    Updated 2 months ago

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    Recommended Reviews - SF Guitarworks

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    Headstock before the repair

    I have thought long and hard about writing this review. Unfortunately I would absolutely not recommend anybody take their instrument here for repair. I dropped off my 1968 Les Paul Standard for a simple repair. The tuning peg holes had previously been enlarged to fit Grover tuners. I wanted to use the stock Kluson tuners and decided to have a simple "fill and re-drill" performed on the headstock. There were two small extra holes drilled in the back and some chips of wood missing. Lastly, there was a small surface crack that I asked them to address. They quoted me 2-3 weeks and sent my Les Paul up to their Sonoma shop for the more experienced luthier to work on. 5 weeks later, I called to check in on the repair and it hadn't been started yet. Not great, but it happens. A week or two later (now ~6 weeks into my 3 week quote) my guitar came back from repair. I took it home and noticed some sloppy glue on the neck. So I popped the tuners off and behold: a painfully sloppy repair job on the peg holes. The plugs aren't flush with the back of the headstock, there's sloppy glue remnants, and the two small mahogany plugs in the center of the headstock are sloppy. I would have preferred to have been consulted about the use of maple plugs (which are strong and solid) vs. the mahogany plugs that I was expecting. I could have been more clear about my expectations regarding a repair vs. restore level of craftsmanship, but I expected a higher standard of quality from such a well known shop in the Bay Area. This might be an acceptable level of fit and finish on a less valuable guitar, but I can't believe they'd let my vintage Les Paul leave their shop like this. It looks like an apprentice worked on this thing. I talked to Geoff, who very politely stood behind his work. All of the employees that I spoke to were very kind and helpful, but the quality of work speaks for itself. He offered to try to make it right, but I'm not going to leave my guitar there again. I've attached some before and after photos. Take a good look and decide for yourself if you'd leave your prized vintage guitar at this shop. I would strongly advise against it.

    Getting started...
    Jeremy S.

    Years later I'm still a passionate fan of SF Guitarworks. I recently took their Partscaster class with a couple of friends and it was super fun. We spent about a day and a half completely geeking out on guitar tech and each of us left with a truly stellar guitar that we assembled and set up (cough cough Geoff may have helped a bit - some more than others :p). The parts options on your future guitar are nearly endless, but Geoff and team help you stay the course and navigate the complexity. While it's not cheap, you're going to leave with a truly great instrument you'll play for years... see it's so damn easy to rationalize the spend, call now! As for setups the shop continues to do great work. I recently sent in a couple of my (other) treasures and they're both sounding and feeling great. In general if you buy an acoustic or electric new or used a great setup will make a massive playability difference. These guys know what they're doing and Geoff is maniacal about getting things right for his customers. High praise to the whole team.

    Strat and refret and plek

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    11 days ago

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    11 months ago

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    2 years ago

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    1 year ago

    Perfect luthier, all of my guitars have been made better, here. Great people to work with, too

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    3 years ago

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    2 years ago

    Thanks for repairing my banjo. You did a great job and made it better than it was before.

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    10 years ago

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    5 years ago

    They are musicians who are great at their instrument craft. They restored a dear Taylor guitar to her former beauty.

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    7 years ago

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    6 years ago

    Did an excellent job setting up my guitar and a very friendly staff. The best repair shop in SF!

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    5 years ago

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    Page 1 of 8

    Ask the Community - SF Guitarworks

    Has anyone had a refret performed by SF Guitarworks? Can you comment on the quality of the work? Thanks.

    Just had my custom shop Gibson ES-355 refret done and opted for EVO gold frets to match my hardware. Quality was impeccable and my guitar looks and plays sooo much better than before. Pretty expensive though, but I like that they use a plek to dial… Read more

    Does this place sell ukes?

    No. Typically they are selling a couple guitars made by the owner of SF Guitarworks, but no ukes and it's not really a guitar or uke store in general more of a repair shop.

    View All 3 Questions

    Review Highlights - SF Guitarworks

    Geoff and his team have worked on most of my guitars and I have always been very impressed with their work.

    Mentioned in 118 reviews

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    SF Guitarworks - musicalinstrumentsandteachers - Updated May 2026

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