Specialties
For reviews, please check out our other listing: Specimen Guitar Shop. We are Chicago's oldest full-service guitar and tube amplifier repair shop. With over 20 years of experience, you will find no one more dedicated and experienced than Specimen. Luthier and owner, Ian Schneller, also builds a full line of custom instruments, amps and horn speakers. The shop is located in a beautiful and inspiring 5000 sq. ft facility. It is also the home of our school, The Chicago School of Guitar Making, where Ian teaches an array of guitar repair and building courses as well as tube amp building.
Specimen specializes in the repair of stringed instruments and tube gear. We cater to working musicians offering quick turnarounds, and even RUSH service. We do it all: setups, amp repairs, complex restoration. Our prices are fair and our quality superb. Clients include Andrew Bird, Jack White, Wilco, Low, Death Cab for Cutie, Franz Ferdinand, My Morning Jacket, Rise Against.
History
Established in 1984.
Specimen Guitar Shop is on the city's near west side in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Our 5000 sq. ft. facility is home to our repair business, our custom shop and the Chicago School of Guitar Making. For more than 20 years, Specimen has been Chicago's best resource for musicians.
We work with professional players, touring bands, local clubs as well as the player who is just starting out. To date, we have repaired thousands of guitars, tube amps, and other stringed instruments. We have also sold more than 300 custom guitars, amps and horn speakers.
Specimen specializes in stringed instrument and tube amplifier repair including setups, full restoration, fret work, amp overhauls, tube installation, and biasing. With our vast supply of new and vintage parts, we can meet the most esoteric of requests. At Specimen, we bring things back to life.
Meet the Business Owner: Ian S.
Ian Schneller, owner and luthier: I began using Specimen Products as a name for my sculptures in 1981 while I was an undergraduate at the Memphis Academy of Art. After I became a graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1984, Specimen Products expanded into a music and instrument-making endeavor. I founded the band Shrimp Boat and began building custom instruments and doing instrument repairs.
In 1986, I began my formative study of tube amplification. I read everything I could get my hands on, and began building custom amps and doing amp repairs.
In the 1990s, my clientele really began to grow. I produced several custom guitar models I still make today. In 2003, I moved in to my present space and then in 2005 began teaching classes on guitar repair/building, and amp building under the name The Chicago School of Guitar Making. To date, we have more than 1000 alumni and I have built more than 300 instruments, amps and audio horn speakers.
