do not bring your guitars here!!! -high off his mind can see it on his face -drugs affecting him going down hill -does not follow directions -work is completely wrong - 3 months of waiting - cancels appointments due to playing gigs -does not responds to text for simple questions - save your money and time go some where else - gives guitar back with broken hardware and does not tell you read more

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Don't take your guitars here. I brought in a guitar that needed holes drilled for the bridge, pickup installation, fret dress, and a setup. The fret dress was great. However everything else was botched. Pickup switch was backwards, one of the pickups wasn't working, the bridge was installed too close to the neck/fretboard so the saddles couldn't move back enough to correct intonation. The guitar was basically inoperable for the studio session I built it for. The service cost me around $750 and I was not even offered a refund. Actually, I had to ask for a refund. After I asked and explained the situation he went silent. No reply. I wasn't able to take my guitar back to him because I was in Vegas for a session and to be honest I lost trust in his ability to properly fix a guitar so it was basically not an option for me. I spent over $200 to fix some of the issues and yet the guitar was still inop. All of the recordings were out of tune due to the intonation, from his work. It's going to cost yet another $300 to fill the holes, properly install the bridge and give it a proper set up. The whole experience was extremely unprofessional. Completion time was also unacceptable, communication was poor, and his shop was a disaster. Do not take your guitars here. Not a reliable business. Would never recomend read more

Chris was a dream to work with. Scheduling the appointment was easy over text. As someone with a M-F grind and a 1 year old, timing is everything... and he made it easy. Unlike other luthiers in OC, he was able to see me within a couple of days (rather than several weeks) and was very flexible with timing. Pricing is very reasonable and he even offered same-day turnaround for a modest fee. His work itself was stellar. I brought in a used Martin 000-10E for a set up. Chris gave me some great recommendations on strings that really helped bring out the warmth of the sapele wood and loosened the truss just a touch enough to give it some nice sustain. After consulting about my style and what I wanted from the guitar, he also adjusted the action and nut, making my percussion techniques and barre transitions easier. Two days later, I can't put it down. One thing to note is that his storefront is in Costa Mesa. See attached image. As of this review, the address is 1001 W 17th St, Suite T, Costa Mesa. read more

Tinoco’s Guitar Tech Services - Storefront in Costa Mesa as of 9/14/24 - Musical Instrument Services Near Me

Great assistance and communication throughout services two guitars. Easy pickup and drop off. To cop is knowledgeable and helpful.

I'm so glad I waited to take it to Guitar Center before I wrote this review. This guy is either a con artist, incompetent, or both. Took my guitar for a setup. About a week goes by, no news. I ask him where it is. He's in Vegas. Not cool. Oh, and he also didn't work on my guitar. Nice one. After he does work on my guitar, he says that I need to fix the frets they are uneven. Not happy with this but fine. Oh, and it's going to cost me $150 more bucks. So now I'm out $250. I thought to myself when I'm leaving, this feels like a shakedown--and he might be fabricating an issue where there isn't one. But hey he's the professional right? --Before I leave he says, if there is a problem just bring it back to him, at no charge. Flash forward to Sunday. I pick up my bass, play it for two minutes and head out to a concert. Pick it up that night, the frets are buzzing like crazy. It played fine in his shop, so what the hell happened?!?! I text him thinking, hey, he said if there is a problem bring it back. I get a reply. Clearly annoyed, that if it was buzzing I should have said something before I left that Sunday. I was cordial, and blamed "humidity or whatever". I text him to set a time. I'm told he will be there around 5-6. I text him later on and he says he can't make it, he has a date. I'm done with this idiot at this point. When I take it to Guitar Center and have it looked over by an actual professional, they tell me the fret work is sloppy and poorly done and it looks like he didn't do anything. I'm seething at this point. I would never recommend this guy to anyone. He's an idiot and a fraud, and I want my money back. I'll be sure to also report him to the Better Business Bureau. Chris, if you are reading this, I am going to give you some friendly advice. DO BETTER. Don't jerk people around. If they are coming to you for a service do that service and do it well. Set clear expectations of when people can expect something. If you have plans that come up be sure to communicate. Again, I want my money back. read more

Great craftsmanship, great guy! Reached out to my friend for a guitar service recommendation. Gave Tinoco a DM on his IG account, received a reply in minutes. Brought my guitar in for same day service. Super chill guy, very knowledgeable luthier, and laid out a few options for two other guitars that I brought with me. Made a quick run to Trader Joe's and service was done under an m hour(lowered action, restringing). Action feels like butter and Elixer strings are bright and crisp. Thanks @jonillamedo! Highly recommend, give Tinoco some love. read more

Tinoco’s Guitar Tech Services - Musical Instrument Services Near Me

I did a small trade from a close friend and ended up with an original Teisco TG-64 from 1964. Sadly, that friend lost the original trem tailpiece when he moved out of his house and replacements that specific model are just impossible to find. I really wanted to get the guitar playing again somehow so I did some research and found out that a few 90's indie punk bands used to mod these Teiscos out with Fender Jazzmaster hardware and I thought that was the thing I wanted to have. I went online, asked a couple luthiers about it and Chris was the only one that got back to me. I brought the guitar to the shop to meet Chris and he was very enthusiastic about working on my weird project. He was very knowledgable and suggested some improvements about the guitar that I didn't think were possible. Overall, Chris put the old guitar through the works: neck radius adjustment, neck shim, nut replacement, reftret, and installment of a new Jazzmaster bridge and trem. I am super satisfied with the results and the old guitar I got back now looks, feels and plays incredibly! I'd be happy to take back another one of my guitars for Chris to do some magic on. My only complaint was that the project did go a few months over scheduled completion, but Chris was easy to communicate with, and when I found out I was moving out of SoCal, were able to settle on a day on getting my guitar back. So it was well worth the wait! read more

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I was hesitant to take my guitar in to a tech because in the past I had bad experiences and I usually do my own work. But I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting a signal on my guitar, so I took my chances here. This just confirmed in the future I'm going back to doing it all myself. First, I scheduled an appointment to drop off the guitar, and I expect to get it back within 4-9 business days because that's what he told me. I show up around 11am on a Monday, and he isn't there. I text him and apparently he's on a hike, so he says he'll text me by 2:30pm. He texts me at 3pm and says he'll be in by 4pm. I show up, and he doesn't get in until 4:20pm. After 8 days I've heard nothing, so I text him and ask how everything is going. He says he'll update me that night about the progress. Another 6 days passes and I hear nothing. So I just text him and tell him I'd like to pick it up and it doesn't matter if it's fixed or not, I can figure it out myself. The next day, all of a sudden at 2pm he's magically figured out the wiring issue, and gives me a quote of $20 for the diagnosis and $40 for the rewire. I could get past that cost, although I was expecting to get maybe a little bit of a discount considering I had been waiting 2 weeks for a 7 day job. But then he has the audacity to charge another $30 for 'all the extra wiring' he had to do. What 'extra' wiring? I wired the whole thing by myself, all you had to do was do a little bit of extra soldering to correct the issue. So that's $90 dollars for the whole thing, which is outrageous but at this point I don't even care and I just want to get out of there. I wouldn't have even written this except I get the guitar, and the soldering is sloppy and there's a chip in the paint on the back of the neck, and a massive soldering burn in the paint by the toggle switch access area. Also, he said he would do a setup but I guess he forgot since he had such a hard time figuring out the issue with my guitar. But whatever, that would have cost an extra $50 dollars and it probably wouldn't have been done correctly anyways. Oh, and he doesn't take credit cards even though it says so on the website, business hours on there aren't a thing, and appointments can honestly mean anything so make sure you communicate clearly about when and where you're meeting up because communication is hard for him. read more

Received Same-Day Setup Service on a Tele. He responded to my inquiry in 2 minutes. The service itself took about an hour and a half. He's extremely knowledgeable and was open to answering all my questions concerning my guitars. I'll be returning to get some acoustic guitars worked on. read more

Chris was super professional!!! Did exactly what I wanted and more! Definitely recommend him for all your luthier needs. He also rips at guitar read more

Had a screwed up output jack on my bass, so I called up Chris, brought it in the same day, and he had it done two days later. Really chill guy. Only complaint is that I feel it was a bit expensive but I'll let it slide since times are hard right now. read more

The level of disrespect to not once, but twice blow off a client is astonishing. I have gone here before to get work done and it was solid quality. However I should have known his charges were outrageous when I had to explain to him again what I wanted done with my first guitar and he charged me extra for a mistake on his part. Fast forward to May and not once, but twice I had asked and confirmed with Chris a time to come in to have work done on my next guitar. And to no one's surprise he's not there but everyone of his smoking friends are there, as if it were a frat house. I have things to do outside of having my repairs, and I have yet to receive an apology for his lack of professionalism. Not a notice prior to reschedule me coming in, no apology for not being there when I come in, nothing. How can a business advertise being open 24/7 to never have its only guitar tech not be in the shop. I refuse to ever spend another dime at this place. read more