Guitar Repair Work - setups, modifications, repairs

Biography

I began learning guitar at the age of 12 in 1995. I was fascinated with the instrument. Since then I have maintained a ceaseless commitment to improving my guitar playing and musicianship, and expanding my understanding of music in general.

In 2017, I started getting interested in guitar repair work: setups, repairs, and modifications. This was partly driven by my fascination with the guitar in general; partly with my interest and curiosity in modifying some of my personal instruments; and partly motivated by an interest in assisting my numerous guitar students who were playing instruments that were not easy (or enjoyable) to play.

I began studying guitar repair by attending a few workshops with Geoff Luttrell of San Francisco Guitar Works. Soon after I acquired a copy of Dan Erlewine’s The Guitar Player Repair Guide. That book assisted me on a daily basis when I first started working on instruments. I also logged countless hours of YouTube videos that taught various aspects of guitar repair. And lastly, there was good old fashioned trial and error on my own guitars and on my students guitars.

In 2022, I began working full time as a Guitar Repair Tech at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto California.

Gryphon is one of the absolute best guitar shops out there. It is one of the last independently owned brick and mortar music shops left standing. They have been in business over 55 years founded by Frank Ford and Richard Johnston. Their repair department is considered to be in the top 3 worldwide. The repair department was led by the legendary Frank Ford. I had the honor and privilege to know him, learn from him, and work with him daily. He passed away in the winter of 2023. He was a great man and the legacy that he built at Gryphon lives on.

I was a customer of Gryphon’s for about a decade before I had the opportunity to work for them. Whenever I would hear they had a cool vintage Gibson archtop guitar, I would make the trek from San Francisco to Palo Alto and spend a few hours looking around the shop and trying out vintage guitars that I could not afford.

To this day, I continue my full time work with Gryphon splitting my time doing both repairs and sales. I also continue to teach guitar privately and perform live music throughout the Bay Area both with my Quintet (the Luke Doughty Quintet) and playing solo guitar.

- Luke Doughty, June 2024