Great Ears Part 1
Every great company, (and by that I mean an outfit that produces something that just sounds terrific) has someone with great ears either running it, or designing the gear. There are no exceptions that I know of. Find a great amp, a great guitar, a terrific effect box, and you will find someone with great ears.
Of course great instruments and gear only start with great ears; they must still be manufactured, but without great ears, there will be no great product.
In this series I will present people I know in this biz who have great ears.
First, I define great ears as someone whose hearing / brain system is so finely calibrated that what they think is “good sound” will impress most people. Obviously, you can’t please everyone, but in general, great ears are required to design gear that a lot of people will like.
The first outfit I am going to speak of is Top Gear Guitar Pro Shop in La Mesa, California. (San Diego, if you live in Sydney). Waayy back in the mid-1980’s I was driving down University Avenue (I lived in San Diego for years) and saw this new little shop that had opened. A guitar pro shop? What a cool idea! So, in I went and met Dan Altilio the proprietor. Dan had been one of the founders of DiMarzio and had been designing guitars and parts for years and years. Turns out he had designed my favorite non-trem Strat bridge which I had on all my guitars. Cool! We talked gear for quite a while (my wife is a patient soul). Over the years Dan and I have become good friends, and he does all my guitar work, in addition to building me a guitar from scratch and assembling and modding many others. I used to do my own building and repairing, but honestly Dan is a lot better.
There is also one of the best amp techs on the planet at Top Gear. Tim Pinnel has worked on almost all my amps, and made everything he has touched sound better. He has even built several totally crazy customs I dreamed up, like a Matchless DC30 in a Vibrochamp and a Hiwatt DR504 in a Princeton! Crazy. He never threw me out when I came up with these ideas, which says a lot about both his skills and patience. Several friends of mine have also had amps repaired and/or modded by Tim with uniformly terrific results.
Dan has done the following guitar work for me (and much more that I have probably forgotten)
Built a wonderful guitar utilizing a Turner Horse Shoe pickup and a Fralin single coil. This thing into the Hiwatt sounds like a huge, and very loud, grand piano.
Dan turned a 1987 Tom Anderson strat into a 12-string with only 6 of the strings tuning in the headstock. The other 6 tune in the body via a Steinberger tuner.
Replaced frets on almost all my guitars. I wear them out pretty quickly, so it is good to have someone who does frets well. Fretting is difficult to do really well, and Dan is great at it. Recently he did myfirst set of stainless steel frets (on my favorite guitar in the whole world, my 87 Tom Anderson strat) and I absolutely love them. SS frets are quite difficult for the luthier to work with however, so I appreciate his efforts on this project.
Dan has added steel inserts to the necks on several of my guitars. Guys and gals, you would not believe how much better this makes guitars sound. Going to machine screws and inserts solidly anchored into the neck makes the guitar/neck joint very rigid and this just makes the guitar sing. Truly an impressive upgrade.
Dan saved a Heritage custom I had ordered that they buggered the neck up on. The neck actually had an S-curve in it, and could not be straightened with the truss rod, and they had installed the wrong frets. Brand-new custom Heritage HC-150! I gave Heritage 2 tries and 6 months to get it right and they could not. I told them that either Dan fixes it, or I get a refund. He nailed it. the first time, and it is still right more than 10 years later.
Dan assembled a new SG-style guitar from W*rmoth parts for me. (W*rmoth is not someone who I will do any business with in the future, but that is another story) This guitar has a strat scale, ebony fret board, mahogany neck and Lindy Fralin P-90 pickups, a TonePros/KTS Titanium bridge, and it just rocks.
I’m sure there is much more, but I can tell you that these guys are always my first choice when it comes to guitar and amp work
Of course great instruments and gear only start with great ears; they must still be manufactured, but without great ears, there will be no great product.
In this series I will present people I know in this biz who have great ears.
First, I define great ears as someone whose hearing / brain system is so finely calibrated that what they think is “good sound” will impress most people. Obviously, you can’t please everyone, but in general, great ears are required to design gear that a lot of people will like.
The first outfit I am going to speak of is Top Gear Guitar Pro Shop in La Mesa, California. (San Diego, if you live in Sydney). Waayy back in the mid-1980’s I was driving down University Avenue (I lived in San Diego for years) and saw this new little shop that had opened. A guitar pro shop? What a cool idea! So, in I went and met Dan Altilio the proprietor. Dan had been one of the founders of DiMarzio and had been designing guitars and parts for years and years. Turns out he had designed my favorite non-trem Strat bridge which I had on all my guitars. Cool! We talked gear for quite a while (my wife is a patient soul). Over the years Dan and I have become good friends, and he does all my guitar work, in addition to building me a guitar from scratch and assembling and modding many others. I used to do my own building and repairing, but honestly Dan is a lot better.
There is also one of the best amp techs on the planet at Top Gear. Tim Pinnel has worked on almost all my amps, and made everything he has touched sound better. He has even built several totally crazy customs I dreamed up, like a Matchless DC30 in a Vibrochamp and a Hiwatt DR504 in a Princeton! Crazy. He never threw me out when I came up with these ideas, which says a lot about both his skills and patience. Several friends of mine have also had amps repaired and/or modded by Tim with uniformly terrific results.
Dan has done the following guitar work for me (and much more that I have probably forgotten)
Built a wonderful guitar utilizing a Turner Horse Shoe pickup and a Fralin single coil. This thing into the Hiwatt sounds like a huge, and very loud, grand piano.
Dan turned a 1987 Tom Anderson strat into a 12-string with only 6 of the strings tuning in the headstock. The other 6 tune in the body via a Steinberger tuner.
Replaced frets on almost all my guitars. I wear them out pretty quickly, so it is good to have someone who does frets well. Fretting is difficult to do really well, and Dan is great at it. Recently he did myfirst set of stainless steel frets (on my favorite guitar in the whole world, my 87 Tom Anderson strat) and I absolutely love them. SS frets are quite difficult for the luthier to work with however, so I appreciate his efforts on this project.
Dan has added steel inserts to the necks on several of my guitars. Guys and gals, you would not believe how much better this makes guitars sound. Going to machine screws and inserts solidly anchored into the neck makes the guitar/neck joint very rigid and this just makes the guitar sing. Truly an impressive upgrade.
Dan saved a Heritage custom I had ordered that they buggered the neck up on. The neck actually had an S-curve in it, and could not be straightened with the truss rod, and they had installed the wrong frets. Brand-new custom Heritage HC-150! I gave Heritage 2 tries and 6 months to get it right and they could not. I told them that either Dan fixes it, or I get a refund. He nailed it. the first time, and it is still right more than 10 years later.
Dan assembled a new SG-style guitar from W*rmoth parts for me. (W*rmoth is not someone who I will do any business with in the future, but that is another story) This guitar has a strat scale, ebony fret board, mahogany neck and Lindy Fralin P-90 pickups, a TonePros/KTS Titanium bridge, and it just rocks.
I’m sure there is much more, but I can tell you that these guys are always my first choice when it comes to guitar and amp work
posted by DC at 3:12 PM
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