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Monday December 8th 2025 –
What a year and we are not done yet! Along with the Workshop being quite busy – I am doing 8 Gigs in December and looking forward to a week or so of rest and reflection after 60+ Gigs for 2025..
It’s tough for anyone to work on both sides of the clock and I tip my hat to anyone who does nightshift work – I only dabble on the weekends usually but it’s enough to wipe me out for a couple of days afterwards!
I have been using my Handmade Rockpig Snipers at Gigs all year and I am happy with their performance and reliability, I can be hard on Guitars so If I can’t break them then they are probably fit for consumption.
They are of limited quantity and I will have some fresh “Sniper” builds available in the workshop late January 2026.
See you in 2026, Merry Christmas, Safe Travels and Happy New Year!!
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October 20th 2025 –
What a time to be alive! Thanks to our Patient Customers who have BIG Jobs here with us in the Workshop (Things like Custom Builds, Woodwork Repairs, Refinish Work, Neck Resets etc) we are making progress in the backlog and should have everything cleared buy xmas break!
We are flat out with Service/Setup Jobs also and we endeavour to get those sorted within a week or so of drop off. We want them to play great and sometimes a bit of extra work is needed to get them there – which can sometimes hold things up for the jobs that are next in the Job Queue.
We endeavour to fully evaluate the Instrument when it is presented in the workshop so that we can hand it back playing it’s absolute best.
It may seem like we are “nitpicking” the instrument to bits and some think we are upselling work but we wouldn’t offer it if it wasn’t required to make things fantastic.
At the end of the day – we do what the customer wants and that’s exactly what they get!
Check out the Pics below, some cool stuff in there!
Back to the Jobs!!
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September 26th 2025 –
Well I made it back from the short USA Holiday, went on a day tour to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon, I saw approx 3000 Guitars in Guitar Shops in Nevada and The Socal Guitar Show California (The Link to photos on homepage), We drove 1200+ Miles from Las Vegas into Monument Valley (Nevada/Arizona/Utah) and back to Las Vegas, We walked through about 3 Billion Poker Machines and Gambling Tables at Casinos around Las Vegas and at Service Stations – It was weird because I don’t Drink, Smoke or Gamble…. even though we passed by thousands of people who love too!!
I didn’t purchase any gear in the states as it was quite expensive and the vendors (Guitar Centre in particular) would not budge on price on second-hand items!
I mean I had some money saved but I really didn’t want to get “gouged”.
Actually I must say the prices for New and Used gear in Australia is actually quite reasonable compared to the USA.
Seriously – I did not see anything over there that I havent seen here in OZ . (They have more Vintage Gear though… and Hamers!)
We stayed at a small Casino just off The Strip in Las Vegas, Stayed in Cabins at Monument Valley (Utah/Arizona), Stayed in a small Hotel on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood and everything was good.
The more you do the more you will have to “tip” your taxi/uber drivers and hospitality staff and tour guides! It can get costly!!
Monument Valley was a highlight, we took a gazillion pictures of that place, did a 3 hour tour in the valley with a local Navajo Guide, it so beautiful it was hard to leave.
We also did a Night UFO Spotting Tour across the way from Area 51’s front gate…. We saw some amazing things that night… we even had a Camo Dude drive up to us in an attempt to deter us from being at the gate…. expensive but worth every cent.
The 12hour flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles went fast, the 14hour return flight from Los Angeles to Brisbane was a good chance to rest after the holiday!
I am always glad to come home.
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Thursday August 28th 2025 – I am going on Holidays for the first time in 10+ Years (i am actually not gigging this trip!) to the USA for a quick look around in Nevada, Arizona and California – so the Workshop will be closed from Saturday September 6th and it will Open again Thursday September 18th from 10am!
I am lucky to see David Lee Roth and his amazing Band in Las Vegas on the night we arrive there! In Los Angeles I will be going to the Southern California Guitar Show at Cost Mesa (i will be taking a box of tissues and a drool bucket – you can decide what they will be for haha) so there will be pics from that for sure!
We have got a lot of BIG woodwork and Paint Jobs out this last couple of months, with a bit more being completed when I get back from the trip!
I have added a couple of pics to the Refinish Gallery also of Guitars we have recently completed!
Gotta go now and Crank Out some more work!…….
Tuesday July 29th 2025 –
We are refinishing a fair few Guitars lately, after a redesign of the spray booth and gradual changes we are even happier with the results.
Below is a pic of our first Vintage Style Mahogany “Vee” in a pale TV Yellow Nitro Finish
Below is a Les Paul Studio that came to us sanded off in weird patterns (possibly a medication issue) in the clip is the guitar after 6 coats of Nitro Lacquer – it has 6 more to go and a bit of drying time before we level sand and buff it out. More Before and After Pics will be posted on our website in a few weeks!
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Thursday July 10th 2025 –
We are doing LOTS of Cryo Hardened and Stainless Steel Refrets lately! Whew!! Stainless is a great Fretwire to wake up a dull sounding Instrument, we have done a few Les Paul Bricks from the 1970’s and they are Brighter and Louder after a Refret.
Stainless can take it up a notch in the “Presence” range of treble response on most guitars – most noticeably on Ebony Fingerboards though.
So if you have an Instrument that needs a Refret and you would like a “Brighter” tone then ask your Repairer for a Stainless Refret!
If you want a Refret with a little more Sparkle from your Instrument then ask your Repairer for a Cryo Hardened Refret!
The Guitar will just play and sound much better if you have been suffering low or worn out frets for any length of time.
Until next time.
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Monday June 30th 2025 –
Hey all,
There is only 10 weeks to go until I have a short 11 day break from work – going to the 2025 Costa Mesa (Socal) Guitar Show which could get quite dangerous for the bank account balance but satisfying for me the Guitar Enthisiast (Tragic)
So its full steam ahead with Repairs/Builds and Service Work …. some pics ….
Keep Safe until next time!
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Monday May 19th 2025 –
Well, we are pumping out the work lately and it can be exhausting but I found a way to reset and refresh…
Build more Guitars! It’s just that simple.
Yes, nothing is relaxing as building for me and if i am feeling ragged or a little over-extended – I just like to do a few hours Building to clear it all up! Here is a Pic of some New Necks I started!
There are some gorgeous fingerboards going on these necks later and these are Mildly Figured Roasted Maple (Very Stable!) Necks and we can’t wait to fit them to their Bodies about to be painted.
We pride ourselves to present Clean & Shiny Frets after your Guitar is Serviced, Fret Dressed or Refretted – the pic below is how they should look!
Until next time – Over and Out!
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Saturday May 10th 2025 –
Well, another week and another bunch of weird melbourne like weather. We have quite a few big paint jobs and repairs waiting to be coloured and coated throughout this weather – we think the dry months are the best for spraying.
We would like to thank our Customers for their patience during the weird autumn weather, the sooner the Monsoon Weather migrates to the north the better!
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Monday May 5th 2025 –
Hooray for another Public Holiday!
I have been adding pictures to the various Galleries on this website and came a cross a guitar that I wish i had not sold! Although at the time I sold a few clean examples to buy a new PA for my covers band as we do quite a few Small Town Pubs, Parties and Wedding Gigs and we want the BEST sound we can get from our PA. I do miss those Guitars! Here is a Pic of just one of the 3 or 4 that I sold…
If you have a Custom Shop GIbson R8 R9 or even R0 that looks like this – feel free to email me if you are looking to sell or even trade!!
Die Hard Guitar Tragics UNITE!!
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Thursday May 1st –
We have spent a fair bit of time remodelling the website for easier viewing on a Mobile Phone or Tablet. Metrics indicate that 75% of our visitors use a Mobile Phone or Tablet to view our webshite! You may notice that there are heaps more info pages to view via the buttons down the homepage?
All looks good so far and we hope that it is easier to navigate for our visitors!
Below are some Refrets we have recently completed! NOTHING feels as nice as a Refret on your Guitar!
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Tuesday April 22nd 2025 –
We are back from the Easter Long Weekend and there is heaps on the workbench here at the moment. Lots of Acoustic Guitars – that’s pretty normal for early Autumn though.
We took 30kg (conservative estimate) of old Guitar Strings to the Metal Recycling Depot, thats approximately 400+ String Changes for the last 12 months!
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Sunday April 13th 2025 – Easter Long Weekend is fast approaching and to say that we are “psyched” is an understatement! See Poster/Pic above – and yes there is a “spelling mistake” but all the info is correct!!
We did a Refret on an older Maton 808 Series Acoustic that sounds fantastic – even better now with New Shiny Frets! See Pics Below!
This coming next 2 weeks are short weeks so off to work we go! Happy Easter Everbody!! haha!!
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Friday April 4th 2025 – “Buy it Now” and “Prices” on our Workshop Website?
We decided long ago to protect ourselves from Copy Website Scammers by not advertising our prices and by not utilising “buy it now” type purchasing on our webshite. This not only protects our valued customers from being scammed by someone usually overseas but it protects our goodwill with our customers as we would flat out refuse to pay or refund for anything we didn’t sell or organise.
1. It is too easy to make a copy website and link a dodgy bank account to a buy it now service on a page full of copy pictures of guitars that look like they are genuinely for sale. Most people wouldn’t know the difference if they saw the original and the copy webpages out there! The best method would be contacting the seller before you buy it now – do a little research and make sure it is a legitimate business before you lay down your hard earned money! If in doubt – sit this one out!
2. We purposely keep our website a “webshite” so that you don’t confuse our business with someone who wants to waste 10- 20k on website developers making us an easy target to copy and rip off our valued customers – you need to remember that we are born before all the internet convenience/scams and that we could not care less about online and digital. You will not get the “scan this code” and “click here to buy it now” prompts from us. It’s just not the type of business we want. We consistently choose to opt OUT of it.
So if you’ve ever wondered why we don’t facilitate website purchasing – there is your answer.
You can email us anytime if you want info and prices on anything we have here on our website!
We Refretted this awesome 1976 Gibson Explorer, New Taller Frets make it much easier to play!
We finished building this Tele Custom Replica from Mahogany/Maple Top and it’s now in Melbourne with it’s Owner!
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Friday March 30th 2025 – Well, we got another Rockpig Sniper finished and it will be one of my (2) Sniper Gigging Guitars! It’s pretty nice, See Pics! We can make you one just like it anytime – email us reubensguitarrepairs@hotmail.com com anytime for info and prices!
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Monday March 17th 2025 –
We are having a proper “Wet Season” at the moment and it slows down most Workshop Jobs that are not Service/Setups. Again – we would like to thank our Customers for their patience on the larger woodwork and finish jobs!
We are busy early in the mornings before opening the Workshop making more Rockpig “Snipers” that will be Assembled and out For Sale by later April this year. Definitely some really nice stuff soon to be on the Rockpig Sale Display. We assembled some colourful Rockpig “Summits” in December/January and they are listed For Sale in our Gallery.
We are going to be offering F@nder style neck construction on our Rockpigs very soon, Iit will be an option for people who are not interested in Carbon Fibre Reinforcement on their Guitars. See pic below…
We might even offer some aftermarket replacement Str@t and T&le Necks for those who need something nicer/more reliable than mass made factory necks.
Lots of Customer Builds on at the moment, some really cool “one-off” stuff in there too. keep your eyes peeled on our Repairs Gallery to see pics of assembled builds uploaded there in the next few weeks! See pic below…..
In the madness I managed to assemble a new pedalboard after selling off a lot of duplicate pedals that I previously used only a few times, this new board can do normal plugged into a Halfstack or “Direct to Mixer” for occassional “Ampless” gigs! The best part is that it has my favourite Vocal Processor Pedal mounted on there and not so cramped like my last pedalboard was! Harmonies, Reverb, Delay Echoes, Robot Voice – it does it all and at the moment it’s more fun than switching guitar pedals in and out. the board is pretty big inside it’s Roadcase also… See pics below
My Covers Band “MOEFO” has been gigging every weekend so far this year and I actually have a weekend off at the end of March – I can’t believe how excited I will be to stay home and do normal stuff like mow lawns, use the pool, walk the dogs….
You can always find our upcoming Gig Posters on Social Media if you want to hear our Handmade Rockpig Guitars up LOUD at a show! Everything is punched through a Soldano SLO or a Friedman BE100 into a Reissue Marshall 4×12 and miked up with a Sennheisser 906.
Hi Ho. Hi Ho – it’s back to work we go.
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Thursday February 13th 2025
You may have noticed a straight edge on our Rockpig Bodies down where the Output Jack sits on our Guitars.
It is an adaptation of an earlier design used on Guitars in the later 1980’s. It stops the standard Str@t Output Jack Cable from getting in the way when reaching for the Trem Arm when playing.
We also mount our Jacks upside down which keeps the Cable safe from less damage – it also routes it straight up and over your Strap Button and in some cases gives you at least another 6 or so Inches of Guitar Cable Length (Giggity…)
The Straight Edge on our Guitars also lets everyone know that your Guitar is not a “Guitar Grocery Store Purchase” – instead the shape easily identifies your Guitar as one of our Handmade Rockpig Guitars!
We are Super Proud of these Guitars and just because we don’t have a spare 20k to buy “magazine reviews/advertising” and 3 FREE Guitars (another 10k) to “gift” to the Magazine Reviewers (which they would ultimately sell) does not mean that our Guitars are not as good as or better than any CNC “Hand” Made Guitars in those Guitar Magazines (Product Catalogues).
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Friday January 17th 2025
We have added a Tutorial Page simply titled “How to Restring Your Floyd Rose”….
It’s meant to show anyone who owns a Guitar with this Trem System fitted how to restring it whenever they want to.
We are always happy to Service & Setup these Guitars so that the String Changes are easy for the Owner. Bear in mind that you must use the same Brand and Gauge Strings the Trem System was Setup to use. If you change String brands then it is likely going to need another Service & Setup done, so changing your mind could get expensive. Our advice is for you to buy your 9-42 Strings (Whatever Brand) in BULK so that you always have those strings on hand for your Floyd Rose equipped Guitar!
Once these Trem Systems are Setup and consistent they are the most fun you can have with your clothes on!
More Blog Updates Next Week!!!
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Tuesday January 14th 2025
We finally got some Handmade Rockpig Summit FR Standards Assembled and on Display and they are both For Sale! I’ve gotta say they are both Fantastic (a little biased I know but I am their Builder/Grandfather after all…) the differences are very subtle although their Specs and Parts are Identical apart from a Revere Headstock and Tuners – and that is the Beauty of Handmade Instruments!
These are Next Generation Professional Quality Instruments and PACKED full of goodies!
Bodies are Hand Selected 2 Piece Lightweight Alder, Necks are 3 Piece Roasted Maple for Strength and Tuning Stability, Fingerboards are Pau Ferro, Frets are #6150 for Great Feel and Easy Bending, Headstocks have a Carbon Fibre Laminate for Extra Strength, the Necks are attached with Ferrules and Threaded Neck Screws for Tightness and Tone Transfer, FInishes are Nitro Lacquer in Slime Green Satin and Hot Pink Gloss, Handmade Pickup Sets are Direct Mounted, Volume-Tone-5Way Setup, Side Angled Output Jack to stay out of your way, Dynamic Shaping on the Back and Front Arm Rest Area for Playing Comfort, A Satin Finish on the back of the Necks for Smooth Feel,
A couple more Rockpig Sniper Models will be Assembled in the next batch!
Exciting times ahead – Indeed!
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Saturday January 11th 2025
There is heaps of work on in the Workshop at the moment and we thank all of our customers for their patience!
We are also doing a few Builds (Rockpig and Custom Orders) alongside all of our Instrument Repairs, exciting stuff coming out of assembly each calendar month this year, cool colours, models, custom stuff – you get the idea..
The next Rockpig to leave Assembly will burn your retinas out! Its going to be a show stopper.
More stuff next week – and dont forget to check back on our website often as we are always adding pictures and for sale items etc.
Gigging tonight so gotta go restring my Rockpig Sniper Classic (Faded Fiesta Red) and get my spare guitar – a Rockpig Summit Custom (Flouro Yellow) ready to handle my gig abuse….
Peace Out.
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Sunday December 29th, 2024
A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!! We have been busy having days off and relaxing.
You may have see that we managed to get a Slime Green Satin Rockpig Summit Standard ready to go on the For Sale Rack before Christmas! It’s a fantastic colour, plays and sounds great too! It comes in a good quality hard case!! See Picture Below!!
We have another Summit Standard due out to the For Sale Rack in later January, from there we have 3 more Rockpigs (a Sniper Modern, A Summit Custom and a Kaboomerang!) coming online around March 2025.
These are all built alongside Customer Orders and Replica Builds between our busy schedule of Stringed Instrument Repairs each year. in 2024 we did over 300 Repairs/Service/Setup type Jobs!
We limit the amount of Builds each year to 12 plus one for us – so as of today there are 6 Spots already taken for Customer Builds in 2025 so far so if you want something built in 2025 our advice would be to get your specs and contact us via email to discuss your New Build! Our email is reubensguitarrepairs@hotmail.com
Repairing Stringed Instruments is more detective work and Building Guitars is more creative. It still blows us away to see a Guitar that we built being played by their new owners!!
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December 2nd 2024 – The Wet Season has arrived!! Not only has it arrived – but it has also brought insufferable HUMIDITY along for the ride! (Just as we expected)
Refinish Work is a Challenge up here in the Wet Season – expect a guitar to be out of action for a couple of months at least if you want it Refinished in Nitro. We will not Spray on days with higher that 79% Humidity (even with Slow Thinners Added to our Lacquer Mix!) so allow 8-12 Weeks for a Refinish Job Between December and April here in Far North Queensland.
On the Topic of Refinishing – We really feel that Refinish Work works best for Major Repairs like Big Dents or Breaks, Major Modifications, putting a Vintage Instrument back to ‘Original Colour’ or more often than not – fixing a ‘Rattlecan Spray Job”.
Changing an Instrument’s Colour just because you can is usually unnecessary – you will always get more when selling an Instrument if it still has its original finish even if it’s a bit tatty, the next owner might even love the way the finish has worn!
We have been lucky to do some really cool Refinish work to Vintage Instruments – usually from garage Rattlecan Acrylic Colour back to Original or even a Custom Colour Finish that was offered back in the day.
This Vintage Early 70’s Gibson SG Deluxe had a weak neck joint and needed a new body manufactured from some Old Stock African Mahogany, Customer wanted a Dark Walnut Brown Nitro Refinish and that’s what it got – See Pic Below….
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This Fender Professional 2 Strat (Mystic Surf Green Metallic) was damaged at a Gig by a mic stand being knocked into the lower cutaway horn, we refinished in Nitro Gold Sparkle – See before and after pics below…
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This 1968 Fender Jazz Bass came into our Workshop covered in a AutoParts Store 80’s Metallic Blue – We are pretty sure it was Sunburst originally – the Customer liked the idea of Faded and Relic Fiesta Red, His Late Father would be Proud! – see pic below…
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This Mid 70’s Ibanez “Rocket Roll” Flying V had been sanded for a possible “rattlecan refin” years ago, We got it all sanded off and refinished in Nitrocellulose Translucent Cherry Red – see pic below ….
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This ’63 Fender Jaguar (Originally Sunburst) came in with a “Rattle Can Mocha Brown FInish” (A very popular colour in the mid/late 70’s) We got it all sanded off and refinished it in a Faded Relic Vintage Olympic White, some original examples have gone very amber yellow but this one was painted to look like it was just starting to amber over the white colour coat – see pic below…
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This Japanese Fender Jaguar was needing a refin and the owner wanted a Champagne Sparkle Nitro Finish – see pic below…
Refinish Work is Expensive and can be even worth more than the Instrument you are considering getting refinished! So keep all this in mind when deciding whether to Refinish or not!
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November 25th 2024 – We have a few “paint and woodwork” jobs that we are getting ready to go out before Christmas Break and just like everyone else we are looking forward to people playing their repaired instruments and everyone getting some time off! On that note we are closing for xmas beak from Tuesday December 24th (2024) at 5pm and reopen after New Years on Thursday January 2nd (2025) at 10am! We will throw a poster on the homepage and all the “social media” pages during December to remind people. It has been another huge year for us and we are looking forward to Christmas break as always!
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November 7th 2024 – We are “hooking in” to the Paint and Woodwork Jobs here at the Workshop, the weather is great for Spraying and Glue Drying! We Appreciate our Customer’s Patience in this regard as we have minimal hands on deck to keep the work quality high. Signing off now to get back into it!!
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October 31st 2024 – All through the ages many High Profile Guitar Players who have big company endorsememts have had their Endorsement Guitars paid for by the Endorsement Company and commissioned a Luthier to make the Endorsement Instrument. It is rumoured that the Famous 5150 Labeled Kramer used by EVH was rumored to be built by Tom Anderson back in the mid 1980’s. It makes sense as Kramer was reported to be Painting and Assembing Bodies and Necks made for them in Asia somewhere. So maybe Ed was playing a Handmade to his exact spec Luthier Build Super Strat? The term for this is supposedly called “Ghost Building” in the Guitar Manufacturing World….
I have received offers (often found in my Junkmail Folder) from overseas CNC Manufacturing Companies (usually Chinese) who say they could send me Necks and Bodies all premade for a couple hundred bucks!
NO THANKS.
We build between 10-15 Guitars each year and We ALWAYS want to be in control of what Tonewood that we select and use for each build. we ultimately want to be in control of every aspect of every Guitar that we build.
We are not in the business of building Guitars to “get rich”, if we were in this to “get rich” we would already have a Large CNC Machine churning out multiple bodies and necks every week. The ONLY reason for us buying a CNC Machine would be tempting is that making guitars is exhausting and can be dangerous mainly because the attention to detail and the attention and awareness to whatever operation you are doing over the 3- 4 weeks of building each Instrument does get exhausting, add to that the awareness that at anytime a piece of wood can tear out, burn or simply explode during machining is always in the back of a builders mind. You can get many hours in to a build and one concentration slip or one small material defect you may have to start over again!!
*We have definitely had to “start over” at least a couple of times.
Any Builder who says ‘that never happens’ is probably having Bodies and Neck pre-made for them somewhere and just throwing their logo on the headstock when finishing the parts! If they are a large company mass building instruments – sometimes their expensive CNC machines occasionally wreck bodies and necks.
Customers pay us for our attention to detail when we build their Guitars because they want the best Instrument that their hard-earned money can buy!
If we build 2 Guitars side by side – they would be very close in feel and look, sound wise there will be differences because wood is an organic material and it does whatever it wants when it comes to vibration and sound, different grain patterns, pores and mineral streaks, how many minerals were in the water table where it grew etc.. everything affects the end product. In my experience no 2 pieces of Tonewood sound identical – maybe close but never identical.
Handmade Guitars OOOOZZEE Personality! Hand picked Tone woods and lots of small and subtle differences like Glues, Fit, Finish, Tuners, Truss Rod Type, Frets, Fret Glue, Pickups and even Brand of Potentiometers, Selector Switches and Output Jack all have an influence on the Final Tone and Playability of a Handmade Instrument.
‘Ghost Building’ or making a Handmade Version of a Mass Produced Instrument is a real thing, we may or may not have done it for quite a few of our “build” and “refinish” customers!
Catch us if you can!!
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October 4th 2024 – Back from a short Japan tour with my band Clam Sandwich – it was heaps of fun. Below is a Pic of us at Shinjuku Samurai…
We are back on deck and furiously getting Customer Repairs Progressed and Completed, Rockpig Necks and Bodies Built, Painted and Drying, there is a cool pic of the latest batch of Rockpigs in the Repairs and Builds Gallery on our mainpage! A short one as I better get back into it! More “spewage” in the next couple of weeks!
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July 26th 2024 – Wow we finally finished the first Rockpig Kaboomeraang V in the Workshop and we couldn’t be happier with how it Plays, Sounds and Looks! It’s Fluorescent Red and it looks and feels like a Speed Machine! We have a couple more new models (Sniper Modern and Sniper Classic S Shape Models with all of the options available – due out very soon also so keep your eyes here on our website for the reveals and sneak peak pictures! Be sure to check out the Rockpig Gallery Link here on our homepage for heaps of cool pics of the 1st Kaboomeraang!! It will make your Ears and Eyes BLEED!!
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June 19th 2024 - Serial Numbers, We used to stamp Rockpigs with a 3 or 4 Digit Serial such as “#197” and the decode is easy – for #197 = The First 2 numbers were the year so 2019, and the last number was the 7th Rockpig Made, for a 4 digit serial such as “#2017” the decode is also simple – for #2017 = The First 2 numbers were the year so 2020, and the last 2 numbers was the 17th Rockpig Made.
Our NEW “Inked into Wood under Lacquer” Serial Number scheme is a bit more detailed - 4 Letters and 4 Digits –
The First Letter Designates the Our Brand/Manufacture – R = Rockpig Guitars Australia,
The 2nd and 3rd Letters Designate Model so SC = Sniper Classic Model, SM = Sniper Modern Model, SX – Summit Custom Model, SS = Summit Standard Model, KB = Kaboomerang V, AS = Arena Standard Model, AC = Arena Custom Model,
The 4th Letter Designates Bridge Type such as T = Top Mounted Floyd Rose, F= Full Floating Floyd Rose, W = Wilkinson VS100, G=Gotoh , V = Vega Trem , H = Hardtail Top Loading, S = String Thru Body Hardtail.
The 5th Digit is which Species of Fingerboard 1 = Roasted Maple, 2 = Rosewood, 3 = Ebony, 4 = Pau Ferro, 5 = Caribbean Rosewood.
The 6th Digit is the Year the Guitar was completed and the 7th and 8th Digits tell us what Number the Guitar is of all Rockpig Instruments Manufactured so far.
In the Picture below – the Serial Number reads “RKBF2438”.
R = Rockpig Guitars Australia, KB = Kaboomerang V Model, F = Floating Floyd Rose Tremolo System, 2 = Rosewood Fingerboard, 4 = Manufactured in 2024 and 38 = the 38th Rockpig Instrument Made.
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June 11th 2024 – It’s Busy in the Paint Booth at the moment doing Resprays, Finish Touchups and getting some Customer Builds underway.
Please Check out our “Why You Need A Fresh Pack Of Strings To Be Fitted During Setups/Repairs” Page! Lots of Info on that page, merely our opinion but we know what works for our Customers when they want a Fresh Service/Setup to be Performed and they are paying us for The Best Possible Result!
Below is a pic from a Customer of the 3 “Replica/Refinish Jobs” we did for him! From Left to RIght we have “Billy”, “Voodoo” and “Cheryl”.
Check out some of the Refinish Work in the Booth with the Clip Below…
There is more to follow in the next couple of weeks! 2 Gretschs, ESP Explorer, A Vintage SG Refin, Some Rockpig stuff too! More info and pics soon!………………………………………………………………………………….
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April 22nd 2024 – Our Rockpig Sniper “Workshop Demo Guitar” is finally ready! We put this one together for anyone who would like to drop into our Workshop during Business Hours and “Test Drive” a Rockpig Sniper Guitar. It is a “Professional Quality Handmade Guitar’ that is Setup for Concert Pitch with 9-42 Elixir Strings (Perfect for a Floyd Rose Trem).
It’s a Lightweight Alder Body loaded with Electronics and Hardware that I was using for Gigs late 2023 so it has been hammered hard, bumped, chipped and sounds Great- the only reason i didn’t keep using the body is because I wanted another “Summit” layout w/Binding (I always get what i want because I can build it….) I didnt bother removing the Stickers from the back – I duplicated them on the next Body I made though! You can see both versions of this Guitar in the “Rockpig Guitar Specs and Information Link” from the Homepage.
The neck is from an even older Prototype i made late 2022. I converted it from 3/side neck for 6 inline and put a new engraved carbon fibre headstock plate on the headstock face. I also added a push/pull pot to demonstrate with or without a tone control (without the tone cap is a clearer higher output signal – I used to bump mine all the time and wonder why the guitar sounds dull or weird so I always disconnect it on my own Rockpig Guitars…..)
It has been Ink Stamped “Shop Demo” on the back of the headstock and it is meant for people to play and order Custom Handmade Rockpig Guitars if they LOVE it after playing it and this Guitar is definitely NOT FOR SALE. It is purely for Test Driving!!
*Specs – 3 Piece Roasted Maple Neck, Alder Body, Rosewood Fingerboard, #6150 Frets, Our Handwound and Direct Mounted “NAF Pro” in the Neck Position and a “Daily Driver” Bridge Pickup coupled to a Custom 5 Way Selector, We fitted a Push Pull Tone Pot to demonstrate a “No Tone Capacitior” Hookup, Running Gear is a Schaller Floyd Rose Trem System and matching R5 Locknut, A Carbon Fibre Headstcock Faceplate for Strength, Sealed Gotoh Tuners – All the good stuff.
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April 16th 2024 – RAIN RAIN GO PLEASE GO AWAY!!! We have quite a few Guitars and New Builds that are waiting for better weather so that we can Spray them, this is one of the LONGEST “Wet Seasons” we’ve experienced since moving to Cairns in 2012.
Sure, we could add even MORE Lacquer Retarder to our Nitro Mix but its just not the same quality of Lacquer Finish compared to when we can Spray on dryer low humidity days.. When its above 79% Humidity we won’t Spray any Type of Finish. We admit that we always need the rain and at the end of Winter when everything is so dry – we are always looking forward to the Wet Season… again.
Some nice new Builds are on the way but we are most Excited about some Rockpig Snipers, Summits and a “Secret New Model” that are close to being Spray Finished as soon as this weather clears! It’s only a matter of days now…
NO Pictures yet but they will look AMAZEBALLS.
Here are some pics to checkout until next time…
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April 4th 2024 – We hope that everyone had a good Easter Break this weekend just past. There is lots on here in the Workshops, Lots of Service/Setup Work and literally TONS of Build and Reproduction Work. The Rain has stalled a lot of those Build Jobs and we are doing as much as we can in the wet weather/high humidity to get them moving along and paiinted/finished. this last 18 months has been very humid and wet generally – its not unheard of though as it was like this when we moved to this area in 2012. I will leave you with some pictures to checkout! cheers!
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March 15th 2024 – Hey Boys and Girls, we are currently madly Building. Repairing and Designing a New Rockpig Model for you “Pointy Guitar” Fans! It is a Modified Classic Shape and Its going be called “The B……..g”, so keep your eyes peeled for that! We are excited and hope that Rockers and Metalheads can embrace these awesome new Guitars! Exciting Times ahead!
We have 2 “Sniper” Guitars being Assembled and For Sale very soon so keep a lookout here on our website for that! We are so excited about these Guitars!
We have also Manufactured a Roasted Ash Body for #2334 and converted it into a “Summit”. Alongside that we have “modified” the Cutaway Access and its shown in the pictures below.
More News Next Week!
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February 29th 2024 – Hooray it’s a Leap Year! Yep there is heaps more going on here. There are literraly TONS of Repairs on the go and lots of builds! Alas we are moving away from Replica Guitars as we are concentrating our efforts on our own Brand of Builds! We have some cool Rockpig Guitars Tee Shirts in the Workshop for Sale – they are $50 each plus $15 Postage to anywhere in Australia! If we run out of your size please allow 1 week for us to get a batch printed and sent out to you! These are Quality Black T Shirts with Flouro Orange or Mettallic Silver Logos – See Pic Below!
Below is a Sneak Peak of some colours we have sprayed and more pretty stuff to come in the next entry.
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February 19th 2024 – The Woodwork keeps on chugging along and these 6 Rockpigs are almost ready to paint! Some really cool stuff coming from the Rockpig Stables very soon! We have 4 x Summit Models (HH, HSH and HSS Layouts and 2 x Sniper Models (HH Pickup Layouts) being Pepped for Paintwork. 3 Guitars are already SOLD so there will be 3 ready for sale in early April. The Necks will be constructed while the bodies are drying over 6 weeks or so. Check out the Picture below! More Updates next week!
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February 5th 2024 - Heaps on here in the Workshop, Lots of Service/Setup/Repairs Work, also the Builds are coming along nicely too.
People often remark when they see a Rockpig that it “kinda looks like a Tele or EVH” so I have taken a pic of the Rockpig Summit Template next to a Telecaster and Les Paul Body Template to show you how i borrowed a little from Column A and Column B when i was designing this Guitar. Originally it was to be an Offset Set Body Type Guitar (Jazzmaster) of which I had made a prototype, sounded great too. Who knows maybe that shape will become “a thing” in the future…
EVH Guitars are a small instrument, they measure 36 Inches Long, A Telecaster measues 38.25 Inches long and a Les Paul measures 38.5 – 39 Inches Long depending on the Model, Our Rockpig Summit and Snipers measure 39 – 39.5 Inches Long Depending on Hardware (Still a 25.5 Inch Scale Length!) kinda the same length as the Ibanez JEM777 Guitars but the Layout and Geometry are different….
Taller Guitar Players sometimes find EVH, Ernie Ball, and Strandberg Guitars and the like hard to play because they are so small… Obviously that’s not everyone, from personal experience playng those Smaller Guitars feels like i am playing a Violin….
We could scale down our Handmade Guitars for Lilliputians but it is highly unlikely…..
As always if you have any questions about Repairs or Handmade Guitar Builds feel free to email us reubensguitarrepairs@hotmail.com
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January 27th 2024 – Hey Guys and Gals, there’s been lots more going on in the workshop this week, there are lots of parts arriving for larger jobs such as Mid 70’s Lefty Gibson SG Refurb and a Beautiful Martin D28 Top Refinish and Neck Reset, a Refinish on a 963 Jaguar that was rattlecan Mocha Brown since the late 70s, 2 x Replica Guitars and a swag of Rockpig Summit and Sniper model guitars on the way. Check out the pictures below and as always if you have any Repair or Build Enquiries you can email us reubensguitarrepairs@hotmail.com. Another update in a few days time!
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January 16th 2024 – Hey Guys and Gals, welcome to 2024! We have gone away from using the Phone and exclusively communicating via EMAIL during the Workday from January 2nd this year, all in an effort to be more productive and accurately follow work requests, All that remains is an info message on our old phone number advising Customers to simply drop into the Workshop or Email us during Business Hours and It’s working GREAT so far.
Here are some Pictures of whats happening behind the scenes here in the Workshop! We have a TON of Repairs on the go during Business Hours and outside of that we are Building a few Custom Replica Guitars (Explorer and LP’s) and about 5 New Rockpig Summit Guitars with various Pickup Layouts and Colours, check out the Pictures Below!
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & Safe Travels! 