My Favorite Guitar Information Resources (Roundup)

These are sources I trust for info on guitar care, repair, and building

The Internet is a digital fire hose of free information. There’s some really great stuff out there, and then there’s a whole lotta stuff that’s… not so great. That said, I sometimes get asked where I go to get my information on guitar care, repair, maintenance, etc.

I’m old enough that I pre-date the Internet, so for me it all started with books, magazines, and VHS videos. That’s all we had back then. My tattered copy of The Guitar Player Repair Guide is still my go-to book for essential information, but there are also a few online resources that I trust and visit often. Here, I’ll list and link to each, and tell you why I like them so much.

The Guitar Resources I Trust

Highline Guitars (YouTube)
I’ve been watching Chris Monck’s YouTube videos for years now. Chock-full of guitar building demos and tips, Chris is a master builder I discovered back when I was highly active on Twitter. If you’re interested in building guitars, there are hours and hours of good stuff to watch here. Be sure you also check out Chris’s website (and his custom guitars) at www.highlineguitars.com.

O’Brien Guitars “Luthier Tips du Jour” (Website)
I love watching Robert O’Brien’s “Luthier Tips du Jour.” He usually covers more advanced techniques, repairs, and building topics, but you never know when that kind of knowledge will come in handy. Plus, I’m just a guitar nerd like that. Though I don’t build guitars or actively offer repair/tech services anymore, I still love the stuff. In addition to these YouTube tips, Robert also sells a number of in-depth guitar building courses on his website.

Crimson Custom Guitars (YouTube)
I’ve been following Ben Crowe’s channel for 6 years now–pretty much from the time he published his first video. I’ve watched him grow as a luthier and seen his business grow and diversify as well. It’s been fun to watch, and I’ve learned a ton about guitar building and maintenance from him. Be sure you check out his website too at crimsonguitars.com.

Haze Guitars (Blog)
Gerry Hayes is an ace luthier with a blog that’s both educational and entertaining. On his website, he offers a number of helpful guides and e-books that you can download. I ordered one of his “Sketchy Setups” guitar setup guides awhile back, just to see what they were all about, and was so impressed that I became an affiliate and now offer them here on my blog. Lastly, Gerry is just an all-around nice guy, so definitely check out his blog as well as his custom guitars.

Dave’s World of Fun Stuff (YouTube)
As long as you’re not bothered by the occasional f-bomb, Dave really knows his stuff and his videos are laugh-out-loud entertaining too. Guitar maintenance and repair isn’t always the most exciting subject, but Dave manages to keep it interesting and fun with this humor. I discovered Dave’s channel thanks to my readers. I can’t tell you how many people over the years have written to me or commented on my blog posts, “… have you seen ‘Dave’s World of Fun Stuff’ on YouTube?” Well, I checked him out and immediately subscribed to his channel.

StewMac Trade Secrets (YouTube)
The vast majority of my early learning comes courtesy of StewMac and Dan Erlewine’s books and videos. Back in the 90’s (before we had the Internet), I spent a lot of moolah on StewMac educational resources. First, I got my feet wet with the Guitar Player Repair Guide, and then went on to buy some of their videos and DVD’s on more advanced guitar repair and maintenance topics. Now that we’ve got the Internet at our disposal, I just drop in and check out StewMac’s Trade Secrets from time-to-time.

GuitarHQ.com (Website)
This website won’t win any design awards, but if you can get past the dated look and layout, it’s absolutely chock-full of information on vintage guitars. It’s an invaluable resource that I’ve gone to many times to help answer people’s questions on older instruments.

So there ya go. Oh sure, I’ve checked out others here and there over the years, but these are the ones that I go back to consistently (or subscribe to) for information on guitar care, repair, and building.

What Are YOUR Favorites?

Do you have favorite resource where you go to learn about this stuff? Let me know in the “Leave a Reply” section down below and I’ll check ’em out.

3 replies

William says:
December 3, 2018 at 12:29 PM

Bobby : I have two old books on building and repair from a used book shop as well as guitar player repair guide 2nd edition. Got them to get an idea of how to build my own electric guitars when I made my fist in 1983.

I watched Daves world of fun stuff. And recently came across Hays Guitars. Also watched Crimson.

I will add two others on you tube. Randy Schartiger has great videos and does great work and he knows the fellow from Crimson. Also Rosa String works who also does great repair videos and he also knows Randy and both comment on each others work.
Reply
- Guitar Answer Guy says:
  December 3, 2018 at 1:19 PM
  
  Thanks William, I’ll definitely check those out.
  Reply
John E1 says:
December 3, 2018 at 5:47 AM

Great post! Thanks a lot for the resources. I’ll check them out.

I don’t watch luthier vids much, anymore, Do my own setups, including truss rod adjustments, string action, intonation, pickup height, check electrical grounds/wiring, etc. The woodworking stuff takes more tools than I can justify investing in right now. I use nothing but 6″ and 300mm rulers. I can get understring radius measurements to the frets just fine with those. What does everyone think was being used before these fancy new tools came out, anyway? I never heard mention of string radius gauges in the 60s and 70s. Did they even exist yet? For intonation I use a TC Electronics PolyTune 3 in strobe mode. As far as I can tell, every bit as accurate as the old Peterson Strobe Tuners we’ve held in such high regard all these years, and it’s only $99 bucks from Sweetwater.

My health forced me to go into self-quarantine, thanks to leukemia pounding on my immune system and the rest of my body. I’ve taken a radical turn into the 21st century by procuring an audio interface, a MIDI Keyboard Controller, and Studio One 4.1 DAW and Notion 6 music notation software. Learning to produce my own music is a whole new world.

Thanks for the topic and the great post, once again!!
Reply