Soest Guitar

Steve was able to repair a crack in the body/​neck of my guitar for a mere $ 40. Another shop gave me a $ 250 estimate for the same repair.
Excellent service, quick turnaround time, and very reasonable prices.
I would definitely trust him with any guitar that needs repairing.

We contacted Steve to repair a guitar. He did a great job. Guitar was fixed in less than a week, and plays great.

Steve Soest is the man! I found out about him through my private instructor at the university I attend. I gave him my Eastman thinline electric (T184MX) to get it set up about a month and a half ago and am very happy with the results. His prices are very fair and his work is worth every penny. With the basic setup, he also had to give my guitar a full fret redress which has made my guitar play so much better. Mr. Soest is very quick with replies if you contact him through email and is a super nice guy. He is without a doubt an expert at what he does. Great person to do business with. I will definitely keep going to him for all of my set ups in the future.

Mr. Soest transformed my long neglected rickenbacker 360 ‘64v 12 string into a gem. Super solid work. If you ever need some work on your guitars– Steve is a master luthier. You will get 1000% return on money spent. I could not be more pleased.

Great work. I took my 78 Gibson Les Paul Custom to be set up. I not only got my set up, I got a bit of insight into my guitar. Thanks again Steve, you will see me again real soon.

steve is a great guy who is a master of his craft. i am very pleased with the work he has performed for me. originally, i was scared to contact him because of his superstar client list. he is very humble and affordable for non-​professional like myself. i have recommended him to everyone i know. i wont let anybody else touch my guitars. steve is my go to guy ! thank you very much mr soest. keep on truckin !

Steve is great! Very friendly and very professional. I will be taking my guitars to Steve for any repairs and will be recommending him to my musician friends.

I first learned of Steve Soest when I was trying to find someone that knew Rickenbacker guitars. After doing a lot of research and talking to fellow musicians, I was given Steve’s name. The problem was he was 75 miles away.
But after he did his magic on my 12 string 330, I would not hesitate driving 200 miles to have Steve work on an of my instruments. He is very easy to work with and a true craftsman. Thank you Steve for making my 18 year old RIC like new again. It is so hard to find people now days who really know what they are doing .
Nex, t I will be taking my priced 37 year old Guild 12 string to him.

For instrument modifications, I would not consider anyone but Steve. He has simply been the best for many years and will remain so for hopefully many years to come. Five stars is an understatement…

I’ve been taking my bass guitars to Steve Soest for over 20 years. The man is an absolute legend – he’s forgotten more about guitars than any of the rest of us mere mortals will ever know. He’s also a super nice guy, his prices are more than fair, and I know that when I take one of my axes to him, it will come back to me sounding and playing like butter. He also knows everyone in the business, and those contacts benefit all of his customers. Here’s just one example: In 2011, I bought a like-​new Fender Jaguar bass, and after doing some research and finding a guitar builder’s website that described how he’d done some major mods that dramatically improved its performance (new pickups, new active electronics, etc.), I bought all the parts he listed and took them along with my Jag to Steve. When I pulled up the guy’s website for him so he could look at the guy’s description of what he’d done, he said, «Oh yeah, I know this guy!» So, he got the guy on the phone and talked to him about the mods. He also found that one of the circuit boards on the EMG preamp I’d purchased on eBay was cracked. So, he dialed up his contact at EMG and had them overnight him a new one at no charge! If you live anywhere in Southern California, you really shouldn’t even consider taking your instrument anywhere else.
Oh, and make sure to bring cash when you go to pick up your axe – Steve doesn’t take American Express (or Mastercard, or Visa, or Discover, or…).

Steve Soest is my new best friend when it comes to guitar issues!
I am brand new at owning and playing a guitar. Because I wanted to do it right, I did my research and then I purchased a very nice acoustic guitar, but when I started working with it, I realized that I needed help with the action. So, off to do research on a finding a good luthier I went. I found Steve through interviews and internet searching — and what a find he is!
With some trepidation I took my brand new «baby» in for Steve to assess. After listening to my concern, and he informed me, with calm reassurance, that he would be more than happy to do a «set up» for me. He explained that it would be easier for me to practice and to play my guitar, and you know, he was right!
I loved the tone of my guitar from the moment I picked it up at the store, but I struggled to play it for very long at home because the action was too high for my newbie fingers. Now, I can play my guitar for a long time every day! I have a blast playing and even just thinking about playing my guitar – thanks to Steve’s excellent help.
Thank you Steve

Steve is the best guitar/​amp tech I’ve ever run across in my 50+ years…(he’s also a guitar player himself)
A fountain of knowledge, from neck resets to rewinding vintage pickups, he brought my ’64 Harmony Rocket and ’74 Rick Bass happily back to life and did so at reasonable cost. He’s the kind of guy you almost DON’T want to tell other people about (in case he’s harder to book in the future)

Where do I start? Oh yes, the story begins last year. About a year and a few months ago I emailed Steve to ask about fixing up my guitar. I messed the guitar up royally. I was doing some work on the guitar and me being so unskilled cracked the rosewood fretboard in different locations (not the actual neck just the fretboard) and removed the dot markers to install more authentic looking clay markers. Oh yeah the guitar is a 2003 Fender AV62 Jazzmaster in Olympic White, so don’t have a cow you vintage guitar guys, it’s not vintage, but in 15 years more it might be considered one. There was missing rosewood in places, small crevasse if you will of missing rosewood. The guitar was in shambles. I had the neck removed and the screws and the shim. So I needed the dot markers installed, the rosewood fretboard restored, a set up and needed him to fix the electronics because my friend and I did a poor job of changing the pickups from the originals to Novak JM pickups. The pickups worked but would cut in and out.
Not sure why it took me so long to bring in the guitar, I mean I didn’t real it was so long until I looked at my emails that we sent back and forth last year. I was surprised because I thought it was 6 months but it was 1.25 years or so. Well fast forward to about 2 weeks ago I email Steve to set up an appointment to get the guitar fixed up. He gives me directions and instructions on where to park. I bring it to him and in one week it’s done. Talk about fast turn around time. I never expected him to fix the guitar so quickly but he did. The fretboard looks flawless. He did a great job restoring it. He also did a fine job of the set up and fixing the electronics. I am very pleased. I had him install some Thomastik Jazz flatwound strings for a vintage Ventures like tone, or Astronauts or the list goes on.
I knew of him by his band The Torquays. I’ve seen them live but I did not know he did guitar repair but guitar amp tech Billy Zoom (X guitarist too) told me about Steve Soest being a guitar tech. Billy told me he brings his guitars to Steve. So on good word from Billy, I knew Steve would be the guy. Not only is it a great testimony for Billy to bring his guitars to Steve, but Steve is a surf guy who plays a vintage Jazzmaster, so guess what? Yes he’s the guy I knew to trust with the JM. But don’t just think he’s a JM guy. He can fix anything. I plan on brining more guitars to him when I need work.
I love his lab, uh, I mean shop. It looks like Doc Brown’s from Back To The Future. Granted it’s not a Pasadena Craftsman home but it reminds me of one. He referred to it as a barn I think. I’d say Steve is the Doc Brown of guitar technicians. He’s a super nice guy who knows so much about guitars that if you want info on a guitar he’ll know about it.
So in conclusion I say if could give Steve more than 5 stars I would, but then again 5 of 5 is 100% so there is no need to. Steve is the man, and I really appreciate the excellent job he did on the guitar, and just talking music with him. Oh one more thing, I am a so-​so guitarist, I really wanted to hear what my guitar could do and him being one of the première OC surf guitarist I asked if he could do some surf songs on my JM and he kindly agreed. Sure a friend of mine is a very good guitarist but he rocks out (he knows not much surf guitar), I know what rock sounds on my guitar but I wanted to hear surf guitar not rock. Well Steve played some great surf guitar and he showed me just what this guitar is capable of doing. So if you have any guitar needs go to him, he will fix it and restore and make it into the guitar that it was mean to be. He restored mine and it’s like a brand new vintage guitar! Yes it’s not vintage but I’ve broken it in so much that it feels like one and looks like one and the sound is vintage since Novak makes such realistic pickups.

I asked Mo’s music in Fullerton if they worked on mandolins and they gave me Steve’s number and said, «this guy is awesome.» They were right. Steve straightened up the neck and fretboard, dressed the frets, lowered the action by doing work on the bridge, straightened the bridge, found the perfect placement for the bridge and then made tiny marks so I could find it again when I change strings, fixed the nut to make the strings stop buzzing, did a bunch of other things and made my mandolin play and feel VERY sweet. I’ve had this for instrument for 8 years and it hasn’t played this nice or sounded this good. I dropped it off on a Tuesday, it was ready when he said it was going to be and he was honest and thorough from the very start. Very professional, I’d send my friends and family to Steve with no hesitation.

i had a hollow body that had the input fall into it, after calling a couple different music stores (all who said they couldn’t do the repair) one finally recommended soest guitar to me,
a quick email to steve and i had an appointment,
took my guitar in and in 20 min steve had not only repaired the input, but the ground cable and strung the guitar and positioned the floating bridge,
super fast excellent service, great guy!!!
highly recommend,
rare to find a guitar mechanic you can trust!

A guitar is so very personal and the human in charge of keeping your axe healthy is critical.
I own a few Fender Custom Shops & Masterbuilts and my luthier of choice is Steve Soest.
Stevie sets up a guitar to the highest specification possible — he can literally bring an instrument to life…
Stevie recently moved next door to the Orange Public Library & History Center on E. Chapman Ave — he’s in a cool 100 year old barn.
call or email for appointment;
(714) 538‑0272
e-​mail:

I haven’t had a guitar mechanic that I trusted in 30 years. Instead I just live with my difficulties or stow them in the garage and get a new guitar. It’s lame, but true.
I spent $ 300 at Buffalo Bros. getting a pickup installed, remove some rattles and a «set-​up» on my ’63 Gibson ES175. As usual, I got taken advantage of. They put the pick up in just fine. The set-​up? They raised the bridge. It sounded and played worse that when I brought it.
After sitting on it for another two years I went looking again, and found, buried in a Unilocal review on The Guitar Doctor, that Steve Soest had fixed a botched fret job. He works nearby in Orange and has been in the business for 40 years. I decided to give it another try.
He turned my ES175 into a gem again! It plays better than it ever did. Tweaked the truss road or quick-​fixed two other guitars I brought along for evaluation – at no charge. I’m rooting around in the garage to see which is the next guitar I’ll give him for re-​animation.
By the way, the shop indicated in the info section on this page is in error: He no longer has his shop on Main street, but has moved it a few blocks over to Schaffer, where he works only by appointment.
Check his website out to see the overwhelming talent he has on his client list over the years – and the many companies for whom he does warranty work (Gibson, Fender, Yamaha, Ibanez, etc.)
I feel comfortable recommending him without hesitation. Reasonable pricing, ease of access, quick turn-​around, a very pleasant and knowledgeable guy.