Walt Johns Guitars

Completely amazed by the quality of the work and also the prices are better than anywhere I’ve seen in the area.
Took my electric to get a bridge done on my Les Paul. I bought the wrong bridge but he was able to adapt it to fit at a very reasonable cost and make it look like it was made for the guitar. He also did adjustments to make sure it played right even though I did not pay for a setup on this. I had him do a setup and strap button install on my acoustic and the results of his work are phenomenal. Plays 100x better than before with very low (electric-​like action) and no buzzing. I took the guitar to him at 9pm last night and it was done when I called him at 9am this morning.
I asked which further upgrades he’d recommend. He told me the remaining upgrades I could do aren’t worth the money I’d spend considering the return I’d get. He could’ve easily used this opportunity to sell more of his services and I would’ve probably done it, but he’s not out to rip people off. He puts your interests and finances before his own gains.
All in all, you get the best luthier in the area at the best prices that won’t try making you spend money you don’t need to. You really can’t go wrong here, it’s a no brainer. Also, if you are getting multiple services, ask for a quote, don’t just go off the website. He gave a pretty good discount because I had a few things done.

I brought a guitar I had just bought into Walt’s shop. I had called him the day before and he said he could see me the next day. I brought it in and he asked «standard setup?» and I said yeah. I came back two hours later to pick it up. My guitar had brand new strings, was nicely polished, and felt great. He let me plug in and hear it out loud before leaving. I went home and continued to play on my own set up and I can definitely notice a difference — the guitar plays and sounds better. For $ 50, you can’t beat it.

I’m amazed as soon as he picked my guitar for a setup he knew what to do. I am very pleased that I brought my guitar to him. Highly recommended!

I recently had my bass set-​up there. His shop is attached to the back of his house. He offered me the lowest price in town and he was done in less than 2 hours. I highly recommend him.

Left a message about needing a repair. Walt returned my call first thing Monday AM. Brought my bass over during lunch, expecting to leave it and pick it up later. Walt works out of a home shop. He put the guitar he was working on aside, and repaired my bass. Performed a mini set-​up after diagnosing and solving my problem. Fifteen minutes and $ 30 later, I am a happy man. He will have my repeat business.

I used Walt for a setup on my electric. He was highly knowledgeable and very fairly priced.
I looked up some other privateers int he area and got quoted around $ 70 for a setup. Seriously? Are you carving a new bridge out of a chunk left over from Nazareth? Walk’s prices were where you’d expect. He also got it done within 2 hours.
I saw him give the guy in front of me a discount because the work turned out to be less than they anticipated. It could have been his buddy or something, but it seemed like nice honest business to me.
I’ll be returning to have Walt tune up my other older guitars.

UPDATE: Walt has moved on from Guitar Center and now runs his guitar repair business out of his home. You can get in touch with him thru his Web site:
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I met Walt at one of his gigs, great player. He repairs guitars out of the Rockville Guitar Center store (but doesn’t work for guitar center). He knows his stuff, and does great work. He meticulously carved a new saddle for my acoustic when the old one was damaged. He also did a good job with my electric which was having trem tuning troubles. He doesn’t do warranty work. Hours are a bit odd, so call first. Sometimes he is incredibly busy, too. But I trust him with my guitars.