Andy’s Guitar Shop

bless this man. if it weren’t for him, i’d have to drive to la mesa to buy guitar strings. for the sake of god and country, take your business to him!

My girlfriend is a music therapist which means she’s consistently bringing instruments to Andy for setup /​fixing. Based on her experience, I went to Andy
I bought a new Gibson F9 mandolin recently but the dealer screwed up the radius on the fingerboard (for those that don’t know, having the radius done on the fingerboard involves shaving down the fingerboard so there’s a curve to it sort of like a violin).
Anyway, I took it to Andy for a look — he was pretty blunt and spot on with his assessment. Since it was under warranty, I called the dealer up and he and Andy spoke — at first the dealer balked at the price Andy quoted, until Andy went into detail about the issues with the fingerboard and some other issues. When Andy was done speaking with the dealer — they had agreed on a price and that was that. about 2 weeks later I got my mandolin back — plays great.
I have 2 guitars I need to bring in which I plan to soon. While there’s always a wait (2 weeks seems about normal) you get what you pay for and wait for. The fact that there’s a 2 week wait because he’s swamped with local /​national musicians is a good thing IMO — I’d rather work with a busy luthier than one no one goes too :)

Based on the one experience I’ve had at Andy’s shop so far, I’m definitely planning to go back for my guitar repairs in the future. I bought a used guitar that needed one of its nut slots widened, and I went to Andy’s shop thinking I’d drop off the guitar and get it back within a few days. Instead, Andy took a quick break from what he was working on when I walked in, pulled out a file and took care of it right away — at no charge! Great service.

I bought a guitar as a gift and brought it in to Andy for new strings and setup. He recommended I also purchase one of his beautiful hard cases. The guitar was ready 2 days sooner and about $ 40 under what was quoted. Andy told me to bring it back if it needed adjustments and he’d take care of it.
My husband loves the guitar and I love the way it sounds when he plays. Win-​win.
Extra bonus points for being a locally owned joint, flexible hours, the 30 minute unmetered parking space on the side street, and for his adorable shop dog!

«TA-​DA!»
That’s what you’ll hear when you walk through the door of Andy’s Guitar Shop, also known as San Diego Guitar Repair (southwest corner of Adams & Ohio Streets, in the North Park area). There’s a BIG guitar pick mounted to the top of the front door; when you open the door, it strums a guitar overhead, tuned to a BIG open-​tuned chord. It’s a wonderful way to say: «WELCOME!»
Btw, I was referred to Andy by Jerry, bassist for «The Tighten Up’s», a GREAT local San Diego band.
(Sidebar: If you like Retro Rock, R & B, Motown, and the like, they’ll more than fill the bill. They are a seven-​piece band, which includes a kick-​ass HORN section! I actually got to play with two other members of the band: Laura Jane (singer), and Nancy (trombone) in the Oceanside Independence Day Parade! Which, btw, was NOT on Independence Day, but who cares. First time I ever played on a FLOAT; too cool!)
When you walk through the door, you’ll see a very small customer area, just a floor space not big enough to lay down on, and a counter. The rest of the shop is a wonderful clutter of guitars and parts, parts, parts, EVERYWHERE. Somehow, this is extremely reassuring to me; the main focus here is fixin’ your guitar, not housekeeping. If you’ve ever analyzed the words to George Harrison’s «While My Guitar Gently Weeps», you’ll understand the mind of a musician, and his priorities. Housekeeping is NOT high on the list (hehe).
My West Coast residence is in Escondido, NOT close to Andy’s shop; it’s around a 40-​mile drive, each way. As expected, I needed to leave my Spector Euro IV Bass for maybe a week, for the initial setup. And, also expected, I needed to call back to ask for some additional «tweaking»; it’s hard for a repair person to «get it right» the first time, cuz we all have our individual playing styles, and it’s gonna affect how you’d set the various parameters.
I was expecting to at least have to make a subsequent appointment for the fine-​tuning, but no, Andy said to come on in whenever I was able to, which actually happened to be on a Monday (when he’s normally closed).
Bottom line: My bass plays amazingly fast now. I would recommend Andy’s services to anyone, especially if you’re a professional musician, and need to «get it right».
He’s a little more expensive than that kid at Guitar Center, who doesn’t really know what he’s doing. But after spending a pretty penny on your gear, you gotta finish the job and get it set up right, otherwise you’ve really wasted your money on such a fine instrument.
«TA-​DA!» is also how you’ll feel when you play your newly «Andy-​ized» axe. I was extremely pleased with his work.
Please visit Andy’s Guitar Repair, and tell him Larry (the guy from Austin, with the Spector) sent ya. He’s a great technician, and is a musician himself. He’ll treat you RIGHT!
larrythediner
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I went to upgrade my saddle for my guitar. I also requested to lower and change my strings. I went to get a quote on two other places and this was in the middle in terms of pricing. The cheapest place was a little too far for me.
When I dropped it off, Andy told me it would take about a week. He told me he would get the strings that I wanted. It ended taking two weeks. I understand that he was backed up with other customers and projects. After a bit over two weeks, he upgraded the saddle for me and the nut as well. I didn’t ask for the nut but he did it for me anyways. He didn’t get the strings I wanted (which was unfortunate T. T) but at least he lowered the strings. He charged me extra for it but it was much cheaper than it would have been if I order both.
I thought he did a good job. Not amazing, but he did say if anything was wrong I can bring it back. Other than the long wait, which I understand, it was a good experience.
Warning, if you have need your guitar worked on and quick, I don’t think this would be the place for you. Andy is really friendly however he is basically working alone so understand it will take time.

Went for a tune up on a les Paul black beauty. The man was nice. Said it would take two weeks. I called him 3.5 weeks later to check on it. He completely forgot about it. But had it done the next day. Mistakes happen but at least he made it right and had it done the next day. $ 80 tune up. Sounded and played well after.

I’ve been getting acoustic and electric repairs from Andy for about 4 years. I’m one of those very particular people when it comes to my guitars and Andy takes a special interest in this. He’s also given me useful tips for my own repairs when I’m on the road. At his busiest times plan for about two weeks or less on repairs.

Was told he couldn’t restring a guitar in two weeks because he was backed up. Turning away customers just doesn’t seem like good business.

Took electric Hondo guitar for string replacement. Small place, lots of attention paid to each guitar. Andy likes to chat. Will take any and all guitars to this man!

I highly recommend Andy’s guitar shop for all of your guitar repair needs. I have taken at least 8 different guitars to him with varying degrees of work that needed to be done. From a simple set-​up to a complete rebuild of the internal bracing of one of my Gibson acoustics I have always been satisfied. I find that Andy is always honest about the work that needs to be done and provides the highest quality of work!
Thanks Andy for working on my Guitars!

Learning to play and I broke a string. Andy helped me out and showed how to string it for the next time around. What a great experience. Great to have a guitar shop in my neighbourhood

Andy is honest and highly skilled. Please support this great local guitar shop.

Just starting out with the guitar and broke a string. For the price of a set of strings, Andy strung — and taught me how for next time — and tuned it. Friendly and personable. I see no reason to go anywhere else now — I now have my local guitar shop.

El Rayo, the previous store front with Andy and another gentleman was great. I would have given El Rayo an easy 4 stars, quite possibly 5.
Now that it’s Andy’s, my opinion has changed drastically. Andy’s has a very mediocre selection of nylon strings. In fact a terrible selection.
Also, I brought in a cheap used $ 50 mandolin which had a broken nut. Andy told me he’d replace the nut and set her up for «(as he shrugged his shoulders like he was giving me a great deal)$ 125» I picked up the mandolin and left, purchased a bone nut elsewhere and had the job done for less than $ 40.
Maybe great for electric players, I strongly recommend going elsewhere for any other type of string instrument.

I took 2 guitars to Andy to get some work done. One was an acoustic that has never had a set-​up and I made the mistake of filing the nut too low. Rather than try again, I decided to let a pro do it. The other was an Ibanez S-​style guitar with locking tremolo. I bought it used, in dire need of a set-up…uneven frets and the whole deal… bad shape. I like to work on guitars, but this one required leveling frets and trem adjustment… too much work.
I took both to Andy, he quoted prices, I wept a little… but he cut me some slack since I was getting 2 guitars done. The acoustic was getting a new bone nut and the Ibanez was getting fret level/​dressing, intonation and bridge adjustment.
It took a while to get them back, but I’d rather give the business to a small business owner that is going to take good care of my instruments. And that he did! The acoustic plays and sounds better than when it was new. The Ibanez was in such bad shape-​I had high hopes for it, but figured it took some serious skill to get it right – and now it’s right! Andy does good work-​I will happily take my guitars there in the future.

Andy is the best guitar tech I have ever dealt with. I would say he’s the best in the world, but I don’t want this to seem over-​hyped. For all I know he IS the best in the world.
I’m 35 and own an analog recording studio in LA. Over the years I’ve brought Andy 9 guitars. Most recently my 1974 Stratocaster, which I got on ebay for $ 450 for good reasons. This baby was in bad shape. Floyd Rose, drilled headstock. The works. He put an old 74 PU on the neck and some old musicmaster PUs in the other positions; one of which (a ’59) I had and the other he had. I There was a lot of work. He had to put pieces of wood back in the body and neck and he even matched the old grime. Custom bone nut. He rightly chose a vintage style Japanese Fender bridge because the neck on my ’74 is narrow and he figured the spacing would work better than US. He was completely right.
Even though I live in LA and there were multiple phonecalls and visits, he handled this guitar with mellow professionalism and total fairness and honesty. He even opened up an hour early so I could pick it up and get back to LA on time. I walked out of his shop with an awesome custom ’74 strat which I consider the best of my considerable collection. With all parts and labor it came out to under what you’d pay at Guitard Center for a new American Standard.
He’s hooked me up so many times now, always under-​charging me for the amount of work: «You’d be kind of bummed if I charged you how much this really cost in my time.» The thing I like about the way he sets up a guitar (and makes bone nuts) is he understands LOW ACTION. A lot of guitar techs just don’t get it. Even when they’re pretty good.
I will continue to make the 250 mile round trip as long as he is doing this. He’s got my wife’s tenor guitar there and my SG Special right now. Real old school guitar shop vibe, which is almost non-​existent in the ebay age. He’s lucky I don’t live in town or I’d be stopping by just to chat all the time.

Unilocal helped me find Andy’s tiny shop on the edge of Kensington. Took a mediocre guitar in for tuning and a new string. Andy recommended an $ 85 overhaul including moving the strings closer to the «whatever you call it» so my daughter’s little fingers weren’t traumatized. Must have worked because she is still playing… which means I got my money’s worth!

Extremely helpful. I used to live nearby and we’d often hear the music from the shop. Walked in one day and caught the first few notes of a jam session.
Their prices are good and the staff are always friendly. They also can special order music related items if needed.

This is the best guitar store in sd, PERIOD.
I would drive out from la jolla to get my guitar fixed here. They do great jobs AND they don’t try to charge you for a bunch of repairs you don’t need. The owner/​guys that work here give you no bull about anything.
What earns this place is a 5^th star was that a former roommate had a really messed up guitar from the 80’s with some rare part that’s not made anymore. The owner of el rayo gave us a breakdown of the part/​history of his guitar and then sent us to some bizarre guitar shop in the middle of an office park where I guess only pros go and get their guitars fixed. That place fixed his guitar!
In other words, they actually care about you being able to play music with your instrument, not about stealing the money out of your wallet.
Also, something cool happens when you open up the door, but I don’t want to give it away :)