Hi,

it's been a year since I retired from repairing guitars, but I wanted to confirm that I'm still breathing! And hopefully some of you fine folk still check this web-page occasionally...

Since retiring I have had hundreds of emails, some from customers who didn't know that I'd called it quits and plenty from folk asking advice or wanting to check some aspect of a repair that I'd previously done for them. I have comprehensive records of almost all of the repairs that I have done.

Lisa and I no longer live in the Northern Rivers, but I am just as available for free advice about anything to do with guitars as I was when you could drop by into my shop.

So, if the combined talents of Professor Google and Doctor AI have left you still wondering, you are most welcome to drop me a line. I don't know everything (who does?) but forty-five years fixing every kind of guitar has given me a few clues! 

Fond regards and best wishes,

AK 

 

 

 

ALL THINGS MUST PASS

 

Dear Everyone,

I am no longer taking on any repairs and my shop will be closing at the end of July.

The shop will remain open for collection of completed repairs until then. And after that I will retire.

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This makes it exactly 20 years since I opened the shop in Lismore. It’s been a privilege to meet so many wonderful people and to work on so many wonderful (and some not so wonderful!) instruments.

Before I moved to Lismore I had spent almost 25 years doing this gig in Sydney, working out of other people’s guitar shops. To have my own “shop” was one of the reasons I moved here.

It’s been great. Being able to explain the repair process to you (rather than having a shop assistant book it in) has taught me a lot too! In Sydney I was almost always the “back-room guy” you never got to meet.

And meeting all of the players and chatting about music and guitars and all kinds of other stuff has been fun.

And I’m pretty sure that I made a lot of guitars play a lot better. And fixed quite a few broken ones as well!

I also hope that I have passed on knowledge that you will be able to use in the future, perhaps when dealing with other guitar-repairers.

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One of the things that running a shop like this has taught me is that you make a lot of friends. OK, we might not go to the pub together or invite each other (and the wives) to tea, but there are “customers” that become much more than that. The regular guys that you hit it off with beyond the usual transaction, the folk that come in every week, and the chaps that turned up to help clean up after both floods. Fond regards to all of you. Sincerely.

I will not vanish. I will still be available for online advice via my website.

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Those of you that know me or have followed some of my posts on this page, will understand some of the difficulties introduced by my wife Lisa’s ongoing illness. This is the reason for my “retirement”.

For her privacy (and mine) I won’t elaborate on this.

                                                                        *

But I will still remember you all. The laptop never lies! If you ever need details of a repair that I once did then I should have all of the facts on file. And please feel free to contact me about any guitar stuff - advice, as always, will remain free!   My email portal will remain open, and I should be easily contactable.

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This has been a difficult decision in many ways but is the right one. I will miss you all. 

                                                                        * 

Over the last 20 years I have tried to pass at least some of my knowledge onto prospective guitar repairers at the local shops, I know that I have left more than I have taken.

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The Andrew Knight Guitars shop closed for incoming repairs on 30.06.25, but completed repairs booked in before that are still available for collection. Please call or email for precise times. If you call you may get the message bank. If you have a guitar with me then please leave a message.

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Any instruments not collected after my shop has closed will be available to be collected at Planet Music Lismore. I will leave this link long after I have closed.

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Peace and best wishes to all of you,

AK

Hi again,

apologies for this, but I am NOT be taking on any new work at the moment.

I have a large backlog of jobs to deal with, and a shop full of uncollected completed repairs. I'm full.

My shop remains open for collection of completed repairs. I (or Lisa) will call you as they are completed and you can come and get them!

Andrew 

 

 

Hi again.

My shop will be closed for a couple of weeks while I catch up on a backlog of repairs.

Those of you who are long-time customers will know that I have to do this once or twice a year to stem the incoming jobs so that I can finish the outgoing ones.

I'll be back open on Tuesday June 17th.

I will respond to emails every day.

Andrew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MYSTERIES

 

The world is full of mysteries and questions that can’t be answered:

What is the sound of one hand clapping?

Where does your lap go when you stand up?

Why does a loaf of “sandwich” bread always have an uneven number of slices…?

Why can’t Martin stick the binding on properly?

We may never know the answers, and it may even be pointless asking “why”? The older (and hopefully wiser) I get, and regarding some of the deep mysteries of the universe (especially the guitar universe), the more I realise that “Y” is a letter, not a word.

For example, I will never know why, that for the last twenty years or so, Martin have been unable to stick the plastic binding on to their guitars properly. They have used several different glues but, seemingly, not the one that actually works – cyanoacrylate.

Martin make wonderful guitars and have done so for almost two hundred years. They basically wrote the template for how steel-string guitars should be made. Almost every acoustic guitar, regardless of brand, is either a direct copy of Martin’s design or at least owes a very serious debt.

I am a Martin fan. I currently own and play three and have owned several others in the past. Almost all of the great music that you have heard, that featured an acoustic guitar, was played on a Martin.

The current build-quality of Martins, especially the traditional models, is exemplary and so close to the quality of the guitars that were truly hand-made by craftsmen in decades past that it is remarkable. Especially as they are making LOTS more guitars that they did thirty, fifty, seventy or more years ago.

I have had the privilege of working on many hundreds of Martins that were made across more than a century and the quality of woodwork is astonishingly consistent. Yes, they now use some modern technology, but all tools need to be operated by a skilled craftsman whether it be a chisel or a CNC machine. They continue to make great guitars.

So why can’t they stick the binding on properly?

Every other manufacturer, great and small, has managed it.

It’s not just local issue – a quick scoot around the internet will confirm that this is a global problem.

If you have a Martin guitar that has had the binding become detached then this is clearly a manufacturing problem. If you bought the guitar new, from a Martin dealer, then you surely have a warranty claim.

Mysteries…

Hi again,

the shop is back open regular hours - Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 1.00pm - 5.00pm.

Yay!

 Hi all...

For perhaps the twentieth time in twenty years I have again emptied the shop and taken all of your guitars into safe security 150 metres above the flood plain.

With all of these potential "flood events" there is a projected time period that gives me enough warning to clear the shop. This hasn't failed yet.

But I'm getting older! And emptying and re-fitting the shop is a lot of work.

I have never been overly-vigilant at chasing-up in-collected repairs. I always figured that you knew where your guitar was and that you would drop by to collect it when it suited you.

But I'm going to have to modify that rule and call some of you who's guitars have been here for a while.

Moving un-collected repairs in and out of storage is not just a hassle, but takes time and within rights I an able to charge you for that.

Just come and get your guitars...! 

Andrew