Repair Expert: Mike Horan

Mike Horan has been the Shop Manager here at Mass Street since 2000 and has been fixing guitars since 1994, doing everything from the simplest of setups to the most complicated restoration work. He also is a member of the Midday Ramblers. Not only snappy dressers, they also play some mean tunes, which you can buy right here. For performance dates and more check them out on their website at www.middayramblers.com. Click on Mike's picture to see the following repairs:

1931 Martin 0-18 (image 2): This is a 1931 Martin 0-18 that Mr. Horan just completed for a customer. When the guitar came into the shop, it was in need of some serious restoration work. It had been sitting in a case for fifty years because the bridge was broken, which explains the amazingly clean and flat out beautiful finish. After making a new bridge and saddle, performing a complete neck reset, and reseating the bar frets (Whew!), Mike has this old guitar playing as good as new. And for a guitar that hasn't been played for fifty years, this Martin is amazingly sweet sounding.

1930s Gibson L-00 (images 3-6): Mike recently finished a restoration on a customer's 1930s Gibson L-00 which included a neck reset and refret. As is common on many instruments of this era, Mike also had to fabricate a new bridge to match the old one that had been sanded down to compensate for the original bad neck angle. The finished guitar plays and sounds great, with a warm tone that compliments fingerstyle playing.

Ibanez Artcore (images 7-10): Semi-hollow guitars have a wonderful, distinctive tone when plugged in, but it sure can be a pain to alter their electronics. Depending on the model of the guitar, the electronics often can only be accessed through the f-holes or the pickup holes of the guitar. Not fun. This customer wanted to be able to access the electronics with ease, so Mike routed out a very neat-looking control panel and mounted some small blocks to affix the panel to. The end result meets the criteria of modifications of this type: namely, that the guitar looks like it came that way from the factory.