Gruber Guitars

Repair, restoration, and custom building of fine guitars and ukuleles. Gruber Guitars provides a ful

04/26/2024

Fun guitarchaeology today. Working on this 1964 Fender Duosonic. Obvious refinish. I got the guard off and was looking at the painter’s signature when I realized, this is mahogany. In ‘63/‘64 Fender made some guitars (I thought mostly teles) out of mahogany because it weighed less than alder and ash. They finished in transparent red. These are rare birds and this is the only Duosonic I’ve seen like this. The owner probably ruined the value by finishing over the red mahogany but these fetch $5k plus mint if you even see one. Anyway, it was a fun discovery while I was swapping some potentiometers.

Reminder: I carry the wood to build a house now.

02/28/2024

Put a new jack in this sweet 1967 Fender Telecaster Custom today and enjoyed a little guitarchaeology. I took a close up of the hole on the back that Fender used at the time for locating pins on their routing templates. They filled these with dowels then before finishing.

The sunburst finish on this one had that mid to late 60s opacity and wide red layer that we used to call “clown burst.” Through careful eyeballing and some case receipts I learned this was actually just an amazing period-correct refinish, done locally here in St. Paul.

Even more fun yet, I found a musicians’ union booklet in the case from 1969. Even by the time I was coming up in the 90s local musician labor unions were a thing of the past. A thing of legend that older musicians would tell stories about. Stories set in the 70s and 80s.

Old guitars, like old musicians, tell a story. This was a fun one to hear.

11/22/2023

Home at last. I’ve felt lost at sea for a year. Adrift. This is a big change. There is so much repair experience in this room. I’m incredibly grateful to be here.

09/21/2023

Time is a flat circle

03/13/2023

I did some guitar work this past week, changing pickups and tuning up this fiesta red hardtail strat for . I haven’t been doing much in that way lately, so it was a fun diversion.

02/09/2023

Hey gang, selling some stuff to bankroll some car repairs. In Minneapolis but can deliver to Fargo in early March.
1. Fender acoustasonic 90 acoustic amp $250
2. 1970 Musicmaster bass amp (great guitar amp, tube 1x12, 12 watts, first year) $750
3. Sony FX30 video camera with lens and audio attachments ($2900 on Amazon) $1500
4. Orangewood parlor guitar, mint, basically new $160
5. Ernie ball vp jr volume pedal $60
6. Dunlop crybaby wah $60
7. Shure sm57 microphone $60
8. Cat, make offer

09/18/2022

Stuff added:
Guitar stands and hangers
Goldtone 6 string banjo
Junk guitars
Guitar bodies and unfinished kits
More art

09/17/2022

Hi gang, here are some guitars, amps, furniture, art, American rifleman magazines I’ll have out tomorrow. Additionally I’ll have some guitar parts (guitar bodies, lots of pickguards, oddly sized neck plates). Prices in the last pictures.

Sorry I’ve been trying to share this from Instagram as I rarely use facebooks but it has not been working.

09/16/2022

Bloody hell, my stuff isn’t sharing from Instagram🤷🏼‍♂️. Having a sale on Sunday. Pictures of gear on the instagram, some guitars and amps, tools, furniture. Stop in before I transcend this realm.

Address

Minneapolis, MN

Website

http://gruberguitars.com/

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