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Nathan’s Guitars, The Temple (Masonic), 336 South Santa Fe, Salina, KS (2026)

09/14/2026

I always have fun testing newly repaired instruments in my guitar lesson studio when a repair job has been completed. This guitar is a restoration project I did for a repair client. His vintage Gibson guitar needed a lot of help to get it back into good playing form, and I’m happy to say that the repair work turned out great. Photos of the repair work I did are in the comments below for your viewing pleasure💛

07/19/2026

My guitar student is excited to learn and play the saxophone solo for “Money” that I wrote out for guitar in tab for him. Who are we kidding, I’m excited to learn it too😎

05/30/2026

I enjoy the 6 string guitar lessons and repair work I do, but I also find bass guitar lessons and bass repair work to be rewarding and enjoyable as well.

Rogan received this beautiful bass guitar for Christmas from his parents about 5 years ago.

(Rogan) “I had taken a guitar class when I was in 7th grade and fell in love with the bass when I got to play it for a concert, so I asked my parents for one for Christmas. My dad spent months on and off researching the best starting bass that would still have room to be upgraded in the future, he ended up settling on mine. I had already been in the south middle school jazz band for half of the year at this point playing trombone, so I asked my band director if he would let me switch to bass, he said yes. So I started playing primarily jazz for the first 4 years of playing the bass but this past year I’ve broadened my horizons to other genres such as rock and metal. I plan on playing this same bass until it can’t be played or I can’t play anymore😂. I’ve also kinda want to join/ start a band when I get to college so that I can continue to play with a group”.

Rogan’s bass guitar with the factory electronics lasted him 5 years before they started giving him issues. The sound from the bass weakened more and more and it got to the point where he had to completely crank his amp all the way up and use an effects pedal to boost the signal to get more sound from his bass. Rogan finally had enough and decided to contact me to see if I could repair his bass guitar.

Rogan then stopped by my repair shop with his bass so that I could take a look at it. I checked the 9 volt battery to make sure it was charged and did a quick inspection of the electronics, but I wasn’t able to find the problem, so Rogan decided to leave it with me. I then did a more thorough examination of the electronics (checking all the connections, wires, solder joints, output jack, switch, and controls) but was still unable to pinpoint the exact cause of loss of sound from the guitar. I came to the conclusion that the preamp was damaged beyond repair and that the whole electronics/preamp system would have to be replaced.

Rather than getting bummed out about this news, Rogan saw it as an opportunity to upgrade his bass guitar with better quality electronics, including him deciding to upgrade the pickups as well as the preamp and controls for better sound quality. Rogan decided to do his own research into different preamps and pickups and we settled on the preamp/controls and pickups featured in this post because they are good quality electronics, and because they were the most compatible electronics we could find that would work with the body configuration of his bass guitar.

Once the upgraded electronics/preamp and pickups arrived, I got to work. I first tested the new pickups with an ohmmeter to make sure they were working correctly. Then I plugged the new pickups into the new solder-less plug-in electronics/preamp and plugged the preamp into my amplifier to test them for sound and to test the controls. After removing the guitar’s original factory electronics and pickups, I started the process of fitting the slightly oversized pickups by sanding down the ends of the pickups outer casing so that they would fit into the pickup slots in the body of Rogan’s bass guitar. Once the pickup casings were sanded down and smoothed out, I installed pickup height adjustment foam into the pickup slots in the body of the guitar and then installed the new fitted pickups over the top of the foam and screwed them in place at a good height for great sound.

After that, I soldered the ends of all the ground wires together so that they can be plugged into the new solder-less plug-in electronics/preamp. I then removed the input jack from the new electronics because it was incompatible with the body configuration of this bass guitar and soldered the new electronics wiring to the original factory input jack on the guitar. Then I reamed out and widened the undersized holes for the electronics controls in the guitar’s body so that the new controls would fit. After that, I plugged in the new pickups, the smaller original factory 9 volt connector that had to be reused, and the ground wires into the solder-less plug-in electronics/preamp and fully installed and mounted the new electronics onto the guitar inside of the electronics control cavity on the back side of the body of the bass guitar. I then put the strings back on and tested the new controls, the new electronics/preamp, and the new pickups for good sound and I was pleased with the results. After confirming everything was working right and sounding good, I then reinstalled the original factory control k***s that worked well with the new controls. Last of all, I neatly arranged the wiring for the new electronics/preamp inside of the electronics cavity on the guitar, closed it up, and tested everything one more time. All good.

It’s great seeing aspiring musicians taking it to the next level like Rogan has with his newly repaired and upgraded guitar.

Message me here if you’re in need of guitar repair work or guitar lessons✌️

03/02/2026

Chris, the father of one of my guitar students, purchased this beautiful 2012 Korean made PRS guitar about eight months ago and “saw it as an opportunity to enter the modification world of guitars”

Chris was wanting to swap out the guitar’s factory pickups with better quality upgraded pickups to better match his style of guitar playing, and because of issues he was having with corrosion developing on the original factory pickups. Since Chris never uses the tone control on the guitar and because he had been having issues with bumping the tone control with his hand while playing, he decided he wanted me to disabled the tone control while I did the pickup swap. Chris was also wanting the guitar set up for standard tuning with 10-46 strings on it, after having 12-52 strings on the guitar for drop tunings.

The first thing I did was test the replacement pickups Chris brought in with the guitar to confirm they were in good working order by researching the ohm readings the pickups should have and testing them. After that, I started the process of unsoldering the factory pickups from the electronics in the guitar and removed them. I then took the pickup rings off of the original pickups and installed them onto the new upgraded replacement pickups. I got the wire for the pickups run through the body of the guitar and everything soldered in place. After that, I disabled the tone control by removing the wire connecting the tone control to the rest of the electronics and I tested the new pickups with the old strings to make sure everything was working properly. I then cleaned the neck, polished the frets, restrung it with 10-46 strings, and adjusted/straightened the neck. I set the replacement pickups to a good height for great sound and I adjusted the saddles down lower for easier playing. I also adjusted the saddles forward and back as needed to intonate the guitar so that it sounds in tune in all playing positions, and I adjusted/lowered each individual string slot in the nut so that the guitar plays easier and sounds great. No adjustments were needed to be made to the tremolo/bridge springs because Chris wanted the bridge to remain blocked in place keeping the guitar the equivalent of a fixed bridge. I then tuned the guitar, plugged it in, and was blown away by the great sound of the new pickups and the ease of playing of the guitar after the setup work I did to it.

My student picked up the guitar for his dad after the work was finished, and he got to play on it first before Chris, and said it sounds and plays way better than it did before. I’m always happy to see generations of families pass on their musical passions to their children as Chris has done with my student.

Message me here if you’re in need of guitar repair work or guitar lessons✌️

11/01/2025

New students get a free first guitar and soft case with the purchase of 10 guitar lessons! For the right fit, there are three sizes to choose from. These are new guitars that have been professionally shop adjusted and setup by yours truly for easy playing, so learning to play the guitar styles of your choice that you love will be a fun and enjoyable experience for you. Message me to claim yours while supplies last!✌️

09/12/2025

The guitar lessons I give as well as the guitar repairs I do are rewarding to me as I enjoy seeing students and repair clients alike succeed in their given pursuits in music.

Tony Bowell has been actively involved in the music industry as a guitar player and singer songwriter for many years (most recently with Sunset Sinners). Tony first started playing guitar in his early teens, and in 1990 when he was 15, he and his father went to visit a friend and former bandmate of Tony’s father’s to record some songs together. Once they finished recording, Tony’s father’s friend gifted Tony this beautiful 1987 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar as well as a 1987 Alvarez Yairi D45N acoustic guitar (A guitar I did a Facebook electronics repair/restoration post about in 2021). Tony has been playing them now for 35 years and he said “I was blessed to play this Gibson Les Paul guitar on stage with my Dad's band (including with the man who gifted it to me) a few years back when their college band "Friar Tuck and the Monks" made it into the Kansas Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”.

With 4 years of hard playing and gigging since the first time I serviced this guitar in 2021, Tony knew it needed help again, but let’s start with the 2021 repair work I did first.

After countless hours of playing this guitar, Tony decided it was time to have some service work done on it 4 years ago after he started having issues with the 5th string breaking on its saddle on the bridge. He was also concerned about the fret pitting/fret wear that had developed over the years from hard playing, and he had concerns about crackling sounds in the electronics. Basically Tony wanted long overdue service, maintenance, and setup work done on his guitar to bring it back into good playing form.

4 years ago, the first thing I did was address the significant fret pitting and wear that had developed on the frets throughout the fretboard. Got the fret pitting leveled out, taking as little off the top of the frets as possible to preserve the frets height, then I recrowned/rerounded them, and mirror finish polished them for a silky smooth feel and smooth string bending.

After that I decided to thoroughly clean the guitar and its hardware, including the green corrosion that can easily be seen on the bridge. Then I started working on the saddles on the bridge, smoothing out the burrs that could (and was on the 5th string) cause string breakage. I repaired the top of the mushroomed bridge height adjustment screws so that they could move freely, reinstalled all the hardware, and got strings on the guitar. Got rid of the crackling sounds in the electronics by cleaning the controls, I adjusted the neck, adjusted the bridge height and the nut slots lower for easier playing, intonated it, and had everything sounding and playing great for Tony.

Now here recently in 2025, Tony was needing similar service work done again on his guitar after 4 years of hard playing and gigging. The majority of the work needed this time around were things related to the neck/fretboard. There was quite a bit of gunk on the fretboard, some corrosion on the frets, and some pitting had developed again in the frets (pitting which can cause fret buzz and intonation/tuning issues).

First thing I did was carefully scrape away as much of the gunk off the fretboard as possible before then thoroughly cleaning the fretboard with wood cleaner/conditioner with a non abrasive pad so not to scratch and damage the beautiful mother-of-pearl block inlays on the fretboard. Then I taped off the fretboard and fret edge binding to protect the wood, inlays, and binding leaving only the frets exposed for the fret work to come. Got all the fret pitting leveled out, (taking as little off the top as possible to preserve the frets height) recrowned/rerounded them, and mirror finish polished them for smooth easy playing.

After that, I repaired the top of one of the bridge height adjustment screws (that had mushroomed again) so that the bridge could be adjusted lower. Then I cleaned the guitar, got strings on it, and fine tuned the setup from 4 years ago with some adjustments for great sound and easy playing again.

Check out Tony playing his Gibson Les Paul guitar in the comments below in a link to the music video “Two Beers”, one of Sunset Sinners songs on their recently released album “Chaos”✌️

04/20/2025

Since 2009, when I’m not giving guitar lessons I’m usually repairing or modifying guitars. This beautiful Fender Stratocaster of Larry’s was in desperate need of help to get it back into good playing form. The majority of the issues were related to the movement of the frets due to the guitar getting too dry causing the wood to shrink around the frets pushing them up and out of the wood and chipping the finish around the fret edges as the frets pressed against the finish. Larry also needed some electronics work done on a loaded pick guard he partially installed himself and he wanted me to setup the guitar for easy playing.

The first thing I did was do an evaluation of the condition of the frets and saw that the sharp fret edges were sticking out past the wood and lifting off the fretboard. This makes playing the guitar uncomfortable and you could even cut your fingers or hand when making quick movements when playing. Because of the thick chipping lacquer finish that wraps around the fretboard/neck, I decided filing, dressing, and smoothing each individual fret edge and the chipping finish around them would be the best approach in getting the frets back into good playing condition. There was also some deep pitting in some of the frets, and leveling, recrowning, and polishing the frets would be required to address that issue.

I started by gluing all the lifting fret edges down, then I completely taped off the fretboard/neck to protect the finish for the fret work to come, leaving only the frets, their edges, and the chipping finish exposed. I then started carefully filing down the fret edges and smoothing/evening out the chipping finish around them with a small fine tooth file using the tape beneath each fret edge as a guide so not to file too much off and to protect the surrounding finish. Got them all filed down and feeling smooth. I then went ahead and leveled out the frets to remove the pitting in them and to even out the low and high frets throughout the fretboard to minimize fret buzz. Then I recrowned the frets and mirror finish polished them till they felt silky smooth.

After that, I started in on the loaded pick guard that had been partially installed. Got the ground wires hooked up correctly for Larry and retinned/resoldered the loose ground wire that had cold solder back on to the input jack. I also ended up having to fit the pick guard by sanding the slot deeper/wider for the tremolo/bridge so that the tremolo wouldn’t rub and catch on the pick guard when moving the tremolo with the trem bar. Got a good fit with clearance around the tremolo/bridge so that the tremolo can perform correctly and move freely when using the trem bar. The tremolo being able to move freely also helps keep the guitar from going out of tune.

Got Elixir 9-42 strings on the guitar, switched out the screws for the B, G, D, and A string saddles for shorter screws and adjusted the bridge/saddle screws (which were way too high and the saddles too low) to the right height for easy playing and more comfortable palm muting. I then intonated the guitar so that it sounds in tune in all playing positions and adjusted/lowered each individual string slot in the nut so that the guitar plays easier and sounds great.

Video in the comments below of Larry in my lesson studio doing a quick once over of his guitar plugged in when he came to pick it up after the repair work and setup work for easier playing I did for him✌️

09/23/2024

Since I first started giving guitar lessons in 2007, I’ve had quite a few exceptional students of all ages. Some that have gone on to pursue careers involving guitar and music and some students that just take pleasure in learning and playing guitar as a relaxing outlet.

Nolan first started taking lessons from me about a year and a half ago and was interested in learning classical/nylon string acoustic guitar. After about 3-4 months of nylon guitar, we started phasing in some steel string acoustic guitar once I learned his interest was more Rock, Alternative Rock, and Metal. As time went by, we decided to try some electric guitar songs as well and we found Nolan’s calling. Since then, Nolan has progressed rapidly to the point where he’s able to play by ear, play guitar solos, and more and more shifting to a self directed learning process.

With the styles of guitar music Nolan is in to, alternate guitar tunings are the norm. He keeps me on my toes with different setups for his floyd rose and strat guitars that need different alternate tunings for new songs he’s learning and I’m always happy to accommodate. Great seeing Nolan and students like him taking off and making playing guitar a reality and not just a dream.

Video in the comments below of Nolan and I in my lesson studio playing a bit of a classic song for you all.✌️

07/14/2024

My guitar students and repairs clients alike still seem to prefer K&K pickup systems over any other guitar pickup system available on the market today. This is after 9 years of time and experience I have in installing them, starting with a guitar of Brad Wilson’s. Brad first introduced this pickup system to me 4 years before I opened my own guitar repair shop and asked if I could install it into his latest guitar purchase in 2015. 9 years later, K&K is still Brads preferred pickup system (this is after trying many different systems) and Brad recently contacted me and asked if I could install a K&K into his newest guitar purchase, this beautiful all solid Mahogany USA Martin 000-15M. He also wanted me to set it up for easier playing and to correct an issue with the bridge pins not going all the way down into their holes.

First thing I did was confirm the bridge plate inside the guitar was K&K system compatible. After verifying that, I started prepping the guitar for the K&K by removing anything (bits of wood ect.) that might get in the way of the K&K pickups/transducers that will be adhered onto the bridge plate inside the guitar. Got good placement of the transducers and got them adhered well onto the bridge plate. After that, I removed the guitar’s end pin/strap button to widen its hole to make way for the larger K&K strap button/input jack. Got the hole reamed out, the K&K input jack/strap button installed, and the whole system sounding great.

Once the K&K system was installed, I decided to tackle the raised bridge pins. They were higher than they should be from the factory either because the holes in the bridge for them were drilled undersized, or the wood had shrunk so that the pins wouldn’t go all the way down. With the pins raised as much as they were, they would get in the way of your picking hand when resting it on the saddle for palm muting playing technique, and other issues could arise from the raised bridge pins/undersized holes. With a tapered reamer, I carefully widened each bridge pin hole (one at a time) taking a little wood out, then checking with the bridge pin and string for proper width/fit by seeing if the pin presses all the way down without too much force. Got all the holes widened, and a good fit with the bridge pins pressed all the way in as they should be.

After that I went ahead and got started on the oversized factory saddle (far too high/tall for easy playing) and started the process of removing material from the base of it to lower the string height for easy playing. I drew a line across the length of the saddle 3mm up from the base of it to use as a guide for how much material was being sanded off. I stopped at slightly less than 2mm material removed due to the risk of fret buzz if I went any further. The guitar was way easier to play after that adjustment.

Once the saddle was dealt with, I focused my attention on the nut. Got the nut slots lowered to bring the strings closer to the frets for easier playing, got the frets polished up, straightend the neck with a truss rod adjustment, strung up the guitar with 12-53 strings and everything sounding great.

Always happy to accommodate the specific tastes and needs of people supportive of me, my lesson studio, and my repair shop.

Video in the comments below of us in my lesson studio checking out Brad’s new guitar plugged in with the newly installed K&K pickup system with Brad playing some nice sounding fingerstyle when he came in to pick up his guitar after the pickup install and setup work for easier playing I did for him✌️

02/14/2024

Every so often, a guitar student or guitar repair client will surprise me with something they want done to their guitar, and this job definitely fits that category. In the 9 years I’ve worked on Brad Wilson’s guitars, he has almost always had me install passive (no battery required) K&K pickup systems in his guitars, but this time around he had his sights set on a new type of active (battery operated) pickup system, the LR Baggs HiFi (High-Fidelity Bridge Plate pickup system). Brad wanted me to install it in this sweet sounding Japanese made Yamaha LS36 guitar that he had just purchased and was hoping for good results in sound from this new pickup system.

This pickup system was just recently released and it requires new techniques and procedures to install it correctly with a special jig that comes with the pickup system. The jig has to be assembled and then used to precisely place and adhere the two pickups/transducers inside the guitar on the bridge plate beneath the saddle with the wires suspended off the guitar running between the bridge pin/string holes so that no unwanted noise is created when playing the guitar plugged in.

The first thing I did was do research into the proper installation of the pickups/transducers. Using sources provided by LR Baggs, I came up with a game plan. I started first by assembling the jig provided and adjusted it to the spacing of the bridge pin holes for a good loose fitting for better/easier installation of the pickups. Got the jig setup right and started doing test installations with the jig and pickups without adhering them, checking for the best placement beneath the saddle inside the guitar and for the pickup’s wire to go between the bridge pin holes without the wires making contact with the top of the guitar. I settled on a good location for the pickups and adhered them with great results.

I then started the process of removing the endpin/strap button so that the LR Baggs pickup system’s input jack/strap button could be installed. Most of the time endpins are fairly easy to remove because little or no glue is used at the factory when pins like this are installed. With this guitar, the endpin/strap button was glued solidly in place and would have to be drilled out. The majority of the tip of the plastic pin twisted off when I worked it carefully back and forth with vise grips trying to loosen the pin, before I then drilled out the remainder of it and widened the hole for the new pickup system’s input jack/strap button. Once the hole was widened, I got the input jack/strap button installed.

I finished the process of installing the new pickup system by finding good placement for the volume/tone control (working around bracing) on the low E side of the guitar’s sound hole and finding good placement for the battery compartment/pouch and the adhesive velcro that holds it in place inside the guitar. Got both the volume/tone control and battery compartment installed, all the pickup system’s wiring mounted with the clips provided with the system, the 9 volt battery in, and everything working well.

Once the new pickup system was fully installed, it was time to start the setup work on the guitar for easier playing and sound. The saddle was fairly high and Brad prefers the action/string height to be as low as possible to make the guitar easier to play. I drew a 2mm line across the saddle and used it as a guide when sanding the base of the saddle down. After sanding the majority of the 2mm off, I tested it with strings on the guitar for feel and playability and decided not to go any further due to the risk of fret buzz when playing. After that, I lowered the nut slots for easier playing, polished the frets, got a new set of strings on it, fine tuned the neck adjustment, and everything playing and sounding great.

Always happy to accommodate the specific tastes and needs of people supportive of me, my lesson studio, and my repair shop.

Video in the comments below of us checking out this new LR Baggs pickup system with Brad taking his guitar plugged in for a test drive with some nice sounding flatpicking when he came to pick it up after the setup work and pickup system installation✌️

Nathan’s Guitars

09/14/2026

07/19/2026

05/30/2026

03/02/2026

11/01/2025

09/12/2025

04/20/2025

09/23/2024

07/14/2024

02/14/2024

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