But the more that you get into it, the less problems you might have. I always check measurements every day to make sure the necks haven't moved. Onstage, the guitar rigs should stay constant. "It'll usually be if we've got hired-in gear. "The more that you get into it, the less problems you might have" What are the most common things that will go wrong at gigs? Good guitar repair knowledge has been essential to Alex's success When it's basic MIDI, it's in and out of there." Some companies like to use printer ports you're trying to fix a switching system and you have to go online and try and find where all the pins run out. "I get that with different amp companies sometimes. It varies because you never know what you're going to get."Ĭan you recall any particularly challenging jobs over the last few years? I've never done major overhaul work, but with a refret I try to give my experience to customers so they don't keep having to come back. "Amp repairs, like trying to get a dead amp working again, all the way to refretting, some finish work. What are the typical repairs that you'll get? When I come home, it's more relaxed, more of a holiday." That's why teching has been my main money-earner. One day, you've got 20 guitars through the door, the next you've got just one in a week. "I repair gear - that's always been an income. That's the way I've always looked at it." So on the road, I want  the guitarists to have a guitar that I'm chuffed about too.
I want the guitar to play as good as someone who pays for a guitar setup. For the first couple of years, I didn't take it seriously, whereas now it's a professional thing - you can't be messing around on the job."ĭo you think it helps that you've been a gigging guitarist as well? I looked at it more as a kind of holiday camp in the beginning. "The technical side I was great at, but I didn't have the roadie etiquette. I've always tried to do that instead of ringing up a company and getting a new pedal in."
And electronics as well I've always taken pedals apart and fixed them. "Whereas most guitar techs or people I see on the road don't touch fretwork or adjust the necks, and if a nut wears down they'll just put a bit of paper in there, I would do heavy modifications, fixing fretwork. What kind of work would you generally find yourself doing on the road? "For the first couple of years, I didn't take it seriously, whereas now it's a professional thing - you can't be messing around on the job" I remember just fixing some of his gear and he asked if I wanted to come and work for Fightstar. My first paid gig was when Charlie left Busted. It was a word of mouth thing, and I've never set up a website or a shop, which is the way I like it. There was a local shop in Edgware, and every now and then the guy there would send me stuff that he couldn't fix himself.
"I was a guitar teacher and I would fix students' gear.
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