The Fret Shack

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Professional guitar, bass and fretted instrument repair, upgrades and restoration by appointment only in Baton Rouge, LA.

Repair, restoration and modifications/upgrades for electric and acoustic guitars, basses and other fretted instruments. We are located in Baton Rouge near Interstate 10 and approximately one hour from both metro New Orleans and Lafayette.

08/03/2026

Jeff here ... I am in the process of moving all my business and personal e-mail correspondence from [email protected] to [email protected]

Fret Shack clients, friends and vendor/business associates, please update all your address books accordingly.

04/01/2026

This is a custom electric build that we are retrofitting a Fender style neck for. This is a process that has more to it than simply routing the neck pocket.
The geometry of the instrument requires measurements for the scale length, side to side, and neck angle. All of this must be determined before rerouting and fitting a neck.
The side to side is measuring until the neck is equal on either side from the center of the bridge. This is to ensure that strings are not too close to the side of the fretboard, so the strings do not fall off of the neck while playing.
The scale length is measured from the nut of the guitar to the 12th fret, and then doubling the measurement to the bridge. Based on the scale length measured from the nut, it can be determined how far from the bridge the 12th fret needs to be. When installing a neck, the depth of the neck pocket will affect the scale length. It must be precisely measured to ensure the guitar will intonate properly when setup. This is a process of measuring 10 times and cutting once.
The neck angle is the ever so slight backwards tilt of the neck. This is to ensure the guitar has an adequate range of action. This is measured by using a straight edge from over the bridge and accounting for the desired action of the guitar.
Once all of these measurements are perfect and checked numerous times, a routing temple is created for the guitar. After that the neck pocket is routed and the neck is screwed into place.

03/30/2026

Just a couple of cool things that have come our way recently!
Booking now at 917-789-3371

02/10/2026

Caitlin signed us up to be fosters with Companion Animal Alliance. We went to the shelter for our orientation and saw a mama with her 2 puppies. Caitlin made the executive decision that they needed to come home with us. Needless to say, we now have temporary shop dogs. Meet Mama, Oreo, and Creme

01/23/2026

Harmony Restoration Part 1 (of what will likely be many)
I recently got this 50s-60s Harmony archtop for an absolute "steal", you'll see in the photos why.
These guitars were, at the time, student level instruments and sold in the Sears catalog. Harmony built many guitars under different brand names. The big three being Harmony, Silvertone, and Kay.
When I first started out doing guitar repair I was apprenticing under John Orlick at Hy-way Music in East Brunswick, NJ. Many of the first guitars I worked on were these Sears guitars. Most of these guitars, due to age and being on the affordable end of instruments, needed a lot more work to get playing perfectly. Truss rods that haven't been adjusted in years, electronics failing, serious fret wear or uneven frets, were common place on these guitars. Each of these repairs taught me a lot as a young repair tech. Because of my history with these guitars I've developed a love for playing and working on them, and when I saw this guitar for sale I couldn't pass the opportunity to restore and make it playable again.

This is just a side project in the shop and progress will likely be slow. But here is the start.

01/21/2026

A lot of bass players have a 5 string, 6 string, and a fretless in their collection. Unfortunately, fretless basses are not common and a lot will run you some serious $$$.
So it's not uncommon to take an under utilized bass from a players collection and turning it fretless, to create another tool in their tonal arsenal.
The start of a fretless conversion starts the same as a normal refret, by using a little heat and some carful use of a fret puller to pull the frets without causing chip out.
Once all the frets are out the fret slots will need to be filled. I personally like using contrasting material to fill the slots. Here, I use some maple veneer which will act as fret markers for the player.
After the fret slots are filled, the veneer gets cut down and we'll start leveling the board.
When we get the board dead flat and sanded with high grit sandpaper, I start applying a coat of finish to the fretboard. The finish you use is up to player preference. For this fretboard, I went for light coat of polyurethane.
The final step is a good setup and getting everything dialed in for this bass's new life as a fretless.

01/12/2026

First post for the new workshop!
It's been super busy setting up the new shop and removing the wait list.
Here's a bunch of photos of some of the projects that have come through these past couple of weeks!

Address

5144 Bluewater Drive
Baton Rouge, LA
70817

Telephone

+12259167795

Website

http://www.thefretshack.com/

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