Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

10/30/2026

I keep my workshop a perfect environment for stringed instruments, because I care!

10/25/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" I know many of us think that Epiphone guitars are just inexpensive import guitars for beginners. But I'd like to teach you a little about where the Epiphone brand came from. I think you will find this very interesting. I will comment on the photos as usual. Thank you for reading.

10/18/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" This old Fender guitar was in tough shape! I will explain how I brought it back to life in my comments.
Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

10/03/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" Yes, I work on Mandolins too. This iii brand Octave Mandolin came in for strings and a setup. As you can see, it is much larger than other mandolins. It is called an Octave mandolin because it is tuned one octave lower than a regular mandolin. If it has strings on it, I will work on it. Thanks for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar (and much more!) Doctor"

09/26/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" Today I will share the biggest guitar repair I've ever done. This 1962 Martin 00-18 guitar came to me with very high action and lots of fret buzz. Upon examination, I determined that this guitar would need a triple bypass (in other words, three different procedures done). Please do not attempt to do this to your own guitar! I didn't do some of these procedures until I had been doing guitar luthier work for over 40 years! I will explain in the comments what they were and how I went about saving this guitar. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

09/06/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" This older German made Warwick bass came in for a cleanup and setup. I found out it had a tung oil finish, so I had to use a different type of cleaner and polish on it. Have you ever gone to polish an old guitar with a nitrocellulose finish on it and the polish just makes the finish get dull? I will address this and other finishes, and explain which polishes I use on the different types of guitar finishes in my comments on the photos. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

08/30/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" Finally, after over 50 years as a guitar luthier, I get to work on one of these! This 1953 all original Fender Telecaster came into the shop for strings and a checkup! This guitar needed new strings and a go-thru so James Oliver could use it on his tour. Some of you may have seen James play at Chan's or the Park Theater this month. I could not take it up to the house for a photo because the owner would not let it out of his sight. This guitar is now valued at over $80,000, so I was happy he stayed with me while I took care of it, then took it with him. These guitars were originally named "Broadcaster" during 1950-1951, then the name was changed to "Telecaster" in 1952 due to a lawsuit by Gretsch. I will comment on the photos as usual. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

08/22/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" This Martin 000-16R guitar came into the shop with some common wear issues. This guitar is a workhorse, and sees hundreds of gigs a year. I will explain in my comments on the photos how I address these issues in order to make this a reliable stage guitar once again. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

08/19/2026

08/13/2026

Fender unveils how they relic guitar bodies.