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December 2024 by Schnozzberries
Took in my main guitar, told him it had a ton of sentimental value. Asked him to change my locking nut, and swap my floyd rose, as well as route the relief cavity out, as it was too shallow to just swap the parts. It took a month to get it into his shop at all. The only part not catastrophic is he didn't alter any of the vital dimensions on my fretboard, neck, or nut shelf, that affect intonation. Just did lazy work.
That being said, he only swapped the parts.
- Left a gap between the fretboard and the locking nut, causing intonation issues down the whole neck. I checked with feeler gauges and it was approx 0.013" on the bass side, and 0.020" on the treble side. Any gap is unacceptable here. To address this he should have filled the original holes, and drilled new locating holes for the locking nut.
- I also asked him to either file the back of the locking nut down, or sand the bottom of the file down to match the original action. He didn't touch it. Completely clean surface. The nut shelf had the original factory finish.
- When I got there to pick it up, he told me it'd be ready, turned into an hour, with him putting the strings on he said were ready, and playing my guitar in front of me with his amp on tuning mode, going sharp and flat and all over the place, meanwhile he's bending most notes and just brushing it off - "the tuner only works on open strings." 😂 When I get ready to leave, he drops the string action to where I actually wanted it, and then sent me on my way, with the bridge absolutely buried into the relief cavity shelf. 0.3" additional material needed removed to allow for it to move freely, he even left the foam coating that was on the shelf, in place. Wife had dinner on the oven when I got there, so an hour later I didn't have time to look it over like I'd hoped to - but I gave him some trust, mistakenly.
- The friend who recommended him to me, also discovered he had some other friends who had their instruments damaged at Black Castle while being "serviced," hundreds of dollars of damage in one case. It was unfortunately brought to attention after I discovered the issues on mine.
I did the work myself, and documented it. I work in a guitar shop and build them every day that I'm on the clock. I asked my coworkers and the builders around me if things were done right, since I'm biased. They said they were not, I did it the way I thought he would do it in the first place, and the way my coworkers told me was correct. It's fixed now, but not by any part of Chris' work. 0/10. I was so stressed out about it after I discovered the issues. He even acknowledged it could have been done incorrectly in text the morning after I picked it up and he'd take it back to fix it, but with what I'd seen there was no chance in hell I was bringing it back to him. He knew I worked in a guitar shop before he took it, I told him how important the guitar was to me. New stuff in his shop is probably fine, but for service or modification, beware.
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September 2024 by Ben Lohrer
Black castle is awesome! I came in with a couple guitars that needed a couple minor things and chris hooked me up in less than ten minutes free of charge! Awesome guy who knows his stuff! Highly recommend black castle music!
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May 2024 by Margaret Thrush
Chris the owner is awesome. Anything you wanna buy, sell, or trade. His new location on Mill Street in St Louis Michigan is a block off the main drag.
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April 2024 by Chris Woodard
Thank you much for the great price on his new ( to him) guitar 🎸. Very helpful and great selection.
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March 2024 by Cassi Pincumbe
Great family business ? been around for years . Let Chris teach your kids or self to rock out and have fun doing it !!!!!
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March 2024 by Diana
Great owners and a passion for everything music….. my son loves it here.
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March 2024 by Jay Pitcher
Outstanding music store. I came in with a broken mic and not sure what I needed. Chris was extremely helpful and patient with all my stupid questions. Thanks for the help Chris and that's for the great deal.
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March 2024 by R4M Doritos
He sold me a nice guitar a couple years ago that I liked very much. Unfortunately last month I brought a different guitar in for a nut replacement and setup, I was less than satisfied with the work. The nut was only about half way down the slot leaving a very noticeable gap, and causing serious tuning issues.
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December 2023 by Thomas Ewer
Very professional and top notch knowledge in the music/musical field
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August 2023 by Timothy Daugherty
Good prices on used equipment and a great connection with the community. They are holding open mic nights on Thursdays so their students can perform what they've been practicing. Many non- students come out and perform as well. Great place!
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August 2023 by Karl-Heinz Lau
Great customer service, extremely helpful and patient as we worked to build a custom string set for one of my experimental instruments.
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August 2023 by Ken Mattson
Great owners! Experts who grew up with an expert musician. I highly recommend
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June 2023 by Sam Ives (Trulight)
Friendly best bud atmosphere and owner is down to earth and honest with musicians. Great with lessons for the kids as well.
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May 2023 by Macey Davis
We had Chris Dj our wedding, we had a great night! Chris is a great person super easy to get along with and willing to go above and beyond! Highly recommend him to Dj for you!
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April 2023 by Bruce Mills
The owners of Black Castle are glad to help you out and if they don't have what your looking for they are more then willing to let youno where you may find it.
