How long do you have to wait for repairs/installations?

How long does it usually take for you to get your guitars back when you're having work done on them? I never do any kind of work or repairs on my guitars, mostly because I'm not "handy". I had a sound hole pickup installed in an acoustic, and it took 3 weeks. It had to have the jack installed. I took my Westone in a couple weeks ago to a different place, to have a new middle pickup installed, and I still haven't gotten an estimated time when it will be ready.

I'm really not being impatient here, but do these wait times seem about par from your experience? I might give a second thought next time if I know that I have to give up one of my guitars for 3 weeks. Thanks.

Hi stpetecubby,
Neither of these jobs should take an experienced repairer too long, even if the acoustic pick-up needs a preamp control panel fitting in the top bout. This would of course depend on the workload of the company. It took me less than an hour to fit a shadow sound hole p/up (I'm not a pro repairer, but tool handy). I've fitted p/ups in both my Ibanez rg570 and strat, which was longer as the strings etc had to come off. I find it hard to believe that the company were unable to give you a realistic lead time.

Mebbe time for you to have a rant - get a discount?? Worth a try!

Hope this helps

As IanO says, it depends on the work load of the person you have taken your guitar to and the complexity of the job you require. I do repairs / luthiery professionally and I will always prioritise repairs over work that I do for my personal sales. I try to turn most jobs around in a day or two, but if a guitar requires re-finishing then this does take longer as paint has to have curing time. You should ask for an estimated time of completion when you contract a luthier to do the work you require and if you are not happy with the price and time scale given or they can't give you one, go somewhere else.

I talked to a guy in my office today, and he seemed a bit surprised that it was taking so long, but it is what it is. When I originally brought it into the shop, they told me 5 days, which I though we pretty good.

It's ok, really. I'm not bent out of shape about it yet.