Tanglewood Acoustic Guitar Repair

So, the other month I pulled out my Tanglewood acoustic to give it a strum. Occasionally I like to plug it into my FX pedal to see what interesting sounds I can get out of it – But, it didn’t work! After doing some basic checks on my lead and the battery voltage I then became a bit more concerned.

So, I thought, well it’s pretty dire, there’s no lights on the guitar’s amp and the tuner isn’t working – Perhaps it’s the 9V battery connection – So, I switched it over to some new contacts – But, it didn’t work. After realising it does appear to be the pick-up issue – I got researching on an acoustic guitar pick-up.

Now the pick-up that it came with is a B-Band Acoustic Guitar Pickup System A3TX (Below). Which I could make out from reading the guitar’s pick-up details. So, after doing some googling I found that I could find it on eBay. Beauty, now I just need to get it shipped and at a $145 AUD it was worth the effort as my Acoustic isn’t exactly a cheap shop guitar.

The supplier I found on eBay was deng8718 who seemed to have a large quantity in stock (at least 20, so it seemed legit). So, I placed the order on the 14th of May and it was shipped on the 15th from SHANGHAI. It arrived in North Queensland on the 29th of May. Not bad considering the reduced amount of international flights to and from Australia during COVID19.

The Repair

Now, I knew I wouldn’t have the skill to install this system without the risk of making an error. So, I asked around with the musically inclined friends I have and was directed towards a man who fixes guitar and used to work at the local music store.

The guy I found to complete my repair was Shaun Ryan a talented musician and repair technician.

When I took in my guitar too him he started taking a look at it as I turned up. Which, I admired the willingness to do so. Within a minute he had the guitar un-stringed and had picked-up on the fact my guitar’s bridge was missing. Which I hadn’t even noticed!

He thought this initially may have been the issue but after installing a spare he had found in his parts tray, it turned out it wasn’t the fix either.

So, it was a good thing I brought the pick-up. After negotiating how long he would need the guitar for a fix, I said I could pick it up the following weekend to which he agreed. He did say he could fix it that weekend if I wanted it back urgently.

The bottom line with this story was I was impressed with the service Shaun offered and the quality of his workmanship. I would highly recommend Shaun for any Townsville, stringed instrument repairs.

Upon pickup of my guitar, he mentioned he re-enforced the area where my lead plugs in with some wood at the back as he found it too be quite weak. I said, great, as I had noticed that when I had unscrewed it in the previous weeks when I was testing the pick-up.

Did I mention, as a customer of his, I also received free pick! Which I’ve been putting to good use this last week.