Thank you. Your commentary on turning down work was a masterclass. I really hope your health improves. ✌️❤️🙏🇦🇺

I know you don’t read the comments but… more videos like this would be awesome. The banter/insight was appreciated. Not that I have a single complaint about your regular content

Got to love the repair guy who can cite Albert Camus and Anthony Burgess while dressing frets

The guitar tuning noises over the review screenshot was perfect lol.

I don't understand how anyone can be angry at a repair man for being honest. I'd much rather do business with someone who outright tells me I'm gonna wait for a long time, than someone who promises to get right to it and then doesn't answer the phone for months.

Ted I am not a musician, but definitely a music lover. I watch you for a number of reasons. 1. Your voice is meditative, as is your craft and for me it creates a relaxing atmosphere. 2. It is compelling to watching someone (you) who is masterful in their craft 3. Your intelligence is obvious and I admire that. Thanks for sharing your skills, knowledge and humanity with your community. All the best for your health challenges.

When I look at reviews, I always go right to the one star reviews.. without fail, most of them can be chalked up to a personality problem and in no way represent the service/item being reviewed..

These videos always make me pickup my guitars. Your videos make people respect and take care of their intruments more, I believe. Its awesome seeing someone so knowledgeable do their thing. Keep em coming Ted! 👍

Nice to see your face, Ted. Your videos are very informative and this one, with all the customer relations advice, is gold. Thanx for taking the time to share all this.

Always enjoy your videos, but motivated to comment to wish that whatever medical issues is ailing you gets resolved and you make a full recovery. Thanks for sharing.

Honestly Ted, even if I wasn't a musician I would watch your channel simply for the entertainment value alone. I love your sense of humor and the stories and incite that you've amassed from many years in the business. I have learned a lot from watching your channel and I'm becoming more and more comfortable and proficient doing my own updates and repairs. I doubt you would have the time or desire to write a book about the trials and tribulations of instrument repair, but when you take your sick days, maybe reminiscing into a recorder just might give you enough material for you or a ghost writer to compile a book (with some scattered photos of years past and unique builds). I would definitely buy one! Perhaps the proceeds could finance a decent retirement.

this is one of my favourite videos you've ever done. first, i saw the grabber! hell yeah! bass guitar! gene simmons! then, your stories about customers... i'm in an entirely different industry and i can totally relate. dealt with those types. love your content, and thankful we don't have to wait a year for each video! thank you!

My first bass was almost a new 1976 Ripper. When I decided to switch from guitar to bass after a year of guitar lessons, at 13 I decided I liked the sound of the bass. So went bass shopping for my first bass with my father it was between a new 76 Ripper for around $400 or a short scale 1966 Gibson EB-0 for $150, I choose the EB-0, I was a Jack Bruce fan and we were not rich and I still had to get an amp so I went for the cheaper bass. Still have the EB-0 but sometimes I wish I would have got the Ripper. Now I have many basses but I can't justify getting a $2500 instrument. By the way you forget Rick Danco of the Band played a Ripper most of the time.

Johan Segeborn has a good video comparing the Ripper & Grabber for anyone who wants to see what they were like. He's a superb player, as well.

Came for the guitar repair, stayed and enjoyed the lesson in psychology on assholes. Thanks Ted!

Informative on so many levels, as usual. Thanks, Ted, and wishing you better health.

In 50+ years of playing and maintaining my instruments, I've spilt more Lemons Oil on the kitchen table than I've used on my instruments. Still using the same early 70s bottle if Old English that I bought in 72 or 73. You're so right, a little dollop on a clean soft lint free cotton or linen cloth will do a more than one guitar

Kinda bassic today. Couldn’t resist the pun.

As a guitar player who is passionate about doing my own repairs and maintenance; being subscribed to your channel presents a fantastic source of information in a concise but thorough manner, and I will be eternally grateful (my nearest guitar shop is a 500Km round trip away!). It has even prompted me to attempt to construct several guitars of my own, with quite reasonable results! Many thanks, from a remote rural township in South Australia!

Your videos are not only very interesting (I'm a guitar player who adjust his own guitars) but also a great way to end the week (I'm from Spain and I usually watch them on Sunday nights).

You are correct, in our shop we are running 6 - 8 week behind for just setups, restoration is much longer. We just finished 2 guitars that were in the shop over a year. One was a 1958 Gretsch owned by the original owner (86 years old). We are just slammed Ricky from IBM(guitar tech) Englewood, FL

Hey man, take care of yourself. Hoping your health improves. You're a good, kind person.

Brilliant video Ted. So enjoyed watching and listening, really therapeutic. Take good care of yourself, sending you love and light. 👍

Thank you so much for sharing your world with us. I hope that your health improves and that you are back to full strength again very, very soon!

Thanks. As usual I enjoyed it. Sorry to hear you haven’t been well and I hope you find a cure. Take care and keep up the good work.

"Ooooo White Lightening." Made me laugh. Always fun, thank you.

Dude, as much as I admire your work, quoting from "Clockwork Orange" on the fly like that is truly impressive. Carry on, Doctor.

I wish every artist that selling their wares, HR, or really anyone who deals with the public at mass, could see this and practice it. Thank you Sir ~Smile oN

Best wishes to Ted in terms of his health. Such things can happen to anybody, and it is important to plan for those sick days. I'm kind of sad that Ted doesn't have time to work on commissioned new instruments. Anyway, if he really needs a break, I hope he reaches out. People are happy to help if they can.

Superb video. As a former small business owner I can confirm that some people don't ever find happiness.

as a bassist, this video makes me so happy. i honestly can't recall if i've seen a bass video from you before. thx!

I am tremendously blessed to have an incredible luthier/repair shop just down the street. Not blessed with a guitar that is worth having him work on. I attended some university-sponsored workshops that he taught. Philosophical is how I would describe him too.

Thank you for your insightful business commentary. It will help me when I have to decline certain jobs. From Ohio

You can buy mineral oil at a pharmacy or dollar store for $2/pint. It's very often used on wood cutting boards because it doesn't turn rancid like veg oils will. It's secondary use is as a laxative.

love the Ripper... beautiful example..!!

I’m in the printing trade and knowing when to say, “Try Kinko’s” is the most valuable skill for a counter person. Luthiers applying scrimshaw was a wonderful plot twist, brilliant. Patrick O’Brian’s influence I infer, erudite as you are. Handsomely now…grass combing lubbers! All the best of health to you.

That bare-blonde PJ is truly a thing of beauty.

Back in the mid-90s, I offered to do a setup on a friend's Grabber that had a neck bow worse than this one. Short story version the truss rod snapped, and we ended up putting a Fender bass neck on it. Which he actually preferred. Hope you are feeling better soon.

Fabulous comments on dealing with WOTs and lots of enquiries. All very aspirational.

15:48...that is soooooo true. When someone comes to me and they're talking bad about their past series of professionals...I immediately know that they're going to be very difficult to please and eventually add me to the complaint list. When I was new in the profession however, it would really stroke my ego and I would gladly take on the tasks.

I do like a fretless bass. My friends dad had one that was a hand made one off and it was lovely to play. It had a polished but grainy wood finish. He also had a couple of kind of matching electric guitars made by the same guy.

That is a first generation grabber with a flat headstock like a pbass. after the first year or less, they had an angled headtock with a scarf joint. The pickup can be adjusted to be movable even mid-song with just the right amount of pressure on the 4 screws on the corners of the plate. There is supposed to be a thin felt on the plate under the side of the pickguard to get enough friction.

“In a staggering disregard for history…” 😂😂😂

73 WAS a great year. Alladin Sane and Pinups by Bowie, New York Dolls self titled album, Berlin by Lou Reed, Dark side of the moon, houses of the holy, Raw Power by the stooges, Sabbath bloody sabbath. What a year!!

So true. In most service businesses. I feel your chagrin.

Having 35 years in industrial sales, when some one came to me, bad mouthing my competitors (many I knew personally), it said to me "mooch"!. They want something for nothing and my competitors figured it out by not selling to them after finding out what the customer really wanted.

LOL, good narrative. I worked under a great tube amp guy as a teen in a music shop and learned basic guitar work too. Later on went to school and became an electrical engineer. Every now and then, I dabble in restoring vintage amps (I'm vintage now too). Word gets around and soon, I'm swamped in stuff and requests to work on things i don't want to work on. BTDT.

Lots of pro players will also have action far higher than one might assume.

Seeing your face and talking to us is definitely enjoyable to watch as viewer. It feels like you're interacting with us and adds another dynamic to your vids... I've been a fan since you stated and always love the claming tones of you describing what you are doing! Keep it up brother 💪

I've been working on instruments for close to 15 years now and I love your videos. I have learned a lot from you and I am grateful for that. Right now I have a Squier Dimension five-string bass for a client that I'm going to do is set up on and put a new volume potentiometer into

The grabber is my absolute favorite

Aw Dude I love James Butler's videos!

Also, you are one of my favorite KZfaq channels. Thank you for your content.

You are very well spoken. I enjoy listening to you.

Good health is number 1 so take care of yourself.

Your skills are many. Thank you, from the Great Grey Kawarthas. Cheers.

I sure enjoy your knowledge sharing and you are so right. If someone cuts down your competitors,they will do the same to you. The same thing happens in music performance. I really don’t understand why people feel the need to do this.

If you know your '80s heavy metal one notable player of a G3 Grabber was Timi Hansen of Mercyful Fate.

I once knew a guy who could play "a#" on bass . Legend.

Great show,nice work and wonderful wisdom,thanks.

Bought a Grabber new in 1974. Traded it to a friend for a Fender Mustang a few years later. This is the first time I've seen one since then.

After spending some time with other repair channels, I can see you are the best. Definitely more careful and caring. Your overall knowledge and ability to draw from it, truly impressive. Thanks uncle Ted.

Had a 75 Ripper bass that was built like a tank. That was one of the most stable necks as is my 77 B.C. Rich Eagle bass.

18:15 The musical accompaniment to the Google review is spot on!

6:36 - Tongue-in-cheek Oil! 😆

Plastic single edge razor blades are great for scraping up stuff where one would normally use their fingernails

I've made a few apple wood flint knapping tool handles and treated those by squashing walnut onto them to squeeze out the oil and then smeared the oil all over the handle and let it soak in. Repeated doing this until the handles had a nice coating. Could probably do this on a freshly made fretboard if you don't have a container of drying oils. The flint knapping tool handles have a nice shiny smooth appearance but the amount of walnut oil used was really very tiny (half a walnut or less) and they smell pleasantly of walnut

I remember the bassist in my cousin's band in the late 70's playing a Grabber G-3, and it sounded really good on their studio recordings 🙂

Oddly enough I came across Butlers videos about the same time last year when I came across yours. His demeanor reminds me of some of the more fair and level headed folks in my life, much as how you remind me of good folks who are the low-key/humble but knowledgable type.

Wow! Those saddle screws!!! Take care! Get well soon! Health is number 1 priority.

BILL LAWRENCE!!!!! His Pickups are LEGENDARY! also those dowels on the headstock of the Fender bass remind me of the Hipshot drop tuner.

Hey Ted, it truly is a joy watching and listening to you work. Praying your health improves!

More power to your channel. God bless you and your family. Keep safe.

As always enjoy your commentary and insights, and the Duchamp reference gave me a chuckle!

This has to be one the best of Ted’s videos ever.

One of your best episodes. really enjoy your insights.

*Drying oils vs non-drying and penetrating oils vs surface sitting.* I think we're always looking for penetrating-drying oil with woodworking in general, not just instruments. Those oils they say can pass through paints and finishes without damaging them and get into the wood. As a musician, a carpenter, an engineer and practical quantum physicist, *I still do a lot of hammer and chisel work on my guitars lol.* If I were doing it for someone else, I will cut no corners but a lot of my own instruments are going to get beat up so a bruise or a scrape is trivial. I own probably 40 Frankenstein or boutique brand guitars; some 2nd to no brand on earth, but they're still cheap guitars until I pour a lot of work into them.

I enjoy viewing a lot of your videos, sometimes I do not know what the heck are you talking about but each video I saw, kinda interiorize or familiarize more and more with your comments and its is fantastic. Thank you. I do not know play any instrument at all, but there is a lot of education here. Thanks to You. Greetings for Mexico.

" to match the lapels on your mostly unbuttoned rayon shirt" Ted, you are a funny guy!!

Good luck with your health and God bless you and your family. Thanks for the sweet video -- always interesting. --

Glad to see your direct communication through the camera Ted !

Loved the Clockwork Orange reference.

Thank you for todays talk. Everything I needed to hear in this very moment!

Your a craftsman and great story teller who takes extreme pride in what you do and it comes across on camera, keep it up sir. !!

Just love your humor and outlook!

Health-wise, I hope you're ok mate. Sending best wishes from the UK. From a burns survivor and workshop owner.

One of my favorite episodes.

I'm sure sorry to hear about your health struggles. I hope you get that figured out and start feeling better!

Potassium Permanganate is nice for getting the greyish look of aged wood.

I watch that septic guy's youtube shorts all the time...great channel for philosophy for sure!

I have to say, I never seen somebody write the note positions on the back of the instrument. Reminds me of a practical joke they used to play on Bob Stinson in the Replacements - before the show, they would put extra dot markers on the fretboard of his guitar, so all the references were wrong!

Grabber was really common in the 70s. Ford had several Grabber colors that they still use to this day on their mustangs. My favorite was the special grabber version they made for their Maverick. Gorgeous decal package it was.

I use Boiled linseed oil on all my new builds. Usually two applications. Then, it never goes on the guitar again unless I am trying to patch a scuff like the buckle damage on the back of this unit.

fantastic as always! i appreciated your breakdown of fingerboard oiling and i'm with you on "lemon oil"; looks pretty when you smear it on, goes away after a while, doesn't accomplish much beyond that. supposedly if you use too much for too long it can soften the fret slots also, don't know if this is the case here but i get the impression that longer, ramblier youtube videos are less work for the creators because there's less editing. if so i'm totally here for it! discurse away, it's good stuff (including the proto spinal tap reference)

Very cool. I don't imagine Gibson sold a whole ton of these basses. Hope your health gets better soon Ted. Thanks for sharing

REALLY liked this one. Wanna go hug my local luthier.

You blew my mind with the Grabber when you moved the pickup towards the neck the sound got brighter I thought it would get deeper!

My Dad recommended your channel to me. Loving it! Thank you for posting your repairs and ruminations :)

I relax watching your videos... beautiful bass guitars 😊

When I was a young musician some of the older cats told me: "You're worth what you're willing to say no to."