Cigar Box Music

We went out for mexican next door and were agonizing over the nearest music shop. Then, we noticed this place right next door. We needed a few cables which they had — not a huge selection. He makes custom guitars. There’s actually not a whole lot of cigar box guitars but a whole lot of handmade full bodied wooden acoustic guitars laying around. I’m not a musician but if you’re looking for a custom guitar, you should definitely check this place out.

I bought an Ovation 12 string about 25 years ago. In a frantic move a few years after buying my amp fell on it separating the neck from the body somewhat. Since then it has been sitting on my wall sad and unstrung.
My father in law brought it to a place in Evanston to have it fixed a few years ago as a gift. They essentially talked him out of it by saying that the guitar would never be worth more than the $ 250 to repair it. So back on the wall it went sadly staring at me for another 2 years.
So about a month ago I see this place open up while out walking my dog. I brought over the Ovation and asked Kevin what he could do. He went over the repair in great detail and warned me about the worst case scenario and let me know that it would most likely be a little bit more money than the other place ($ 300).
I gave him the go ahead. A week later I get it back and I remember why I bought it in the first place. Plays better than any 12 string I’ve ever picked up. Looks and feels like the damage never happened. I don’t know or care what it’s worth but it plays like a million bucks.
I’m going back next week with a Yamaha 12 string I bought on Craigslist to have the bridge reset and to take the action down. I can’t wait to get it back!

Kevin is great. Very friendly and super knowledgeable. Just had him setup two of my guitars, and I am very happy with his work. Of course it helps that he is one block from my house… highly recommended.

I live in the neighborhood and was super excited to see this shop open up. I wandered in one day while walking my dog, met Kevin, and talked shop with him for a while. I had the chance to play a semi-​hollow body he built, and loved it. Great feel and intonation, very responsive, especially in the bass register.
Kevin seemed very kind, and super knowledgeable about guitars, so I came back and brought in my Telecaster for a setup. I had some fret buzz which he took care of, and it plays really smoothly now. The intonation is better than it’s ever been… and it’s a Mexican Standard Tele so it can be a bit of a pain to intonate. Turnaround time was fast, too — within the week.
He also repaired the pickup controls on my Gibson acoustic, they had fallen inside the body… and he threw this in for free. What a guy.
Aside from being a great guitar builder, Kevin is really into growing his own food using aquaponics and hydroponics. When I picked up my guitars he had just brought his aquaponics setup in the studio. He gave me an in-​depth look at the whole process… fascinating stuff. A nice, unexpected touch from what I thought would be an ordinary guitar repair experience.
I’d highly recommend this place to anybody who needs some work done on their guitars.

I couldn’t be happier with the work that Kevin has done on a couple of my guitars. On my 1970 Guild D-​40 he cured playability problems with a new bridge and nut. Of course that was easy compared to the complete refurbishment of a basket case 1964 Gretsch Anniversary which required a neck reset, frets, refinish, wiring harness, etc. His attention to details, asking/​delivering what I wanted and clever solutions to problems shows the depth of his experience and is a very rare find. I plan to continue using his services for future repair needs.

Stopped in here today with my girlfriend to get her bass fixed, they fixed and re soldered the output while we waited. Really helpful and fast. Seems like some really awesome stuff is going to happen here and is a great addition to the neighborhood. I’m planning on bringing a few things here soon.