I have a few repairs and wiring things that are a tad out of my DIY skill set. Not sure if this is the right part of the forum to post this if so let me know that you in advance

Ron Lira... he's the man. He's in OKC. He's an authorized repair tech for damn near everybody... Martin, Fender, Gibson, Gretsch, etc. When I was in college in OKC I had all my guitar work done there, and picked up some amazing used gear, too. Damn, I miss that guy.

His shop is located at:

1129 N. May Ave, in OKC.

You can view his website at:

http://www.honestronsguitars.com/main.htm

Not affiliated with him at all... just bought (and sold) a log of stuff there over the years. He's one of the guys that made me want to get into the business. Stripped and refinished my first bass after watching him in his repair shop way back in the early '90's.

hmmm I will have to go talk to him in person. I have heard good and bad things about them. There was another shop in edmond but they are back logged and are above average on price

I knew Ron when I was in that area. He has (or had - and I doubt that's changed) a personality that can be hard to handle. Very direct with no attempt to smooth over how he feels or what he thinks. He knows his stuff and he enjoys making guitars not so much fixing them. He used to only be open MWF (or something like that) spending the other weekdays making guitars. So yeh, I can see mixed results easily. A PR guy he's not. The type is pretty common in the field actually. David McNaught of McNaught Guitars down the road from here is pretty much the same way.

He apprenticed under Don Teeter who worked on Roy Clarks guitars/among others - don't mention that to Ron as he hates that.

Drop in and see him and judge for yourself and go with your gut.

Oh yeh, he used to have a site online - Honest Ron's Guitars (boy that says it all - no it's not a pawn shop). He even puts that on his headstocks - can you imagine with such a short great last name like Lira.

I admit that at first, I was leery of the "Honest Ron" moniker... sounded like a used car huckster, to me. Once I met him, though (and handled most of his merch... LOL) he won me over.

I've seen a several of his guitars with either just "Lira" on the headstock, or his signaturs, which looks like R(something) Lira.

Ron is very "to the point", but he's not unpleasant to work with, and he does good work. He does good repair/setup work for a fair price. I was in college, and he never broke my bank.

hmmm I will call him tommorow find out what kinda of turn around he has

No answer when I called maybe he was out to lunch? I got ahold of Bob Warner of edmond. He gave me a much better price than what his site lists. And he said he could get me done by Monday or Tuesday if I bring it in tommorow.

Its a bit of a drive to Denton, Tx from okc, but if you dont have any luck there is a great tech in Denton. I build basses, but i trust my #1 bass only in his hands for setups/repairs.

Erik Anderson
http://www.skyguitars.com/repairs.html

I'm based out of San Diego, but currently in OKC for a while. What repairs do you need done? Maybe I can help. Let me know. I leave the 17th morning.

very unhappy with the qoute to actual price charge ration. I got hosed on that one lol. live you learn trail and error would have been cheaper and a good learning process

honest ron is the worst person in the city.
charges $75 per pickup rout and his woodworking skills are on par with a 16year old.seems to be a good guy by all means but wouldnt trust him with a mim fender.

thats coming from me and prob phill also
good luck man

With all due respect, $75 is a fairly good price for a pickup route done by a professional and the age of the luthier or repair tech is irrelevant. There are a handful of luthiers on the PG forums within the 15-18 age range that do quality work. Not to nit pick, but there is never a reason to play the "age card".

I had heard mixed reviews on honest rons. I went and talk to warners. He does good work just far exceded the price I was told. was gonna let him set it up too. But then it may have cost as much as a new bass lol

One never know but at the least I would wager you won’t get a change in story or a 16 year old’s route from Ron. Just doesn’t fit with the person I knew. Check the better business bureau and see if anyone’s complained about him. He’s been there about since dirt and is the kind of guy likely to draw fire. So much so that if there was nothing about him I’d say that’s an indicator of substance in his favor, not just a nuetral.

I never had any work done by Ron. I never modified anything till recently. I used to stop in his shop whenever I was in the area and see what was going on. He did a fair amount of work for pro’s and traded in used gear a lot so on any given day there was no telling what you might find in there, what he may be working on, or who you might run into. He also had what he called a guitar de jure priced to go out the door that day. It was usually weeks between visits but if not that day those pieces moved during that span. I would bet he still does that.

Ron lived in SoCal in the early 70’s as did I (can’t remember whether Ron grew up there or not). Turns out he worked at the surveyor instrument repair on Signal Hill (transits, builders levels, etc.) where my dad took his equipment. Apparently we used to frequent the same guitar shop on 7th St. as well but we never met till Oklahoma. I recall Ron has a keen interest in woodworking machinery, collecting wood - and Trains (of all things). At any rate, pretty meticulous, competent, and committed to what he does. His primary fault seemed to be that general my way or the highway personality.

Well. Still haven't meet him plan to stop by there. Warners in edmond did a good job. Just was blinded with a price I didn't expect. But part was a charge for an extra knob even though I told him I had several and brought him one. And he decided to change all the wires to the vintage cloth covered kind. Then insulated the preamp and it took care of little noise I got with the amp way up so it was a good overall thing. Just wish he would have called before doing extra things that where not talked about.

All I'm saying is that his work is horrible and wouldnt give him anything of mine.played on one of his basses he made.worst ever.
Part of the the spalt was drawn on there:eek:..yea.nothing was rounded,it all had chips and dents in it and it had a finish on it.The routes were not straight and clean.
Yea I mean 16 years old.where the kid has been working on basses for 2 or 3 years not 20 or 30 years like he has:rollno:
not trying start crap,just giving my bro some advice.

All I'm saying is that his work is horrible and wouldnt give him anything of mine.played on one of his basses he made.worst ever.
Part of the the spalt was drawn on there:eek:..yea.nothing was rounded,it all had chips and dents in it and it had a finish on it.The routes were not straight and clean.
Yea I mean 16 years old.where the kid has been working on basses for 2 or 3 years not 20 or 30 years like he has:rollno:
not trying start crap,just giving my bro some advice.

Yep understand. I just assumed the 16 y.o. thing was a dramatization but you've cleared that up. Never had Ron do any work some I can't say from personal experience of as much.

I've seen quite a bit of his work that was just fine. He added a MM route to a P-bass for my roommate back in '97 or '98, and he loves it. Nary a complaint.

I remember he had a "Ron-electro" (his version of a Danelectro U2 or somesuch) that had a marquetry top of 10 or 12 different hardwoods. It was pretty slick, played well, but was out of my price range.

I doubt he could have been building for 28+ years and route like a 16 year old... he uses templates and pin routers for everything. He once talked for almost an hour about his collection of huge (2000+ lbs) pin routers. I'm guessing he has one for pickup and neck pocket routing, one for roundovers, and one or two more just because...

Sounds like a fluke to me, although I *will* admit that some of his finish work wasn't smooth as glass... he had one metal flake green guitar in particular that had a little "orange peel" on it. But when I was living there, his repair work came highly recommended.