Bass repair in San Francisco/Oakland Area?

[eeby]

Does anyone know of a good place to get electronic work done in the Bay Area? My Stingray 5 seems to have a bad preamp.

Quality is more important to me than convenience. I'm willing to drive a ways to take it somewhere where they know what they're doing.

Thanks,

E

[thewanderer24]

electronics shouldn't be a big deal for most places that do repairs. I had new electronics (Pre/pots/pickups) put into an old bass by Starving musician in the south bay and they did a good job.

[GruveMystic]

Spitzers in Concord did a pretty good job with a tele I had. Check Subway guitars in Berkeley, they are cheap but not sure if they are good. Blue Note in Berkeley might be a good place too.

[bongomania]

How many Bass shops/Luthiers/manufacturers in S.F./Oakland Bay Area
Check it out.

[tplyons]

How old is the bass?

I know if I were in your boat, I'd probably take a road trip to the EBMM factory about 3 1/2 hours from you.

Who knows, great service, tour, and maybe try a few Bongos

[billybigmouth]

I've heard good things about Blue Note in Berkeley and have had great experiences with Gordon at Spitzers in Concord. He's worked on 4 basses and a guitar for me and has always done flawless work.

[winston]

Originally Posted by GruveMystic

Spitzers in Concord did a pretty good job with a tele I had. Check Subway guitars in Berkeley, they are cheap but not sure if they are good. Blue Note in Berkeley might be a good place too.

DO NOT COUNT ON GOOD WORK FROM SUBWAY! They are cheap but I was appalled by the shoddy workmanship/assembly of the SubRay I bought there about 8 years ago. The night I got it a wire came loose and the signal died so I opened it up. Worst wiring job I had ever seen--bad solder joints, bundles of spaghetti wire. When I was in the shop I heard FatDog telling a customer that "my basses are as good as a Sadowsky for thousands less." Umm, no! It was a shame because the bass sounded fantastic and I like the overall Subway ethic.

If interested you can read my comments in this thread: Fat Dog/Subway Guitars?

I live in Davis now but am moving to the East Bay this summer so I'm curious about who does the best bass work. I'd probably call Gelb in Redwood City...AFAIK they don't do repairs but I'd certainly trust their recommendations.

[eeby]

Thanks for the replies. I guess the advice to take it to Music Man is probably the best bet. I've learned the hard way to be really cautious about where I take stuff for repairs. Plenty of people say they know what they're doing. Fewer actually do. And no repair is so trivial that someone can't find a way to screw it up or damage something else while doing it. I don't know anything about electronics. I did open up the bass and found two loose wires, but maybe they're supposed to be loose? I wouldn't mess with it.

E