quote:
Many of you may not know, but I am no longer at the helm of The Fret Shack in Baton Rouge. Our pickup company, Carondelet, has grown exponentially since it launched in 2020, so much that I could no longer do both Carondelet and Fret Shack and give each company or its clients their due.

So late last year, I handed off The Fret Shack's workload and oversight to my daughter and my future son-in-law so I could focus solely on Carondelet.

Both Caitlin and Patrick are graduates of Roberto-Venn, the most prestigious luthiery school in North America. Their workshop - still named The Fret Shack at the present - is also in south Baton Rouge, in a facility twice the size of mine. Caitlin and Patrick have 2x the brains and skillsets, 2x the energy, 2x the work space and instrument storage, and most importantly 2x speed in services fulfillment. And they still have me behind the scenes as a senior advisor/tribal elder when needed. Truth be told, our clients have never had it better.

Sounds like you guys are working hard and living the American Dream.

Continued success to you and yours

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Posted by Mizz-SEC

Inbred Huntin' In The SEC

Member since Jun 2013

22716 posts

Posted on 3/4/26 at 9:27 am to auggie

quote:
I recently installed a Bigsby on my Les Paul jr.
I'm not playing it a lot but it is staying in tune.
The bridge situation was tricky, because most bridges used for that are right at 3 inches between the post centers (The Jr bridge posts are a little over 3 1/4"), so what I ended up doing was using this Wilkinson compensated wraparound bridge.

Interesting Auggie. I'd like to avoid having my luthier do any drilling, but I'm more curious what your thoughts are on the quality of the merchandise Guitar Fetish sells. Thanks bud.

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Posted by auggie

Opelika, Alabama

Member since Aug 2013

31295 posts

Posted on 3/4/26 at 10:51 am to Mizz-SEC

quote:
I'm more curious what your thoughts are on the quality of the merchandise Guitar Fetish sells. Thanks bud.

Any of the "Wilkinson" branded stuff is generally good quality. They are a brand to themself. GFS just sells it.
I have one of the GFS splitable mini-humbuckers in that same guitar. It's surprisingly good. I might keep it in there. It only cost 40 bucks.
I have one of the XGP thinline telly bodies that is a beauty, it just has 1 neck screw hole that was drilled off location. Easy fix, but still aggravating. It was cheap though.
That's about all I've used from them.

That other company I told you about, "Music City Bridge", that's top shelf stuff. That's Joe Glaser.

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Posted by jdd48

Baton Rouge

Member since Jan 2012

23632 posts

Posted on 3/4/26 at 12:13 pm to TheFretShack

quote:
Between the buzz tied to Carondelet getting its first ink in Premier Guitar Magazine last month and prep for the upcoming spring guitar shows in Nashville and Dallas, I am spending a lot more time nowadays winding pickups and a lot less time on the Internet!

Damn! That pickups sounds fantastic.

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