Pricing Structure

One of the first questions we get is, "How much will this cost me?" The answer is always "It depends on what you want to do." Because every guitar is different and will need varying degrees of work to get it to where it needs to be, we cannot say exactly what your refinish will cost until we assess your project.

(For you TLTR types, calculate your refinish project cost here.)

The first factor affecting price is what state the guitar is now in. Does it have a factory finish or is it a new build that’s never been finished? If it has been refinished before, did they strip off the factory finish or just rough it up and paint over it? Has it been “relic”-ed and if so, did they use methods such as shoe polish and chisel marks that we will need to repair/remove? “Naked” guitars cost less to refinish because we do not have to do the labor intensive removal and sanding required on finished guitars.

A previously refinished guitar that was properly done costs much the same to redo as a factory finish, but a poorly refinished guitar can cost more. So-called “relic” finished guitars can take a lot of time to repair, especially when the guitar wood itself has been damaged during the process. (If you want a guitar relic’ed, do yourself a favor and pay a professional to do it. It is easy to ruin a finish and even the guitar itself with a bad relic job.)

Aside from the guitar’s current state, there are many options that can influence your price. Do you want the entire guitar refinished or do you need only on the top, back and/or sides refinished to fix an issue? Do you want a stain finish so the wood grain shows, or a paint finish with no grain showing? Do you want a solid color, metallic finish or burst pattern? Do you want a faux binding?

We can also change out your wiring back and forth between 50’s style and modern style using PIO (paper-in-oil) Capacitors. If your guitar has PCB (black - or occasionally green – computer type board under the POTS), we can still change it to 50’s style wiring, but it will cost more because we’ll have to replace the pots as well. (In most cases, the heat required to remove pots from a factory-installed PCB is damaging to the pots.)

Calculate your refinish project cost here

You can find your shipping costs to and from our zip code (63005) on your favorite carrier website. We recommend the United States Postal Service.