Dan Erlewine is a luthier. He built "Lucy" for Albert King. He also wrote the book on guitar repair. That's not hyperbole, he wrote the book. The Guitar Players Repair Guide, now in its 3rd edition. So, me emailing him about a problem was almost like, in comparable terms, a starting guitar player emailing Eric Clapton about how to play guitar.
So imagine my surprise when he emailed me back. Within about 45 minutes.
Anyway, I was having problems setting the intonation on this bands guitars. They play in what's called Drop D tuning, which is where you tune the lowest string, the E, to D. I could set the intonation correctly on all the other strings, but that one. And I couldn't figure out why. And that drove me nuts. I asked on a few guitarists forums, but nobody seemed to give me a straight answer (one jackass actually responded with "set the intonation." No kidding. I wonder if he even read what I was asking). So, finding that Mr. Erlewine's email was on his site...I said "screw it" and went straight to the top, as it were. I mean, what would it hurt? And like I said, about 45 minutes later, he responded.
I feel much better about it now. He was candid and helpful. He made me realize that at the time, there wasn't much I could have done, and that what could be done might very well be outside my scope of expertise, which is true. I felt so bad because I felt I had failed my friend that called in the favor, and the band he was working with. He assuaged that, and I'm still feeling confident I can be a competent guitar tech.
He's the man, and thank you once again, Mr. Erlewine for your help.
