RESTRING: WITH GARY BRAWER - CLASSICAL GUITAR

Dunlop Strings is proud to partner with world renowned guitar expert Gary Brawer in the production of our new series RESTRING: WITH GARY BRAWER. In these very straightforward videos, Gary gives you the skills you will need to take charge of your guitar, save some money, and change your own strings. He shares wisdom he has gained over the years about string changing and specific guitar styles. Most importantly, both Gary and Dunlop want you to have the confidence to change your own strings so that you can quickly replace a broken string, or replace a dead set with a fresh one. With this knowledge you will be one step closer to reaching your full musical potential.

Gary has been a long time friend of the Dunlop family and also shares his home turf with the organization. For those who aren't aware, Gary has a guitar shop in San Francisco and has been doing set-up an repairs for a multitude of top-shelf guitar players such as Jerry Garcia, Santana, Slash, The Rolling Stones, Metallica, Johnny Winter, Zakk Wylde, Warren Haynes, Jim Dunlop, Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck, Aerosmith... You get the picture.

Produced & Directed by Joey Tosi
Featuring Gary Brawer
Executive Producer is Jimmy Dunlop
Art Direction by Graham Shaw
Sound Engineering & Edited by Max Baloian
Musical Direction by Bryan Kehoe
Cinematography by Jim Granato

[pavcueto]

27 years playing guitar. Tried different ways to string my instrument.
Today I tried this way: instant favorite.

[j.r.]

I just got a 1969 Gibson C-L classical guitar. Thank you for this video.

[calligraphile]

The tip of using the pencil to create some graphite lubrication at the head of the guitar level is genius.

Also don't forget that instead of using a flame to create a little ball at the other end of the string, you can simply make a small knot :)

[clementmabunda]

Yes! My preferred way of winding of the E strings this; towards the _outside_ of the headstock, not _in_.
Great Video!

[babarishka]

I sent my guitar to Brawer in the beginning of July of 2013.  I had asked him to repair a  Sustainiac and Ghost Floyd Rose install that some idiot here in Buffalo, NY named Dino completely botched up.  I knew it wasn't a simple fix, but this is the great Gary Brawer, repairman to the stars.  I thought, if anyone can get this right, it's Brawer.


Well, he didn't return the guitar to me until the end of January 2014.  He held onto my Jackson Dinky for 7 FREAKING MONTHS.  His first excuse was that he had family problems over the Summer.  Okay, whatever, I tried giving him the benefit of the doubt.  After that, he told me a couple of times that he had to go out of town, but after that, he didn't even offer me an excuse as to why he was taking so long repairing my guitar.


I was extremely close to calling law enforcement on this guy, as I was beginning to suspect that he had just decided to keep my guitar for himself.  One bloody week longer and I would've called law enforcement.  He offered me no explanation as to why it took 7 months.  To add insult to injury, the Sustainiac still squealed like a dying rabbit when I got it back from his shop, which was the primary reason I sent the guitar to him in the first place (and I had to buy a new Sustainiac to boot, as the previous guy had fried the original one). 


Also, he had wires going around the tremolo that, if I were to pull up on the tremolo, the wires would've been crimped.  He also miswired the Sustainiac mode switch so that the Mix mode (my favorite mode) didn't work.


I don't know what else to say.  I recently found a guy in Buffalo who did his best with the guitar.  It still wasn't working and I decided just last week to count my losses and have the new repair guy remove the Sustainiac (which I will put in another guitar) and just leave the Ghost bridge.   I think the Ghost circuitry and Sustainiac circuitry are simply not compatible, and that my dream guitar was not doable.  Fair enough. 


However, why the hell did this guy hang on to my guitar for 7 months and not even get it right?  If he knew he couldn't get it right he should've told me so and not charged me $350.  He did offer to try to fix it again after I got it back the end of January and had complained to him by email that I was very pissed about it all.  Oh yeah, sure, after this charlatan hung on to my guitar for 7 months I was going to pay shipping to and from San Franciso, AGAIN, and have him hang on to it for another 7 months?  All I can say is, if you're not Joe Satriani, you're taking a gamble with this guy.

[cbigb]

Thank you! You went slow enough that I never had to replay. 

[MattMcConaha]

The intro and outro music reminds me of "Mama, I'm coming home."

[calligraphile]

What was that electrical contraption of the Devil ? :)

Also, the strings cannot go through each other at the guitar head's level, so it is fine to keep each winding not necessarily towards the outside.

[JorijnLamberink]

So what do you do with the low E string. Since most of the time it's not symmetrical...

[TheAlexkru]

would a ukulele be the same principle?

[DougHinVA]

Any classical player knows that winding the outside E strings out from the hole is to keep the strings relatively straight.

[petmomful]

I bought an old classical guitar at a thrift store as a beater.  I have never had a classical before.  Should I put nylon strings on it, or steel so that I am practicing like my acoustic?  Would that work?  Yeah, I am a newbie at strings.  Thanks.

[Guitarist._.]

The one thing they don't tell you is the waiting time for the strings to settle. With the nylon strings, it takes days for them to settle

[sixpooltube]

Of all the things one can use to trim strings...a lighter?

[GuitarlosCarlos]

GARY GARY GARY...

NEXT TIME USE BLACK TREBLE STRINGS SO YOUR METHOD IS MORE VISIBLE ~

CARLOS GUITARLOS 90042

[hospiter]

my strings came with a golden thing at the end of the string, anybody know what do do with it ?

[jacoblopez]

dude stop postig the same comment on every string changing video on yt for petes sake