Frequently Asked Questions
Here you can find the answers to many common inquiries.
Shop Policies / General Info
How do I contact you?
Please visit our Contact for all inquiries. Fill out the most relevant contact form and we will get back to you ASAP.
Do I need an appointment?
Calico Guitarworks is available by appointment only. Walk-in appointments are not available.
Please Contact us to make arrangements.
Where are you located?
Please see our Visiting and Directions for more information
What form of payments do you accept?
Cash is preferred. For your convenience, we also accept Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express.
No checks please.
For all services, payment is due at the time of pickup.
We are required to collect New York State sales tax for all sales and services performed.
What is your warranty?
For Calico products:
We offer a limited lifetime warranty against defects in materials and workmanship to the original owner.
For repair work:
Calico Guitarworks is proud to stand behind our work with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee.
This warranty excludes any instrument that has been subjected to poor humidity care, adjusted or otherwise modified after leaving the shop, or to matters that can reasonably be attributed to limitations of the product serviced. Our warranty also does not apply to strings, or any customer supplied components.
If you encounter any issues during the warranty period, simply contact us to arrange a follow up appointment where-in we may address your concerns.
In the unlikely event that the need for a refund for products or services arises, all reimbursements will be issued via check.
Our Instruments and Products
Where can I see Calico instruments currently available?
Please select which of the instruments you are interested in from the links below:
Can I come see and play a Calico instrument?
Our instruments can be played at our long island, NY showroom. Please contact us to make an appointment.
If you'd like to see us visit a guitar show near you, please let us know!
Can I request a modification to an existing Calico model?
Sure! We want you to love your guitar and would be happy to discuss minor alterations to any available instrument. Please contact us to discuss your idea.
Where are Calico instruments built?
Calico Guitarworks are built in our two workshops, which are located in both Nesconset, NY and Bethlehem, PA
Will you make me a custom guitar?
We are not accepting commissioned projects at this time.
Appointments & Repairs
Our goal is simple: to provide thoughtful, professional service and to give every instrument the time and attention it deserves. Because we work by appointment and maintain a limited daily workload, some of our policies are designed to help us do exactly that.
How do I request an appointment?
Please visit our contact page to make arrangements.
What is your cancelation policy?
In an effort to manage our workload, we accept a select number of appointments per day. Should you need to cancel or reschedule, we kindly request at least 48hrs notice.
Should the need arise, appointments can be updated via the link included in the confirmation email that you receive at the time of booking.
Please respect our time: Clients that miss or repeatedly cancel/reschedule appointments, may be denied future booking,
Can someone else drop off/pick up my instrument for me?
A guitar is a personal item; We believe that the particulars of its servicing should be tailored to the individual player. In order to minimize miscommunications, time consuming back and forth correspondence, and maximize our odds for a successful outcome, we request that the owner be present for instrument drop off and pickup.
What happens when I bring my instrument for service?
Please visit the Calico repair process page for more details.
Is there a bench fee for evaluations?
Yes. In-shop evaluations are subject to a $60 minimum bench fee. For some concerns, this may be the total cost of the repair; for larger services, it is included in the listed service price. If you choose not to proceed with recommended work, the bench fee may be collected to cover the time spent evaluating and diagnosing your instrument.
How long will it take to get my instrument fixed?
Appointment lead time fluctuates around our current commitments. Please contact us for the current wait.
Once in shop, setups and other small jobs are usually turned around within 3-5 business days. Larger jobs may require considerably longer. Evaluation is required before an estimated turnaround time can be given.
What happens if I don't pickup my instrument?
We do our best to complete instruments in a timely manner and request that pickup be made within (7) days of notice of completion whenever possible.
Instruments that have not been picked up within 30 days of the first emailed notice of completion will be considered to have been abandoned.
If extenuating circumstances will prevent you from picking up your instruments within this time frame, please contact us ASAP.
Do you accept shipped in repairs?
Due to high demand locally, at this time, we operate on a carry-in / carry-out basis.
Shipping and Receiving of repair work is currently unavailable.
What We Work On
We specialize in servicing name-brand electric and acoustic guitars and basses from established makers only.
Do you do setups or restring guitars?
In our shop we offer a maintenance service, called a setup, which includes restringing the guitar, as well as a full instrument evaluation and many other basic cleaning and adjustment tasks.
What instruments do you work on?
We exclusively service guitars and basses from established makers.
What instruments don't you work on?
Due to a lack of standardization, look-alike, kit-built, or parts-guitars may be more difficult to service. The work necessary to achieve a level of playability consistent with our shop's standards is likely not cost effective on these instruments.
Counterfeit guitars: A counterfeit guitar is any instrument that bears the brand or trademark of a maker other than the one who built it. These may also be referred to as a "clone" or "copy". While we pass no judgement on your decision to purchase a forgery, we will not service these instruments.
What repair services don't you offer?
We are extremely grateful to our clients for consistently keeping our shop schedule booked up well in advance. Out of respect for our client's time, we have chosen to avoid select jobs that are outside of our core offerings, or that we anticipate will require a substantial amount of our limited bench-time to complete.
Some examples of jobs that we are not currently accepting are as follows:
- Finish touchup or refinishing work
- Rebinding
- Major structural repairs or modifications
- guitar assembly projects
- Relicing
- re-frets
Do you work on vintage instruments?
We are happy to accept work on well maintained vintage instruments from respected makers and trusted brands.
Though we sympathize with the memories that can be associated with a particular instrument, for items of limited intrinsic value, we genuinely believe that they are best displayed in their current condition. Unless the instrument was made by an iconic brand, such as Fender, Gibson, or Martin, the necessary repairs will likely exceed the resale value of the instrument.
Do you do warranty work for: (insert brand name here)?
We are the area's leading authorized service center facility for Taylor Guitars.
We do not currently offer warranty service for any other brands.
Can you assist with, complete, or correct repair work started by someone else?
We prioritize work that we can see through from start to finish. As such, we are unable to provide assistance with tech support, piecemeal work, or requests to fix unsatisfactory repairs / installations that were performed elsewhere.
Do you repair effect pedals?
Generally not. Due to the proprietary nature of many of these circuits and components, we find them difficult to troubleshoot. As such, we recommend that clients contact the products manufacturer directly for all such inquiries.
We occasionally make exceptions for straight forward repairs like a broken jack or DC power connector.
Do you build pedalboards
In an effort to streamline our offerings, we have discontinued our pedalboard setup service.
Can you fix my guitar case?
We do not offer case repair. For damaged cases, we recommend that you seek out a shop that specializes in upholstery and/or luggage repair.
Can you fix any other type of instrument?
We specialize exclusively in electric and acoustic guitars, basses, and ukuleles. To help manage our workload, we do not offer service for other types of fretted instruments at this time.
We do not service: Banjos, Mandolins, world, brass, woodwind, or violin family instruments.
Do you fix guitar amplifiers?
We no longer service guitar amplifiers and, unfortunately, do not have a recommendation for amplifier service.
Other common questions
Can you evaluate an instrument I’m considering purchasing or appraise an instrument I already own?
We no longer offer instrument appraisals.
For vintage or high value instruments, Gruhn's Guitars are recognized experts in the field and conveniently offer appraisals via their website. George Gruhn is the author of the guide to vintage guitars.
Do you sell parts and strings?
We maintain a curated inventory of parts to facilitate our repair work. If you have questions about a specific part that will be needed for us to service your instrument, please contact us.
Calico Guitarworks is a service focused business. We do not offer local pickup for parts-only sales.
For parts sales, please visit GuitarRepairParts.com
Do you buy or sell instruments?
We make and sell our own line of Calico Guitarworks instruments. we do not buy or sell instruments from other brands.
Can you recommend a guitar teacher?
With individual players needs, personalities, and locations being so varied, we are unable to offer recommendations for local guitar teachers.