5080 N Elston Ave · Chicago · Est. 1997

ThirdCoastGuitar & amp repair
for people who play them.

Ten techs. Three spray booths. A PLEK machine. And a shop owner who still gets his hands dirty nearly every day. Walk in Monday through Saturday, noon to six. No appointment needed.

Repair estimates Visit the shop

Chris Eudy holding a sunburst extended-range bass on the Third Coast shop floor

On the floor, Elston Ave.

Guarantee

90 days

fret & setup work

1997Third Coast since/

10Expert technicians/

175+Years combined experience/

7,500Square feet of shop/

3Spray booths: nitro, poly, UV/

1PLEK machine, and techs who know it/

The shop

From a restring to a ground-up rebuild.

Third Coast Guitar Service, Inc. is a full service repair facility located in Chicago. Our staff of 10 expert technicians has over 175 years of combined experience in guitar repair, restoration and customization. Our brand new 7500 square foot facility is fully-equipped to do it all, from restringing to electronics work to refretting and refinishing, all the way to ground-up restoration. Our state of the art facility has a brand new PLEK Machine ready to give your guitar the absolute finest fretwork available anywhere and technicians who know exactly how to use it! With three spray booths utilizing nitrocellulose lacquer, catalyzed polyester, and UV-cured polyester, our finishing and touchup capabilities set us well apart from the competition. We stock a variety of manufacturer replacement parts, brand name and boutique pickups, and many vintage parts.

Services

Chris Eudy and service manager Sean McGarry with the PLEK machine

Chris Eudy & Sean McGarry

Chicago PLEK setups

The machine measures. A person decides.

A PLEK scans every fret, the nut, the board and the bridge to a fraction of a hair. Then a Third Coast tech reads that roadmap against how you actually play: your pick, your string gauge, your touch, your guitar's geometry. The cut is precise; the crown, polish and setup are by hand.

Read how Chris runs a PLEK job

The owner

1996

Apprentice under “Guitar Bob” Egan

1997

Bought the shop. Named it Third Coast.

Chris Eudy has seen just about everything. And done most of it.

Owner Chris Eudy started as an apprentice back in 1996 under "Guitar Bob Egan" of Bob’s Guitar Service. In 1997 he bought the company and it became Third Coast Guitar Service. By now he’s seen just about everything related to guitar repair, and done most of it too. Although a small-business owner must wear many hats, spending much of his time with customers and the business side of things, Chris still gets his hands dirty nearly every day, staying right on top of what’s going on in the repair world. At night, he sometimes takes his guitar to town to play the rock music with his bands Gooey and Nubile Thangs.

Bob's Guitar Service, 1996Owner since 1997Plays in GooeyPlays in Nubile Thangs

Our guarantee

Play it for ninety days.

Fret work and setups come with a 90-day satisfaction guarantee. If the action creeps or the neck moves with the weather, bring it back. Truss rod and action tweaks are complimentary and done on the spot.

Repair ticket · Terms

90-daysatisfaction guarantee on fret & setup work
Freetruss rod adjustment, on the spot
Freeaction tweak, while you wait
No appt.needed for Elston drop-off & pickup

From the bench

Stomped, snapped, fixed.

All projects

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Structural

Martin 0-17 Back Rebuild

Here's a major repair on a Martin 0-17 model, one of the smaller and less stomp-resistant body sizes Martin has made over the years. Click on the images for captions describing each pictured step of the repair!

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Structural

Gibson J-45

This Gibson J-45 had a missing headstock and such a badly damaged neck that making a replacement neck was deemed more appropriate than working with the existing neck. Fortunately there is no shortage of J-45 models to base a replacement neck on. Click the images to learn a little bit about each step featured here.

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Customization

Chicago Slim Double Neck

Chicago Slim's doubleneck started out as just another imported guitar, albeit a huge one with two necks. Never satisfied with off-the-shelf stuff, Slim asked us to make this one into something special. Zach removed the original fretboards and headstocks and transformed the guitar into something unique and personalized. Click on the images to learn more!

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Restoration

Hofner Beatle Bass

This old Hofner bass had led an interesting life. There were many repairs and modifications made to it over the years. Most notable was defretting it and veneering over the fretboard to render it fretless. The owner wanted it restored to how it was way back when. Click on the images to experience this colorful story step-by-step!

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Restoration

339 Spline

This Gibson Custom Shop ES-339 had suffered a broken headstock, been reglued with a poor choice of glue, and then rebroken. In this situation, with old crusty glue contaminating the joint and making it difficult to fit back together and glue securely, we resort to inlaying wooden splines through the broken area to restore some solid wood and good glue joints to the weakened area. It's more expensive and more challenging to touch up, but it makes sense when your expensive guitar is broken and unplayable!

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Restoration

1959 Fender Precision

This 1959 Fender Precision Bass came in looking like it sat on the bottom of Lake Michigan for a while. Time for some major repair and restoration including a headstock rebuild. Click the photos below to read about each step pictured here!

Around the shop