Searl Guitars

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Searl Guitars Fretted instrument repairs Conor Searl is a guitar teacher, and luthier in the Cowichan Valley.

Guitar lessons are taught one on one in his home studio, downtown Duncan. Along with teaching guitar lessons, Conor also offers repair services for all fretted instruments.

The never ending Les Paul headstock repair…For me it feels like the home stretch. But it’s still probably gonna take way...
10/14/2026

The never ending Les Paul headstock repair…

For me it feels like the home stretch. But it’s still probably gonna take way longer than I’d like.

It’s structurally sound now. And I just sprayed the first seal coat. I had to graft in some new wood on the bass side of the neck, and I added a curved back strap to reinforce the neck since gluing end grain together is never going to work. There’s a little glazing putty in there to fill a void from some slightly aggressive sanding when I was carving everything back.

It’s all coming together!

It’s that time of year…
09/16/2026

It’s that time of year…

It’s pretty cool to see what happens when a guitar company pays attention to, and then addresses every detail. Ibanez ma...
07/15/2026

It’s pretty cool to see what happens when a guitar company pays attention to, and then addresses every detail. Ibanez makes a lot of great guitars, and they’ve certainly done more than their part in getting instruments into the hands of young people just starting out. But it’s easy to forget that they also have a whole other gear that you don’t get to see very often.

This is a grown-ups guitar. It needed a fret dress and the lowest set up I think I’ve ever done. I can’t play this guita...
07/02/2026

This is a grown-ups guitar. It needed a fret dress and the lowest set up I think I’ve ever done. I can’t play this guitar, but maybe when I’ve grown up and stopped hitting the guitar like a caveman I’ll be ready for it.

Pretty sweet custom shop Les Paul, I mean Tele in for a fret dress.
06/25/2026

Pretty sweet custom shop Les Paul, I mean Tele in for a fret dress.

What a beauty. ‘50s Gibson ES-125. It needed a refret, and the capacitor had been robbed from the tone k**b. Refret’s d...
06/17/2026

What a beauty.

‘50s Gibson ES-125. It needed a refret, and the capacitor had been robbed from the tone k**b. Refret’s done, and the tone k**b is now working.

I’ve gotta say, options are cool, but one old P90 pickup, one volume control and one tone control, can still create a lot of versatility. This guitar doesn’t do everything, but what it does do, it does exceptionally. I love that.

Such a clean Harmony H-77. It needed a set up, some troubleshooting with the wiring, and a couple of k**bs (thanks eBay!...
06/04/2026

Such a clean Harmony H-77. It needed a set up, some troubleshooting with the wiring, and a couple of k**bs (thanks eBay!)

Dealing with the wiring in hollow body’s is always challenging. But when you combine how brittle the old stuff is, with lots of switches and k**bs, and interesting ideas with how it’s all put together, it can be a lot. The last picture show’s some of my special tools for fishing parts into their proper place. The only thing missing from that picture is all of the steam coming out of my ears.

So excited for when this isn’t such a gnarly project. Restorations like this from start to finish are so so so daunting....
06/04/2026

So excited for when this isn’t such a gnarly project. Restorations like this from start to finish are so so so daunting. But when you narrow your focus down to just doing the next thing, it’s rarely hours of labor, and it also allows you to focus all your energy into executing on one fairly straightforward thing. In this case, it was time to glue the face plate back on. That was it. Now it goes to the back of the line ready for whatever the next baby step is.

A beauty! 1967 Martin D-18. Came in with some loose and missing binding, and really old strings. So I glued the loose bi...
06/03/2026

A beauty! 1967 Martin D-18. Came in with some loose and missing binding, and really old strings. So I glued the loose bits, and replaced the missing strip. Gave the guitar a good deep clean, and prepared myself for whatever “setup” surprises lay in wait. Turns out with a new set of strings, everything was exactly where I wanted it to be. The guitar plays great, and sounds incredible! There’s probably a neck reset waiting to happen, but for now it’s ready for some pickin’ and grinnin’.

This one’s blurring the line between vintage and antique, and when I’m over 100 years old, I hope everyone’s alright wit...
05/26/2026

This one’s blurring the line between vintage and antique, and when I’m over 100 years old, I hope everyone’s alright with me doing only what’s necessary to keep me playing too.

Address

1092 Nagle Street
Duncan, BC
V9L2E5

Telephone

250-710-0747

Website

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