Welcome to the RJW Guitar Repair History page. My name is Richard Weikum and I would like to introduce my guitar repair and lutherie service, RJW Guitar Repair. While my business is fairly new, (2010 will be the seventh year) I have been building and playing guitars since the mid 70's and have been repairing guitars professionally since 1987. That year I brought an Explorer style guitar I had built, to a Seattle music store hoping to find a case for it. The employees there insisted that I show it to a guitar repairman working downstairs named Steve Davies. When he saw it he offered me a job on the spot. Musicians who have been around the Seattle music scene long enough may recognize Steve as being the owner of Stephen’s Stringed Instruments, and the designer / inventor of the Stephen’s Extended Cutaway. While working with Steve, the business grew from just the two of us doing repairs in a music store basement into Seattle's biggest repair shop and manufacturer of guitars. We were doing tons of repairs as well as warranty work for all of the major manufacturers. We built the first 2 prototypes of the Washburn EC-26 Atlantis and assembled the first 5 production prototypes. We also manufactured the initial production run of the N-4 NunoBettencourt Signature series guitar, including the four N-4 prototypes (2 alder, 2 padauk) made for Nuno's personal use. We were also making custom high-end guitars under the Stephen’s name. Besides being the senior repair tech I was also the finish specialist, responsible for the colors, custom finishes, and finish quality on all of our production guitars as well as repair touch ups. Being able to paint guitars as well as building and repairing them allows me to build a guitar or do a complete restoration from start to finish. I like having the total control over the quality of my work that comes from doing every step myself. 

I recently acquired the complete inventory left over when Stephen’s closed and currently I am renovating a 920 square foot shop building that will soon become my new guitar shop. It was purchased to give me the much needed room to organize my tools, machinery and workspaces for maximum efficiency. It will also give me the space to set up the tools needed for guitar building. At that point I will be able to take custom guitar orders as well as continue to provide the professional quality repair services that Stephen’s was known for.

In this 1994 photo I am shown assembling a SSI built, one of a kind prototype for a bolt on neck, extended cutaway bass. It features a PJ pickup setup, Badass bridge, alder body, and a maple/ebony neck with a scaled up “ballerina foot” headstock.