Dishaw Guitar Studio will provide free all day clinics for those who attend the Music Industry Conference (MIC). The event will be held on Nov. 11-12 at the downtown OnCenter. My son and I are CNY natives and  well known for expertise in manufacturing of electric guitars as well as restoration of string instruments and factory authorized service.

Instruments require time and dedication to learn how to play, and if your instrument is not set up properly it becomes a much more difficult task.  Bring your electric/acoustic guitars, bass guitar, banjo, mandolins or any string instrument that you play and we will show you how to get the most from your instrument.

We can show you how to install your strings correctly and explain how the truss rod affects the action or playability of your instrument. We will describe and walk you through all the adjustments made to your instrument so that it plays effortlessly through the entire length of the fingerboard. Not only will we set the string action, but we will also have a high precision Peterson strobe tuner as well to set the bridge saddles and intonate the scale length.

There will be a big screen monitor with a slide show of the shop and some of our manufacturing techniques, including Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Computer Aided Machining (CAM). There will also be a select few of our guitars for sale with an amp to demo. Guitar parts, strings and accessories will be available for purchase.

For the cost of admission you will get a professional setup on your own instrument or you can just stop by and we can just show you how it’s done.

Main presenter: Dan Dishaw   Monday   November 12  click on image to get directions.

The say that what goes around comes around.; our November presenter has come to know the circular nature of life.  Dan Dishaw is a well-known name in the central New York region as a first rate luthier and guitar tech.   For years and years, area musicians went to him for all their guitar needs.
However, in the past few years he has been using his luthier skills in the Billiard industry. His company has been designing and building billiard cues that are considered as highly collectable pieces of art. The Smithsonian Museum recently has as recognized the modern day billiard cue as a new art form and asked a select few cue makers from the US to submit their work for a future display. Very cool to have your artwork at the Smithsonian.
Dan’s son, Peter, recently graduated from Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, with a music business marketing degree, and expressed an interest in building guitars. So Dan is now pretty much back to where he came from.
The Dishaws are building guitars for high-profile players such as Mark Kendall of Great White, Kyle Bolden with Stevie Wonder, Chet Catallo formerly of Spyro Gyra and six time Grammy nominee;  local players such as Ben Mauro with Lionel Ritchie, Terry Mulhauser, Bill Hatch, in addition to other local players.
Dan was the guitar tech at Gerber Music in Shopping-town Mall in Dewitt. There he became an Authorized Warranty Service Center for over 15 major manufactures such as; Gibson/Epiphone, Fender, Ibanez, Guild, Martin, Ovation, etc. In addition, he was responsible for the maintenance and setup for all the instruments for all three Gerber Music locations in CNY.
Dan was invited to several manufacturing facilities for Service Seminars where he was taught the correct procedures to accomplish quality repairs and service on instruments such as Gibson Super400, Les Paul’s, Fender Stratocasters, and Telecasters, and Gibson/Epiphone  acoustics, etc.
Dan is considered a Master Luthier with 40 years of experience and training in the repair, service and restoration of all types of string instruments.
Dan is very excited to be back in the music scene here in CNY welcomes the opportunity to speak to Guitar League. He wants it to be clear that he is not a player as such and his primary objective would be to inform us about service, repairs and restorations to any type of string instrument and about building custom instruments.

Thom Turner is the definition or a versatile player.  From Hard Rock and Metal to Solo Jazz and Fusion, from traditional Celtic folk and singer songwriter to experimental orchestral music.  He covers all the bases.

Hailing from Minetto NY, Thom has been playing guitar professionally since age 16.  Now at 28 he is a senior at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.  Thom performs with various groups almost 80 dates a year.  Wish Pool (www.wishpoolband.com) is five piece hard rock outfit with two albums released “Resurrected” and this year’s “Tabula Rasa”.  Thom and the boys have toured all over the north east, even playing along side Alter Bridge, Theory of a Dead Man, Black Stone Cherry, Red and many others.  While at school in Boston MA, Thom is the lead singer and guitarist of Celtic Rock standouts Dublin Free Press (http://www.dfpband.com).  Playing weekly all around Mass and greater New England, DFP is a fixture in the scene.  With an energetic stage show and tight playing DFP landed a weekly gig at Lansdowne PUB in Boston and has Played the pre-party for the yearly St. Patricks Day Dropkick Murphy’s show next door at the House of Blues.  Recently Thom was asked to join metal Legends Freya. (http://www.facebook.com/freyaband)  Lead by the indelible Earth Crisis front man Karl Buechner.  With four albums put out on Victory Records, Freya is in the process of recording their new album “Paragon of the Crucible” the sequel last years “All Hail the End”.  With East Coast, West Coast and beyond touring in the works, Thom is going to be busy showing off his Dishaw guitars.

While at The Berklee College of Music Thom has studied under Dave Fiuczynski (http://www.torsos.com/), Livingston Taylor (http://livtaylor.com/), Mark White(http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/mark-white), Jon Finn(https://jonfinn.com) Jack Pezanelli (http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/jack-pezanelli) among many others. Thom has also endorses other products.  Specifically with Port City Amplification and Steve Clayton USA.  Previously he was an artist for Warrior and Michael Kelly guitars.

Aside from playing Thom is also a music educator.  Having taught guitar lessons for 5 years out of A and J Music in Oswego NY as well as numerous online students, he is dedicated to spreading music in anyway he can.

“I have never not been a musician.  From day one I was listening to my parents play records.  Then my grandmother started me on piano and Harp.  I was into choirs and eventually rock bands.  When I finally found guitar I knew this was it.  This was my conduit into musical expression.  I have endorsed a few guitar makers.  When I found Dishaw right in Syracuse not a half hour away I was so excited.  I went and sat down with Pete and he showed me the versatility and literal carte blanch that I could have on my own signature guitar.  I played some of the guitars they had and was blown away by the consistency of tone and playability.  That was it.  I had found a company that makes insane instruments but moreover wants a personal relationship with the people who purchase them.”

We have 40 years of training and experience in the repair and restoration of all types of string instruments. Services the we provide. Set ups; adjust the playability to you playing style. Set the string action, adjust the truss rod, nut and bridge to produce more uniform playability though out the entire length of the fingerboard, then set the scale length to a precise intonation.

Complete re-fretting of any fretted instrument. Resurface and true fingerboards, Change the fingerboard radius. Replace fingerboard
Exotic Fingerboard inlays. Level and Profile frets. Carve new fingerboard nuts/saddles. Rewire controls. Replace pickups. New Tuners
Complete refinishing or repair finish. Reset neck angles, Acoustic or electrics. Dings, dents, cracks, scratches. Broken head-stocks or necks. Custom routering.
Full CAD/CAM design service, if you can dream it I can build it, and we can re-manufacture any missing parts or pieces to your baby.

This is a brand new Gibson Songwriter that has a bridge saddle that was not cut properly. The saddle is way to thin for the slot which will reduce the downward pressure on the top and will result in a lose of tone and gain and will not vibrate the top correctly. Not only that I have seen it where the bridge will crack because of the excessive forward pulling of the strings. Not Good.

The fix is to re-carve a compensated saddle that will fit the slot perfectly without any movement or slop.

First step is to ensure the bottom is perfectly flat.

 Here is the completed carved compensated saddle that fits perfect to the bridge slot

Lionel Richie at the Turning Stone Casino

Ben Mauro

We are very honored to announce Chet Catallo, International acclaimed guitarist-composer-producer, founding member of Spyro Gyra, 6 time Grammy nominee and member of the Jazz Hall of Fame will be added to our family of performing artists who play and endorse Dishaw Guitars.  Chet has headlined as a member of Spyro Gyra at music festivals all over the world. including Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall and Newport, playing on the same bill as legends George Benson, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. Chet has been a long time friend and client and is presently recuperating from a vary serious illness, that resulted in major surgery to save his live. He has a long road to recovering but wanted me to tell people about his latest project, “First Take”. This is a  double CD collection of some of Chet’s best works. I just received a copy of  First Take a few days ago I can’t put it down. It is just a fabulous collection of Chet’s guitar playing along with such talented players like keyboardists Andy Calabrese from Sea Level and the late great Ralph Ortiz on bass. Although founding percussionist from Spyro Gyra, Eli Konikoff  was the original member of Chet Catallo & the Cats, due to a near fatal accidental injury he was replaced with Steve Curry. The addition of Vince Ercolamento and Jim Richmond on sax with Charlie Curran on percussion completed the sound that Chet had envisioned.

You can listen to an audio file from Chet’s latest project, ”First Take” a double CD set featuring CC and the Cats. Go to www.chetcatallo.com