Foster Guitar Works

StephenG

hi all,

havent really participated here in ages..

but felt I need to post another message of praise for Foster van der Merwe and Ludwig of Fosters Guitar works, in Cape Town.

I hadnt been to him for about 6 years, and a recent purchase of a guitar from jhbg started to develop fret buzz on the E and A strings once it was exposed to the moist cape town air.

i thought since i was going to them I would take my old acoustic guitar, a Crafter I have owned for probably 20 years and which had never ever seen a guitar techs workshop.

I picked up the guitars yesterday and was simply blown away by just how different - and awesome - that acoustic really is!! I didnt have time to chat about what he did to it, and he just charged me for a standard set up - but suddenly that guitar plays and feels like an instrument 10 times its value! it really does feel like a brand new instrument..

so i guess the purpose of this message is 2-fold..

1 - if you in Cape Town, Foster Guitar Works is your place of call for any guitar work, Foster and Ludwig are absolutely guitar geniuses..

2 - if you have a guitar that you not really happy with and thinking of selling, try having it set up professionally before selling it, it could just change your mind..

so big shout out to Foster Guitar Works for the amazing job done on my 3 guitars !!

(Dom - if you reading this.. i got hung up with my acoustic, so will still give your old girl a run for her money later tonight hopefully.)

thenovice

foster is top notch. what a pleasure to deal with! such a humble guy who is a true craftsman (a rare thing nowadays). he has recently set up both my acoustic and classical guitars for me, which now play beautifully (only operator error is now to blame). the yamaha classical guitar had a crazy buzz from resonance and foster worked on it for hours to get it sorted out. to his credit, he also told me with brutal honesty that an old maxwin that i had was beyond repair. his strapline tells the story: 'always do the right thing'. if you are looking for a world class luthier in cape town, your search has just ended... not a very well kept secret though, judging from the spectacular guitars that he generally has in his workshop.

Voodoo

+1

Great, friendly, honest service. Took my tele and strat there a while ago. It's never felt this good!

Doc

Foster you are really TOPS. I had such a high action on my new acoustic with a constant buzz from my B string (After the Music Shop set up). This buzz and high action made playing a bad experience. I thankfully landed on this site, read about Foster Van Der Merwe, and sent him an email in which he gave me free professional advice. I had previously emailed two other luthiers in Cape Town who never even bothered to reply to me. I eventually phoned Foster and sent my guitar down to him. A week later, he sent it back to me and I could not believe that this was the same guitar. Foster turned my cheap R8500.00 Greg Bennett OM 8CE into a Martin. I cannot put it down and I thank Foster over and over every day I sit and play. Foster you GEM. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Doc

Sorry, forgot to mention, that Foster also phoned me to let me know that when the guitar was plugged in, the 1st E string was very much softer than any of the other strings. This was due to a faulty pick up. He repaired this as well. I am so impressed with him. I hope that one day in the near future, when he gets a break from doing set up's and repairs, he starts making guitars again. I am standing in line for one of them.