Carlino Guitars — Local services in Medford

Not only is Eddie Carlino a phenomenal craftsman he is a very generous and caring man. He is what every business owner should be. Great communication skills set him apart from other people I have dealt with in life. Through a random facebook chat about what else KISS I inquired about getting a custom strap made for my Ibanez PS10ltd. Eddie suggested to make an era correct Paul Stanley strap. So I’m like Hey Eddie the Gene Simmons band is playing a week from today how cool would it be if Ryan from his band would wear it for a few songs. He’s like let me call you back. Eddie calls back and says done deal I will make sure the strap is done and I will ship it to Syracuse where their playing, no worries. Man did he deliver, not only did I get to see Ryan play the strap for the entire show my buddy and I were treated to the backstage area, got pictures with the band including Gene and even hung out with the guys after the show for a while. What a great night full of memories all set up by an owner that cares about his customer! Honestly the guy goes the extra mile and for that reason I will continue to give him business and refer others to him as well. And by the way the strap is a work of art! Thanks Again Eddie Carlino and a special thanks to Ryan Cook also for a...

Brought my classical guitar in for a set up and to lower the bridge to improve the action. The bridge was lowered too far and my D string buzzed when I played it because it was touching the frets - this is something that should have been noticed before returning it to me. I didn’t worry, and I bought another bridge and another set of strings to try again. I called and told them the problem and that I need the action to be higher now because it’s buzzing, and was told that I was wrong and since it’s getting warmer now, I actually need the strings even lower. I disagreed, but said forget it, I’ll bring it back in, and to just just put a new set of strings on my guitar and I’ll deal with the buzzing D string. When I go to pick it back up, the new strings were put on, and I was told that EVEN MORE was shaved off of the bridge so the strings were EVEN CLOSER to the fretboard - now they ALL buzz. I don’t want to return there a third time to deal with this. If they listened to me when I said what I wanted, for the strings to be higher, this would be a 5 star review. I got exactly the opposite of want I wanted and it cost me in total over $100. Now I have to bring it somewhere else. I’m extremely frustrated. Eddie is a nice guy but he wasn’t listening to what I...

Eddie does great work, and he’s a lot of fun to talk shop with. He definitely knows his gear, and we talked about some of the customizations I’ve made on my guitar plus a lot of the custom bridges and tailpieces he produces. Shop has some very interesting guitars, some PRS and Dean and Ibanez, plus his own custom line. Got some very cool stories as well, being a guy who’s done work for Paul Stanley, Steve Vai and others well known in the music business. I brought my 1980 Les Paul Custom in for a setup, it had some buzzing up near the neck, and the luthier I usually take it to is a bit of a drive from me and I didn’t feel like going all the way out there. Carlino’s on the other hand is local for me, and had great reviews. Turns out all the positive reviews are right on the money, the guitar now plays as well as it ever has, he dressed the frets, gave it a full once over and even polished up the nitro finish on it. Best part is he does one day turnaround for setups, as opposed to most places where you might need to wait a week or more. I’ll definitely be coming back here for future work and can strongly recommend this shop. Thanks...