Guitar Transformed

Guitar Transformed

One of my favorite jobs I have as a guitar shop owner is modifying guitars. It gives me such joy and satisfaction to transform a stock guitar into a custom dream guitar.

Recently I was asked to modify my students guitar. It was a normal Stratocaster type guitar. It had the normal 3 single coil pickups and standard pickguard with a 5-way blade switch and plastic knob. But he wanted something totally different! He picked out a tortoiseshell pickguard and chrome covered humbuckers. How cool is that?!

The first thing I needed to do was cut some of the wood of the body to accommodate the humbuckers. With a Dremel, I carefully removed the extra wood in the body cavity. Then I repainted it with shielding paint.

Once the body was ready, all I needed to do is wire-up the pickguard. We wanted something special for this mod, so we went with a 3-way toggle switch instead of the normal blade type switch. The last upgrade was from the plastic Strat knobs to sturdy chrome ones.

As you can see, the guitar went from good to amazing! It looks and sounds great! My student is very happy with the transformation. It’s his first guitar, but now it feels like a brand new guitar all over again. It was a really fun mod and I enjoyed making his dream come true!

If you have a guitar that you would like to transform, please give me a call or stop in to the shop. You’ll be so glad you did!

Keep on Rock’in –

How RockSo Music Was Born In Sittard

It all started in October 2021 in Sittard with an empty store. It was like a new canvas. Up until then, we only existed as an online store. Going back and forth on how to setup the physical storefront for RockSo Music, we decided to direct mount the guitars hooks on the walls. This was easier said than done.

Starting With A New Canvas

With an impact drill and blood, sweat, and tears, we finally got all the hooks installed by November. Shortly after the walls were completed, the guitars started to arrive from Japan. Little by little we filled the store with our vintage guitars. We decided to use only two-thirds of the space for the store and reserved the other one-third for our office and classroom for Japanese lessons.

Handyman @ RockSo Music
Handy Man To The Rescue
Workbench being built @ RockSo Music
Work Bench for Repairs and Mods

We had a nice antique counter to use from the previous owner. The case was very empty at first. And we only had one brand of guitar strings from ESP.

Store Opening in December 2021

After the store opening on 2 December 2021, we had about 3 weeks before a month-long lockdown. From mid-January 2022, we reopened, and customers started to come. Then, de Limburger, the Dutch provincial newspaper, ran a story about RockSo Music.

RockSo Music in de Limburger January 2022

A full-page article in de Limburger on 24 January 2022 helped spread the word further…

Some of our customers ask for certain products; others make suggestions on what we should carry in our shop. Our collection reflects those requests and suggestions.

RockSo Guitar Collection

Where We Are Now

Over the past 7 months, RockSo Music has transformed steadily to better serve the local music community as well as the wider audience online. Besides new guitars from KAMINARI Guitars, Tokai, and Fender Japan, we now have an expanded vintage/secondhand selection including signature models and electric basses. To serve local musicians’ needs, we carry a wide range of accessories, amplifiers, effects, and starter-model classical guitars.

If you have not visited us recently, come on down and check out the latest selection!

The Gulls members visit RockSo Music!

RockSo Music Sittard had special visitors on 21 May.

The Gulls from the UK, gave an outdoor live performance right across from our shop. Eddie was in and out of the shop all day. Christian worked on his two guitars and a bass and got them ready for the big concert the next day at Poppodium Volt.

Eddie testing KAMINARI Curl Cable

Eddie did a cable comparison between KAMINARI Curl Cable and his coil cable.

Then came Will, Kil, and Bob. They had fun in our shop.

The Gulls having fun with Fernandes Zo-3

Everyone loves Fernandes Zo-3. Kil and Eddie had fun playing them.

On Sunday night 22 May, The Gulls had a great show at the Volt! They recorded the live performance for their new live album. RockSo Music and Kaminari Guitars are proud to support The Gulls with Kaminari guitar and bass cables for the occasion. Below: Eddie sports a Kaminari T-shirt with Christian.

Guess Who Visited Our Shop?

Last week, we had some special visitors from New York. They are none other than some of the current members of The Skatalites! They visited us the morning after their amazing show on 28 April 2022.

Aurelien, being the guitarist in the band, was naturally interested in our collection of guitars. He and his tour manager were particularly interested in Ibanez Roadstars.

The Skatalites Aurelien plays Fernandes Zo-3

Aurelien on Fernandes Zo-3
Aurelien was also curious about Fenandes Zo-3 and tried his Ska rhythms on the guitar.

Aurelien in KAMINARI T-shirt
And he graciously accepted our gift of KAMINARI T-shirt, which he sported immediately for a shot with Christian.

Anant the Saxophonist
A few minutes after Aurelien left, Anant dropped by. We enjoyed our conversation with him. Not only is he an awesome sax player, it turns out he is also a guitarist!

Ken the Keyboardist
After Anant left, Ken the keyboardist came to see any other members were here as they were getting ready to head out on the road for the next show in another city. When he saw our Yamaha Electone in the back, he rushed to it and gave it a test run. His words were, “I love the feel of the keyboard!”

As always, we enjoy visits by musicians and music lovers at RockSo Music. And we are looking forward to our next guests!