Luthier Services & Electronic Repairs(updated July,24.2023)

Got a question? Call Gilles direct at 613-932-8603 or by email

Heads Up !

Our repair dept will be expanding once again,as we add many new,much requested,services, to be done locally, here at our own shop,at 1418 Pitt street. Most music stores have either closed, decimated their service departments or resorted to merely "shipping stuff away".WE are still the area's only music store with a real, qualified tech & in house,repair department,stocked with plently of tooling, AND parts to get the job done !

Please Note:
As of Jan.2017,in order to keep up with the increased demand for our custom guitar work,as well as speaker cabinet builds,we will ,for the time being,suspend all amplifier & electronic repairs, till further notice,so we can concentrate on guitar work and cabinet builds.We will still provide amp repairs for amps purchsed from our shop

As always we will still provide prority, full suppport and repair services for customers who have bought their guitars, amplifiers & electronics from our shop.

Thank You!

Please be advised before you email the shop-asking for a "ballpark" repair quote,we cannot give you an accurate repair quote by phone or email,until we have the guitar or amp actually IN OUR SHOP so we can go over it.

Ballparks vary in size from the one in your neighbourhood to Dodger Stadium, so we can't respond to email requests or phone calls for accurate repair estimates.

The Cornwall area's REAL repair shop for guitarists, for OVER 50 years!

Every day here at the shop always brings some interesting items in for some kind of repair.This latest is no exception.

Like Brad Pitt said to Morgan Freeman in SEVEN - What's In THE BOX!!??

Well, here's something we don't see in here everyday,or,every other day for that matter.

The new owner unearthed this East German made Guitar Zither at a a flea market.He knew he had something remotely musical.He just wasn't sure what he had,let alone how to play it.

He brought it in for us to "decipher" it for him.

Indiana Jones time...

Strings to the left are arranged as chords(played with your left hand),while the singles on the right are tuned as individual,ascending pitches for picking off the melody,with your right hand.

Surprisingly,it came will a slew of documentation(in German and Francais) and paperwork from the previous owners.It apparently has travelled from Germany to France to Canada spanning several decades.So it's definitely old enough to vote and maybe even qualify for CPP.

Check out the patterned formfit fit case with the grooooovy patterned covering,before "groovy" became a term.

For those unfamiliar with one of these,look up the 1943 film noir,The Third Man,or Triple XXX,or the intro to Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Take a pebble"

This intriguing beast came in missing over a dozen strings and completely out of tune.We brought it back from hibernation and is now completely playable.

"Give me a sec while i tune up,"or maybe an hour,or maybe an afternoon.We wouldn't advise having a few beers and attempting to tune this beast.You'll likely need to down a few afterwards though.At least it didn't need any fretwork!

We're guessing if you want your emerging new band to get noticed, hire a player that can play "Lead Zither"?

A 17 year old Fender acoustic with a badly sheared bridge, restored...

We've been appointed as the area's only qualified BUZZ FEITEN retrofit shop for guitars & basses with the expertise to do these installations properly.If you're picky about your tuning & intonation,check out our Feiten equipped demo guitar for yourself in our shop.If you've already had a Feiten Retrofit done elsewhere that doesn't "feel" right,then we can re-do it "the right way". Learn much more about the Feiten Retrofit here.

Rainbow Music recognized the need for qualified electronic servicing & repairs back in 1972 when we started out. Our average turnaround (which still amazes most big city customers) is an amazingly quick 3-5 working days (unless your amp is waiting for a rare transistor manufactured in a tiny hovel-plant hidden somewhere in a Honduran rainforest). We are one of the few music shops in the area with a qualified tech-IN-HOUSE.That means we don't send your guitar amp to never-never land for two/three months(like many other stores)to get fixed. We have our own equipped service shop on the premises with an extensive inventory of audio tubes,hardware,resistors / capacitors / transistors / switches / controls and a mind-boggling (!) library of schematics & technical reference materials compiled over the 35 years we've been toiling away in the biz!

Let's face it.Most of our competitors have actually cut back or quietly eliminated their "repair guy" to save money on their overhead & operating expenses.While this seems to be an ongoing trend,we are one of the few music shops to actually re-invest in technical training & equipment to stay on top of things.This allows us to serve your repair needs even better,leaving the other stores behind...

While todays more complex stuff isn't getting any easier to repair (let alone getting parts for some of these "things") our customers can feel secure WE take care of any problems with their gear.

When shopping around for an amp,guitar,etc,it would be worth your time (not to mention saving you some future service nightmares) to simply ask "the salesman" at some of the other music stores if you can SEE their service shop and talk with their tech department. If you encounter some strangeness to your request, or get fed some some lame excuse like-"it doesn't break down when it's new" (that one gets told alot), you might want to consider spending the extra bucks somewhere where you know it'll get repaired without a hassle. After all, who's going to repair your gear -Brad the salesman of the month or a non-existant technician? Sorry,but a 15 year old part-time co-op student isn't "ready" to tackle fretwork on your prized GoldTop or McCarty,yet.

We just call 'em like we see 'em...

We are an independantly owned & operated repair facility and we don't have any favorite allegiances to any manufacturers. We can freely call 'em like we see 'em,warts & all,when it comes to gears.We presently perform non-warrantee repairs only,to tube (valve) & solid-state (transistorized) guitar & bass amps by Marshall, Traynor, Hiwatt, MusicMan, Fender,Mesa,Orange, and VOX.

Our Service Shop is equipped to efficiently troubleshoot & repair your gear with the following "operating room machines, while the patient is on the table":

Hitachi dual trace triggered sweep oscilloscope
Beckman digital probe multi-meters
B&K transistor identifier/tester
Sencore Senior transistor analyzer
Sencore Senior Field Effect VTVM meter
B&K digital audio function generator
B&K digital frequency counter
B&K and RCA vacuum tube voltmeters
EICO dual ac & dc isolated regulated bench power supplies
B&K digital capacitor tester
Daetron multi-tester & component matcher
B&K Dynamic vacuum tube tester/grader
Peak Industries speaker tester/analyzer & PC system
Leap Loudspeaker Design System & HarrisTech Speaker & CrossOver CAD system
Temperature controlled esd soldering AND desoldering stations
Dremel micro & Makita compact routers & jigs
Digital ESR meter
Custom built router jigs
More hand tools than we can count!
Fully equipped woodshop loaded to the teeth

We also stock & sell replacement tubes for guitar amps as well as replacement speakers for guitar & bass amps and PA/DJ cabinets.We also stock a slew of replacement parts,pickups and bulbs for dj lighting fx,fogger fluid,etc.

Own a pair of home stereo speakers that've given up the ghost? We bring 'em back alive. We also do cone repairs, foam edge replacements, plasticized edge treatments. We also stock replacement woofers, midranges and tweeters to revive even those generic brand home speakers (we can even make newer "adaptor" mounting plates if the need arises!). We can also custom fabricate expanded metal grilles for sound reinforcement speakers that can take a licking and a kicking as well. Did we miss something? ask!

Rrrrrring! Hi Rainbow - do you guys... Yes! Of course, we...

can assemble custom spec guitar/speaker/mike cables to any length you require(using Digiflex & Canare)
install/upgrade new machine heads (we can install Shaller,Gotoh,Sperzel,Planet Waves,Grovers)
install custom cut/hand shaped fingerboard nut,bridge saddles in bone,graphite,tusq
guitar body routing for retro-fitting humbuckers by Dimarzio & Seymour Duncan & EMG
install active onboard electronics/boosters/trick switching-we know a ton of tone tricks!
install piezo pickup bridges (by Fishman & Shadow) that DON"T sound quacky,for solid-body guitars
install piezo saddle transducer pickups(by Fishman & EPM,EMG)with/without onboard electronics,for acoustic guitars
repair dings, dents & chips & touch-ups in finishes(happens a lot if you own a Jackson,BC Rich,etc!)
clean,install & upgrade output jacks by Neutrik , switches by Grigsby,pots by CTS
adjust truss rod for proper seasonal amount of warp/relief -to keep your guitar happy all year 'round!
repair loose strap pins , loose braces & bridges,broken,cracked or sheared off (!!!) headstocks
speaker tweaking & crossover rebuilds,edge doping,cone saturating,refoams
re-face & reprofile worn frets to eleminate "nicks,dents & gouges" (we can work magic on your guitar!)
replace worn out frets,partial or full refrets
complete custom shop set-up including performance & reliability upgrades,and electrical shielding.
We also have developed our own proprietary process for intonating guitars that will allow much more accuracy across the fingerboard.This process has proven to be a dramatic improvement over standard methods used by most other shops.We now incorporate this new process into all guitars we sell in our store.
We also install our own custom tone switching pots for adding even more versatility to your guitar or bass
For Godin Lg Signature,SD,Freeway guitars we offer several custom shop pkp & phase & tone switching options(get even more versatility & bang for your bucks from your Godin!) We also do our own custom mods for Spector basses,Epiphone,BC Rich,Fender,Schecter,ESP guitars and many,many more.
For Strat style,3 pkp equipped guitars we offer a completely noiseless pickup assembly, that's affordable
We can provide accurate detailed insurance estimates for damages or replacement purposes
Pickup troubleshooting & rewiring.We even re-do other's improperly wired/incomplete/"botched" jobs
Mixer servicing cleaning controls and connector replacements
Pickguard installs/retrofits/ pickup routs
custom assembly of guitar "kits" and parts you choose for your "pet" guitar project-we can make "it" work!
We are also an Authorized Retrofit Centre for the Earvana Compensated Guitar Nut System=we do it right!

We also custom design and build speaker cabinets in our own well equipped woodshop

We handle a lot of repairs most other music stores are afraid to tackle!

Gilles Grignon