Meiron Blackstien
Luthier and proprietor
Teenage Adventures:
I first started tinkering with my own guitars as a teenager out of necessity. The guitars I had access to at the time were so cheap they needed some adjustment pretty much every time you picked them up, so I did my homework and figured out the basics- truss rod adjustments, intonation and the like.
After reading every web site and book I could get my hands on and pestering my local repair guy for advice, I decided I was ready to get my hands dirty with some serious work and soon proceeded to do my first fret dress on my hot pink Kramer. I liked the results so much that I decided to do a refret job on my old man’s Kay jazzbox. When I was done it was better off than before and that’s all I’ll say about that… The ultimate adventure was crafting a maple body and glueing in a bolt-on neck from a cheap washburn electric….add some hardware and my first custom guitar was born. Needless to say it had some issues and sadly, it is now lost to history…
Serious Schooling:
I decided I needed to hone my skills so in 2003 I packed my bags and headed for Arizona to attend the Roberto-Venn School Of Luthiery. I had the time of my life and learned a LOT about what I was doing around the six string, and other string instruments too. I got to learn about repairs, built one electric and one acoustic guitar, and got started on a hollow-body souped-up 335-ish axe that I will get around to finishing one of these days…
Real life:
I had been to NY City before and absolutely loved it… so after school was done I headed to the Big Apple for a while to see what I could see… I spent some time at First Flight Music on the Lower East Side and learned a lot, getting the opportunity to dig in to some really cool guitars and made the acquaintance of Lyndel Williams of Lynsonic Pedals and Joe Veillette of Veillette Guitars…but I couldn’t stay for long, so I packed my bags and hopped across the pond to London, England. After going back and forth a couple times, I came home to roost in Toronto in 2006. I promptly got hired to join the service department at Steve’s Music downtown. I continued to grow and learn while contributing of my experience and expertise for almost 4 years.
The Six String Garage:
It’s finally time to take things to the next level. I wanted to bring something to life that is more than simply a place to bring your guitar when it’s broken. I always believed that a guitar shop, being the place where we buy, fix and improve our instruments, sholud be as creative and exciting as the music we make with them. It should be innovative and fun, and have the ability to turn a musician’s dreams into reality.
And so, after years in the making, I bring you The Six String Garage. I promise it is going to be everything you and I ever dreamed a guitar shop should be.