Reccomendation for a good luthier
 

I'm going to hand my Stratocaster down to my son. I played the crap out of it for years, then put it away wet. It needs some love. Probably needs some frets replaced, neck straightened, some electrical work and a tune up,
any recommendations? should I just look local ? I'm willing to ship it to the right guy. Slo Dave need a side project ?

Reach out to Dave. Not sure if he has time for a project but he's your guy.

Charles Freeborn here on the forum is a luthier. Not sure if he's into restoration or not, but am sure he can provide a recommendation.

:: Freeborn Guitars ::

You need a setup.

Any independent music store or even Sam Ash or Guitar Center should have a competent tech.

^ You might only need a $50 setup.
I wouldn't ship it even for a refret.

Set up. Let your son thrash on it. After you determined he loves guitar, you will know what to do.

Generally a luthier is a guitar builder. For this work you want a good guitar tech that is very familiar with Strats.

I can't recommend taking it to a chain store tech. Some are good but some a butchers. No way to tell which is which.

My guitar tech did a nice gentle restoration on my 55 Les Paul and it turned out great for very little $$. He does all the guitar work I don't want to touch but lives in SoCal so it would cost a bundle to ship it here. Ask the guitar pros in your area who is the best for this job and take it there.

Many thanks for the plug Jim!
A Strat is a pretty simple device - a couple slabs of wood with some metal bits. That said, if it's vintage (pre 80's) it's worth having done right and if it's classic vintage (pre '65) it's really worth having done right. I started on solid bodies in the '70's and still have a couple, including a '65 Jazzmaster, as well as a few I've built over the years. Even though I cut my teeth on the east coast I don't know any techs or builders there right off the top. In the nostalgia department I grew up in Wilmington DE and worked at the music store that George Thorogood frequented. Nice guy.

As for what it needs that's dependent on what it needs. I can't really say without seeing it or at least good pics of it. If frets are beyond dressing they'll need replacing. On some Fenders that's tricky as they were originally designed to have the neck replaced rather than re-fretted. The bridges are still serviceable and as long as the truss rod hasn't been stripped or broken a set up should be a realistic goal. Leave as much original patina as you can, as that's desirable now too... similar to Porsches...

BCR Greg is one of the best in the business. He was also a 911 guy at some point in the past, IIRC. Anyway, call and tell them what you need and see if the can recommend someone a little closer.

http://www.bcrmusic.com

I'd find a local guy. I can replace frets, tweak the neck, deal with the electronics, but there's some real magic to setting guitars up. I tried with my Les Paul project, but ultimately brought it into a tech so he could perform his black magic.

P.S. I live in L.A. Music central. I found a local guy that has done a ton of work for well known guitarists. If I remember correctly, he charged me $80. By the time you have the guitar shipped back and forth, you'd probably end up spending more than that.