Bruce and Sons Stringed Instruments near Omaha, NE

[dang]

I just have to give some props to Micah Bruce of Bruce and Sons Stringed Instruments. I was badly in need of a setup and was hoping to get some other work done and a local shop (where I bought my Collings MT2) recommended I get in touch with Micah.

Not exactly a lot of shops in the area that can do a decent job with a mando. At least none that I have found! My local mando playing friend took his mando to Kansas City to get some work done last year; at the time we had a discussion how difficult it is to hand someone your (relatively expensive) instrument when you aren't confident they know how to work on a mando. When I found out Micah worked for Collings for a few years and with John Allison for a few years I had to check out his shop.

So last week I emailed from the site and in the morning I had a response. Long story short he did a setup, a speed neck, and added a second side dot at the 12th fret for me. Very happy with the playability, the setup may be the best I have had. The speed neck looks and feels great! Aside from the slight asymmetry (due to the placement of the original dot) it is difficult to tell the second dot at the 12th fret wasn't from the factory.

I brought in my Northfield octave mandolin and he put in a K and K pickup in it for me. I then left my Weber Bighorn with him for a refret and to get a K and K also. Needless to say I was impressed with his work!

I just wanted to help out anyone in the area who hasn't heard of Bruce and Sons,
and THANKS to Micah for doing good work!





NFI. Life is too short to play without a good setup.
Dan G.

[dang]

Micah installed a pickup in my Northfield Octave Mandolin, it came out nice and clean and works great! That tailpiece is about as close as I am going to come to owning a Nugget for a long time, so it was rough to ask him to drill it out; but it was in good hands

I will post pics of my Weber Bighorn refret when I get it back in the next couple of weeks.

Sooo nice to have well set up instruments with the customizations I want. It makes me want to pick like crazy!

[Frogstar]

I'll have to stop in to check it out, gives me an excuse to get barbecue at Swine Dining down the road anyway!

[dang]

I'll have to stop in to check it out, gives me an excuse to get barbecue at Swine Dining down the road anyway!

Just FYI there are no instruments for sale at his shop or anything, it’s all custom orders and repairs. And I know he does some hours at Lidgetts Music on Fridays, and isn’t working in his shop all the time so you might send an email first.

Now I need to go check out Swine Dining!

[Teak]

dang! (Not swearing; that is the moniker, eh?)

Thanks for this news. I have contemplated having to drive down to Kansas City or Lawrence for a refret but knowing that there is someone in Omaha who could do it would save me 3 hours of driving.

[dang]

I got my Weber Bighorn custom back from Micah a couple of weeks ago and finally put it down long enough to remember to take pictures and post them...



The EVO gold frets give a nice touch to the existing gold hardware. He did a refret and put in a pickup, and I must say this brought an instrument that I had been neglecting for years back to life. I didn't realize how much the playability had been suffering. It sounds better also. More then just the improvement in playability, there were some very small changes in the neck angle and setup that really brought out the tone. I had a friend over and was comparing it to his mando and they were surprisingly similar in tone in my hands, my almost 15 year old Weber and his relatively recent Girouard.

Long story short Micah did a great job revitalizing my mando, it sounds and plays better then ever!

Dan G.

[Br1ck]

It is a fine thing to have a shop you can trust.

[Jim DeSalvio]

Thanks for posting about this shop. I have it bookmarked.

[dang]

I asked Micah to do a fake fret for me, just cause I could. I have pretty big round fingers and couldn’t play up there anyway... And yes, I wish I could play as well as Dave Appalon!