I've known about Fren at Asken Guitars for years, so when my Fender needed a setup, a dirty switch cleaned, and some overall fret work, he was the first person I trusted. He adjusted the guitar so I can switch between E Standard and Drop D with minimal retuning, and it plays great now. He also polished/dressed the frets, which made the neck feel noticeably smoother and easier to play. You can tell he pays attention to detail and actually cares about doing the job right instead of rushing through it. Definitely someone I trust with my gear. read more

Best guitar repair shop I know! Fren is not only a very skilled luthier but is also really Friendly too!

Fren is the Real deal! Fair price and professional work done will come back to support local small business read more

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Thank you Fren. My wonderful daughter-in-law brought my Taylor Mini in for a set up prior to my arrival from Chicago(where I live). You were incredibly gracious and kind with her (her first time in a guitar shop). He also was kind enough to put my guitar at the front of the queue so it would be ready upon my arrival. Now, on to the work. I'm a professional musician and I can state that this was as fine a set up as I have ever experienced. The guitar played beautifully and vibrated perfectly like a finely calibrated instrument. Thank you Fren. Dario Cohen(Cody). read more

Asken Guitars - Guitar Stores Near Me - Los Angeles, California

Quick fix on the treble control knob on my Yamaha bass. Very friendly and professional service. I will be back for sure.

Amazing job and super friendly. Very knowledgeable about guitars and electronics and I like how my guitar sounds a lot better after the setup. read more

I wanted to leave a more recent review of Asken Guitars and for Fren so people can read about his recent work and business ethics. Stopped by the shop on Robertson just to chat him up before I brought my beloved american tele here. I was greeted with nothing but helpful insight and suggestions on how to get the guitar how I wanted. After figuring out the bridge I wanted, I dropped the tele off to have it installed as well as a fresh set up. I got the guitar back quicker than expected with more than enough time for me to have it before I flew out to the East Coast to play a couple shows. Fren is a very knowledgeable luthier and very rational, honest, and reasonable. I'm the type of guy who likes to get to know who's working on my stuff whether it be my guitars or my cars, and Fren was extremely friendly and did not give me any red flags or reasons to be dissatisfied. I just purchased a brand new Talman and I will definitely be bringing it by for a set up. Highly recommend Asken Guitars and Fren especially. It's hard to find people like this who genuinely love and care for all sorts of guitars. read more

Asken Guitars - '97 Fender American Standard Telecaster - Guitar Stores Near Me - Los Angeles, California

Great service! Fixed my floyd rose up good and even went the extra mile to point out other problems and fixed it, at a good price too! other shops wouldve charged wayyy more read more

Fren is truly an amazing guitar specialist. He set up my EverTune bridge on my Eclipse and did an amazing job. I will definitely come back for other Luthier needs. Thanks Fren, Ray Hernandez. read more

Great experience with Asken Guitars. I had an Evertune bridged installed on a SG Standard tuned to drop F. Low tunings like this on a standard scale guitar can be a pain in the ass. They worked through all the issues and my guitar sounds better than ever. Thank you! read more

Asken Guitars - Evertune bridge installed on a SG Standard. - Guitar Stores Near Me - Los Angeles, California

Great experience. Not only is Fren Asken a super chill nice guy, he's a master who loves his work. I needed a new bridge on my acoustic and he said I could wait for it. Got to watch him work his magic, like sitting at the counter watching the chef cook your dinner. Not only did he fix the bridge, but adjusted the neck and saddle fixing a years old string buzz at the 12th fret. Pin this pro into your favorites. You'll be happy you did. BTW, those beauties behind us are his creations. The Gold Top tribute is sublime. read more

Asken Guitars - Guitar Stores Near Me - Los Angeles, California

Outstanding Setup! Better than a Plex'd guitar from now closed Westwood Music. I'm blown away! I went to Fren with Cort guitar recommend by Phillip McKnight and Darrell Braun. They were so wrong in their YouTube reviews. The neck was like a baseball bat and it just didn't play right. A few years back, Fren saved another guitar that I had. So I thought maybe he could help this guitar. Fren went to work, shaved the neck and refinished it with Tung Oil. So smooth. Neck shaving is a lost art in America. If you read your Guitar History, Guitarist's like Jimmy Page and Pete Townsend and many others would often buy guitars but hated the baseball bat necks. So they used English luthiers to shave the necks to make the guitars super playable. UK's Roger Giffin who used to be Gibson's Custom Shop luthier has many stories on Neck shaving guitars for the greats. That's where I 1st learned about Neck shaving. Back to my story. After Fren did his magic, the neck turned out fantastic! Way better than I expected. I told Fren to set the guitar up with super low action. When I picked up the guitar the setup was PERFECT! Fren also made a new Bone Nut for it. Results: Super low action, no buzzing. Frets were polished, no rough edges. Absolutely the best setup I've ever seen and played! I can't put the guitar down! I highly recommend Asken Guitars! read more

The most thoughtful, helpful business for your guitar tech needs. Anytime I want to get my guitar fixed, improved, whatever, I'm going to him. Super mom and pop vibes and super knowledgeable about his craft. Can't say enough about Asken. read more

Top notch. Knowledge and experience. If you need a setup ,refret, restoration or one of his top-drawer custom guitars you will be happy. Highly recommend. read more

I challenged Fren today with a unique repair outside his normal wheelhouse and he passed with flying colors. Much appreciation for his skill, creativity, patience and all around great attitude! read more

Great work , great price , and trustworthy. The job took about a month and a half but no complaints. I went to three other places before finding Asken Guitars (including Guitar Center) and none of these places were able to do what my guitar needed. 100% recommend. read more

I just took my 6 year old son here to buy purchase a guitar and couldn't have asked for a better experience. He even took the time to teach my son his first note and try the guitar before purchasing it. All around great experience and I highly recommend this place. read more

I had a 1967 Guild acoustic guitar that was in a car accident - the car was totaled. The guitar was banged up pretty badly, but (typical Guild) it was still in tune after the crash! I have nothing against TrueTone in Santa Monica - they gave the repair their best shot but ended up returning the instrument to me after trying everything to repair the cracked and unglued braces (TrueTone only charged me for the new set of strings they put on it - kudos to them). Frenster was recommended to me by the people at Advanced Musical Electronics when I brought an amp there for repair. Frenster is less than a mile from my home so I thought I'd give it a try. He was very patient and looked over the instrument inside and out, showing me the damage with a mirror. He tried a few different things to fix it up - this is a player's instrument, so I didn't ask him to make it pretty. I just wanted it to sound good again. In the end he reglued all of the braces, epoxied the broken brace and repaired some cracks in the top. The instrument now sounds better than it did before the car accident. Simple setups will take a week or so depending on how busy he is but allow some extra time for major repairs. His price was reasonable considering how badly damaged the guitar was. read more

Exceptional work! Fren is a really nice guy and delivers good turn-around time, considering that he is probably the best on the West side. I will say his prices for some types of work are a little higher than most, but do you really want to save a few bucks on the repair of a $1,800 instrument? I didn't, and I was glad I took my baby to him. His setups are the best I have ever played on, and I've been to some top notch guys all over the country and the Los Angeles area. I'm taking all of my guitars to him now, even ones that already have a "decent" setup from somewhere else, because I know he will make it even better. An amateur may not notice the difference much, but if you know what you're looking for you will be amazed. read more

Fren is simply the most knowledgeable, honest and friendly master luthier you can find in Southern California! So don't think twice, take your instruments to Asken Guitars now. read more

Asken Guitars provides prompt, expert and thoughtful service for any of your guitar needs. We needed a button strap added to our instrument and it was taken care of right away! read more

Fren is fantastic. He does excellent work for a great price, which would be reason enough to recommend him. Fren takes it another step: he'll explain things to you if you have questions so that you understand what's going on. I learned so much just by talking with him. He tricked out my Telecaster with a "pickups-in-series" mod that makes it sound fantastic! In short: great work, great prices, patient, talented and innovative! Why go anywhere else in Los Angeles? read more

Fren fitted my most prized guitar, a USA Jackson Juggernaut, with an Evertune and did a killer job. It looks factory installed, and he even smoothed out the fret edges, making it more comfortable to play. Fren has done literally hundreds of Evertune installs, and there are very few people who have more experience than him with it. He's also a great guy and has some very cool stories about artists he's worked with. I really recommend him for any sort of luthier work, and he even makes custom guitars! read more

There's a level of quality to Fren's work that is almost impossible to find today. You spend a few minutes in his shop and you'll know that the art of the luthier is alive and well. The older you get, the more your guitar collection starts to include a few of your "babies" and to have a place where you can trust that they'll not only be in good hands, but come back to you playing better than you could have ever imagined is a real gift. I'm happy to say that I haven't had to call for the disaster repair, but with the amount of care he puts into just getting a guitar to play the way you'd like it to play, if that day ever comes, there's only one person I would call. read more

Okay, THIS guy is the real deal. This is not a guitar monkey, this is a proper luthier. The worse the problem is with my guitars, the bigger need to take it to Fren. Even if you just need a setup, take it here. GET TO KNOW FREN ASKEN read more

When I dropped off my 1967 Fender Mustang all of the electrical wiring was failing and the frets were toasted! Fren completely repaired the electrical wiring and re - fretted the entire guitar. He told me it would sound better than it ever has once he was done with it and he was RIGHT! If you want quality, craftsman and personal customer service Asken is the best! read more

Absolutely stellar experience. Fren could not have been nicer to me on the phone while I described my guitar's issue or while I was at his shop. He removed some superficial scratches from my guitar quickly, effectively, and left me with an amazing impression about his quality of work. The guitar came out perfect, I could not be happier and I will definitely be bringing my guitars back to Fren if they ever have any problems. Fren, thanks again sir! you are the man! read more

I brought in my 2011 Fender Tele and 1983 Fender Acoustic. The lead time is long, but worth the wait. Fren told me it would take a month and it took 5 weeks to see my guitars again, none of which I am up set by. The quality and care I heard in my guitars when I picked them up is not comparable to any one else. Keep in mind, it is one guy in his garage. He is busy because he is good, and apparently a lot of people know this. If you don't have time, don't waste his time. But remember, he is the best at what he does. Thank you Fren for the set up of my guitars. -Zachary read more

Fren is great. I had some electronics issues with my Fender Jag and Fren had me up and running smoothly within minutes. Fair pricing and quick, thorough service. The dude clearly knows his stuff. Highly recommended! read more

My girlfriend and I had a horrible experience with Fren. I contacted Fren shortly after my father decided to give me his old Gibson electric guitar back in the Fall of 2014. Due to being busy with work and school I could never get around to bringing it in. My girlfriend and her parents decided they wanted to tune up the guitar for me for Christmas. My previous guitar was stolen at the airport almost 10 years ago while I was in college, so finally getting another guitar after so long was a really big deal for me. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. My girlfriend had a hell of a time getting a hold of Fren when trying to coordinate dropping off the guitar, because Fren runs his business out of his house. So you have to call him and he has to be right by the phone is seems, to come out and receive the guitar. After weeks of trying to drop off the guitar, I had started looking up other shops to potentially bring the guitar to. Unfortunately for both of us, she was able to get the guitar into his hands by early January, just as I was going to tell her I was recommended another repair shop. A set up usually takes a week or two. The turnaround should never be several months. I had told my girlfriend to advise Fren to please look at the wiring, as the guitar had wiring issues as far back as I could remember (because I learned to play on this guitar as a kid and it was starting to go in and out on amps back in the 90s). He told her it looked fine, and that it just needed a set up and should be good in a month. One month is a long quote by normal shop standards. I've had guitar set ups done before, and I had never had to wait more than a week, but he was supposedly one of the best in the city. We found him because of an LA Weekly article about best guitar shops in the city. Since this was such a big deal for us (with the last guitar stolen, and not being able to replace the guitar for almost 10 years, being a christmas present from her and her parents), we thought let's do the set up right and take it to the best person. Fren was not communicative at all about his delays. We both have customer service industry backgrounds, and understand delays in service happen, but as long as you communicate what is going on people will usually be understanding. Well, he didn't do that. We would give him an extra week, then an extra two weeks until trying to reach out to him. He would wait a week or two after we'd email him to tell us what we already knew, that he was backed up and it was taking longer than expected for him to get to the guitar. This meant the guitar was just sitting in his work area, waiting to be seen. This happened multiple times throughout the next few months. By the time we got it, he had butchered the job. Yes, the guitar has new strings, yes the guitar's action was adjusted, but no, the wiring was still messed up and after all of this, I still can't play the guitar. My girlfriend bought me a new case and a new amp and cable to go with this. She is seriously the best, and her parents are so amazing as well. Yet after all the trouble, and all the anxiety he caused by not communicating with us, and my own parents breathing down my back asking if the guitar had come out of the shop yet, I can't even enjoy the guitar. The first day she brought it home after telling Fren in person how disappointed we both were about the experience, it was hard to really enjoy the experience of finally having back home. I finally was able to open up my christmas presents, set up the amp and plug in, and what happens? The guitar sound is coming in and out of the speaker, because he never looked at the wiring, he just said it was fine. He probably never even checked his work, because the guitar was out of tune. Fine details are important when you have botched the whole customer service experience. At least plug the guitar in when you have finished the job and tune the guitar. He had sprayed the guitar's head for free (after my girlfriend had to tell him she would not pay for the job done on it because it looks terrible!) because it had started chipping while in his possession. At first he wanted to her to pay a discounted price on the job. I feel terrible for sending her there in the first place. I am never recommending Fren to anyone. Money is tight for us, and to save up money to do this, and to get her parents involved, I just feel bad that she had to deal with this experience, and that it caused so much anguish for both of us. He is a very busy and popular luthier, but he needs to treat every customer with respect and value. He told my girlfriend that he had lots of guitars in his possession, where he wasn't communicating with his clients on an update on time either. If he did an amazing job, then maybe I could see how he could get away with being maybe a week or two past his quoted time, but a few months after the time you quoted? Take your guitar somewhere else. read more

Asken Guitars - Completely botched job. At least we didn't have to pay for it, but it's still really unfortunate. He may not have to look at it, but I do. - Guitar Stores Near Me - Los Angeles, California

Great guy. Fran is very knowledgeable and is great with set ups and any guitar repairs. Also can do speedy repairs when needed which is great read more

Great experience with Asken Guitars (formerly Frenster Guitars)! Brought my guitar in for a fret dressing and to fix some dings. Fren did a fantastic job with it. The fret dressing was clean and the setup made my guitar play really smoothly. Fren was friendly and personable; he took the time to understand my needs and to assure me that he would do his best to fix my beloved axe. Turnaround time (2 weeks) was decent and probably as good as any in this town. I'll definitely go back to him the next time my guitar needs servicing! read more

Fren is a great professional, and price is very affordable. The second time I used his service, I had a minor problem, and he didn't charge me at all, although he spent time fixing it. Very friendly and honest. I wish I discovered him before. Recommend to everyone ! read more

I'm always a little skeptical about a fully decorated Yelp star such as Fren at Asken Guitars. I tend to think "Hmm, just how legitimate are all these reviews?" Well, you can rest assured they are all completely accurate. Fren is a miracle worker. I brought in my maligned MIM Fender Jaguar that would not stay in tune to save my life. The neck pickup was sunken in, it was filthy, and it just sounded awful. I was considering modding it out so that it would stay in tune, but being that its only a $500 guitar, I wasn't sure of how worth it it would be to invest another $300+ just to make it stay in tune. Fren guided me through all of my options, and let me know that there were alternatives and mods that I could use that would make it stay in tune, but that they were pricey. He never tried to upsell me on anything, he let me know his honest opinion on the matter and just seems to be a fellow that likes guitars. So, we landed on just starting with a normal setup/electronics repair. It was the exact same price as the newbie's at Guitar Center, but when I got it back I had never had it feel so good. I played a show with it the next night and the guitar sang like it never had before. I'm not sure what kind of crazy voodoo he put on this thing, but whatever he did worked and worked remarkably well. I can't thank Fren enough for making me fall back in love with a guitar that I was almost considering abandoning. I will definitely be coming back, and have already recommended Asken Guitars to all of my musician buddies in the area. read more

I would definately recommend Frester Guitars for anyone. Very helpful, friendly and knowledgable. I installed pickups on my old Strat and did modification and I have very happy with the result. read more

Fren replaced my guitar string in like 5 minutes and it was an amazingly reasonable price. Will definitely be going back for any future guitar needs. read more

Fren is the man. That's all there is to it. I had the headstock snap off my Gibson SG. Probably about the worst break you can imagine. I was convinced it couldn't be repaired. Then I met Fren. He gave it a look in a sort of cocked-head wizardly gaze and said he could fix it. After seeing his shop (and hearing the dude play..) I decided to let him work his magic. The finished result was well beyond anything I could have expected. His level of craftsmanship and PRIDE in his work is something you just don't find these days. What really makes this guy stand out is his patience and willingness to share his knowledge and explain everything in detail. Just watching him work is a pleasure in itself. I thought my Gibson was done, this guy made it BETTER than it was. Thanks, man. read more

Dont expect your guitar back in a timely manner. I brought a guitar there for some work and i was "X" in line. When someone "more famous" brings their guitars in, they jump ahead of you. My guitar should have been finished within 2-3 weeks, after 2+ months I went and retrieve it. It was no closer to being worked than when I dropped it off. If you read his yelp reviews. you'll see a few unhappy customers. He makes excuses of being swamped and needs to be more realistic about lead times. But the truth is he only cares about famous players and has no qualms about disregarding customer needs when it comes to more famous clientele. If thats the business he wants to go after, maybe he should deal with them exclusively read more

Really good luthier. Just got my guitar set up there. Plays beautifully now. Update: It's been 6 years and I have still to find a better luthier. read more

Wow. Ive been taking Fren my stuff for a couple of months and I'm amazed how good the stuff comes back everytime. I took a black les Paul standard this time and it came back just perfect. The guitar sounded beautiful. Thanks Fren I will be back. - Paul read more