Touring nationally in April, May and June 2025, Harron is taking his expertise on the road!
Michael Harron is a name recognised by guitar and bass players Australia wide. Having slowly built a following in the metal and hardcore scenes for repairing, setting up and servicing extended range, low-tuned and metal-focused guitars, Harron’s name has transcended genre, now servicing guitars for the people that originally scoffed at metal’s aversion to leaving a guitar in E Standard.
Expanding even further, Harron is about to embark on a tour of guitar service and repair Masterclasses throughout the country, beginning in April and moving throughout the country through May and June.
Harron Custom Guitars
Michael has spent quite a while working within a ‘fanbase’ of his work. He explains that in the classes that Harron Custom Guitars (HCG) hosts, he’s having more people attend who are unfamiliar with HCG’s history. A sign of his business growing outside of the niche he’s carved, and a feather in the hat that honours his skill, care and experience.
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“When I started repairing guitars, I just noticed there was nobody else who was doing guitars for the metal scene.” he begins. “And so I think because I was quite young and doing guitars for bands like Void of Vision, and those sorts of guys who were in the same age demographic, the focus has been Harron Custom Guitars and heavy metal in Australia.”
Harron goes on to acknowledge that metal has a bit more of a “cult-ish” following, and that HCG slotted right into that world.
“When customers started to come to me, fifteen years ago when I started this, I had no idea what I was doing, so I’d just say yes to anything.” Michael says with a laugh. “So guys were coming in and saying ‘I want this tuned to Drop G or Drop F.’ and I listen to Lamb of God, so I’d never heard of these tunings.” he laughs.
“I would just attempt it all, and I guess word spread and I got some traction that way, and I became the metal guy, really. It wasn’t until 10 or 12 years that it was the rock players that started to take me seriously, so now I do all sorts of stuff.”
“People would come to me and say they were getting laughed out of guitar shops, it was always the older repairers saying ‘Why don’t you just play bass?’ and all those sorts of typical one-liners that metal players hear.”
Harron explains further that he believes his success is in part because he didn’t treat people like that. Harron himself had been one of those kids who was laughed out of a guitar shop.
The conversation here naturally arrives at the present day, with Harron hosting the HCG Masterclasses that he mentioned earlier, and I have to ask: surely it’s in his interest for less people to know how to fix their own guitars— so why educate people?
“When I started to learn how to do this, I started working on my own guitars when I was 14. I’d taken my guitar to a shop and they did a bunch of work I didn’t ask for, and I remember coming back to a bill that was $3-350.” he explains.
A lot of money for a 14 year old.
From here, Harron never let anyone else work on his guitars, so he learned it himself. He’s always been someone curious about the inner workings of things, so the wormhole of fixing and servicing guitars was a natural inclination.
“So I wanted to teach other people, because you should know how to service your own car, or change your own tire. Whether or not you do is completely up to you.” he says, before turning it back to guitars.
“Having an understanding of those things, especially to know ‘What’s potentially wrong with my guitar?’, we teach a lot of people those things so they can problem solve and troubleshoot. But I’ve found I don’t lose any business from it, all it’s done is establish this rapport and sense of trust between the customer and myself.”
“I’ve always said: if I’m holding the candle, I don’t lose anything from allowing others to ignite theirs from mine.”
What it’s also done is prevent experiences like he had at 14, with people having a deeper understanding of the problem, the fix, and therefore costs involved.
The masterclasses themselves don’t require any prior experience, Harron having had kids as young as 13 attend and have zero issues performing the tasks within the class. The classes break down guitar repair into theory-based components, and each step involves learning and revisions to ensure it sticks!
Harron has been expanding the classes Australia-wide, doing a tour this year beginning on April 2nd in Melbourne, before hitting Brisbane, Sydney and the rest of the country. The masterclasses are split into three main categories: Set-Up, a seven-eight hour day, Electronics being a full day as well, and the Refretting & Nut Making being the most intensive for two full eight hour days.
Speaking to the Refretting & Nut Making class, Harron explains that it takes you through re-radiusing your fingerboard, filing string slots, hammering frets, bevelling the frets, making a nut start to finish and more.
“That’s my favourite class to teach, ‘cause fretwork is my favourite job to do.”
“The classes also just help with people’s expectations when they pick up an instrument. A lot of people will hear any little buzz and rattle, and then the red flag in their mind is ‘Oh, it’s fret buzz. The guitar is doing this, it shouldn’t be making this noise.’” he explains, clarifying the difference between audible, problematic fret buzz and string noise.
“So people aren’t left not knowing and freaking out about their guitar making a noise that’s actually quite normal.”
“The number one thing we get is ‘Low action, no buzz.” Michael says with a laugh.
“Our favourite part about being guitar repairers is educating our customers on why strings might buzz or why their guitar wasn’t feeling the way it should. We feel incredibly grateful for the opportunity to help educate hobbyists, professional techs and aspiring guitar repairers on a much larger scale around the country.”
Keep reading about Harron Custom Guitars’ services, as well as the Masterclasses here.
