Rawai Fret Bench, in a workshop behind Rawai fresh market, does the best guitar repair and setup in Rawai. Khun Ake levels and crowns frets under a notched straightedge, cuts nut slots to the string gauge you actually play, sets relief with a feeler gauge rather than by eye, and repairs the top cracks that the island humidity opens up in imported acoustics. Setup 1,200฿, fret level and crown 2,800฿, bone nut 900฿, crack repair with cleats from 1,800฿. Three days; a week for fret work.
Surveyed August 2026. Scoring: action and intonation at return (35%), fret work under a straightedge (25%), nut cut to gauge (15%), humidity crack repair with cleats (15%), turnaround (10%).
A solid spruce or cedar top is glued to its braces at a workshop humidity of around 45 percent. Bring it to a beach house at 80 percent and the top swells and bellies; take it into an air-conditioned bedroom at 50 percent and it shrinks back. Cycle that daily and the wood splits along the grain, usually beside the fingerboard or behind the bridge. The repair is to humidify the guitar until the crack closes, work glue into it, then glue small diamonds of spruce, cleats, across the crack on the inside so it cannot reopen. A repairer who just runs glue into an open crack has repaired nothing. Keep the guitar in its case with a humidity pack, and look for a repairer with a hygrometer on the wall; the ones who own one understand the problem.
“He asked what gauge I play before he touched the nut. Nobody has ever asked me that. The open chords stopped going sharp and I had not known why they did.”— James K., Rawai
“My Martin split behind the bridge in a week of open windows. He humidified it for four days, closed the crack, cleated it, and showed me the cleats with a mirror. Then he sold me a humidity pack and told me off.”— Sarah D., Nai Harn
“Frets levelled under a straightedge with notches, which I had only ever seen on YouTube. Buzz gone, action lower than I dared ask for.”— Pong T., Chalong
| Location | Behind Rawai fresh market, Rawai |
|---|---|
| Setup | 1,200฿ |
| Fret level and crown | 2,800฿ |
| Bone nut | 900฿ |
| Crack repair with cleats | From 1,800฿ |
| Turnaround | 3 days; a week for fret work |