01/08/2024
Gamarjoba! We kindly ask all the followers or anyone interested in our services to subscribe to Gemti Guitar Workshop - ex-Khuros instead of this page. Why? What’s wrong with this group? Why a new name? We will address it in this post.
(This is a LONG story. You are welcome to simply go to the link above and subscribe to keep in touch with us. This account will soon shut down.)
Who are we?
We are an experienced team of three luthiers: Dimitri, Mikhail and Petr. All of us left Russia in the last two and a half years, for the reasons that should be fairly obvious (feel free to ask in person, if you must).
We do almost any work with guitars and basses, acoustic or electric (or any stringed instrument – if our expertise allows). The only thing we don’t currently do is a full repaint (with an exception for oil finish), but we can give you advice on what to do and who to contact for that job. Also, we fix some audio electronics (amps, pedals, etc.), but it is not our main area of expertise. We also sell some instruments and musical equipment, including some of our clients’ on commission.
What are our values?
It sounds cheesy, but we aim for 100% customer satisfaction. You pay only after checking the instrument and if you're happy with the work. If not – we deal with whatever the problem might be until you are satisfied. That is why we offer you to take as much time to check the instrument in workshop to see if you are happy with everything. Also, there is a guarantee on our work – if anything goes wrong, and it is our fault (does not happen too often, but we are human), it is up to us to fix it, free of charge. Besides, something may come up when you play at home or somewhere else, which you haven’t noticed immediately – this of course is also can be dealt with free of charge.
Every instrument and every client deserve equal treatment. The same standards we have for a $6000 Gibson will be applied to a 300 lari Harley Benton. That said, we realize that sometimes expensive procedures are just not reasonable for a cheap instrument, and we advise you on what is best within your budget, and do our best to describe clearly what benefits a particular service will bring.
We know our limitations and act accordingly. Our craft is not always an exact science, and we don’t pretend to know everything. When we are not sure what to do with your instrument and whether we can do it, we will say so. We will then probably ask you for some time to think about it, consult our colleagues and come up with a possible solution or two.
Once we take an instrument off you, it becomes our responsibility to keep it safe and not to do anything to reduce its value, or hamper its functions. If, God forbid, something were to happen to your guitar or bass in our workshop, we are solely responsible for bringing it back into an original state or agree to some form of compensation, if it’s, for example, a nasty scratch that was not there when you came to us.
We do our best to stick to the deadlines. It is not always possible with such a small team. For instance, if someone gets sick, it’s likely to cause some delays. But we do our best to both do the job on time and keep you informed on the progress.
Our business is legal. We are all registered as individual entrepreneurs and pay taxes.
Why are we talking about the values?
In the beginning, Khuros Workshop was, for the most part, a one-man show. Some of you may remember its founder Andrey, a guy with a bushy beard. An easy way of describing him is that he did not share most of our values.
Early last year, Andrey simply disappeared. No-one could contact him for a few days. The two of us, current Gemti luthiers, found ourselves in a bit of a situation. We were sharing the space with Andrey in Sololaki. Clients started showing up for their guitars that were, at best, not ready. Some of the instruments have been at the workshop for months. As we later understood, Andrey did not make an effort or have a plan to even attempt fixing them. Facing the tasks he was not up to, Andrey decided to flee, borrowing money of clients and colleagues beforehand. We were left with a bunch of instruments that someone had to fix.
At this point, we started using the Khuros brand, although we had limited affiliation to it. Within a few weeks, we have managed to satisfy all the clients that have fallen victim to Andrey’s incompetence and dishonesty. But it became clear to us that it is better to change the name to have a clear break from the past, with its lack of professionalism, integrity, and, often, common sense.
Besides, we need to sort out the accounts on various social networks. And all we had is limited access to this page, which includes no right to change the name. Importantly, although Andrey did not appear to be using his Facebook account, there is every chance that this page will be shut down at any time – we have no control over it.
Why did we not change the name for the whole year?
To start with, the different situations of the people involved meant that we were not sure if there will be any workshop to speak of. So the renaming could have been pointless. Once the decision was to continue running a business, everyone got busy: equipping an old workshop to a higher standard, later looking for a new place and building our current workshop in Chugureti, and most of the time – working with the guitars. The new name and setting up social media accounts were low on the list of priorities. But it needed to be done, so better late than never.
What changes now?
From how things were for the last year or so – nothing changes. All the guarantees on our work remain valid. All your equipment that was left with us on commission, we are still responsible for. The terms and conditions of our service have not changed (except for some minor price changes, which happen all the time).
But we also have a few words to say to the unlucky Khuros Workshop customers, who were unsatisfied with Andrey’s services provided before our team took over in spring 2023. Firstly, accept our apologies on behalf of the luthier community. Andrey’s level of work was constantly below-par and often unacceptable, while the prices were suggesting a high-standard professional approach to your instruments. That deeply saddens us, and we empathize with you. Hope you will get a chance to experience a different service which Gemti team provides. As we described above, things are being done very differently now.
We plan to manage the new group better, adding some useful and interesting guitar-related content, as well as updating you on the stuff we have for sale. There is also a plan to eventually start developing other social media.
This page will be maintained for a couple of months to make sure you get a chance to subscribe to the new one. Then it will probably just be abandoned, because we do not have a permission to close the account.
How to find us?
Our workshop is located near Marjanishvili metro station, at Davit Aghmashenebeli Avenue, 55. It’s at the corner with Kyiv Street. There is a stairway to a basement to the left of a wedding salon. Go downstairs and turn right. Our white door is at the end of the corridor.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/PFhNQBt6cS2KHEP5A
We work every day, except for Saturdays, 2 to 9 pm. But we kindly ask you to tell us in advance what time you plan to visit – this helps us regulate workload and avoid a situation when a few people wait to have our attention.
Best regards,
Gemti team
