I live in the North Bay in Sonoma County and nope - ever since Todd Clinesmith moved to Southern Oregon a bunch of years ago there really hasn't been anyone I know of who qualifies as an "expert." But even Todd was a nearly four hour drive north from my place to Humboldt County where he had his shop back then. I do ny own setups out of necessity because I have a hard time swallowing what it would cost to send a guitar back and forth to the likes of Bobby Wright in North Carolina, Paul Beard in Maryland, or Tim Scheerhorn in Michigan. 

But I'm no expert.

Gryphon Stringed Instruments used to do some setup work in Palo Alto I guess more out of necessity than anything else when they would take in used dobros for sale. I called them several months ago for a new player to see what the deal was and the guy told me that you need to bring your own parts because they don't stock them and they might be able to help you out. That didn't inspire a lot of confidence in me. One of the partners, the late great Frank Ford passed way a few years ago and he was one of the world's most respected repair and maintenance luthiers.

Though he doesn't build resos anymore (and he built some beauties years ago), parts supplier and fabricator Randy Allen isn't far from you, in Auburn. No idea if he does setups but it might be worth a shot to reach out to him:

https://www.allenguitar.com
 

As Mark said, most of the “Dobro whisperers” (setup experts) seem to be east of the Mississippi. I’d add Byrl Murdock (Darlington, IN) to that list, as he’s active in setup/repair work in addition to crafting his own quality resonators.

I spent much of my adult life in your neck of the woods (Sacramento). I did use National Guitars (in SLO) for installing a Fishman Nashville pickup and doing refresh setups. But that was on their own National Scheerhorn model. And SLO is not exactly local to you, even if they did 3rd part setup/repairs (which I don’t believe they do…).

So yeah, it’s a bit of a dry zone, unless there’s someone I totally missed during my time there.

Shipping to a remote expert is an option but will set you back a few hundred $ round trip, in addition to the setup fee.

Sorry, not really helpful…

Craig:
Is this a round neck or a square neck guitar? What are you working on? Curious because people don't usually mention intonation problems with square neck guitars.

I've had to learn myself, nothing like a repair guy saying " wow, I've never actually seen inside one of those" before giving you a quote to inspire you to learn.

quote:

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Originally posted by Wildeman

I've had to learn myself, nothing like a repair guy saying " wow, I've never actually seen inside one of those" before giving you a quote to inspire you to learn.

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Yeah... not a  lot of confidence when a guitar tech says that you.

I know a guy on a casual basis who is a great luthier - Christopher Holcomb. He grew up near me here in Sonoma County and splits time between Sonoma County and  Santa Cruz where he builds some amazing guitars that sell for serious money. Along with flattops and some electrics he builds roundneck spider bridge guitars - kind of unusual, with the exception of Beard, you don't see many boutique builders doing spider bridges, it's much more often biscuit bridge guitars. When he's up in my neck of the woods, he runs a lavender farm,  and they just built a beautiful A-frame barn on the property. Along with all that he and his wife have three young kids. 

A couple summers ago when Jerry Douglas was on a west coast tour with his band  beginning in SoCal he was having problems with the Nashville pickup in his Beard. I told him if it's still a problem when he got to the Bay Area he could use my Nashville equipped Clinesmith for the show. It ended up he didn't need it because when he got to Santa Cruz (about 2 1/2 hours south of me) where they were playing a show nearby he stopped off at Holcomb's and Chris repaired the pickup.

Jerry also has a squareneck Holcomb, it might be the only one Chris ever built. I was able to visit with Jerry after the show at The Sweetwater Music Hall in MIll Valley which is several miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and he was raving about how great this guitar is that Holcomb built for him. Nothing but high praise from the maestro.

I bring all this up because perhaps there's a chance Christopher Holcomb is willing to do setups, but the backstory above makes it seem like he's burning the candle at both ends and right off I wouldn't bet on it.  

But I'll give it a shot and  try to get a hold of him and report back with any news. 

Thanks all for the tips and recommendations. I called my old teacher and friend Pete Grant who also recommended Randy Allen. Randy replied that he is not doing set-ups or repairs at this time. I also brought a tricone up to someone else in the Colfax-Nevada City area about 10-15 yrs. ago, but I'm thinking he has retired (Hidden Valley Guitar?).
It is a squareneck and not really a "problem", I just noticed the bar position using a Peterson tuner for a true octave was further away than I would prefer. I'm tempted to open it up and do some measuring and possibly rotating the spider just a touch to see. My reluctance is I have never really been inside of one, biggest concern is (pardon me if I say this wrong, I may use the wrong terms, but you will know what I mean) is that screw that preloads the Cone. Assuming I will have to loosen it to get any rotation, and getting it back to the correct load, I've read how, but I love the tone and want to do it right.
Great group here, thank you,
Craig

You cannot just "rotate the spider" as the slotted insert would flip the string position.

This video may be of some help.

h

Probably dont mess with the screw, the whole cone should turn with the spider, but I've never done that on a square neck, only round necks for intonation. I don't really ever remember checking intonation on a steel.

Craig...the screw helps to mate the spider to the cone and loosening won't accomplish what you're looking for. The screw tension should only be about one turn further than when the screw head contacts the metal of the spider. Rotation isn't generally required on square neck guitars unless the bridge inserts are not exactly parallel to the frets, or perpendicular to the long centerline of the fretboard. Square necks are not intonated at the bridge like acoustic guitars. The bridge is a straight line. If the octave position does not line up with the frets it may be the way the guitar is built and not correctable. Depending upon how wide the cone ledge is and whether there is "play" around the cone, sometimes you can move the cone/spider assembly towards the tailpiece or towards the headstock as appropriate. But this space is likely minimal and I wouldn't do so without a measurement gauge like the one that Paul Beard sells. Every reso owner should have one to correct minor positional changes of the cone/spider assembly which can occur. In order to do this, one has to just release the tension on the strings and shift the cone/spider. In doing so, you also risk creating a buzz which will require removing the coverplate and re-setting the cone. My guess is, at best, most resonator guitars that have this "play" or space around the cone might only allow about 1/8 inch total movement, or 1/16 up and 1/16" down if the cone is already centered. When you measure your bar position at the octave see if that much correction would make a difference. In addition check your bar position at the octave and make sure that your are judging correctly. As the bar is moved up the fretboard the appearance of the bar when directly over the frets changes depending on the viewing angle. The center of the bar should be directly over the fret. Find the octave with your bar, then lean over and look at the bar position as described and see if it is correct or not. Leaning the bar other than perfectly vertical will change the intonation as well. I hope all this helps.

Parallax is a bigger problem than whatever you’re measuring. Forget about it and play it.