Service Department:
Guitar Steels

Shubb-Pearse and Robert Randolph Steels

Guaranteed against bad plating,* but not against normal wear or damage.

These bars are made of brass and chrome plated. If you drop one on a concrete or tile floor, it will get a ding. If you put it into a case compartment, or in your pocket, along with other stuff, it will get scratched or dinged.

Chrome is a hard surface, but it won't last forever; eventually it will begin to wear. This is normal and expected, after years of constant abrasion. We can't guarantee against wear; in fact, we can practically guarantee that the chrome will wear down eventually. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the bar is unusable. If the plating wears down smoothly and evenly, you might not notice any difference in the sound or feel of the bar, and continue to use it long after the brass begins to peek through.

* Bad Plating.
Very rarely, plating doesn't take properly to a surface. Plating professionals don't always know why; there are many variables. We inspect carefully for this, and can almost always visually spot bad plating and reject it. But we can't apply an abrasion test without damaging good bars, so it is possible that — very rarely — a bar could go out of our shop with bad plating. Bad plating will show up right away. It will peel and come off as either flakes or sparkly dust after using it for just a short while. Minutes, not weeks. And it's not subtle. Bad plating isn't something you'd think you might have, you'd know it.

If you've gotten a Shubb-Pearse or Robert Randolph steel with bad plating, we will replace it. Please download and print our repair request form.

GS guitar steels

The metal on a GS is stainless steel. It's very hard, but it is possible to ding if you drop it or otherwise abuse it. And the wood can chip or break if it is dropped, or carried loose in a case compartment or pocket with other stuff. They're not guaranteed against this sort of wear or damage.

If the metal part should ever separate from the wooden part, we'll fix it for you. So far, we've never had this happen to one, but if it ever does, we'll fix it. repair request form.