I bought an unconverted Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe about 16 yrs. ago with the idea of converting it, after reading so many reviews of how wonderful they sound. Finally got around to getting it converted from the original slide to a spanish style (standard) guitar just recently. After doing much research and talking to dozens of people over the years, including Steve Swan, down south of San Francisco, who has a special feel for these guitars, I took it to Alan Perlman in San Francisco for the conversion. He's done many of those that Steve Swan has sold over the years. Anyway, Alan is the real deal, and has done over thirty Roy Smeck conversions durning his career, as well as built and repaired guitars for some of the biggest names in the music business. I got my Roy Smeck back about two months ago and Alan has converted it to perfection, and it sounds absolutely amazing to my ears. I can't put it down. He nailed every detail to the exact measurements I'd given him, and made this 1934 antique guitar into a beast of a player, and very easy to play, and a big almost piano-like sound, with rich tone and volume in the lows, mids and highs even with light gauge strings. I couldn't be happier! I realize it is hard to predict how such a conversion is going to come out, but I'd recommend anyone considering doing this to have it converted by someone who has done several of them and knows what they are doing. There are many horror stories about bad conversions, and some poor work is very hard to undo. All I can say is, thank you Alan Perlman for the exquisite care and expertise you took to my Roy Smeck!
