Meet the former B.C. cabinet maker who’s now a guitar doctor to the stars

If your beloved guitar has met with a terrible fate, you may not need to fret — if you can get help from B.C.’s Nicole Alosinac, guitar doctor to the stars.

Alosinac has repaired everything from vintage models to guitars that have been completely demolished.

“I’ve had a guitar show up in a shopping bag that was smashed in a rage — so toothpicks that I’ve put back together,” Alosinac told Global’s This is BC.

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In fact, Alosinac says she can restore just about anything with strings.

“Acoustic guitars, electric guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, banjos, sitars,” she said during a break from another busy work day.

In her studio, you’ll find a stack of damaged and broken instruments, a pile of projects she’s yet to start.

“We affectionately refer to this as guitar mountain,” she said.

Fashion didn’t bring Oge Ajibe to BC but she always knew it was her true calling.

Years ago the former cabinet maker realized she could use her woodworking skills to become a luthier, following her true passion for music.

“It sounds silly, but you have hopes and dreams for the guitar when you’re building it. You’re like, ‘OK, what are you going to do out there? What sounds are you going to make? I want you to sound great.’”

Early in her career, Canadian rocker Randy Bachman brought his unique collection of guitars to Alosinac with all kinds of challenging requests.

“He would find these broken ones and just be like, ‘OK it’s broken in this way, that’s hard to fix but maybe we can put a sound hole there or let’s put some inlay in it, or this guitar is too wide for me can you cut it in half this way?’” Alosinac said.

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Since then, she’s dealt with everything from airline baggage catastrophes to vacation mishaps. If you have the time and the budget, Alosinac can bring virtually any cherished instrument back to life.

“It will be good as new but it will sound as good as old,” she said.

“Pretty much everything can be saved, but is it worth it to be saved? And if not at least you have the memory and hopefully a good recording.”

To contact Jay Durant with a story idea for This is BC, email him details and contact information at thisisbc@globalnews.ca