The Stories Behind: The guitar repair tech who just opened his own shop at 25, now on European concert tour
SINGAPORE — When I paid a visit to Wax Guitar Services near Beauty World MRT Station recently, I was greeted by the sight of the instrument repair shop’s young owner Hazieq Nizam lost in his work.
He was hunched over an electric guitar with a dead serious expression on his face that was lit by a tiny desk lamp reflecting off the instrument he was holding.
Not wanting to interrupt, I paused to take in the smell of soldering iron and the sound of John Mayer’s guitar riff playing on a music system in the background as I looked around the interior of his six-month-old shop.
Not that it took long to finish scanning around the 8-sqm humble studio.
Mr Hazieq’s serious expression immediately broke into a grin when we exchanged pleasantries.
“Hi, I’m Wax,” the 25-year-old guitar technician said, using the nickname that his friends and clients call him.
Guitar technicians such as Mr Hazieq provide a range of services from fixing faulty instruments such as guitars and bass guitars, modifying them to desired specifications or setting them up to make them comfortable and easy to play for their owners.
Although there are quite a number of such technicians here — I myself know a dozen and have sent guitars to about half of them — there are some traits that make Mr Hazieq stand out from the rest.
Many of such "techies" provide their services from home. Most who do have a physical store are much older than him, have operated for years, if not decades, and are well known by guitar enthusiasts in Singapore.
Besides being a super young towkay (boss) of his own shop, Mr Hazieq has learnt from luthiers and technicians here and in neighbouring countries.
A luthier is an artisan who builds or repairs stringed instruments with a neck and soundbox, such as a guitar.
Another string to his bow: Mr Hazieq has provided his services to visiting international acts.
Now he is travelling around Europe and the United Kingdom to provide his services to support Singapore band Wormrot on their tour. The band play what is known as grindcore, often described as an aggressive sub-genre of heavy metal.
Mr Hazieq plays guitar in his own band as well, but his true passion is nurturing the instruments of others.

HOW HIS MUSIC JOURNEY STARTED
Music has been front and centre almost his entire life, Mr Hazieq told TODAY.
He grew up in a family of music lovers and was constantly exposed to various types of music.
One story told by his parents is that the first discernible sounds out of his mouth as a baby were not words.
Mr Hazieq said: “There's this very popular song called Master of Puppets. So I was babbling the intro riff even before I said my first few words.” Master of Puppets is a 1986 classic track from heavy metal band Metallica.
Even the moniker Wax is a reference to the song I'm Made of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of? by American rock band A Day To Remember.
Mr Hazieq began playing guitar in his teens. During his days as a polytechnic student, he took up an electronics-related module and joined a performance co-curricular activity where he began tinkering with guitars.
“In our inventory at that time, there were about 20 faulty guitars. So in my spare time, I tried repairing them out of instinct and it made me realise, 'Hey, I can do it'.”
He later worked as an intern at a music retailer where he learnt the craft from a guitar tech.
Mr Hazeiq recalled how at one point as a student, he sent his own guitar to a tech for a set-up, but the service was disappointing.
"I gave him all the limited money that I had, but when I got it back, (I found that) this guy only changed the strings," he recalled.
As he took up this type of work as a side gig of his own, that early experience made him strive to price his own services affordably.
“If a 15-year-old kid wants to come to my shop asking for guitar repair, I will not have the heart to charge him a good amount of money,” he added.
From the earnings made up of such relatively affordable fees, the money he saved from this side gig for about five years was eventually enough for him to invest in a studio space of his own early this year.
He declined to reveal how much he spent on the studio, only to proudly say that he did not take up any loan for his business venture.
To scrimp and save further, he put in a lot of work by himself when setting up shop.
He built his own work table, painted the shop and did the lighting himself — instead of paying others to do it for him.
“Because I come from a humble background, I understand the value of money. The money shouldn't be spent on unnecessary things.”

LEARNING FROM THE EXPERTS
As I surveyed Wax Studio, I saw that between the working bench against the left wall and the racks of customers’ instruments on the right, there was barely enough space for one person to sit.
Yet, there was enough room for the little signs of Mr Hazieq’s outsized achievements and proud moments.
On the mini-fridge door at the end of the room and on the wall above his work bench were backstage passes and Polaroid photos capturing various acts he supported.
They include American post-rock band Caspian and international guitarist Yvette Young from math-rock band Covet.
"I grew up with (Young's) music, so for me to be able to work on her guitar is already a crazy experience," he said.
When Canadian rock band Sum 41 came to Singapore as part of their farewell tour, Mr Hazieq also “understudied” their touring guitar and bass tech Tom Reardon, a renowned technician who also works for acts such as Matchbox 20 and a few others.
Near the back of his guitar shop was an acoustic guitar that he handcrafted on his own while staying for a month with a luthier in Malaysia last year.
He had spent the month isolated on the outskirts of its capital city Kuala Lumpur purely to deepen his knowledge of guitars and wood, he said.
It was also during his stay in Malaysia that he got inspired to go all-in and make guitar servicing his full-time job.
“To be honest with you, at age 25, I did not think about making guitar repair as a full-time job at first,” he added.
Then, he read a book while taking a break there one day and came across a quote, which he read to me: "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."
He said: “So (what I learnt was), if you have an idea, or if you have something that you want to do, just give your best.”
BEYOND THE STUDIO
While he would encourage others to pursue their dreams, he was not shy to tell of the amount of hard work he has to put in to make his own come true.
His shop officially operates until 7pm, but he typically works through until 10pm.
He did not want to say much about his ambitions or long-term career plans, adding that he prefers to share more about his plans with others only after they have materialised.
What he would let on was that he would love to get opportunities to work for other acts both here and overseas.
And for his brand, he would love to see Wax Studio offer more services for all music lovers out there.
At the moment, he is ecstatic about touring with Wormrot for their 24-stop tour around Europe and the United Kingdom from early June to July.
“This is going to be my very first tour with a band, and also my first time in Europe” he told TODAY excitedly in the studio before he left Singapore.
Asked to look back at what he has achieved so far, he leaves no doubt about his commitment, despite the highs and lows that come with running one's own business.
"Doing what I love is very fulfilling and I wouldn't have it any other way.”