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Repairs, setups and restoration

Can a guitar sound better than when it was new?

This may sound like a ridiculous question. The surprising answer is yes, it can. Between the factory floor, a box in a warehouse and a hook on the shop wall, there are a lot of things working against an instrument sounding and playing perfectly from the first strike of a chord.

Tell me what it needs 01902 701175

Buzzing open strings?

This could be the result of a bowed neck, or the nut being cut too low.

Full refret or partial one?

Do not go to the extra expense of a full refret for your guitar when there are only a couple of frets causing issues. I will only do the work your guitar requires.

Broken headstock?

Do not panic. Most breaks in headstocks can be repaired, and evidence of the catastrophe will be barely visible.

The setup

Seventeen things,
from £60.

From beginners to proficient players, all will struggle if a new guitar or bass is not set up correctly. I evaluate all the work to be carried out before beginning, always with your budget in mind.

Setups start at £60 plus new strings

No two guitars or musicians are the same, so a correctly set up instrument is essential.

Book it in

What a setup normally includes

  1. Evaluation
  2. Look for loose frets and repair
  3. Fret dress. An additional charge may be added for this, and you will be told beforehand
  4. Polish frets
  5. Neck relief adjustment
  6. Adjust nut slots and lubricate if required
  7. Clean and lubricate the bridge
  8. Tremolo action adjusted to your preferences
  9. Check and adjust bridge saddles
  10. Bridge height setting
  11. Intonation
  12. Adjust pickup height
  13. Tighten any loose screws
  14. Lemon oil the rosewood fingerboard
  15. Switches and pots treated with contact cleaner
  16. Clean and polish
  17. New strings fitted
Everything else the bench does

A fully equipped workshop.

The list below is not exhaustive. If your problem is not on it, ring me anyway, because I may well be able to help.

Setup, bracing and rewiring
The everyday work. A neck brought back to true, a loom that has gone quiet, a guitar that fights you above the fifth fret.
Cracks and structural repairs
Splits, opened seams, a body that has taken a knock. Glued, clamped and brought back so it holds.
Precision fret work and refretting
Levelled, crowned and polished, or replaced. Partial where partial is honestly all it needs.
Headstock repair and replacement
Most breaks can be repaired, and evidence of the catastrophe will be barely visible. Replacement where a repair would be a lie.
Bridge, nut and saddle repair and replacement
Where the string meets the wood. Cut too low and it buzzes, cut too high and it fights you.
Pickup and electrical customising and repair
Rewinds, replacements, new switching, new looms. Made to do what you actually want it to do.
Vintage restoration and custom inlay work
Old instruments treated as old instruments. Inlay cut and set by hand.
Full refinishing
Stripped back and refinished, in a colour of your choosing or the one it should always have been.
A personal guarantee

I treat every guitar as though it was my own.

I offer a highly professional service backed by my own personal guarantee. Your complete satisfaction with my work is guaranteed, and I will tell you what a job costs before I start it.

Photograph neededJamie at the bench, mid job. A fret dress or a nut being cut, hands and tools in shot. Landscape, natural workshop light.

Tell me what it is doing and I will tell you what it needs.

Two minutes, no sign up, and you get a real figure where I publish one.

Fill in a bench slip Call 01902 701175
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