Setups and adjustments
Guitars (and other stringed instruments) are usually made from several different varieties of wood, and are under considerable stresses from the tension of strings. This makes them very sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity, as well as the natural process of the drying of wood.
The result of this is that, over a period of time, the string action will change resulting in various buzzes and rattles, as well as feeling harder to play. The instrument's intonation can suffer, making it hard or impossible to stay consistently in tune.
I can perform a complete or partial setup (Sometimes a simple adjustment is all that is needed). The full setup aims to restore the instrument to as close to "Showroom" condition as is possible - see the Prices page for a full breakdown.
Repairs
Covering all the problems that cannot be cured by routine setup and adjustments, I can rectify most of the problems that can happen to an instrument.
This will include such jobs as:
- Levelling and crowning frets - the frets are all leveled using a precision ground sanding beam, then a contoured file is used to restore the correct profile to the frets before polishing to a mirror shine.
- Nut/Saddle replacement - Making and fitting a bone (or other material such as Tusq or graphite, on request) nut. Making and fitting a bone saddle (on acoustic instruments).
- Machine head replacement - Including plugging old screw holes and re-drilling.
- Electronics - Including replacement (or just cleaning and lubrication) of switches, jacks and potentiometers. Fault finding and repairs to active preamps and EQ systems.
This is just a selection of some of the work I can undertake. Please contact me to discuss your instrument and what it needs.
Please note that I do not currently have spray painting facilities, so I am not able to undertake jobs that entail refinishing, such as neck resets, refrets on varnished maple fingerboards etc.
Customization
Rather than buying a new guitar, why not customize your existing instrument to get exactly the sound and feel that your music needs!
I can work with you to customize your instrument in various ways:
- Pickup replacement - replacing the stock pickups can make a huge difference to sound of your guitar.
- Custom wiring - There are many options that can open up new areas of sounds, such as: push/pull pots for coil tap or series/parallel or phase switching, changing pots to higher resistance ones to "open up" the tone, changing the tone caps to a different value, and many more.
- Active Electronics - I have been fitting an active preamp of my own design to instruments for several years. This can effectively doubles the output of your pickups and give you clear transparent highs and more sustain. It will enable you to drive long leads and pedals without "tone sucking".
These are just a few of the many upgrades that are possible - please contact me to discuss your project.
