What do you do with really worn frets? The simplest option is just change the neck for a new one, that’s part of the reason why good old Leo Fender designed them that way, so that when they were that worn you just replace the neck. If however, you want to keep your original neck, […]
Harley Benton Hard Tail
A nice looking guitar, built to a budget. The owner was just a little unhappy with the tail. He’d already changed the stock bridge but is still unhappy with the way the new bridge is pulling up. The wrap over bridge will tend to twist and pull up on the rear end when the strings […]
Epiphone Les Paul – Pickup upgrade
Want to improve on your Epiphone Les Paul? A good set of pickups has to be the starting point. While you’re at the pickups, a new set electrics to match isn’t a bad idea. A nice new set of Radioshop Pickups and wiring harness to match. There’s nothing specifically wrong with the existings volume and […]
Custom Built Telecaster
It’s always nice to get my teeth into something interesting, this one was a little more challenging than it should have been though. Before starting I had a look over the parts, just to make sure it’s all going to fit and work together. Unfortunaltely the frets were very uneven. Sadly it’s never going to […]
Tokai Acoustic – Tidy up
This one has had a bit of a whack so needs a little bit of TLC. There’s a big chunk of the binding missing and some quite deep gauges in the fretboard. One of the bracings is also split a little. Getting the glue in there is quite easy but clamping it in place was […]
“Rocky” Stratocaster
Wow, just love this paint job! What George Harrison fan wouldn’t want one! The owner has done a fantastic job, with a couple of subtle twists of his own along the way. All it needs now is to be put back together, along with a pickup swap, and a full setup to make sure it […]
Fender Stratocaster – Neck transplant.
A rather nice Stratocaster. The owner just didn’t like the neck profile so found a replacement. Swapping a neck theoretically should be easy, it’s only 4 screws after all. If you get a genuine Fender neck, as this is then yes, it will fit straight in, but you will need to re-adjust the setup. Likewise […]
Dressing uneven frets
There are two reasons why you might want to have your frets dressed, the first is if they have uneven heights, particularly if you want a low action. The diagram below, not exactly to scale, shows how when the string (the red line) is pushed down at the 2nd fret it should just clear the […]
Fender Stratocaster – Setup
What a beautiful piece of wood! A lovely American Strat’, just needs a setup. The neck was rather flat. so ease off on the truss-rod a little. Adjusting the neck relief will throw the action at the 12th fret, so that needs to be reset. Starting with the outside “E” strings. and then the others, […]
Gibson J45 Intonation problems
A lovely guitar, just has a couple of setup problems. The intonation on the B string wasn’t very good. The bridge saddle isn’t compensated, the top is rolled over in a straight line The neck relief was rather large. I don’t even need to measure it, I can see by eye there’s too much curve. […]