Freshman – Setup and lower action

This is another nice one.  I’m not a great fan of Freshman but this one feels right. Nothing much wrong, just a little high in the action.  The neck had just a little too much set in it for my liking. so flatten it out just a little.  I did that with the old strings […]

Fender Acoustic – Action Height

Here’s a common problem.  A nice guitar but the action is a little high.  It can put you off, you’re not going o persevere if the guitar is hard to play.  However don’t worry, as long as the guitar is basically sound and the frets are level it can be sorted. Looking up at the 12th fret the […]

Martin – Intonation problem

Nice guitars these, usually much better than this, but the Intonation was rather badly out in this one. There didn’t seem to be any real reason for it so I started off with a new, compensated, bone saddle…It sorted out most of the problem, but not quite the Bass “E”.  Next I widened out the […]

Baby Taylor – action height

I just love these.  I think they’re probably the best value for money you can these days, and absolutely ideal as a starter for a youngster.  This one just has a bit of a high action. The neck set was also just a little high…so a tweek on the truss-rod….The actin at the 12th fret was way […]

Freshman – Bone Nut & Saddle

Nice 12 string, just wants a bone nut and saddle to make it into something special. I’ll make the new nut from a large blank since I don’t have one for a 12 string. First of all make sure it’s flat and square…Then shave it down to the right thickness.. Once it fits the slot […]

Yamaha – Fret dress, bone nut & saddle

A nice acoustic, just needs a little work and some extras to lift it out if the ordinary. The first thing the owner wants is a bone nut and saddle, to improve the tone a little. The nut isn’t a problem but the saddle is a very complicated shape, I’m not sure if I’m looking forward […]

EKO Saddle

These are tough old guitars, you don’t find any more solidly built.  The saddle on this one seems to have melted! I don’t know how but ‘m going to fit a new bone one. It took a bit of work to get the old saddle out, in pieces in the end. Not that it matters, […]

Faith Setup

A nice acoustic.  Plays nicely but could be better. Unusually the set in the neck was very low, “off the peg guitars” tends to be the other way, too much of a curve.  My feeler-gauges are even too slim to even measure it…Slackening the truss-rod a little easily sorted that out… That’s better.The action at the 1st […]

How to tell a good guitar from a bad one!

I’m often asked if such and such a guitar is any good? Is a ***** better than a *****?  The truth is they can all vary.  It’s possible to pick up a cheap guitar for less than £100 that plays nicely, on the other had you can spend £3,000 on a top end guitar that […]

Epiphone Hummingbird – Setup

A nice new guitar, just in need of a tweek to make it play a little better… The action was rather high making it difficult to play.  First I reduced the set in the neck… Then reduced the height of the saddle a little… That’s much better…