Jim Harley, Fret Dress and Refurb

I’ve got quite a soft spot for Jim Harley Guitars, you don’t see many around but they make quite a wide range of gear.  I’ve got one myself.  This one is a nice piece of wood, it’s just in need of a little TLC. The first problem is it just doesn’t work, no output at […]

Peavey Restoration – 2nd Update

Next step, re-wire the pickups.  I’ve cleaned the pots and they seem ok but the pickup switch and jack socket were both beyond recovery so I’ve wired in new ones. The jack-plate is very flat, not enough depth to fit countersunk screws, so I’m going to use ones with much smaller heads.  The trouble is […]

Peavey Renovation – 1st Update

Got the body stripped down and cleaned.  Nothing too severe, just enough to remove the surface dirt. I’ve also cleaned off the rust from all the tremolo screws.  They all move freely now so I’ll be able to set the bridge height and intonation easily. I’ve stripped all the electrics from the pick-guard.  I’m going […]

Peavey Renovation

This one will take a while.  It’s obviously been tucked away for some time.  The biggest problem will be the corrosion.  Most of the screws are rusted and I’ll have to do quite a bit to clean up the tremolo.  The electrics may also present a problem, but at worst I’ll replace the Pots and pickup […]

Squire Stratocaster – Fret Dress

A nice colour,  in fact a nice guitar.  I was asked to just adjust the setup but what it really needs is a fret-dress. Rather worn frets… After a few hours, level frets. Once it’s back together it will play as well as any new guitar.  A lot better than when it was new, the frets […]

Broken Machine head

This is quite a common problem. As guitars get old the machine heads can seize up.  Any oil in them dries out and if it’s been exposed to any moisture, they can rust inside.  Also the plastic of the key gets brittle, consequently they end up snapping off or breaking in two. The easiest way to […]