I usually enjoy a complete guitar build, something to get my teeth into and turn out something nice. It helps to work with the customer first mind you, to make sure I get bits that work together. The trouble with cheaper parts, from various places it can be a bit of a challenge! At first […]
I like these, great value, really well made although there are some slight problems. Much as I love a Bigsby they do have one or 2 weak points. The first one is not staying in tune, or more correctly not returning to tune once you use the trem. Part of the problem is the bridge […]
I rather like these, I’m always a sucker for a semi-acoustic. This one’s brand new but sadly isn’t playing very well. the pickups still even have the plastic film on them. The biggest problem is in the frets, some of them a very uneven.. So out with the nut… and level the neck. Tape it […]
This is a rather nice US Strat, just needs a little tweek here and there. The basic setup wasn’t far off ,although the intonation was all over the place. The owner also didn’t like the tremolo, he doesn’t really use it so I’m going to block it off. You can just clamp the trem’ claw […]
I’ve rather fancied one of these myself. One of these years. This one just has a few problems though, the biggest one being not staying in tune. Most tuning stability problems come from the nut, bending a string pulls it through a little but when you let go it doesn’t go back fully, leaving the string […]
A nice one here, just a little worn… You can see the worn spots here… So off with the strings, level the neck and tape it up to protect it while I’m working. I believe in doing the whole lot together, with adhesive backed sandpaper and a calibrated beam. You can see there were some […]
A nice one this. just needing a little work to get it playing nicely. Before anything else I like to start with a good clean. A spot of Lemon Oil to keep the wood in good condition. So a full setup, starting with the neck relief… with a small twist on the truss-rod. Next the action […]
What beautiful piece of wood. Sadly it’s a little worn and actually wasn’t very well built in the first place, but I can sort all that out… As I say, some of the frets up at the paying end are rather worn. Some of the frets are way off. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a […]
This is one I built about 10 years ago but have never been fully happy with. I used modern acrylic paint but without baking facilities it took about 5 years to properly cure! 10 years down the line it’s got some dings and scratches and actually looks great. The biggest problem was the sound though. […]
I like a project I can get my teeth into. Got handed a box of bits to put together. Some very nice parts there as well. First thing then, does the neck fit the body? Not quite. The neck pocket just need teasing out a little. Nothing much, but I don’t want to force it. The heads […]