Bone Nut

This one rather sits at the bottom end of the market, but even so, it should play OK.  This one had a very strange “buzzing” sound.  It’s all down to the cheap plastic nut with its overly slack slots. The only way to cure that is to fit a decent nut.The blank was just a […]

Burns Marquee – Fret Dress and Setup

A lovely guitar, just not quite as good as you would hope… The nut slots have been widened out and then repaired, rather badly.  The only real way to fix that is to replace the nut. Some of the frets are a little un-even, so I’m going to dress them to get a common level. […]

Epiphone Les Paul – Setup

A nice one this, just needs a little TLC.. Nothing much wrong with it really, just needed a little bit of a clean and oil.. followed by a standard 5 point setup.. 1. The neck set… A little high so a turn on the truss-rod… 2. The action at the 12th fret… a little high […]

Fender Telecaster Setup

Had a lovely Tele’ on the bench this week, a 52 Re-Issue.  Nothing really wrong with it, just needed a setup to get it playing right… The trouble with these guitars is the truss-rod adjustment, it’s on the bottom of the neck.  You could make the adjustment by loosening the strings and the neck, give […]

Samick – Fret dress and setup

A nice looking guitar, sadly the build quality has rather let it down. The first problem was a dodgy volume control, a little intermittent. I was going to replace it but once I got the wiring out I found a dry joint.  I would say it was an easier fix but the biggest problem is […]

Dean Dime – Service and setup

  One for the Metal fans, not quite my cup of tea but still deserves the same time and attention as anything else.  Nothing badly wrong with it mind you, just needs a nip here and a tuck there… The action at the 1st fret was a little high to start with.  Trouble is, with a […]

Fender Stratocaster – Custom build

A collection of bits and pieces, put together should make a nice guitar… To make it a really great guitar, rather than just an average one I levelled the frets.  Firstly making sure the neck is level.With it nice and flat, grind down the fret tops to a common level….Once levelled each fret needs to […]

Tanglewood Chicago – Service and setup

What a lovely guitar.  I’m not sure if it’s been under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe but it’s not been played for ages and needed a good cleanup and service.The electrics were the biggest problem, scratchy and crackling at best, and plain just not working at worst.To be sure I pulled […]