7 String Ibanes GIO- wonky neck

This proved to be an odd one.  I’ve always rated Ibanez very highly, if you’re looking for a starter guitar you can’t do much better than a second hand Ibanez.  This one proved to be a little more troublesome though…. At first thought it had a couple of high frets at the top end… but […]

Ibanez Blazer re-fret

Now that’s a worn set of frets!  Might just get away with dressing them, but then they would be very very low.. Rather than that, I’m going to replace them with new ones.Out with the old…Putting a slight bend into the new fret-wire. Gently tap the new wire into place… and trim the spare end. […]

Gibson 335

Well 1st job of the year, that 335. For some reason it just doesn’t sound right.  The strings don’t seem corroded but I’ve no idea how long they’ve been fitted.  They’re a little light so I’m going to try a set of 10s and have a closer look at the setup…One problem I had was […]

Troublesome Jack

Jack sockets quite often present problems, they wear out and the contacts become loose, this one was proving to be tricky on several counts…. It keeps falling out as the locking plate’s rather bent and twisted out of shape and isn’t locking into the wood.  There’s also a third wire, I don’t know what that’s […]

Fender Jaguar – Full setup

Always had a soft spot for the Jaguar. I don’t think it’s ever really received the credit it’s deserved, always in she shadow of it’s big brother, the Stratocaster, pity really. There was nothing much wrong with this one, it just needed a little TLC and  tweek here and there on the setup….As always I […]

Tanglewood – Fret dress

It’s nice sometimes to get stuck into something a little more out of the ordinary, I would probably pass this one by in a shop if it were for sale but it’s nice, nice but with a few fundamental flaws.  Once they’ve been sorted out it’ll be really nice… First thing first, the nut.  A plastic […]

Kramer – Fret dress and setup

I’m not really a fan of metal music or guitars but here’s something striking… Its got some fundamental problems but I should be able to sort them out. The first problem is the unevenness of the frets, It’ll never play well like that so I’ll level them off before setting it up again.The other problem is […]

Washburn – Rebuild and upgrade

Not the greatest of guitars, but with a bit of work this one is going to something special!I I’ve been given almost a free hand to do whatever I want so I’m looking forward to producing something different. The first thing it needs is a god clean. The next step is to sort out the […]

Bone Nut and Setup

This one’s seen some service and needs a little TLC.. Frets are a little worn for a start, not terribly even either so a dress will sort both problems.While I’m at it a bone nut, the old one’s a bit wonky anyway.It’s got to come out to do the dress anyway.With the neck perfectly flat…..level […]

Gretsch setup

I rather like these, I think they’re great value for money.  This one just needed a few tweeks here and there to optimise the playing action, apart from the neck pickup that is, which was dead… It’s so new it’s still got the plastic under the bridge…           I thought it was most likely the switch […]