Telecaster Custom – Rebuild 5th update

A few more parts arrived today, the screws for the pickups. Guess what? even that didn’t work out as easily as I would have liked.  Should have expected that I suppose, I think this guitar hates me.  Well you know what, I’m starting to hate it back!!!  One of the screw holes is very worn so the […]

Telecaster Custom – Rebuild 2nd update

Re-shaping the frets isn’t difficult, it just takes time and patience along with the right file.. Making sure only to file the edges of the fret and round it off without touching the top.  Half way through fret No.1… Some time later, all done…. The file leaves a very rough finish so each fret now needs re-polishing […]

USA Fender Telecaster Tuning problems

A really nice Tele’ but the owner’s unhappy as it won’t stay in tune. There is always the problem with the standard Tele’ bridge.  The Intonation is always a compromise so I’m going to change them for a compensated set…   With the strings off I’ve had a good look at the machine heads.  They […]

US Stratocaster Setup

Had a rather nice US Stratocaster on the bench today.  Nothing major, just a clean and setup. I rather like the body, nice paint finish over a very nice piece of wood…. The fretboard was a little grubby… A quick rub down with some steel wool will remove that and polish the frets at the same time.  […]

Fender Flame

Wow, what a fantastic guitar!  I guess I’m lucky, just now and then someone brings in something really nice….  All it needed was a new jack socket so it was an easy fix..

Fender Squire – Fret-dress and new heads

A fairly routine job.  Take a standard Squire Stratocaster and those special touches which will make it so much better.  The biggest setback to a really good playing action are the slightly uneven frets. They are a little worn as well so a fret dress will sort out both problems. The other problem lies in the machine heads.  […]

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all out there in Guitar-land….. At least I managed to clear the bench for Christmas, so I don’t have any customers banging on my door, needing their instruments back for the holiday.  Now I can put my feet up for a rest. Speaking of Christmas though. If any of you should get anything […]

5 String Telecaster

  The first thing I did was to have a good look at the Guitar.  Since the owner wants a low action the question is how accurately are the frets set, any high frets will cause buzzing when the action is lowered.  I’m pleased to say it’s pretty good so I won’t need any work […]

Very Special Stratocaster

Wow, this has to be the nicest Strat’ I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on!  I’ve had both extremes this week, probably the cheapest and nastiest neck fitted to an old Squire and now this…..Absolutely stunning!!  I actually did very little, since it didn’t need much doing but I just wanted to share it […]

Telecaster Custom – Volume fix

I’ve never really been a fan of these but to see a 70s guitar like this is nice. The owner wasn’t happy as the bridge pickup was just too much when on 10.  I’ve never really come across such a request but he was right, it just had too much of an edge to it, […]