There wasn’t much really wrong with this one, it’s just been tucked away and neglected for a good few years. The fretboard was rather caked in several years worth of goop. It was rather thick and dry so I very gently used a cabinet scraper. Very important not to scrape too hard, to only remove […]
Tag: guitar
Tanglewood – Deep Clean and Setup
Nothing much fundamentally wrong with this one, it’s just in need of a thorough clean and setup. It’s not been used for quite some time but I believe it has significant sentimental value. The fretboard and frets were rather dirty, as was the rest of the guitar. A good scrub with 0000 grade steel wool […]
Epiphone Casino – Bridge Upgrade
A great guitar that’s been through the workshop once or twice before for a couple of other upgrades. I do love a semi-acoustic with a Bigsby, but they sadly they aren’t the most stable of tremolo units. A roller bridge can help quite a bit though. The original bridge had a nasty habit of lowering […]
Epiphone ES335 – Neck Repair
A rather nasty break this one. It’s split along the grain though, so it’s repairable. It’s split into several parts so I need to deal with those loose parts first. Before gluing anything I removed any loose small chips that will get in the way of the head fitting closely back together. Then inject slightly […]
Fender Jazz Bass – Replacement Neck
A strange one this, the top of the neck has quite a crack in it. I tried to glue and clamp it but the crack must go right through. When I tried to tighten the truss-rod it didn’t pull the neck into shape, it’s just opening up the split. Sadly it’s beyond my skills to […]
Gibson Les Paul – Pickup and electrics upgrade
There are a lot of after-market pickups out there which can represent a good upgrade. While I was at that with this guitar the owner also wanted me to remove the modern printed circuit board and replace it with traditional potentiometers and capacitors, he felt they would be more reliable in the long run. The […]
Ibanez RG – Fret Dress
This a rather unusual one, Ibanez guitars are normally a lot better than this… Having set it up to a normal standard it was choking out badly at the first fret. Turns out the first fret is really low. The only way to dial that problem out would be to put in a rather excessive […]
Jazzmaster – Shielding and Pickup swap
Need to improve the sound of your guitar? How about a new set of pickups and shield the pickup cavity to stop any unwanted hum while you’re at it… The inside of the Jazzmaster must be about as complicated as they come. However, a one-for-one pickup swap should be easy. Before the new pickups go […]
Taylor Setup
Taylor Setup Not something I would expect to have to do, a setup on a top end Taylor. A guitar setup is quite a personal thing though, so the standard factory setings may not suit everyone. The owner just wanted a slightly lower action. The neck had just a little more relief than I would […]
When is a Fender not a Fender?
When it’s on of these…. Perhaps not the worst guitar I’ve had on the bench but you can tell from all the details it’s not genuine.. At first glance it looks OK. Just take a look at the jack plate, and the lack of quality in the finish. The screws on the scratchplate haven’t been […]