US Telecaster – Setup

Why should a brand new guitar like this need a setup.  Simple answer, it shouldn’t.  However it’s been built a long way away, in a Californian desert, and travelled half way round the world.  How many temperature and humidity changes has it been through? It’s not really that bad, just needs a twist here and […]

Gretsch Double Jet – Setup

Nothing much wrong with this one realy, I think this range of guitars are excellent value for money, it just needs a little tweek here and there to optimise its setup. While the strings are off (It’s always worth fitting new strings before completing a setup) I gave the fretboard a clean and oil. The […]

Fender Telecaster – Intonation problems

Everyone loves a Telecaster, a cassic guitar, no-one should be without one!  There is, however, one fundamental problem with the original design.  The strings are paired up on the bridge saddles and so the intonation is always a compromise, perticulrly on the D and G strings. There is a simple solution though, compensated saddles.  I’ve […]

Gibson Les-Paul – Overhaul

What a great old guitar!  Despite it’s age (dialling the serial number into the web came out with 1960) it’s not seen a great deal of wear, it’s just had a little damp getting to it lately.  Luckily I think we’ve got it just in time! The frets are a little worn around the usual […]

Ibanez – Fret Dress

These are normally better than this.!.  If you’re looking for a good starter guitar then I reckon you can do a lot worse than pick up a second-had Ibanez.  Sadly I think this one must have been built on a Friday afternoon!  Still a good looking guitar though… Mostly it’s fine, It just has a couple […]

Milan IV Bass – Setup

This one’s been sitting around for a while, so needs a bit of work to get back into a good playing condition.  The machine head posts were quite corroded so that seemed like a good place to start. That’s better.. Next the fretboard, a good cleanup to remove a few years worth of dirt. and then some […]

Giannini – Fret Dress and Bone Nut

I’ve never come across one of these but I think I want one! What a classic look, no Beatles fan should be without one.  I played bass in a band many years ago, and as a Beatles fan had to try out a Hofner bass.  I could never really get on with it though, I […]

Jackson – Fret dress

Never been a meal fan, and this one needs quite a bit of work doing to get it playing properly.. The frets are a little worn, not too bad…. the trouble is there are some low spots… To sort out those 2 problems I’m going to level everything.  First then, off with the nut.. and make sure […]

Squire Stratocaster – Upgrade

I know this is a budget guitar but it should have been better than this.  However a little bit of work and I’ll get it playing nicely…. The first thing I did was to remove the nut.  It’s a good job I was planning to replace it as the old one came out in bits….. I’m […]

US Fender Stratocaster – Fret Dress and Setup

Now this was a really lovely guitar.  I think a late 80s, American Built Strat’ Considering its age there’s not much wrong with it.  A little bit of wear and tear on the frets… The rest of it’s lovely, a really great colour too. There was however one big problem that I hadn’t anticipated, the […]