Epiphone Les-Paul – New Pickups

These Epiphones aren’t bad these days, some of the parts aren’t quite top flight but then that’s how they keep costs down.  One of the simplest upgrades are the pickups. How about a set of Seymour Duncans. If you’re going to change the pickups then it’s probably worth replacing the pots’ as well.  It might […]

Vintage SG – New nut, setup and service

Some of these “Vintage” guitars can be quite good.  For some reason the nut slots on this one have been cut rather deep and the open strings are buzzing a little.  There are quick fixes but the proper thing to do is to replace the nut. Gently out with the old one. The new bone […]

1956/58 Stratocaster Re-Build

Here’s another interesting project.  Another mixture of old and new.  A good friend of mine, Russell, has been colleting some fine old parts and has decided it’s time to put it all together…. Some of these parts are older than I am, a 1958 neck and 1956/58 pickups, tremolo, neck and back plates etc. all in fantastic condition. The […]

Stratocaster – New neck

Here’s a bit of an oddball.  This guy’s just got hold of a great guitar, the only trouble is it’s got no neck!  Yeh, it’s a complicated story, but I’ve sorted out a new one which should do nicely… The profile is really nice and it’s got a great finish too.  The only trouble is it’s got […]

Tanglewood Setup

This one is a little unusual. Normally when someone brings an acoustic for a setup it’s because the action is too high…. But once I’d put the new strings on this one was a little low… The truss-rod was actually to tight so there was too much curve in the neck as well, that’s only […]

Vintage Metal XX – Setup

I’ve never been a fan of this sort of thing, and Vintage Guitars are not the best, but this one worked out quite well. There are a couple of bits missing, but they should be easy to find… The trem’ was a little gummed up, so I stripped it all down to clean each part. […]

PRS – Pickup Upgrade

I’m still not really sure about these.  There’s certainly nothing seriously wrong with them, in fact they’re terrific for money.  I just can’t put my finger on it. Anyway, I’ve had this one on the bench before and already done quite a bit to it, I’ve dressed the frets and performed a full setup on […]

Fender Jaguar – Fret Dress and Setup

This was an interesting one.  A 1970’s Fender Jaguar that’s seen some use!  It’s actually in quite good condition, just a little worn.  I’m sure it can be recovered and turned into something special…. The body’s been rubbed down to bare wood at some point, but looks cool! One of the switches has been broken, […]

Epiphone Les-Paul – Fret Dress

Nice looking guitar, just not playing right. The problem is with a couple of rather uneven frets. Unless they’re sorted out it’s never going to play well. With the strings off and the neck levelled it’s just a case of grinding the frets down to the lowest common point. You can see where the 4th, […]