Ozzy Owl's Guitar Sanctuary

I was asked to make a bone nut, add a bridge earth and attach the scratch plate to this guitar kit project. In the end there were a few other jobs that needed looking at too like shielding the control cavity. Unfortunately the neck pocket wasn't...

Very straightforward setup on Gibson Hummingbird.

This Partscaster has been Frankestiened together from some form of Jaguar or Jazzmaster body and so the owner was told a Japanese Fender Telecaster neck. Some kind of Super Distortion copy humbucker has been put in the neck position and the wiring on...

One of my bugbears is when guitar makers make a guitar with a radius and then put a trem or bridge on it with a different radius. This was the ,Ain issue with this guitar, so I had to use three metal shims to correct it.

Very straight forward setup on this Tele. I was surprised to see the strings were put on backwards, I'm not user if there was a good reason for this yet.

This Mexican Strat came in for a setup. The strings had been removed and the owner had taken the opportunity to clean the fretboard, which is a good thing. However they used water, which is generally not the best thing the working with wood. You can...

Lace Sensor pickups divide opinion and so this Strat having them installed may seem like sacrilege . It also had a treble bleed fitted, the trem blocked off, the control cavity shielded and a full setup.

Wow, this was one of those jobs that just goes on and on! This Les Paul originally came in to have the headstock refinished as the lacquer was peeling, very common in Les Pauls from the 90's. It had also been in storage for quite a while and needed a...

This guitar came in with the owner complaining that it was difficult to play on the first fret, he also told me that there had been some issues with the neck and previous work and been done on the bridge. Because of this I was a little worried about...

This guitar came in to have new pickups installed, a new wiring harness, new brass saddles and a setup. At this point I'd just like too take a moment to talk about capacitors; there are a lot of myths that surround caps, "paper and oil sound better",...

This Sitar (please correct me if this isn't the case) came in with a broken neck. The owner just wanted it putting back together and wasn't concerned with how it looked. I wasn't given the strings so I can only guess that this repair will hold. ...

This guitar was a bargain score for the owner but he was having issues with it and so I got busy to try to sort it out. At first it looked like just a setup was in order as the action was very high. The owner told me that was the only way to get it playable...

The owner of this guitar found the frets too thin but also too high, at first I though I might be able to level and dress them but after some discussion we decided that it would be best to go for a full re-fret. I usually use stainless steel wire but...

My friends brought this Hagstrom in that he'd picked up as a doer upper. He wasn't sure if it had been a II or a III but it was clear it had a lot of work done to it in its life. It needed a re-fret, a new nut, the none original bridge fitting correctly...

This guitars frets were somehow all over the place. I was really surprised just how high a few of the frets were. I saw no evidence of them lifting out of the slots and they were all solid, the fault must have been movement in the neck but I couldn't...

The owner of this guitar wanted as low an action as I could get plus they wanted to upgrade the bridge pickup to a Seymour Duncan one. Nothing major to report on this one, very straight forward.

When the owner first contacted me about this guitar they suspected a re-fret was in order but at first it looked like only a fret level was in order. Only the frets in the middle of the fingerboard were worn but when I tried to straighten the neck using...

Very straight forward setup on a Strat. I did work on the nut, mainly the thinner strings and managed to get the action down a little.

70's Musicmaster in to have its Strat pickup swapped for a Mojo four pole one and a setup. The action was super high and the nut was sitting at a funny angle. On inspection it has been glued in with something quite soft, maybe wood glue? Superglue is...

This little banjo got knocked over and lost its head! Not an invisible repair by any means but at least it works!

This guitar came in for a re-wire with 50s wiring and general upgrade of the components. I know this could be a contentious issue but I'm not a fan of the "vintage caps and particular kind of pots make the tone better" camp. I'd be interested to hear...

This Les Paul has had two breaks in its past and one had started to open up, possibly because there wasn't enough glue used on the original repair or may another fracture had developed next to the original break. Who knows. I had to open the break a...

This old Aria Pro came in with dodger electrics, tuners and generally in need of some TLC even though it has been looked after really well. The tuners are an interesting design that I've not really come across before and the buttons and worked their...

This Gibson took a tumble and a crack appeared on the neck much to the owners distress. the big problem with cracks like this is that you have to make it worse before you can make it better, as there's no way to get glue into a crack like this that's...

The American Standard Strat came in for a setup and what looked like a new trem block as the original had broken out. Turns out no one makes a replacement block for the more modern two point fulcrum style trem, that I could find at least so I had to...

Not really a pedal board as this board is nor really for pedals. Also here I made a custom junction box that contains 4 Orchid Micro DI's and various other ins and outs to help with stage setups.

Straightforward nut installation on this Telecaster and full setup to make sure it's playing as well as it can.

At one point in my life I think this shape was my dream guitar. I've still got a soft spot for it. This Warlock came in for a setup. Solid instrument, nothing to report.

I remember seeing some fuss about these guitars a while ago online. I'm not sure what the fuss was but I was interested to see one for myself anyway. The owner of this guitar was complaining of what he thought was high frets causing some choking and...

What is it with Partscasters at the minute!? This one came in with owner wanting me to finish off their project. Initially it was the nut and a setup they were interred in but mentioned they were also having an issue with one of the pickups. When I investigated...

Sorry, not sure on the model number for this one... RG something? Anyway, very straight forward setup, I'd suspect that it's not been long since someone had set it up as it was in pretty good shape. There were still a few things that had wondered, the...

This Ibanez came in for a setup and to have the electrics checked over. The tone pot was crackly and at first I thought cleaning it would solve the issue. It did solve the crackle but I then found the pot was working as a volume as well as a tone. Obviously...

Standard setup on an SG but detuned to C standard.

This Strat came in to have the single coil pickup in the bridge replaced with a humbucker which required some routing on the body and the pick guard. The owner was happy with the extra holes that were left after the new pickup was installed but a brand...

This Strat came back in for a pickup swap.

This Gibson acoustic came in with the owner complaining of a high action. I gave the guitar a setup and found the nut to be cut well, I reduced the neck relief and took the saddle down and lowered the bass side by around 1mm and the treble side by about...

This Les Paul had an issue with the wiring plus the owner wanted to get rid of the coil tap. I suggested it would be easier and cheaper to replace the modern wiring harness for the more traditional four pots and a couple of resistors. Worked out fine...

Very straight forward setup on a shirt scale Ibanez bass. I pretended I was a giant when I worked on this.

This Tele was looking a little odd. The bridge was half off and one of the screws had broken in the body. I had to drill it out and plug the hole before a could drill a pilot hole for the new screw. One wire from the bridge pickup has broken off...

This guitar came in for a setup and to have the wiring checked over as the output seemed to be low. The output jack wiring looked a little dodgy so I redid that and everything else check out fine. Pickups where very low and the owner admitted he'd been...

These bit came in and they come with a lesson; Not All Bits Go Together Easily - Even If They Are From The Same Model Of Guitar. The issues where multiple on this one, the neck pocket was completely wrong for the neck, as a result no standard scratch...

This old Rick has had a few lives and is still working hard in this incarnation. Iy came in for a setup in A standard and needed a new switch and some of the binding re-glueing. It also had some bolts missing from there tuners. I thought they'd be a...

This Epiphone had been broken for around a year and the truss rod had been tightened to try to keep the neck together causing the end of the fingerboard to bend back making the guitar unplayable. The break was right on the scarf joint which suggest there...

This Harley benton Strat copy came in to have the pickups swapped. It looks like it's had some mods already. Not sure about the extra cap on the tone pot?

SG Special in for a setup, the action was very high as were the strings at the nut, very straight forward setup. Not sure what I think of the string guide thing...

This Les Paul was making an odd buzzing noise after the owner had someone install a new pickup in the neck position. On inspection I found that the pickup had been soldered to the volume pot backwards.

You might need sunglasses for this one! Setup with a super low action for shredding.

Nice Les Paul Custom copy in for a setup and to have the control knobs changed.

Dino, the guitar player from Franz Ferdinand asked me to assemble this Partscaster for him. It needed a refret and as it turned out quite a bit of work to get the bridge in the right place. Often different bits from different guitars don't marry up exactly,...

This well played 7 string came in for a setup and with some issues with the wiring where there would be loss of output and it was as if the sound had gone weak and weedy. On inspection the wires from the 9V battery had been soldered together and...

This PRS came in with tuning issues. The owner suspected the issue was the nut but on inspection I found the trem wasn't seated properly on the mounting screws so it wasn't returning to the proper position and was snagging strings.

For some reason the photo's on this one won't rotate, very annoying! Anyway, custom pedal board that has everything but the kitchen sink!

Factory fresh Squire Jag which needed the usual things that all new guitars need. Mainly the fretboard was very dry and was screaming out for some oil.

I've been working on this guitar for quite some time as it wasn't until I really started looking at it on the bench that I realised just how bad it's issues where. Initially the owner was complaining about high action and the frets where very very flat...

Very common problem with guitars like this, this one was slightly odd in the break was mainly on one side and the crack almost opened up like a door. The finish on this guitar made it almost impossible to hide the repair. I did my best.

In these times we are currently living in washing your hands has become more important than ever before. Here is an example of how this ethos should be applied to looking after your guitar. The rubber gloves had to come out for this one! Keeping your...

Nothing to report here. Standard setup and clean down to get this guitar up and running again.

This guitar didn't work at all, in fact most of the pots had literally been pulled apart. There was also some body damage, like small dents and some holes from a previous tail piece that needed some attention. The re-wire was as straight forward...

This 90's Strat came in for a setup to make the trem floating. It was being strung up with flat wound 12 - 52 which were much bigger than the nut should accommodate so that needed a little work.

The owner of this guitar was getting back up and running but decided they'd bit off more than they could chew and called me. They had filed out the nut slot which was the first thing that alarmed me. When I got the guitar on the bench I found that the...

I had this guitar in about a year ago for a refret and it's back again today to try to solve an intermittent problem where it loses its powerful sound and goes "weedy". First suspect was the switch and the owner wanted it replacing regardless. I also...

This guitar was practically factory fresh when it came in. On inspection the nut had been left very very high and the frets looked as though they'd not been finished off! I gave the guitar a full setup with a fret polish.

Last well played guitar for this owner that came in for a setup and general once over. The thread on the output jack was crossed so needed to be replaced.

Another well played guitar from this owner. There was an air gap in the wiring that required some attention and my OCD was alarmed when I saw inside the cavity but that wasn't the job on this occasion! Came out nice though.

This well played Mustang came in for a setup and check over. All good so far, but I'm sure the owner will continue to put it through its paces.

Not the most exciting gallery, this guitar had a broken tone pot which need replacing plus the owner had made some errors when with the wiring that needed putting right as there was no output. Also had a fresh set of strings and some lemon oil on the...

70's Strats are odd things. You never know what you're going to get! With this one the body has been re-finished, possibly by Fender, but the body looks odd as some of the carving isn't quite as it should be. The 70's seems to be rife with what looks...

This Tele came in for a setup and general once over, had a few parts that needed replacing due to rust/use but was a straight forward setup.

This simple pedal controls the bypass function on an EHX pedal.

The quest for tone can be a long and winding road and these guitars have both been with me before. They're back as the owner wants the pickups swapped over as he thinks they'll do better in the other guitar. I've been on this quest myself, could this...

This Epiphone needed the wiring sorting out and I was given the guitar and some bags containing various components. To keep costs down I managed to make the best out of what was there. I wouldn't recommend this and I'm not sure it sound as good as it...

The owner of this guitar finds he plays it the most out of the guitars he owns, some guitars are just like that aren't they? He did have an issue though with the action which I measure at 3mm at the 12ht fret! The guitar was in need of a little TLC as...

This guitar came in earlier in the year with some frets that where popping out. I was able to glue them and it's come back to have a once over. A couple of the frets where sharp on the bottom edge and at first I wondered if the frets had popped out again...

This copy came in with a very high nut that was pushing the tuning way out when you pressed the first fret. Interesting guitar with the shortest scale length I think I've ever worked on.

This Dot hadn't been used for some time and there owner asked me to bring in back to life. The output jack had failed into the body and after a few attempts to pull in back into it's hole I realised I didn't have any nut that fitted. I had not option...

This Tele came in for a general setup and with instructions to improve whatever I could. I swapped the old plastic nut (which was cut too high anyway) for a new custom made bone one, the difference between the two is minimal but I do think they sound...

Here's another guitar that's back again! Same owner as the Tele, this time he wanted the work I'd carried out on the trem a couple of weeks ago undoing as it just wasn't working for him. I gave it a setup as it had changed once the trem was unblocked...

You may recognise this guitar from earlier in the year, it came in for a re-fret and a few other bits. Since then it went off on tour which unfortunately couldn't continue due to the current situation. It's back in because the owner complained that...

This guitar was made from a kit bought online and came in with the owner complaining about bad intonation when using a capo. I suspected the strings were too high at the nut (which they were) but I also discovered that the fret job left a lot to be desired...

This old Jag had been re-fretted with the frets that the owner really couldn't get on with. He described them as tall weird jumbo things and when I saw them I was surprised to see how tall they were. On closer inspection the fret slots hadn't been cut...

Quick pickup install for you. F holes = massive pain in the hole!

To say that this guitar need a re-fret was an understatement! I've not seen many guitars where the frets were this pitted. Fairly straightforward job this one but plenty of pictures.

This one came in for a setup, needed some work on the nut but other than that all as it should be. I first saw this type of guitar being played by Rick Parfitt from Status Quo but I guess they're connected with Arctic Monkeys more these days.

This one took a knock which popped some lacquer off at the back of the neck down the skunk strip and caused some cracking too. Very hard to photograph both the damage and the repair. Get you magnifying glasses out.

It's always nice to have return customers; I've seen this one before and it came in for the once over. Nothing much to report and so not many photos as I just got on with it. Still, this is kind of a tradition now.

The biggest issue with this guitar was the broken string peg, other than that is just needed a good clean and some work on the string height at the nut.

This guitar is big on sentimental value more than anything else and the owner wanted it to play. I tried to repair the tuners but it wasn't possible and the budget required that I just replace them. That was the same story when it came to the hump on...

There are just too many photos on this one for me to title them all! Suffice to say that this was a journey that revealed a truss rod that could not be accessed and a variety of oddities that I have never seen on another guitar. Very Russian!

That's almost a tongue twister! This Hagstrom came in for a standard setup with an emphasis on cleaning.

This Tele came in for a re-fret and a general overhaul, plenty of pictures on this one so I'll let them do the talking.

The owner of this Strat complained that he couldn't get the action where he wanted it, which was a little higher than the saddles would go and as a result wasn't getting played. I decided the best way to go forward was to lower the neck in the body by...

This guitar was very dirty when it came into thew workshop. The tome pot had snapped off and was spinning freely as well. Straight forward clean up on this one.

This bass came in for a setup ready for an up coming tour. Pretty straight forward although some wired stuff was going on with the electronics. These bass guitars just have Strat pickups in them and in my opinion need something with a bit more bottom...

Second time in for this guitar. It came in a couple of months ago for new pickups and I suggested then that the owner may want to consider getting rid of the modern wiring harness which is on a PCB and that's exactly what they did. I also did a little...

The owner of this guitar was complaining about fret buzz and dead strings, especially above the 12th fret. On inspection I found some really high frets, the 23rd was notable and it looked like they had somehow worked their way out of the fret board....

This old guitar came in for a setup (and clean!) The owner told me he had been given it by the person who had bough it new and that the strings had never been changed! I'm pretty sure these weren't those strings... where they?

Try saying that one after a couple of beers! This guitar came in for a setup and with the owner complaining that the fret ends were sharp. This guitar had been badly dressed from the factory so I finished the job!

This came in for a setup and had a problem with the nut which had worn (or was cut) too low. As it was a compensated nut I decided to fill and recut rather than replace. I almost caught something from this one!

The owner of this guitar wanted an old headstock repair making more "invisible". I explained that the repair was good but as it was old there were years of oil and fluff and god knows what else in the crack in the lacquer that would be very hard to clear....

This is the second of two identical Gibson J45s that have now come in from the band Gomez. The complaint with this one was that there was excessive fret buzz and it was suggested that a re-fret may be in order. On inspection the action was incredibly...

This old guitar came in to be made playable after it had been left to degrade, I can only imagine where it had been kept; a garage a shed? Either way it was in pretty bad shape. These guitars were made in the early 60s and were based on Hank Marvine's...

This Strat copy came in with the owner asking for a few things to be checked out. He had been told that the guitar was fitted with real Fender pickups, best I could tell was that they were made in Japan but beyond that I couldn't confirm if the were...

This guitar came in for a setup and pickup swap. Being a 2019 model the traditional wiring harness has been replaced with a circuit board, which makes swapping Gibson pickups for other Gibson pickups veery easy. Unfortunately the pickups being installed...

This guitar came in for a setup and to have the missing pickup selector switch replaced. A nice easy straight forward one.

This guitar come in from The Music Locker and will be available for sale soon. I cleaned and setup this guitar and it's ready to rock.

This Gretsch came in with a tuning issue, which meant that it wouldn't stay in tune at all. The owner had replaced this original tuning machines with substandard ones and wanted to replace the bridge. The replacement bridge was too tall and caused the...

Nice bass in for a setup.

This acoustic came in not looking its best almost straight out of the box. The neck had a massive back bow and on inspection the truss rod was as tight as it would go. The action was still very high, so I needed to do some work on the saddle.

This old bass came in for setup. The truss rod was almost as tight as it would go and then neck still wasn't quite right, the only thing I could suggest was a lighter set of strings. To be honest it was too bad but sometimes you just can't get them to...

This guitar came in with the owner not knowing much about it but wanting a setup and general "once over". I was happy to tell him that he had a solid instrument that would stand up to any Gretsch Electromatic or similar guitar. I have a soft spot for...

I haven't seen one of these guitars since I was at school looking at designs before I made my first electric for my GCSE in CDT. Am I showing my age? Anyway, the owner wanted this re-fretting. Still can't figure out why there are two nuts, anyone? ...

This old Tele came in for a re-fret. It's a players guitar and has been re-finished at some point, along with some other mods including something like a P90 being added in the bridge and then changed back again at some point in it's life. The fretboard...

This Gibson acoustic belonging to Gomez came in with a nut that had worn too low. I replaced the worn old one with one made from bone and gave the guitar a full setup.

This little acoustic came in with the owner complaining of a high action and that he wasn't generally happy with the guitar. On inspection I concluded that the neck was at the wrong angle. Taylor guitars have bolt on necks which helps with setting...

Yep, another Kramer Pacer! This one through some real curve balls at me as it had been set up quite badly and some odd things had been done. The action was high and it just felt wrong. First of all the trem didn't match the radius of the fretboard...

This Jag came in for a general setup and with a complaint that the bridge wouldn't hold the low E in place and it kept popping out. This a common problem as there isn't much string tension on the saddle. A small amount of work with a file sorted this...

This guitar came from Music Locker who I do work for from time to time cleaning up guitars and making them ready to sell. In this case it's an old Hofner Verithin, probably from the 60s. The frets where very worn as was the fretboard but with some...

This bass came in with the owner complaining that it wasn't playing well and was fretting out. With this description I'd thought that it might have needed levelling and re-crowning. On inspection there was absolutely nothing wrong with it that a straight...

This old Yamaha came in with a broken saddle and in need of a little TLC. The first problem I had was actually getting the broken saddle out as the head had twisted off the screw, which was bent and jammed in there bridge. With a little encouragement...

This guitar came in for a general once over. Nothing really to report other than the nut was cut too low. This is a prime example of a guitar that's being played and falls from it's best over time without that being noticed, it doesn't;t need much to...

This bass came in to have an extra pickup installed but the setup was also quite bad and the action was very high as a result. I installed the pickup and then found the neck had quite a bad bow, this was the cause of the high action. Some small adjustments...

This Tele came in with the owner complaining that the D staring was fretting out. Turned out the nut had either worn or been cut so low on the D and G string that the guitar was unplayable. I used the old bicarb trick and it came up a treat.

This pedal board was made to fit a Peli 1510 for Bombay Bicycle Club.

This guitar came to me after it had been refinished. I had to make a new clear scratch plate, install new pickups and re-install the hard-ware. Then I gave it a quick setup including resetting the string height at the nut.

This Strat came in with the owner wanting the trem blocking off to make it like a hard tail. This required making two blocks to literally "block" the trem off. The nut also needed some attention as it had been cut too low on some strings. Instead of...

This Strat came in with the action almost 3mm at the 12th fret. The frets themselves were also very worn so it was time to pull them out and start again. A prime example of a guitar that had been neglected to the point where it was almost unplayable....

These are like buses; you never see one and then two come along at once! Here we have another example of one of these guitars from the Kalamazoo factory. It came in for a setup and with issues with the tailpiece. Fairly easy fix and while doing it I...

This Strat came in after apparently having the frets levelled and dressed but the pitted frets suggest that they've just been polished? Anyway, the owner wanted this re-fretting with stainless steel frets, see what you think.

Here we have a guitar that belongs to The Jesus and Mary Chain. Dates somewhere between 1963/64 and has been well used. I've worked with this guitar before and am well aware of it's issues; wobbly bridge, inability to intonate, a fret that had been pushed...

This is a brand new guitar that just needed small adjustments to the nut, neck relief, action and intonation. For a guitar straight out of the factory I rated this.

These guitars turned up in the 2000s. A bit like Ibanez I think, they may have been made by them, who knows? Anyway, this guitar came in with some flat spot in the middle of the fretboard and some pitting. A fret level sorted it out and a little...

This Kimbara came in for a re-fret and new nut. A real throw back this, with on-board effects. What do you think?

For those not in the know, these guitars are made in the original factory (or part of it) that Gibson guitars were made in in Kalamazoo. The company was started by ex Gibson employees who wanted to continue the tradition of high quality, hand made guitars....

This Strat came in with the front sanded to make in look satin. With a buff and polish I was able to bring this guitar back to life.

Here we have a lovely old P bass with some really odd discolouration around the edge which I initially thought was the paint job. Turns out it's water damage, probably from sweat. For some reason I forgot to take photos of the bass after I'd put...

Doing some work for Franz Ferdinand this summer and I've started with some new pedal boards. The photos show what the boards looked like before and after my rebuild.

Fairly straight forward request from a customer to re-house the foot switch from their 5150ii into a smaller box.

Re-fret of a hand made Pete Back Custom Explorer that the owner says was possibly the second Explorer Pete ever made in the 70's. I think I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one...

No inspection photo on this one, I forgot! You'll have to take my word for it but this bass came to me with the break in the headstock having developed gradually, the owner suggested that when he bought it the headstock had been glued enough to disguise...

Here is a fairly straight forward gallery of a very straight forward setup. Can you even see the difference between the guitar at the start and when it's finished?

I wanted to make a small compact board that did lots of stuff. This fits into a Peli 1510 and with the Boss MS-3, a Cry Baby Wah and a custom made Rangemaster clone is capable of pretty much everything I need. My custom junction box means that I...

Did the 80's ever end? Apparently not. The guitar came in with the frets lifting and what looked like a bad level job, possibly done by the previous owner to sort the high frets. On top of this the neck looked a bit like a snake and the back had been...

This bass came in because the owner could get the .175 gauge string through the bridge as it's so massive! I drilled the hole slightly larger and then gave it a setup for F#. I'm not sure I could hear it has it was tuned so low.

Both volumes on this guitar continued to let sound be heard when turned down, this suggested that either the ground was not a solid connection or that the pot itself had become faulty. The ground tested fine but the pots gave odd readings pointing...

This Strat came in with the owner complaining about fret buzz that had become noticeable on the E and the A string. On a new guitar like this the cause is usually a little bit of movement in the neck and can be cured by a small adjustment of the truss...

This is a real players guitar. The owner told me it was from 1973 which I've yet to confirm, but the serial number places it somewhere around there I think. Due an intermittent problem with the wiring it had become neglected of late so it was brought...

This custom made pedal board fits into a Peli 1650 so is quite large. It has two levels and is made using light weight board. The outputs terminate at a custom made junction box that converts to XLR cable with the two audio lines going to one cable and...

This Strat copy came in for a bone nut and setup. For me a bone nut just resonates better than anything else and I use them on my own guitars. This one falls in with the "not a big transformation" files but here it is anyway.

Here we have a well loved guitar in need of a fret level and dress.

This Sunn Mustang came in with a high fret, however on inception this was an understatement and full level and crown was required.

Not something I see everyday, this Hohner Steinberger came to me with the owner complaining that it wouldn't hold it's tuning after his son had been over enthusiastic with the trem. On inspection I discovered that a locking lever was missing from...

Straight forward setup on a Gibson Les Paul R8. The setup removed fret buzz on the D and G strings especially and goes to show that even a top end guitar like this can benefit from a bit of TLC.

Sometimes the bridge posts on basses like this become loose, either because the hole has somehow become enlarged or any glue that has been used has failed. Literally the pressure from the strings pulls the post out and renders the bass un playable. In...

This USA Fender Telecaster came in to have some fantastic Adrian Ingram Bulldog pickups fitted. While I was at it, it made sense to give it a full setup as well. These pickups sound great and really made this guitar sound as good as it possibly could....

This Gordy Redshift had been out of commission for some time and came to me with no strings and in need of some serious TLC. For those who don't know these guitars were built by Gordon Whitham, the Gordon part of Gordon Smith Guitars. From what I can...

This Jackson came in with the owner complaining about excessive hum. When I looked in the cavity everything seemed a bit "scrappy" but when I checked it out everything was electronically fine. The "hot" wires from the pickups had been extended (from...

This USA Fender Telecaster came in with excessive fret buzz. I could see straight away that the bridge saddles were very low which gave me a clue about the neck having too much relief on it. This would definitely cause buzz. On top of this the guitar...

The owner of this Les Paul had attempted to upgrade the wiring and parts to match the 50's scheme. Unfortunately he had managed to push the shafts of the potentiometers through their metal casing which was causing the guitar to cut out as the contacts...

This Fylde acoustic was bought in 1976 by the owner, I saw this guitar last when I was working in Richtone in Sheffield where it had an issue with the bridge. This time it's come to me for a re-fret and a request to make the side dots more visible. On...

This guitar came in with the owner complaining that the strings (especially the high E) were choking when bending passed the twelfth fret. When I inspected the guitar I found that the neck had way too much relief on it and the strings weren't matching...

This is what happens when you play a lot of gigs and never wipe down your guitar afterwards. Rusted metal work, tarnished frets and moving parts that were so gunked up they no longer moved. The bridge had also collapsed meaning the radius of the bottom...

This bass has been well used and was ready for some TLC. It also acts perfectly as a reminder why having a good setup is not only worth while but can save money in the long run. I had noticed that the first, second and third fret had some pretty...

Dominic, the bass player from Mogwai asked me to build this splitter box so he could use the "Rickosound" output form his Rickenbacker bass. Basically this allows you to have the sound from each each pickup come from two separate amps.

Custom pedal board built for Andy from the Twilight Sad. This board is on two levels and weighs considerably less than a Pedaltrain. All custom made by me.

Another Drop C guitar in for a setup and replacement pot. Pretty straight forward but I think it's nice to see what can be achieved from doing some work on a guitar that, on the face of it looks fine.

Mexican Fender Stratocaster in the workshop for a setup. Nothing major to report on this guitar but you really can feel the difference (and hopefully see it!) that some TLC has on a relatively new guitar like this that is regularly played but left on...

This guitar has had some upgrades which hadn't weathered so well and eventually the guitar had stopped working. From what I understand it had been left for some time and was in need of some TLC. The main issues where, there was no output meaning there...

Here was have a cheapish 12 string acoustic pretty much straight out of the factory. You can really see the benefit here from giving a new guitar just a little love and attention as most companies just don't take the time. The fretboard was so dry that...

This acoustic came in with a very high action. This was due to the neck bending up after the body and a slight bulge where the bridge was. Unfortunately there's not much I can do about the bulge as it's down the bracing being inadequate, and in the case...

I think I worked on this guitar a few years ago when I levelled and recrowned the frets. There really isn't much metal left and refret is imminent in my opinion. That being said it's a great guitar and really came together after I'd cleaned the rusted...

I saw a Les Paul Junior like this that must be part of the same series (I assume this as it was the same colour) and for a relatively cheap guitar they're not bad at all. This guitar was part of a few that came in at once for a setup ready for a recording...

This week has been the week of deja vu; here we have another Tiger Stripe Kramer Pacer in for a setup. Not much to report as this guitar was practically brand new but it had been sent out to the customer with a terrible setup. I gave it the works and...

You may recognise this type of guitar from an earlier post, this guitar is a year younger and came into me for a stainless steel re-fret. Once this was completed it needed to be setup to be played in A STD with 13-65 gauge strings. I also stripped and...

Deja Vu? You might recognise this bass from a couple of weeks ago as it was in for a re-wire. Since then the owner decided that the standard pickups weren't up to much and I recommended as set of Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders. As well as the pickup...

These Stratocasters from the 70's had very thin fretboards that are just veneers laid over the neck, meaning they are very thin which can cause problems when doing refrets as you need to level the board before you put the new frets in. This guitar had...

Here's a Fender Telecaster that has been refinished in green. Just needed a general setup and clean.

This bass was bought second hand and the previous owner had tried to upgrade it. Unfortunately it looks like this was total guess work so the best thing to do was to start from scratch. Here you can see before and after and hopefully it speaks for itself....

Not many photos on this one I'm afraid as I've been so rubbish with this of late, mainly because I've been so busy touring. Anyway, I'm back on the horse and to start with I have a trip down memory lane... for me at least. The first guitar I ever owned...

This Ernie Ball Relfex was in for a general setup.

An Ernie Ball Valentine guitar which the owner had complained about excess buzzing

1990's Gibson Firebird in for a pickup conversion.

This guitar was passed to me through Rich Tone Music and all that was needed was a re-fret as all the other work would be done in the shop. Really warn frets which I put down to the fact the fret wire on these guitars seems to be really soft.

Here is a well used Yamaha Acoustic

This 70's Musicmaster has been re-fretted, given a new nut and setup

Sparkly blue Ibanez RG something or other

headstock repair on a "Faded" Gibson Les Paul Junior

Hagstrom Swede that needed a refret

Here we have a couple of Harmony Stratotone guitars

Here we have and interesting thing

Great Epiphone Bass. Just needed a bit or TLC.

The Jesus And Mary Chain pedal boards that I rebuilt

Here's a simple pedal board that I made for Bonobo.

Here's a Yamaha Pacifica.

'74 SG the I gave a refret earlier this year

Here's a Fender Mustang that I had to reassemble

Had this lovely old Greco "Les Paul" in to have its pick ups swapped

Not much to say about this one

Custom pedal board made for Joe from 65daysofstatic

ES125t from 1960 according to the FON (factory order number) stamped inside the body.

Here we have a Jaydee EX1

This one took a while!

Made some pedal boards. Here's one...

Alex Lifeson style strat

Here we have another guitar belonging to Shura.

Here's a nice thing.

It was fretting out above the 12th fret on the high E

Hofner 182 short scale bass

I've had this lovely 1980s (don't quote me on that) Tokai 335

Built this pedal board for Shura's guitarist Luke.

Rob from Drenge's bass

Here's what happens to a Fulltone Soulbender when you stamp on it really hard.

Another nice thing in today...

I've been working on a lovely Gibson 335 today...

Here's an old left handed Fender Strat...

Not as many photos...

Everything's backwards?!

This Fender Strat is well played.

A Schecter Ultra III no less.

Servicing The Bohicas pedal boards to a very strict budget.

Had this Peavey T-40 bass in.

Had this Fender Mustang in for a nut repair

Had this lovely Fender Jazzmaster in

90's Les Paul Custom for Stu from The Sunshine Underground

This Jazzmaster has hit the floor face down one too many times

Transformation from Squire Telecaster to Esquire with a Bigsby.

Pedal boards for the band Drenge.

Here we have a Gretsch Electromatic.

Here's one for you 80's hair metal fans!

Another Gibson today; this time a 2013 Les Paul Studio.

Had a real classic in today; ladies and gentlemen the Gibson B.B. King Lucille.

Not much to do on this Fender Strat other than the usual fret work and setup jobs.

Not much needed on this one, just a general setup!

Just needed a general setup and a bloody good clean!

Here we have a 1978 "The Paul" owned by Tom from Wild Beasts who I work for form time to time.

Not the most exciting transformation ever; here we have a brand new Squire Jazzmaster.