Musical Instrument Repair Services
We have a full time guitar technician working in the shop, so if you’re looking to have some work undertaken or would just like some advice, we’ll try our best to help you out! And it’s not just guitars we’ll look at. As well as acoustics, electrics and bass guitars, we also work on Mandolins, Bouzoukis, Citterns, Ukuleles, and Banjos (and most other fretted instruments). We also undertake a small amount of fiddle repairs.
Repair Services we offer:
Restringing
Does what it says on the tin! Gets your guitar/instrument freshened up with a new set of strings. Whilst we’re at it, we also clean up the fingerboard and polish the frets too!
REFRETS
PARTIAL REFRETS
Who’s it for? Ideal for people who never venture past the 5th fret, although anything up to the first 10 frets can be replaced.
What’s involved? Here is an abbreviated description of the work! First, the original frets are removed with the aid of heat to avoid un-necessary chipping of the fingerboard. Next, the slots are carefully prepared to accept the new wire. The new wire is carefully pre-bent to match the radius of the fingerboard, and is cut and prepared to fit the slot. Each fret is then carefully pressed into the fingerboard with a special fretting tool. After the fret ends have been trimmed and filed to shape, a deluxe setup is then performed including a fret level and dress.
COMPLETE REFRETS
Who’s it for? There are many reasons but primarily, either for instruments with excessive fret wear covering the majority of the neck, or as a problem solver for instruments with neck issues which need the fingerboard to be leveled first, before fretting.
What’s involved? First off, a short discussion with you the customer, to ascertain what type of fretwire to use and why! Once underway, the frets are removed with the aid of heat to avoid un-necessary chipping of the fingerboard. If necessary, any fingerboard work can now take place before installing the new frets, such as leveling or changing/truing the radius. Next, the slots are carefully prepared to accept the new wire. The new wire is carefully pre-bent to match the radius of the fingerboard, and is cut and prepared to fit the slot. Each fret is then carefully pressed into the fingerboard with a special fretting tool. After the fret ends have been trimmed and filed to shape, a deluxe setup is then performed including a fret level and dress, along with the installation of a new top-nut to accommodate the change in fretwire height.
That’s not all though, other instrument repairs or adjustments we can do:
- Pickup Installation
- Electrical Mods
- Nut/Saddle Replacement
- Bridge Repairs
- Truss Rod Adjustments
- Fault finding and diagnostics
- Bridge Plate Repair
- Hardware Installation
Setups
There are 2 types available:
Who’s it for? Ideal for brand new instruments just out of the box, and also for older ones with action or intonation issues.
What’s involved? It takes care of adjustments such as truss rod, nut height, all bridge adjustments, loose fret ends, clean the fingerboard and polish frets, tuning head lubrication, and a service of all on-board electrics if applicable! Strung up and tuned to your spec with your choice of string. Voila!
Who’s it for? Perfect for older guitars with a bit of fret wear and buzz, and unfortunately needed for an increasing number of new guitars which seemed to have escaped the quality control department. Doh!
What’s involved? If you’re looking for your instrument to play with a low action and also be buzz free, then this is the ticket. Before any set-up work begins, the neck is adjusted perfectly straight and the metal frets are precisely leveled to remove any high/low spots, or existing fret wear. Once perfectly level, the frets are re-profiled and polished up to a mirror shine. After this process, the instrument then goes through the standard set-up procedure. Again, all adjustments that can be made are performed to ensure optimum playability, but without any compromises due to fretting issues. In most cases, once completed your instrument will play ‘better than new’.
