Fender USA Deluxe Jazz Bass

This was a lovely instrument to start the day with! She just needed a little attention to bring the action down a touch to make her easier to play.

The truss was already pretty taut, so straightening the neck further was tricky and I was naturally reluctant to push my luck!

Despite still having a some curvature (probably the right amount to be fair!) I set about lowering the bridge saddles.

Overall everything was able to come down by about a third, meaning there should be a marked difference in the feel of the bass when the player gets it back. I’m excited to see what they think!

Once the intonation was done, she got a good polishing and then back into the case to await collection. Done, done, onto the next one!


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Gibson Les Paul Standard – Fret Stone and Electrics Troubleshoot

There seems to be lots of lovely Gibson Les Pauls around here! This particular one is a left hander, in ebony, and the condition was such that it needed quite a deal of love and tidying up.

The fret wire came to me severely pitted, and it looked like it would be borderline whether this would be a re-fret or whether a simple fret stone/re-crown would suffice.

Having seen how little fret height you can get away with on a Les Paul, I went ahead with the fret stone option, and it came out really well. There’s a lot more life yet in these frets, and after some careful work, this guitar was back to playable!

The action was so low when it arrived, that the strings were completely choking on the upper frets, however that has been rectified and there is a consistent feel along the length of the neck.

One other problem that needed fixing was a faulty tone control. Upon inspection this turned out to be a broken leg from the capacitor joining the bridge volume pot to the tone pot. It was an easy job to switch it out, and now the LP has its full compliment of controls working again!

A final clean and polish finished this baby off, and she was gratefully received!


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Gibson SG Pickup Removal

A customer has brought me their trusty Gibson SG standard to remove the pickups in readiness for some replacements that they’re sourcing.

The pickups to come out of the guitar are Gibson’s own Classic ’57’s, and these ones in particular were originally in a Custom Shop Historic Les Paul, hence the ageing on them.

These are beautiful-sounding pickups, rich in warmth and pristine clarity. They sound fabulous. I can’t wait to see what goes in in their place! Stay tuned! IMG_6448.JPG

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Strat Fret Stone and Set-up

Today I spent some time fret stoning and setting up a Fender USA Deluxe Strat.  The fret wear was fairly consistent along the neck, although the upper frets/dusty end weren’t too worn, so needed a touch more attention to bring them into line with the rest of the neck.  It was plain sailing though, and sure enough this baby is ready to sing and get going again!