Blog Archives - Guitar Repairs, Restorations & Customisation by Lewis Durtnall

Offering Guitar Repairs, Restorations and Customisations, throughout Torquay, Paignton, Brixham, Torbay, Teignmouth, Newton Abbot, Totnes, Exeter, Plymouth & Devon!

March repairs!

31/3/2018

Despite the snow it's been another great month in the workshop with some lovely guitars in for repairs and customisations.

Check out the photos below for some highlights of the recent repairs

We're never too busy to work on your guitar so feel free to get in touch if your guitar needs some repairs, customisation or restoration!

LTD fretlevel for ultra low action

28/3/2018

This lovely LTD was brought in as the customer was finding the frets were choking and buzzing when he was playing with the action as low as he wanted it.

The solution was a precision fret level, this is done with the neck under tension from the strings, and it only removes the high spots from the frets, this results in much more level frets, catering for ultra low action.

The dust from the process can clearly be seen, this shows where the high spots on the neck were.

Once the levelling process has been done, the next step is recrowning the frets, to restore the curved profile, needed for accurate string intonation.

Each fret is marked on the top, so when the fret is recrowned, the newly levelled fret tops are not affected by the recrowning process.

If even one fret top was accidentally filed, the whole process would need to be redone, as the frets would no longer be level!

With the frets all recrowned, the frets are hand polished to a shine, this process also removes any unwanted file marks left from the recrowning process.

With the fretwork done, the strings were changed for a new set, after the board was treated with lemon oil.

The end result of the action after the fret level was amazing low with an action of 1.25mm to 1mm on the bass string at the 12th fret and the end of the fretboard and 1mm to just under 1mm on the top string. This was with no choking or fret buzz on any of the strings!

Ibanez Acoustic Bass bracing repair

23/3/2018

This Ibanez acoustic bass was brought in as the customer noticed that one of the back bracing was lifting, when he went to change the strings on his acoustic bass.

Upon inspection, it became clear that the bracing had been cut short, so it did not sit into the supporting cleats around the body, and the glue joint had failed.

The brace was reglued back down, with a insert plugged and glued into the joint between the bracing and the side cleats, to provide more strength to the join. The bass was then restrung with nylon wound strings

Vintage Tokai Les Paul Reborn Fret recrown and setup

22/3/2018

This lovely vintage Tokai Les Paul Reborn was brought into the workshop for a fret recrown and polish, after being imported from Japan, ready for resale in the UK.

The usual process of marking the fret tops, to preserve the level of the frets, before each fret crown is refiled to it's correct curve was done.

The frets were then hand polished, transforming the look and feel of 40 year old frets! The fingerboard was also scrapped to remove the gunk and dirt before being lemon oiled.

Once the recrown was complete, the guitar was detail cleaned and setup ready for the customer! Plenty of photos of this lovely guitar below.

Martin acoustic Fret recrown & polish

16/3/2018

This Martin acoustic was in the workshop for a fret recrown, due to the frets wearing

The guitar was then detail cleaned and restrung before being ready for the customer to collect!

Gibson Les Paul Jr Broken machinehead and neck ding repair

15/3/2018

This Gibson Les Paul Jr was brought into the workshop as it had suffered a fall from it's stand.

It broke one of the machineheads and scratched the back of the neck.

The machineheads were sourced from America as they are discontinued, and the scratches down the neck were touched up and the neck polished to retain a smooth feel to the neck when the guitar is played!

Les Paul Kit Pearlescent Goldtop build

12/3/2018

This extremely unusual kit Les Paul was brought into the workshop to be assembled after having a pearlescent gold paint job.

The guitar was the customers dream guitar, so it was going to be fully loaded with upgraded pickups and hardware, to be a real players guitar.

The kit needed a complete wire, new nut and full setup after being assembled.

Photos showing the process of fitting a bone nut, the nut slot had to be cleared out before the nut would sit correctly in the slot. The photo below shows the guitar being trial strung, to see how the guitar plays. At this point the frets can be tested, to see if any fretwork is needed, before the pickups and circuit are fitted.

The guitar had a Jimmy Page circuit wired up and fitted, using CTS push/pull pots and orange drop capacitors. It was a tight fit inside the cavity but really unlocked the full potential of the Seymour Duncan pickups

The owner had assembled part of the kit without installing an earth wire from the bridge, so the post was carefully removed and a hole drilled to allow an earthing wire to be fitted.

The pickups needed to be carefully aligned while being fitted, as the cavity was visible on one side, it is very common for issues like this while building kits, especially where the parts have been upgraded for better quality parts that didn't originally come with the kit.

Once the pickups had been fitted, they were wired into the circuit.

The guitar was then final assembled with all the hardware fitted.

The guitar was then restrung and treated to a full setup to the customers playing style, before it was ready for the customer to collect.

Plenty of photos below of this very unusual guitar, this finish will certainly turn heads, I've never seen a guitar with this finish in all the years I've been working on guitars!

Resonator Machinehead Replacement

6/3/2018

This steel resonator was brought into the workshop to have it's tuners upgraded, as the original ones were cheaply made.

After the upgrade, the guitar kept it's tuning better and was a lot easier to tune!

Burns Artist Bass Restoration

2/3/2018

This lovely and very rare Burns Artist bass was brought into the workshop for a restoration.

They only made approximately 200 of this model, being over 40 years old, made this bass a very rare instrument indeed.

It's original finish had been stripped back sometime in it's life, but with all vintage instruments, less is more when it comes to repair work, as the years of wear give the instrument it's character and also the original parts preserve the value of the instrument.

The fingerboard was extremely dry, as you can see from the colour difference once the lemon oil had been applied. The bridge also needed attention, it was seized from rust and misshapen, more than likely had taken the force of being dropped at some point.

The wiring also needed to be replaced due to breaking wires and faulty solder joints, the original

You can see the serial number and the name of the person who originally wired up the scratchplate, scratched into the underside of the plate.

A couple of photos showing the process of the new bone zero nut being cut and filed to shape, as the original was missing.

The bridge rebuilt after a detail clean and refurbishment.

One of the knobs was broken inside too, basically irreplaceable, modelling putty was used inside the broken knob so it could be used again.

Once the bass was reassembled, it was restrung and setup before being ready for the customer to collect!

For guitar repairs and customisations by Lewis Durtnall, email [email protected]!