Blog Archives

Springtime at the Workshop

31/3/2019

A slightly quieter month in the workshop, with some larger project/repairs rather than lots of smaller repairs in the workshop, which was a nice change to our workload.
Highlights include a Gibson Custom Shop in for fretwork, A Martin Acoustic in for a K&K pure mini fitting, a custom UK handmade Thunderbird bass, and another Martin in for bridge reglue!
If you need any repairs/customisations/restorations then feel free to get intouch!

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Shergold Modulator Bass Restoration

29/3/2019

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This rare vintage British made bass was in the workshop to be restored back to original factory spec!
The bass had seen a lot of use, although the cracking/crazing of the finish is very common with Shergolds due to the way they were originally finished.
The two main issues to be solved were the after market bridge and a bizarre DIY XLR socket!
The frets also needed a polish to loose years of oxidation and give some life back in the frets.
Below shows the different stages of the fret polish.

The original bridge had been replaced with this early high mass bridge, it has seen better days and spoilt the look of the bass. As the new owner wanted the bass back to original look an original bridge had to be sourced.

The old bridge removed, you could see the holes of the original bridge, the extra holes from the aftermarket that would show once the original bridge was refitted were plugged

The original style bridge fitted, this was an extremely rare part. After many hours searching, it ended coming all the way from Spain, and believe it was one of the few spare bridges left in the world!

The replacement bridge fitted perfectly and was in amazing condition with no rust or cracks in the perspex.

As it turned out, it was impossible to source an original jacksocket plate, so we hand made a replacement one using the original as a template
The plate was then polished but we left some of the tool marks on the plate, to be in keeping with the 40+ year old bass!

The bodge fitting of the XLR socket inside the bass. It was mostly held in by tape and a small screw.

The new jacksocket plate, with a new stereo Switchcraft jacksocket wired in to the connection block. We used a stereo jacksocket so the new owner could use the full features of other modules, if he manages to find any!

The Module 1 wiring was also serviced while it was in, with all dry solder joints resoldered and pots cleaned!

The end strap button has been pushed in sometime in its life, plus it looks like the strap had been moved multiple times. These holes were left as it added to the character of the bass, the sunken strap button needed sorting though! The strap button was packed out to it's correct depth and to be much more usable!

With all the work complete, the bass was detail cleaned and setup ready for many more years of use with it's new owner!

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Jackson Kip Winger Bass Restortation

25/3/2019

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This lovely and extremely rare Kip Winger Jackson Bass was recently in the workshop for a mini restoration. This was a special version of his signature bass, only made for the uk market, and seems only a few still in existence!
The work involved tiding up the electronics and fitting new pots, touching up numerous dings from years of use, staining of the fingerboard plus a fret polish to complete the work!

The various stages of the fret polish, you can also also see the darkened fingerboard, which evened out the very light specks of grain originally in the fingerboard.

The before and after of the rewire and replacement of the broken pots with CTS mini pots

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Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster Setup

22/3/2019

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This lovely Custom Shop Fender Stratocaster was recently in the workshop for a setup and sorting a small ding caused by a previous guitar tech!

The small ding was caused by the previous person who set up the guitar, not being careful when removing the neck to adjust the trussrod, causing the finish to chip off !

After we’d stained and filled the chip, before giving the area a clean and polish during the guitars detail clean after all the work is complete

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Fender Stratocaster Refret

15/3/2019

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This hardworking USA Strat was in recently in the workshop for a refret plus a much needed detail clean! It also had a crack in the headstock that needed repairing!

As the hardware was removed for the refret, a crack became apparent in headstock that needed repairing, glue was injected into the crack and then clamped, giving strength back into the headstock and preventing the crack from becoming bigger.

The frets were heavily worn so needed removing. Once the frets were removed, the fingerboard was dry and in need of attention before the new frets could be seated.

Once the frets were installed, they were levelled with the edges bevelled.

They were the levelled again under neck tension, before the frets were crowned and hand polished before the neck was refitted!

The guitar had seen a lot of use, sadly all the bridge was seized and most of the screws and rusted tight, fortunately the customer wanted the action exactly the same before the refret so this wasn’t an issue. Sorting out the scratchy/ noisy pots, the amount of dirt under the scratchplate was the most I’ve ever seen!