Manchester Guitar Tech
Over the last few weeks I’ve been fortunate to have some unusual 70s basses in the workshop. It was a coincidence that they were all here at the same time, although the two fretless basses were brought in by the same person. Wal Pro II Bass The Wal Pro series of basses was introduced …
The top on this Gibson J-200 has bellied a bit, so much so that the lacquer on the top has started to crack. Consequently, I had trouble getting a low action and thought the guitar might be suitable for the JLD Bridge system, which can correct bowed tops. Installing the JLD system was straightforward enough. …
This vintage Gibson J-50 played great but the lower frets were getting worn and needed attention. The original frets were wide and low, and if I dressed them, it would have resulted in very little height indeed. I agreed with the guitar’s owner that a partial refret was the best option. I replaced the first …
The owner of this Gibson Lucille wanted to get a better sound from his guitar. Although position “1” on the Gibson Varitone switch is supposed to be bypass, it does leave the choke in the circuit which loses volume and precious tone. As the guitar’s owner didn’t find the stereo feature of the guitar useful, …
Here’s another nasty break, this time a longitudinal split in a Les Paul neck, caused by a fall. All that was required was to glue and clamp both sides before refinishing the back of the neck using my nitrocellulose lacquers.
This Les Paul was only a week old when it suffered this catastrophic break. Unusually, the fall was so severe that it broke the fibre headstock face right across between the E tuners. Although not an easy repair the break had plenty of surface area for glue. The repaired headstock was relacquered and the repair …
Another week, another headstock repair! This one was trickier than most as instead of a nice clean break, the wood had splintered which meant that putting it back again too some care. This guitar had also suffered some collateral damage to the front and back of the body when it was knocked off the stand. …
A couple of tours ago I did some work on Jared Followill’s basses, and today the Kings of Leon brought me a couple more to work on before tonight’s gig at the Lancashire County Cricket Ground. I shielded both bases with copper foil and rewired them using CTS pots, Teflon coated wire and a solid copper …
A regular customer of mine recently bought a 2006 Les Paul and brought it to me for a setup. As soon as I straightened the neck, which had been somewhat bowed, I realised that the 1st string was buzzing against the first fret as the nut had been cut too low. I suspect that the relief …
This beautiful 1989 Gibson L4 CES was brought in with a bad electrical buzz. I traced the buzz to a disconnected bridge earth wire which I reconnected. I noticed however that at some point early in its life the guitar had been rewired with different pots. The pots have solid shafts and whoever did the work …