Now there’s a great looking guitar.  A real nod the 1960’s.

I quite like Vintage guitars, they’re normally quite well made guitars but this one isn’t so good…..

It’s got some very uneven frets.

To really lift the tone I’m also going to replace the plastic bridge saddle with a bone one.

Along with a bone nut as well.

At least the neck is even so I was able to get it completely flat.

With the neck flat and taped up to protect it I took the fret tops down to the lowest common point.

As it’s brand new all it needs is a bit of a rub down and some lemon oil.

There’s the new nut.  I’ve got it to the right shape and size but it’ll need the string slots cutting when I’m ready to put the strings back.

The saddle’s a little more complicated.

…just takes a little time.  I need to fit the strings to really assess the action height though.

All it needs then is a standard setup, starting with the neck set..

Next the action at the 12th fret.  It was actually spot on and didn’t need any more work.

Back to the new nut.  I deliberately left the string heights quite high, so that I could cut the slots down taking into account the rest of the setup.

The slots also need to be cut to the right width, to match the string gauge.

And there it is, now playing as well as it looks.

The only last item, for some reason the volume and tone knobs were the wrong way around?

For anything else I may be able to do for you check out www.guitar-george.co.uk 

A word or two from the owner:

“I purchased this vintage acoustic to add to my small collection of economy 50’s and 60s styled guitars. Vintage had done a good job regarding the general appearance and finish, yet they clearly hadn’t paid the same attention to its playability which was disappointing. I was obviously aware it was a very cheap guitar, but had at least expected it to be useable – which it wasn’t. I left the guitar with George to see what he could do with it. When I collected the guitar the improvements George had made (at a very reasonable cost) were unbelievable. The guitar is now extremely nice to play in every respect and as an unrequested bonus he has also made it sound fantastic. Its playability now has more in common with a high quality guitar. Though never my original intention, I would happily record with this £150.00 guitar, and how often can we say that?

Thank you so much George, Steve”