Gretsch Country Gentleman – Cleanup

Don’t look, it’s horrible!!!  What a poor old wreck, I’ve dived on less corroded ships at the bottom of the sea! This one was built in 1964 and, sadly, Country Gents built around that time all have dodgy binding that falls apart.  That may provide content for another blog, but, for the time being I’m […]

Gibson Les-Paul – Overhaul

What a great old guitar!  Despite it’s age (dialling the serial number into the web came out with 1960) it’s not seen a great deal of wear, it’s just had a little damp getting to it lately.  Luckily I think we’ve got it just in time! The frets are a little worn around the usual […]

Ibanez – Fret Dress

These are normally better than this.!.  If you’re looking for a good starter guitar then I reckon you can do a lot worse than pick up a second-had Ibanez.  Sadly I think this one must have been built on a Friday afternoon!  Still a good looking guitar though… Mostly it’s fine, It just has a couple […]

US Fender Stratocaster – Fret Dress and Setup

Now this was a really lovely guitar.  I think a late 80s, American Built Strat’ Considering its age there’s not much wrong with it.  A little bit of wear and tear on the frets… The rest of it’s lovely, a really great colour too. There was however one big problem that I hadn’t anticipated, the […]

Italia Setup

I’ve not actually had one of these on the bench before, but I think they’re great looking guitars, a cross between a Duesenberg and a Rickenbacker. It could do with a little more work, the frets are rather worn.. They’re a little uneven as well, but for now it’s just going to have clean-up and […]

Gretsch Black Falcon – Fret Dress and Setup

Wow, another big bodied Semi-Acoustic to play with!  This one needs a lot more work to get it playing properly mind you. Some of the frets are very uneven so they’ll need levelling if it’s ever going to play nicely. Before removing the strings it’s always a good idea to mark exactly where the floating […]

Fender Acoustic – Action height

I quite like these Fenders, good value for money but sometimes in need of a little extra work to make the most of them. The action on this one was just a little high… The neck also had rather too much curve in it as well, which isn’t helping much. First things first then, tighten the […]

Classic Vibe Stratocaster – Setup

What a lovely Strat’, I never really used to like this colour, but it’s growing on me.  There’s nothing much wrong with it mind you, just needs a bit of a setup. The first problem however was getting the old strings off…  Why the plate on the back was on the wrong I’ve no idea?  […]