Guitar Servicing

Guitar servicing
Turn your guitar into a slick, quick, music machine!

Did you know, many people give up guitar because they find their instruments too difficult to play?
There's no need! Just like cars need servicing and a little TLC from time to time, so do guitars, and the difference in their playability can be dramatic. A well-set up guitar with good quality strings on it can turn any 'meh' instrument into an 'ooooh!' instrument. I've been setting up everything from beginner guitars to Strats, Les Pauls and all-out pointy rock machines for over 20 years.

If you're in Ponteland, I can even pick up and drop your guitar off to you, no extra charge : -)

Looking to buy a quality used guitar?
As well as guitar servicing, I look out for and regularly pick up quality (or quirky!) guitars and give them my 'Better Than New' service (see below) before making them available for sale. If you're after something specific, let me know, otherwise I post details about guitars I currently have for sale through the ZenRigs facebook page as well as here.

I offer 2 options for Guitar Servicing:

  1. 'Basic' service, starting at £20, including a re-string (with high quality D'Addario strings), fret polish and fretboard conditioning.

  2. 'Better Than New' service, starting at £40. My most popular service, where your guitar gets a full going-over! Everything is tightened (neck, machine heads, nut etc), bridge setup, truss rod adjusted, frets polished, fretboard cleaned conditioned, action adjusted (the distance the strings are from the fretboard - if this is too high, as most guitars are when they're bought, it makes the guitar very difficult to play!), bodywork polished and high quality guitar wax applied, pickup heights set and intonation adjusted and guitar restrung with high quality D'Addario strings. This service will make your guitar look in the best shape possible and as easy and comfortable to play as possible. Your guitar will also get play tested to make sure it's playing well and settled in before I return it to you.

 

Here are some photos of a guitar before, during and after a 'Better Than New' setup to show what a difference it can make. This was a Fender Dave Murray Stratocaster a customer had just bought in supposedly 'as new' condition. Er, I don't think so!!

This guitar had a dirty, dry fretboard and sticky oxidised frets, making the guitar uncomfortable to play and 'feel' nasty under the fingers. The 'action' (the height of the strings from the frets) was a crazy 2.5mm at the 12th fret - OUCH! This was horrifically difficult to play! The bodywork was also tarnished and covered in lots of little scratches. 

Frets polished, fretboard cleaned and fretboard oiling in progress. Check out the difference on the first 2 frets! Everything was adjusted to make the guitar as comfortable to play as possible, resulting in a low, easy-to-play action of just a shade under 1.5mm at the 12th fret. The bodywork was also polished and a nice coat of very lovely wax applied. Finally, the guitar was given time to 'settle', given a final tweak or two then play tested before being returned to a very happy owner!
Share by: