Archive | repair

I’d worked on Eloise’s guitar before. This time it arrived in a very sorry state as she had tripped over and fallen on it, leaving the sound board split and caved in in several places. She feared it had come to the end of its life.  But with a little TLC and some careful gluing…

Ampeg V4B Bass Amp Just finished an extensive refurbishment of a magnificent Ampeg V4B bass amp. They are famous for having a wonderful bass sound, but also notorious for having reliability problems – but not really surprising for amplifiers that are over 40 years old. Will any of today’s electronic kit still be working in…

Over the years I’ve repaired quite a few guitars where the bridge has come away from the soundboard. The reason that they do, is usually because they weren’t made correctly in the first place.  Sometimes there’s not enough glue applied, but often the bridge has been glued on after the top has been lacquered. That…

I have quite a few favourite tools. Some are my favourites because they work so well, and some are favourites because of the history associated with them – I have a few that I’ve owned since childhood. But the ones in this shot are my favourites simply because of the ‘feelgood factor’.  They are just…

Just had a Gibson EB2 bass in the workshop, owned by Chris Edwards, bassist with Kasabian. It had previously had an emergency repair during a Radio 1 festival, and needed a little attention to sort out the electrics. A fine vintage bass and a pleasure to work on.  Here it is undergoing keyhole surgery in…

The restoration of a 200 year old parlour guitar. This guitar arrived in a very sorry state. The owners children had smashed it into many pieces. The reconstruction was painstaking but ultimately completely successful. With a set of special low-tension strings it sounded delicately sweet. The jigsaw-like repairs were virtually invisible. It was a privilege…