OTHER FOLKS STUFF

On this page are some of the guitars i`ve worked on for --- customers, --- yes, that`s a good word. 

I generally do this "work" on a "what`s it worth to you" basis, so for example  if the customer thinks a restring is worth a 6 pack of beers, then that`s what i`ll take, (providing it`s a half decent beer of course) 

The customer pays for any materials required ie strings, hardware, pickups etc.

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The first 3 are all for the same customer. (I like that word)

Mr Joel Derby, AKA The Exile.

Fender Jazzmaster.

This is his main guitar, (except when he`s pinched one of mine  )

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Hohner Arbour series.

Replace broken switch, Fit new tuners and restring.

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Home built bass, Complete rebuild. .

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The next 4 were all for the same family.

First, Mums guitar: 

Suzuki, model SD 337 (I think), Fit new transducer pick-up and end pin jack socket.

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Then mum`s other guitar, (now the eldest daughters).

Another Suzuki, i think this one`s a T664, ser no:17039.

A simple clean up and re-string.

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Next, eldest daughter: 

Stagg L320-CS, Les Paul type.

Complete rewire,  restring, and removal of that silly plastic rythm / treble ring round the 3 way switch.

This one is now in my little collection, quite a decent guitar, but not my personal cup of tea, so to speak.

This one is now sold.

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Younger daughter:

Crafter FX 550EQ

Wiring check and restring

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Epiphone neck, and sourced body and electric parts.

Aria, Les Paul type.

My mate Mark built it, and I wired it, nice bit of inlaid scratchplate stuff going

on there that unfortunately the pic doesn`t  show very well.

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Mania Concorde SM. Complete rewire and restring.

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This poor old no-name acoustic was given to me in a bit of a state by Martin,

(3rd guitar up), So I tidied it up and gave it to Lordship Lane primary school.

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Here`s one i`ve done for a friend of mine, we`ll call him Mr A. It`s a Little Martin, by Martin, (the guitar company of course), a little action adjustment and it is all hunky dory.

Then there`s this one for Mr A`s son. We`ll call him Mr A junior, it`s a Squire bronco short scale bass, (which is like the one I had a while ago, till I changed it, see the bass guitar page), action, intonation, neck relief  a new set of control knobs and a new set of strings and it`s as good as new, (at least)

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And this one was given to me by a friend of mine at our local council recycling centre, (I can`t say who as they may get into trouble,--- Oh well, onwards and upwards, as they say) so i sorted out the machine heads, rewired and generally tidied it up and gave it to the Sue Ryder shop in Muswell Hill.

For those interested, it`s a 1960`s Audition (or possibly Kay) by a Japanese company called Tiesco,

( No, not Tesco, Doh  ). Although Tesco selling guitars wouldn`t be that bad an idea, at least for 

entry level stuff.

PS, Sue Ryder managed to get £80 for it, cool, as they say, 

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Peavey Fury V.

Wiring check and restring, then i sold it to a neighbour, who then

dissapeared owing me ---------- Oh well, least said, soonest mended eh.

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Squier by Fender Precision Bass.

This one i acquired as part of a swap, I did a wiring check and restring and sold it on, a nice bass, but like the one above, a bit too big for my liking. 

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This one is  for a friend`s grandson, a broken neck, (The guitar, thankfully, not the grandson),  it`s not a pretty repair, but it`ll do the job for the time being as he only wants something to start learning on. It`s a Valencia 1/2 size nylon strung.

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This one is my latest effort, (which is doomed to failure, i think), It`s an entry level mandolin which someone has sat on, Yes, That`s right, SAT ON. ( ) As with the guitar above, the owner only wants it to see if he can learn to play it, so i`ve had a little go at it and now we`re  hoping for the best, as they say.

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Last little "job" for this year, A quick work over of my mate Mark`s "family" guitar, i think they have all had a bit of a go on this one.

A simple strip down and clean up, one replacement machine head and a bit of a bodge up on another one, a second strap button and a new set of strings, and it`s up and running again.

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My brother-in-law is trying to get my niece to take piano lessons, so, having already given her a cheap acoustic guitar to try, i`m now going to see what she makes of this:

It`s a cute little Wilkinson,  (yes, the everything shop), special. More or less a toy, but just about works well enough to have a little go on to see if you like it, kinda vibe, if you get my drift.

There`s nothing like putting the cat among the pigeons now, is there ?   

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We have a new addition here, it`s a Western Ranger series 23 which belonged to my wife`s cousin`s husband. This isn`t the actual guitar, as being a clever sod, iv`e gone and lost the original picture that I had, but this one`s the same model, colour etc.  

Nice bloke, but he doesn`t seem to like guitars much, more of a tin whistle man really. Oh well, nobody`s perfect . 

(No, not even me  )

He`s obviously a nice bloke, he gave me the guitar and said, "if you can get it working properly, you can keep it, and flog it if you want" Soooo, it may well be up for sale soon, as I have far tooooo many guitars of my own already. 

Yayyyy !, just found the original pic of this one, observe,

It looks a different colour in this light, but never mind, It`s now gorn init.

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Just done my first one for this year: (2017).

It`s a Fender Jaguar, I`ve always disliked them for some illogical reason, but it turns out this is a very very nice guitar, with a good tonal range. Done for a new customer named David, straightforward sorting out of the electrics, oil the fretboard, supply and fit a new pair of knobs and a new set of strings, give it a clean-up, sorted, as they say.

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Oct 2019. (Bit of a gap there then ?)

I`ve now just had a litle go at this :

It`s a georgeous Eko Florentine short scale bass, and I wanted to keep it, but the owner wouldn`t let me. (Rotten sod, for the want of a better word).

Just a quick general tidy up, and a clean up of the electrics, and it`s gone home again.

It`s really not well this poor old thing, the truss rod has come away inside the neck, and it would be a seriously major operation to sort it out again, and it would probably be a lot cheaper to buy another bass, but it has a lot of sentimental value to the owner, so it may well become an ornament on a wall in the not too distant future  

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The guy that owns the Florentine bass above, came back and asked me to sort out another old bass he picked up from a friend --- so I did this:

It`s an old Marlin Sidewinder bass, and it was a bit sad when it got to me, but nothing serious. So a truss rod tweak, action and intonation  sorted out, oil the neck and give it a clean up inside and out, and it`s as right as rain again. And he asked me to put one of my logo`s on the headstock, --- Honest  .

The owner seems pleased, and so am I .

The owner of the previous two guitars is a guy named Rodney, who is the bass player and singer in a band called Ashwood, who generally gig in North London and as far out as Clacton etc.

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The brand names printed in WHITE on this page are all company names or registered trade marks belonging to those particular companies and are merely being used to describe the origins of the particular item.

With special thanks to Mr Joel Derby, who is a singer / songwriter in his own right.