My Journey

Seven Signs Your Guitar May Need a Setup A guitar can gradually become harder to play as strings age, seasons change or parts wear. You may adapt without realising that the instrument has become uncomfortable. These signs can help you decide whether it is time for a setup or an assessment. The strings feel stiff or sit high above the fretboard. Notes buzz in particular areas, even when you are fretting cleanly. Chords sound in tune near the nut but increasingly sour higher up the neck. The guitar struggles to return to pitch after bending or using a tremolo. The action feels uneven across the strings. Open strings buzz or rattle around the nut. The instrument simply does not feel as comfortable as it used to. These symptoms do not all have the same cause. High action can involve neck relief, nut height, bridge height or fret condition. Tuning trouble can come from string installation, nut friction, loose hardware or other issues. A setup starts with checking the whole instru...

Guitar tech   🎉 Major Milestone: I’m Now the Guitar Tech for One of the Big Academies! Today I get to share something I’ve been working toward for a long time. I’ve officially signed a contract with one of the UK’s major academy trusts to become their guitar technician, supporting their music departments across multiple schools. I’ll be handling everything from full setups and fretwork to pot replacements, string changes, intonation checks, and general maintenance. The goal? Making sure students have playable, inspiring instruments in their hands every single day. This is a huge step forward for my business. I’ve spent years honing repair skills, working on everything from budget starter guitars to pro-level instruments—and now I get to bring that experience into education, helping young musicians learn on well-maintained gear. More updates soon, but for now: thank you to everyone who’s trusted me with their instruments so far. This opportunity came from word-of-mouth, rec...

  One of my recent projects in the workshop was a Jackson 7-string that just wouldn’t sing. The player described the tone as “thuddy” and lifeless in Drop G♯, even though the guitar looked perfectly fine on paper. :) After checking it over, the neck relief, fretwork, and intonation were all within spec — so why the dull low end? The answer was in the string gauge. The stock .064 low B string simply didn’t have enough tension for Drop G♯. It was flopping just enough to lose attack and clarity. The fix was straightforward: replace it with a .068 string and adjust the nut slot height for perfect clearance. I used a Crimson neck relief gauge and digital nut gauge to dial in the setup to the thousandth of a millimetre. After the swap, the difference was night and day — the low end tightened up, the tone opened out, and the guitar finally played with the kind of clarity and response you’d expect from a properly set-up 7-string. If your extended-range or drop-tuned guitar sounds ...