Guitar set up in London

Andy California · Oct 24, 2017

Could you guys please recommend me a great luthier/guitar technician for an excellent personalized guitar set up around London (preferably, southern area), whom you trust and who also wouldn't mind answering some questions/explaining some things about the guitar in depth?

jkp44 · Oct 24, 2017

Learn to do it yourself. There are a lot of helpful videos and threads on the subject. Get the neck as straight as you can, make sure the nut feels good to you, set the string height above the 12th fret by feel, bending notes to make sure the strings won't slip under your fingers and the notes ring out good. then check around the middle of the neck for the same thing. If it feels like its going to slip in the middle of the neck back the truss rod off 1/8 turn at time, until it feels right. Its all about feel , not numbers. Its really not too hard. Just go slowly and pay attention to what the changes are doing and you should be fine.

Andy California · Oct 24, 2017

jkp44 said:
Learn to do it yourself. There are a lot of helpful videos and threads on the subject. Get the neck as straight as you can, make sure the nut feels good to you, set the string height above the 12th fret by feel, bending notes to make sure the strings won't slip under your fingers and the notes ring out good. then check around the middle of the neck for the same thing. If it feels like its going to slip in the middle of the neck back the truss rod off 1/8 turn at time, until it feels right. Its all about feel , not numbers. Its really not too hard. Just go slowly and pay attention to what the changes are doing and you should be fine.

I've tried doing it many times. But I have no way of knowing whether what I am doing is right or not. In other words, I want to learn from someone's work.
Besides, I can't afford to practice fret levelling on my beloved guitar.

fakejake · Oct 24, 2017

Joe Dobson (Joseph Kaye guitars) imo is by far the best. He takes his time, but to me it seems he really loves what he's doing and takes great pride in his work.
I've tried others around Denmark street that I wouldn't recommend.

Andy California · Oct 24, 2017

fakejake said:
Joe Dobson (Joseph Kaye guitars) imo is by far the best. He takes his time, but to me it seems he really loves what he's doing and takes great pride in his work.
I've tried others around Denmark street that I wouldn't recommend.

Thanks for sharing the info!
As a side question, is Denmark street sort of the go to place for musical instruments in London?

fakejake · Oct 24, 2017

I would say no. It's nice to go there to maybe try something or drool over the vintage stuff, but their stuff is just overpriced.
I'm not very knowledgeable regarding new gear, but for vintage I can recommend the Vintage guitar boutique in Shoreditch and Atoyboy guitars (which is further outside in the Cotswalds). I had great experiences with both.
Also, since London has and had a huge music scene for a log time, you can find so much used and vintage stuff locally on gumtree/ ebay/ reverb...
There can be some great deals if you're willing to wait a bit

F-Hole · Oct 25, 2017

Drop me a PM, I'm sure I can get you sorted wheen you're in London.

zhivago · Oct 25, 2017

I take all my guitars (including my '56 LPC) to Charlie Chandler...great service in my experience :salude

springhead · Oct 26, 2017

Likewise. Charlie has worked on vintage and more more recently made guitars of mine for years now - since he was in the shop in Kew with his brother. Always excellent work and reliable.

Yelly · Oct 26, 2017

Another shout out for Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience. Although I do all the set ups myself, CCGX has done 6 immaculate stainless steel regrets (R9, LP Standard +, Strat, PRS DGT, PRS CU24 and a PRS Singlecut Trem. In each case I was very specific about what I wanted and got exactly what I asked for. They are also the only place that will Plek stainless frets that I have found.

Desertdawg · Oct 28, 2017

Not quite in London but worth the trip.

http://www.drrobertsguitarsurgery.com/

F-Hole · Oct 28, 2017

springhead said:
Likewise. Charlie has worked on vintage and more more recently made guitars of mine for years now - since he was in the shop in Kew with his brother. Always excellent work and reliable.

Took a 'burst into Charlie today for an emergency "sort this shit out".........no issues, job jobbed.

Tigel Nufnel · Nov 1, 2017

I had the two worst setups of my life in Charlie Chandlers.

I trusted the hype to the extent that I asked my wife to pick up my guitars assuming they would be perfect.

My Gordon Smith fretted out inside a tone bend at the 12th and my Strat inside a SEMITONE..!

He clearly had some monkey out the back doing the actual work, but worse he didn't even check before releasing to the customer.

Totally unacceptable. Avoid.

Try David at Flame Guitars in Sutton if you're in south London. He's a really nice guy and happy to talk through everything and all the options in detail.

(Also he makes some killer guitars that you can noodle on while you chat!)

Jon Brook · Nov 4, 2017

i would recommend Andrew Warnock in Gravesend ....tel 07971 347043
He had Greeny in his place before it went to Kirk ..and sadly before i got to know him!!

Andy California · Jan 29, 2018

Following up on the original question. Feline Guitars in Croydon and Flame Guitars in Sutton both are good.

I've visited Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience too. Had a bad experience.

wait rose · Feb 3, 2018

Here's another 'yes' for Chandler, a dozen Gibson and Fender jobs over the years, never a problem that can't be solved with a telephone conversation mid-work.

Fish Fingers · Mar 23, 2018

Charlie Chandler every time. No fuss nothing a problem, besides it's a man cave of awesomeness.
Strats, teles, Lesters, Gordon Smiths, all of em fettled by Charlie and his team.

Guitar set up in London

Andy California

New member

jkp44

New member

Andy California

New member

fakejake

Well-known member

Andy California

New member

fakejake

Well-known member

F-Hole

Well-known member

zhivago

Well-known member

springhead

Member

Yelly

Active member

Desertdawg

Active member

F-Hole

Well-known member

Tigel Nufnel

New member

Jon Brook

Member

Andy California

New member

wait rose

New member

Fish Fingers

New member