Cumbria Guitar Services

Cumbria Guitar Services Setups, modifications and repairs for guitars and bass. Bespoke assessments offered for every instrument. Based in Cockermouth.

A setup on this Martin to get it playing more easily and sounding a bit nicer - saddle height for action and intonation,...
28/02/2026

A setup on this Martin to get it playing more easily and sounding a bit nicer - saddle height for action and intonation, relief, and nut cut to correct height. Just some refinement over the factory output on a midrange instrument with more potential.

A setup on this teesny Martin so it can get back to touring the world (in a motorhome) with better tone and playability.
27/02/2026

A setup on this teesny Martin so it can get back to touring the world (in a motorhome) with better tone and playability.

An Ibanez archtop with buzzing. Needed a setup and some fret work.
26/02/2026

An Ibanez archtop with buzzing. Needed a setup and some fret work.

Light fret dress and a nut-cut to get the best out of this strat. These are two very common requirements for even new gu...
25/02/2026

Light fret dress and a nut-cut to get the best out of this strat.

These are two very common requirements for even new guitars to play at their full potential.

Most guitars have their nuts too high out of the factory. The slots should be the same height over the board as the frets. That needs high levels of accuracy and consistency. Well within what can be machined, but it's easier (cheaper) to keep tolerances lower and have a slightly high nut than keep tolerances high and do it accurately, or have to replace or shim nuts from over-cutting. Likewise, having a tech cut every nut correctly isn't going to happen on guitars made by the thousands. So high nut slots are a cost saver that we're sort of used to. Low fret playability and intonation are significantly improved with properly cut nuts, and action is slightly lower over the whole board as well.

Frets put in dead level will move to some extent when the board is bent and compressed by string tension. Climate changes from shipping and different storage environments can shove them around further. Fret dresses are warranted even on new instruments.

A refret on a Takemine with 20 years service. The frets were heavily worn up to 10th, and the board needed a fair bit of...
24/02/2026

A refret on a Takemine with 20 years service. The frets were heavily worn up to 10th, and the board needed a fair bit of repair. Pocketed slots, so the same extra fret prep and slot clean up as a bound board.

Identical frets weren't available, so I used very slightly wider and taller ones that were the closest match I could find (after discussion with the owner about fret size preference). The extra height meant the nut needed a tiny lift as well, or there would be buzz and choking on 1st

On that note, negligible board thickness is lost in the repair of this sort of pitting - the pits are quite shallow to begin with, and once you have a little wood sanded off the board for a normal re-level, you can carefully cut into the pitting to lift wood out of the pitting to above the board surface, then pack with some of the board's dust and wicking CA. If done well, the pit vanishes, complete with grain in the board surface.

A little shave off the bass saddle (this has two) to correct sharp intonation on the wound strings, and done. The frets and board should have another 20 years in them now.

Fretboard deep clean and refurb as part of an otherwise normal set up. This guitar was bought in the 70s and it's owner ...
23/02/2026

Fretboard deep clean and refurb as part of an otherwise normal set up. This guitar was bought in the 70s and it's owner wanted to get back into it.

Neck pocket re-work on a bass. Knew a shim was needed to get decent action before the neck came out as the saddles were ...
22/02/2026

Neck pocket re-work on a bass. Knew a shim was needed to get decent action before the neck came out as the saddles were at the lower limit with action still high. But I found that shims had been used in the factory, before finishing. You can see the green and blue layers of 'shims'. Initial scraping highlights the warping from it absorbing paint, so they're probably card. Anyway, this is no sort of surface to have in a neck pocket so I re-did it.

Routed that all out and cut it flat glued in a wood shim thick enough to compensate for the removed material and additional height needed for saddle travel. Then touched it in.

A little different than the usual setup stuff. This 'Avon' was bought second hand about 50 years ago - the task was to r...
17/01/2026

A little different than the usual setup stuff. This 'Avon' was bought second hand about 50 years ago - the task was to restore it to close to new condition as a gift for the owners son. I like this one, since my first guitar was off my dad, and I still have it.

There were a large number of dings, cracks and such in the finish, the nastiest few of which you can see before and after. Good job it's black. This sort of work is quite difficult and time consuming, exponentially so when colour matching is involved, (minimal here). Rarely worth it for the merely aesthetic benefit, but this is one of those times.

Dressed the frets and restored the fretboard

There were a couple of tuning peg bushings missing. Like for like wasn't available, so I got a new set. The holes needed widened about a mil to fit them.

Polish everything (including the very scuffed pick guard) and set up to perfectly respectable playability. There's life in the old girl yet. I hope the lad enjoys playing it.

Nut cut and fret dress, relief and saddle height (action/intonation) on this Tanglewood. Gotta say, it was difficult, un...
25/10/2025

Nut cut and fret dress, relief and saddle height (action/intonation) on this Tanglewood. Gotta say, it was difficult, unremarkable and quite sour sounding before, but hard to stop playing after. Just enough 'fight' but not challenging, and beautifully musical. Can't wear out the new strings though.

Setup and nut cut on this Epi to deal with playability and intonation issues. Owner is very happy with it now, describin...
25/10/2025

Setup and nut cut on this Epi to deal with playability and intonation issues. Owner is very happy with it now, describing it as sounding and playing like a much more expensive instrument. Very nice to hear.

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Whitehaven

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