London luthier to look at my acoustic?

Drew_TNBD

Apart from Feline Guitars, what other London luthiers are there that are worth going to with my acoustic? I wanna price up a complete fix up job, coz it plays like a boat anchor but sounds brilliant. I've played some other acoustics out there and none of them so far have sounded anywhere near as good. So I want to get this one fixed (action, frets, new nut, etc...)

mellowsun

Try LA guitars in Finchley

https://www.laguitars.com/

CHRISB50

Charlie Chandler in Hampton. It's the wrong end of London for you but they also offer a collection and delivery service as well if you wanted to use it. 

I used to take my Lowden there for a yearly set up. 

rlw

There's that bloke in Lewisham with the same name as someone famous but I can't remember what it is.

He did great work for me and is the real thing.

rlw

Aha

https://grahamparkerluthier.com/gpl-guitar-repairs/guitar-repairs-london/

ICBM

Be aware that one of the reasons it sounds so good is probably *because* it's a pig to play…
















Up to a point, anyway - while it's certainly true that you can get an acoustic to play pretty close to how an electric does and sound good, they always do sound better still with a higher action and usually a tiny bit more relief, so don't be surprised if it doesn't sound quite so amazing if you improve the playability too much...

Blaendulais

Richmond Guitar Workshop.  The luthiers from Chandlers and inventors of the mighty Echoline Pedals

proggy

Camden Guitars on Chalk Farm Rd have an in house luthier. I've never used them , but one of my mates swears by them and he's a professional musician.

FelineGuitars

Apart from Feline

Cols

+1 for Richmond Guitars; it's run by the two former guitar techs from Chandler's, and they did an incredible job on my Les Paul recently.  Full fret dress, recut and polished the bone nut, reseated the Schafer roller bridge I'd (poorly) installed and tidied up the electrics.  Their attention to detail is superb.

Kebabkid

Charlie Chandler - he's worked on both my electrics and acoustics for over 20 yrs.

Our Jonathan at Feline should also be in the running.

Corvus

LA Guitars are good, been making acoustics for decades.

axisus

I'd prefer Feline for anything, but it's a PITA for me to get to.

mellowsun

FelineGuitars said:

Apart from Feline

Do you fettle acoustics also? - good to know if so!

Drew_TNBD

FelineGuitars said:

Apart from Feline

I already know you'd do a good job! Can't go giving you all my bloody money!

Drew_TNBD

ICBM said:

Be aware that one of the reasons it sounds so good is probably *because* it's a pig to play…
















Up to a point, anyway - while it's certainly true that you can get an acoustic to play pretty close to how an electric does and sound good, they always do sound better still with a higher action and usually a tiny bit more relief, so don't be surprised if it doesn't sound quite so amazing if you improve the playability too much...

How much truth is there to this? Really I'm thinking it needs a fret dress, a new nut, a new bridge (there is a phat crack in it!!), and new strings and setup. Not looking to cut any of the wood out of it or anything!

Seriously... this thing shreds my hands up, and I can't play it for much longer than an hour. Which sucks, because there is a ton of acoustic stuff I want to work on and can't really do it.

BenSirAmos

I like LA guitars in Finchley too

guitarfishbay

Drew_TNBD said:

Up to a point, anyway - while it's certainly true that you can get an acoustic to play pretty close to how an electric does and sound good, they always do sound better still with a higher action and usually a tiny bit more relief, so don't be surprised if it doesn't sound quite so amazing if you improve the playability too much...

How much truth is there to this? Really I'm thinking it needs a fret dress, a new nut, a new bridge (there is a phat crack in it!!), and new strings and setup. Not looking to cut any of the wood out of it or anything!

Seriously... this thing shreds my hands up, and I can't play it for much longer than an hour. Which sucks, because there is a ton of acoustic stuff I want to work on and can't really do it.

There needs to be enough clearance to not get fret buzz and a certain amount of tension in the strings to get a nice sound, as floppy acoustic strings sound a bit weak.

I just had a fret dress, new nut, and new bridge on mine.  The action is 2.5mm on the bass side and 1.7mm on the treble, this is marginally lower than before and it still sounds fantastic to me.  I needed the new bridge because it's a Chris Alsop overhang jobbie (to intonate at C# standard), and being honest I fudged up the nut trying to cut it myself and cut it too low...  

ICBM

Drew_TNBD said:

How much truth is there to this? Really I'm thinking it needs a fret dress, a new nut, a new bridge (there is a phat crack in it!!), and new strings and setup. Not looking to cut any of the wood out of it or anything!

Seriously... this thing shreds my hands up, and I can't play it for much longer than an hour. Which sucks, because there is a ton of acoustic stuff I want to work on and can't really do it.

If it's that bad the chances are that you can improve it a lot without affecting the tone. Just don't expect it to play like an electric.

Basically the problem is that on an acoustic you can never get the action as low as on an electric because the top vibrates at the same time as the strings do, which reduces the clearance between the strings and the frets since the string movement is thus effectively increased. You get a loss of clean vibration and full tone before the fret buzz is actually audible as buzz, too - more so than on an electric where it tends not to be as audible through the amp.

Add to that the need to use heavier strings to get the fullest tone - not always the heaviest, in fact overly heavy strings can restrict the top movement sometimes, but bank on at least 12s to get the best tone - and you will always find it tougher on your hands. 11s can be a workable compromise depending on the guitar.

The biggest improvement you can make is usually to the nut, it's rare to find one cut well and almost unknown for it to be perfect, from the factory - and it makes a huge difference, more so than on an electric because the heavier strings are even stiffer to bend down to the frets over the short distance to the first few frets.

Drew_TNBD

Aye, I don't really expect it to be as easy to play as an acoustic, but this feels quite ridiculous! Especially when compared to some of the Martins and Taylors I've played in the shops... but... they just don't sound as good!!

earwighoney

Go to see this guy

http://www.okumuraguitars.com

Japanese chap who is the resident repair guy at Ivor's/the one for Santa Cruz UK repairs as well (I think) and has his own workshop in Battersea.