Luthiers in Essex

Offset

Wow.  Many thanks @freewayy_1967 - bit of an eye-opener on a Fender CS instrument.

freewayy_1967

freewayy_1967 Frets: 0

1:21PM Flag

This was John's report on the fender custom shop guitar that I had purchased from France.

Without his analysis I would not have had any leg to stand on so to speak.

Once they had read John's analysis of the faulty guitar they agreed immediately for the return of the guitar and my refund.

freewayy_1967

I wasn't knocking the shop that sold me the guitar.The problem was so miniscule it was hardly noticeable. It was  fender who was at fault. Fender should have noticed the problem and rectified it before sending it out (an honest overview)

freewayy_1967

Hello,
I just had the director of Fender France on the phone. The easiest way is to go through Fender's Custom care (fendercustomshop.com/customcare) which will take care of the work to be done on your guitar

Regards,
Nicolas

• MUSIC3000
 
• Sep 13, 2021 01:11 PM

freewayy_1967

As I said previously
Through www.jbguitars.co.uk analysis I got given the full refund. 

guitarmanessex89

It wouldn't be right to give out his number on a public forum, but Gary Randle (Facebook) is great. Great guy, super honest and a complete perfectionist. He was primarily teaching, but with 30+ years in engineering and working on his own guitars, he does a perfect job. He has worked on half a dozen of my guitars and put a high spec Tele together from scratch. Absolutely top bloke and very reasonable.

malcolmf60

I have used JB Guitars of Writtle over the last four years and found John to be very professional, always easily contactable and overall to have done a very good job in pretty quick time! He has done a set up just recently on my Ibanez AF125, and previously done a set up and repair on my Ibanez AS153 and a very impressive job on my 1979 Guild D35 lowering a very high action and generally making it a lovely guitar to play, as well as valuable advice on looking after it, especially on watching humidity.

Power-Beef

Richard at Electrohill, North London, is more of the amp guy but he (or whoever he outsourced to) did a great set up job on my short scale Ibanez Mikro. Drop him a message about refrets.

Rackstrat

John from jbguitars.co.uk has done a load of different work on a number of my guitars over the last year. Fretwork, setups, new nuts, new pickup, and general troubleshooting. The quality of work has been excellent, as has the level of advice provided throughout the whole process of the work being done. I'd definitely recommend him, and will ask him again when I need any more work done.

Rkphilpot

I have used Jonny Miller in Earls Colne for loads of work, he does all my guitars, everything from pickup swaps to rewires and refrets.

Im on one of Dr Roberts Courses on Tuesday so can report back on his stuff too.

idiotwindow

Seem to be a lot of positive reviews about JB from new posters. The OP has 0 frets as well.

TeleMaster

idiotwindow said:

Seem to be a lot of positive reviews about JB from new posters. The OP has 0 frets as well.

Yea. Something fishy is going here.

Rackstrat

Nothing fishy. Just people who've had good work done by him saying so.

Mellish

At the OP, go to "Recommended Luthier's & Techs" (top of Guitar page).

There you'll find members' recommendations, including for Essex  

freewayy_1967

Below is a testimony from John Skinner,
John Skinner was Steve Marriott's guitar tech for twenty years 

freewayy_1967

Welcome to JB Guitars.
Specialising in the repair of Electric, Acoustic and Bass guitars.
JB Guitars is based in Writtle, Essex

1. Testimonials

Epiphone Dot 335 VOS

John Skinner - Ongar, Essex

(Steve Marriott - (Small Faces, Humble Pie, Packet of Three), Guitar Tech / PA / Roadie)

Many years ago I had the opportunity to work with Steve Marriott, (Small Faces, Humble Pie, Packet of Three), as his guitar tech/pa/roadie. I looked after many of his guitars, from the iconic Epiphone Coronets and Les Paul Juniors he used whilst in Humble Pie, to the more obscure from Ibanez and Ovation, when he endorsed their products and got several “freebies” from those companies. His guitar of choice was always a Gibson Les Paul, and he used them in all the bands he played in, until the latter years of his life when he got his Blonde Gibson 335. It became his regular guitar as we played the pubs and clubs all over the UK. When he died, in a fire at his home, in 1991 aged just 44 years old, I quit the music biz and became a truck driver for a firm local to where I live. All thoughts of guitars faded away as the years passed by. Until recently.

I could never afford a proper Gibson 335 but, a chance sighting on e-bay, found a very nice Epiphone Dot 335. It had lovely figured grain on the front, and was in my favourite colour of vintage sunburst. "Buy it Now", and the deed was done. When it arrived it was lovely, looked fantastic, but, and it was a big BUT, the first few frets were badly worn and pitted.

It hung on the wall, all forlorn and lonely for some time before I decided to “do something about it”. That’s when I found John’s website. He lived near me, and offered free collection and return. Without further ado I gave him a call and set up a meeting.

As soon as we met I knew that, here was someone who was genuinely passionate about what he did, and I had no worries about handing over my guitar. I trusted him completely.
A couple of days later he called, and ran through what needed to be done, and a rough estimate of cost. I had no hesitation in saying “go ahead”. I got the impression that he liked my Epiphone almost as much as I did.

When it returned I was amazed. It had been transformed. It was as good, if not better, than any guitar I had worked with in the past. John had turned it from a “cheap” Epi 335, into a beautiful playable guitar. The neck and frets were superb, and the set up he gave it was the icing on the cake. Not only that, but he had also checked the pick ups, the volume and tone controls and the switch, to make sure everything was working as it should. He even cleaned and polished it, making it look brand new. To say I was pleased would be an understatement.

To find someone, in this day and age, who is genuinely dedicated and passionate about what he does, knowing he would treat your instrument as if it were his own, with the respect and understanding it deserved, and having the knowledge and skills to accomplish a truly professional and first class job is rare. I would have no hesitation in recommending him to anyone.