Anyone had a set up from J White Guitars in Ash Vale?

Brio

Have a nice new Am Pro II Strat that feels nearly 'there' with a set of Schaller locking tuners added but I feel needs a bit of a fettle. J White Guitars are about a quarter of a mile from me. Just don't want to blow £90 on a setup if they aren't top dollar quality.
Any advice?

thebreeze

£90 seems a lot for a set up?

BluesLover

They were recommended to me by a friend who's been playing for 40 years+ and (pre covid) was gigging every week, so I value and respect his opinion. I took my ES339 there and he did an excellent job with it. So a positive response from me.

Strangefan

I had a repair completed on a 50s es225, it was a good repair but very expensive , I then bought one of his guitars called the long horn, one of my biggest regrets selling that guitar. 

dean111music

Very pro, I had my CS tele setup, tick list with everything he done, “played every fret to check for buzzing” tick. Got it back home and try to bend a note on the high E near 15th fret and fretted out. He was very apologetic and wanted to fix the problem but that made me learn how to do it myself. 

I would take my guitars for bigger jobs but for basic stuff I do myself. This was 9 years ago now like I say he did want to sort it out so I don’t want to shout him down. Just make sure you are happy before you leave.

Offset

I wasn't happy with the work I had done there especially given the top dollar price.  This was around 5-6 years back. 

idiotwindow

Is £90 top dollar price? Considering that the set-up includes a fret dress as well as a long list of other (IMO over the top) stuff like cleaning the fretboard and pots, the price seems a bit low to me. And that might put me off.

crunchman

Years ago he had a stand at a guitar show with a bunch of PRS style guitars he had built.  They seemed pretty decent to me.  I've not used him for repair work as he's a bit a of a distance from me, but as far as I know he's a got a decent reputation.

I have got a guitar that needs a refret, and I have been wondering about driving for an hour or so to him to avoid London prices.

Lewy

I'd take a modern electric to him if he's local - he's done a couple of good refrets for me. For acoustics or anything classic/vintage I'd look elsewhere. Also, if you have any specific set up preferences that he considers "incorrect" prepare to have to have a debate with him about it and he may fish out his Dan Erelewine repair book to prove to you you're wrong.

Lestratcaster

Not used him but have heard from others he's a difficult bloke to deal with even though his work is apparently good.

Alegree

They insisted that a Johnny Smith mini humbucker was faulty in the face of a video demonstrating it working. Refused to pay the bench fee for inspection. I won't ever deal with them.

bertie

idiotwindow said:

Is £90 top dollar price? Considering that the set-up includes a fret dress 

and there is the point of difference to "most" setups.............. and why its £90

Offset

Lestratcaster said:

Not used him but have heard from others he's a difficult bloke to deal with even though his work is apparently good.

He's 'difficult' because either he doesn't listen to, or partly ignores,  what the client wants and ploughs ahead with what he thinks they need doing.  Sounds like similar behaviour to that which @Alegree experienced.  I'd never use again either.

Brio

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm not a big fan of 'difficult' so I may give him a miss. 

Lestratcaster

Offset said:

Lestratcaster said:

Not used him but have heard from others he's a difficult bloke to deal with even though his work is apparently good.

He's 'difficult' because either he doesn't listen to, or partly ignores,  what the client wants and ploughs ahead with what he thinks they need doing.  Sounds like similar behaviour to that which @Alegree experienced.  I'd never use again either.

Sounds about right haha, although I am just going off what other people are saying, I've never met or spoken to him myself but I don't intend to based on what I hear!

BluesLover

No wonder companies/professionals avoid this forum...

Offset

BluesLover said:

No wonder companies/professionals avoid this forum...

Really?  If someone provides good service and a quality product they should have nothing to fear.  If they don't, they'll get called out.  It's what a forum is for.  Want me to lie and say he's fucking great and then you (maybe) come back and call me a shill when you've spent a shit load of money and find out he's crap?  Seriously... FFS.

Seziertisch

BluesLover said:

No wonder companies/professionals avoid this forum...

Do they? 

Bridgehouse

Seziertisch said:

BluesLover said:

No wonder companies/professionals avoid this forum...

Do they? 

There has been quite some history with a number of businesses and the forum, yes. 

Majorscale

The bassist in one of my bands got J White to set up a bass for him. Apparently the playability was transformed, and the bass was now so good that the bassist chap “almost teared up”. Now this guy isn’t the emotional type so I decided to take two of my Fenders to J White. There was a few months to wait before my “appointment”. He’s very busy and is used by Guitar Village for the more complicated setup work.

When you get there you are invited into a swish garden office and the consultation starts. It’s J White and his son. All very friendly, they are both clearly knowledgeable, and then they assess and very precisely measure up the instruments. I was asked for my preferences and areas of concern. The whole operation felt a step above the normal in service terms.

The guitars were ready a week later. Honestly I don’t know if my hopes were too high, or maybe my guitars are well set up anyway, but they felt exactly the same. The frets had definitely been stoned, and the Tele had received a new nut and a fix for a grounding issue, but I was hoping for more, particularly for my Strat which I pointed out had a slight choking issue on large bends at the 15th fret. Unfortunately that was still evident. Normally you get a chance to play the guitars in a test room to make sure you’re happy with the work before paying, but covid precautions stopped that so I only found out when back home. I could have/should have chased it up but I just couldn’t be bothered. 

You do get a nice printout of the changes made, in my case, actions changed by fractions of a millimetre, plus the aforementioned work, and you get a report like a service manual. So it all feels more premium but I don’t think the high prices (north of £200 for me) reflected in the result I got…which could just be because my guitars aren’t too out of whack. 

mbe

Consultation? Where's he at? Harley Street?