Replace binding
Binding when used forms the edge of a body or the neck of an instrument, acting to protect the instrument from the inevitable knocks most instruments will take. It will usually consist of a combination of wood and plastic and in thankfully very rare cases metal.
From time to time if a guitar’s had a particularly hard life then binding can require replacing on cosmetic grounds. At which point its arguably pretty much served its purpose. Whether you choose to stick with the same materials and aesthetics is really a matter of personal preference.
On other occasions, a plastic binding material can require replacing due to degradation of the material itself. Many of the plastics used as a binding material have proven to be quite unstable over the longer term and begin to fall part over a period of time as the plastic reacts typically to exposure to sunlight. If you want to avoid this then you could live in the dark but, whilst the guitar might not end up looking any worse for it I imagine it won’t do you many favours, so maybe not. Depending on the level of degradation all or some of the binding can be removed and new material lets in. There is a catch with this, however, in that the new binding will not be the exact same height and or width as the channel it sits in. It will have to be cut back to be flush with the rest of the guitar, without touching the lacquer around the area being repaired. Both tricky and time-consuming. The other factor to consider is the change in colour of the material or lacquer over time again due to exposure to sunlight, nicotine etc.
For the reasons outlined above, there are occasions when re-binding an instrument can be an expensive business indeed. So, if you’re thinking of purchasing yourself that Gretsch White Falcon you’ve always hankered for, or the 60’s Gibson acoustic burning a hole in your imagination, then check the binding very carefully!
Neck re-set
A perennial favorite of vintage steel string owners (and repairers) everywhere.
There are many reasons older instruments can sound great. In fact, almost every change to an instrument will have some impact on its overall character. So before you steam headlong into re-setting the neck on your latest purchase, stop and have a think about what it is you like about the guitar. Each and every time you re-do a glue join on an instrument you will change it. The change may be greater or smaller, but it will be there.
No matter how neatly a reset is carried out, in the short term at least the work cannot be fully hidden if someone knows what they’re looking for. The grandkids may thank you for leaving a lovely playing action when they pick up your pride and joy. They might not be quite so pleased with the potential depreciation incurred. Still, ungrateful little so and so’s should be grateful for what they get. In my day we never had blah blah blah…
Body re-build
Large scale re-builds are one of our specialties. No matter how many pieces your instrument is in it can be repaired!
The process of a full re-build is one which will likely take up to around 6 weeks and can involve many hundreds of hours of gluing time as we piece things back together. We’ve spent a long time coming up with efficient and effective techniques for dealing with major damage to acoustic and semi acoustic instrument bodies.
The process of quoting for the repairs to be carried out requires us to be able to look through the instrument in person and enables us to provide you with a quote on the spot.
Payment Methods
We accept all major debit and credit card payments.
