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Advice needed - guitar repair


incredibledisc

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Can anyone recommend a good guitar repairer in Aberdeen?

My left handed Epiphone Sheraton needs its volume pots replaced as they both appear to be buggered. Took it into Prosound but they told me that their repair dude has moved on. They recommended some place called Kinellar out in Blackburn. Called the dude up but got his answerphone.

Called R&B to see if they would give me a qoute but was told that they wouldn't touch it as it was such a fiddly job - Sheraton's have no access panels which makes them a bitch to work with. He reckoned 100 - 150 if I could find anyone to do the job. He even went as far as to suggest that I might be as well bunging the guitar on ebay and just buying a new one!o_O

Anyone else out there got any ideas while I wait for this Kinellar dude to call me back?

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Can anyone recommend a good guitar repairer in Aberdeen?

My left handed Epiphone Sheraton needs its volume pots replaced as they both appear to be buggered. Took it into Prosound but they told me that their repair dude has moved on. They recommended some place called Kinellar out in Blackburn. Called the dude up but got his answerphone.

Called R&B to see if they would give me a qoute but was told that they wouldn't touch it as it was such a fiddly job - Sheraton's have no access panels which makes them a bitch to work with. He reckoned 100 - 150 if I could find anyone to do the job. He even went as far as to suggest that I might be as well bunging the guitar on ebay and just buying a new one!o_O

Anyone else out there got any ideas while I wait for this Kinellar dude to call me back?

"Called R&B to see if they would give me a qoute but was told that they wouldn't touch it as it was such a fiddly job - Sheraton's have no access panels which makes them a bitch to work with. He reckoned 100 - 150 if I could find anyone to do the job. He even went as far as to suggest that I might be as well bunging the guitar on ebay and just buying a new one!o_O "

Geezo, that's like saying 'my car needs a new indicator switch, better sell it to Overton's of Dyce'.

That would not be too big a job. What helps the situation is to attach a piece of strong thread to the 'buggered' pot after taking of the plastic knob, but, before removing the securing nut. Then undo the nut, and gently push the pot through. The pot will now be floating about inside the hollow body. Simply turn the guitar on it's edge until the offending pot comes into view. If you have a problem just get a thin piece of stiff wire 'hook' the pot and gently pull it through the 'F' hole.

You can now work on the pot, taking care not to lose the end of the piece of thread. Once you have unsoldered th eiold pot and resoldered the new pot, tie the end of the thread back on to the new pot and simply pull the piece of thread back through the drilled hole in the body. When the new pot get near the hole be carefull not to pull too hard as you might break the thread. You might need the wire again, but this time to guide the bottom of the pot into position under the drilled hole before gently pulling the pot through. Slip the securing nut over the thread and and slowly tighten the nut on to the threaded section of the pot.

I reckon this email took longer to write then it would take to get a pot out of an 'F' hole.

Give me a PM if you would prefer to talk it over on the phone whatever.:up:

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Prosound's 'repair dude' ( i.e. Neil) moved on to work out of Capt Toms. He also used to be the repair dude for Bruce Millers. He is the man.

scollay.JPG

He may well be but he doesn't appear to want the work.

I dropped off a guitar for a simple set up and had to pick it up unlooked at 3-4 weeks later despite a coulpe of texts saying it was going to look at it the next day, blah, blah.

Tom didn't seem particularly impressed either, turns out I'm not the first...

Pity, as I hear his work is good.

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He may well be but he doesn't appear to want the work.

I dropped off a guitar for a simple set up and had to pick it up unlooked at 3-4 weeks later despite a coulpe of texts saying it was going to look at it the next day, blah, blah.

Tom didn't seem particularly impressed either, turns out I'm not the first...

Pity, as I hear his work is good.

Yeah, he did a couple of set ups and fixed some wires for me when he worked at Prosound - however, I had heard similar tales of backed up work since he had moved on...

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"Called R&B to see if they would give me a qoute but was told that they wouldn't touch it as it was such a fiddly job - Sheraton's have no access panels which makes them a bitch to work with. He reckoned 100 - 150 if I could find anyone to do the job. He even went as far as to suggest that I might be as well bunging the guitar on ebay and just buying a new one!o_O "

Geezo, that's like saying 'my car needs a new indicator switch, better sell it to Overton's of Dyce'.

That would not be too big a job. What helps the situation is to attach a piece of strong thread to the 'buggered' pot after taking of the plastic knob, but, before removing the securing nut. Then undo the nut, and gently push the pot through. The pot will now be floating about inside the hollow body. Simply turn the guitar on it's edge until the offending pot comes into view. If you have a problem just get a thin piece of stiff wire 'hook' the pot and gently pull it through the 'F' hole.

You can now work on the pot, taking care not to lose the end of the piece of thread. Once you have unsoldered th eiold pot and resoldered the new pot, tie the end of the thread back on to the new pot and simply pull the piece of thread back through the drilled hole in the body. When the new pot get near the hole be carefull not to pull too hard as you might break the thread. You might need the wire again, but this time to guide the bottom of the pot into position under the drilled hole before gently pulling the pot through. Slip the securing nut over the thread and and slowly tighten the nut on to the threaded section of the pot.

I reckon this email took longer to write then it would take to get a pot out of an 'F' hole.

Give me a PM if you would prefer to talk it over on the phone whatever.:up:

Cheers for the advice mate - if I can pluck up the courage and get hold of some new pots I might be prepared to give it a go.

I have to agree that the "sell yer guitar" advice from R&B was a bit of a shocker. :up:

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"Called R&B to see if they would give me a qoute but was told that they wouldn't touch it as it was such a fiddly job - Sheraton's have no access panels which makes them a bitch to work with. He reckoned 100 - 150 if I could find anyone to do the job. He even went as far as to suggest that I might be as well bunging the guitar on ebay and just buying a new one! "

Holy crap that's a bit much!

I dunno which member of staff would've said that?!

I don't personally know good people to do stuff in terms of fixing locally. If it's stuff that we (R&B) can't do then I usually recommend Jimmy Moon or Jimmy Egypt (both in Glasgow) as they have great reputations whereas I don't know of people of the same sorta caliber closer to home.

I never heard - in the shop - about such an extreme suggestion to just sell the guitar though! God sake!

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Holy crap that's a bit much!

I dunno which member of staff would've said that?!

I don't personally know good people to do stuff in terms of fixing locally. If it's stuff that we (R&B) can't do then I usually recommend Jimmy Moon or Jimmy Egypt (both in Glasgow) as they have great reputations whereas I don't know of people of the same sorta caliber closer to home.

I never heard - in the shop - about such an extreme suggestion to just sell the guitar though! God sake!

:) I'm not joking - he asked how attached I was to the guitar (at which point a vision of a Gibson 335 I once saw with a hole hacked in the back popped into my head o_O ) After reassuring me that he wasn't implying that I perform surgery on the guitar he then went on to make the ebay suggestion. He did also mention that Glasgow might be a better bet but reiterated that it was gonna be a sore one in terms of price.

I'm a bit confused - after reading Britheguy's post it doesn't seem like that tough a job other than you need to do a bit of forward planning by attaching thread to the pots etc. The only bit that would put me off doing it myself would be the soldering as I haven't got a scooby how to do it.?(

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I'm a bit confused - after reading Britheguy's post it doesn't seem like that tough a job other than you need to do a bit of forward planning by attaching thread to the pots etc. The only bit that would put me off doing it myself would be the soldering as I haven't got a scooby how to do it.?(

Soldering is easy, a fucking monkey could do it. Heat solder, put wire where you want it to stay, apply solder carefully to wire, let it cool, job done :)

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Easy if you have a soldering iron that is:laughing:

I know that soldering is a pretty easy job I'm just a bit cack handed at stuff that requires a lighter touch.

You don't need to have a light touch especially it's just not the sort of thing you'd want to do if you had Parkinsons or extreme shakes. And a soldering iron isn't that hard to come across, if your work has an engineer or repair man he/she will have one. Or if you're at school/uni someone in the Science labs'll have one.

:up:

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Oliver at strathbeg.com recently did some work on my Highway 1 Strat. Check his site for more info.

I initially contacted him by e-mail and got a lengthy response and quote within the hour.

Got my guitar back next day with set up and jack socket repair.

Nice guy. Gave me a play of his guitars while I was out at his house.

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Soldering is easy, a fucking monkey could do it. Heat solder, put wire where you want it to stay, apply solder carefully to wire, let it cool, job done :)

The soldering isn't the hard part, its getting the wire out the f-hole, soldering the pot and getting it back in through the fhole then out the cavity again without ripping the wire....just buy a cover and chisel into the back of your prize possession, make the repair, and cover it up once done :D

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Geezo, this is going on a bit. If you are stuck give me a pm and the pots and I'll fit it for you. that's if you are not miles away from my house.

Cheers for the offer - happy to report that the problem has been fixed - pot was fine - it was a dry joint which was sorted out with a quick dab from a soldering iron. Pots now working a-ok:up:

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