Barnsley Guitars - Repairs and Setups

Home
United Kingdom
Barnsley
Barnsley Guitars - Repairs and Setups

A home for stringed instruments of all kinds.
(1)

Based In Barugh Green, Barnsley.

39 Higham Common Road, Barugh Green,, Barnsley, United Kingdom, S751LF
07724839506

09/06/2026

Something a little different on the bench yesterday - a custom nut for a Gibson Firebird. There’s not one dimension on that initial bone blank I’m holding that fits the guitar. EVERY area had to be sized carefully by hand. This nut had to be a thickness of 4.88mm to match the snug ‘push-fit’ of the original. I matched that perfectly.

Carving a new nut to this standard from scratch is very fine work, and it’s work where you have to be willing to start again at any point. You’re working within tolerances of fractions of millimetres. One sanding stroke or file stroke too many and it’s no longer perfect.

To get one to this level is the best part of a full day’s work. Every joint must be perfect and feel like it’s part a of the guitar. And thats before you get to string alignment and heights which are also done to tiny tolerances. All by hand.

The Gibson factory nut wasn’t very well cut and this represents a huge upgrade on Gibsons work. You think, after you’ve bought a 4k guitar, that the nut would be fine. Think again! 🙂

13/05/2026

Last post about these I think. Pretty sure we’ve established that guitar bridges are glued to the finish, fail and I can sort that problem out to the highest standard. 🙂

This one had the sharp fret ends addressed and a properly fitting bone saddle too. One more happy customer.

05/03/2026

A BADLY busted acoustic! A painful experience for any guitarist would be to drop their instrument and turn around to see their beloved guitar in this state. The top was falling of, there was chucks blown out and pieces missing.

I was able to get it all back in a stable and respectfully looking condition, but please guys - try and avoid doing this to your guitars. 🙂

23/02/2026

A look at what I’m often faced with when a bridge is lifting from an acoustic and why they tend to fail.

This old Ovation had been well and truly glued to the finish, which is akin to spray on plastic. So, that’s like gluing wood to plastic using wood glue and then hoping two barely tightened screws (under the white dots) will pick up the slack. Not gonna happen.

This bridge was also hugely deformed. It was a balancing act to get it all back to being functional, but it turned out great. I forgot to take a final picture, but the guy was very happy. That’ll do.

05/02/2026

The customer was told this mandolin couldn’t be saved without the very expensive procedure of taking the entire back off to cure the loose braces inside. Luckily they came to me for a second opinion.

After viewing with my scope camera and modifying some clamps to work within the tight space, I was able to get this whole thing back to its former glory. I threw a K&K pickup in for good measure while I was at it. If I had a word to sum all this work up it would be FIDDLY! If only I thought to take the back off. 🙂

10/01/2026

Back to the wacky world of Martin Guitars - where expensive guitars won’t stay together in the way you’d expect a £150 Tanglewood to.

Another example of the classic Martin bindings falling off. This is a common fault with Martins of a certain age. Good job they sound good, or what’d be the point in owning one? The finishes are known to have issues, the bindings fall off and the fretboards are made of compressed paper. Take that name from the headstock and a guitar business with those standards would fail in a year.

To do this job to this level is A LOT of work. And you know what that means - dollar dollar bills y’aaaall! 🙂 💷 💵 💳

Just joking, I could’ve charged this customer double and still only been on a quid an hour after all the drop filling, levelling, sanding and polishing. I’ll guarantee one thing though, these bindings are not going ANYWHERE for the rest of this guitar’s life.

07/01/2026

There’s glue-ups. And then there’s Marks & Spencers ‘taste the difference’ glue-ups. 🙂

Another Martin that’s been poorly built. Imagine that! This one was suffering from the bridge lifting away, caused by being glued to to guitar finish in spots. Recipe for failure.

Anyway, this one is NEVER moving again now. A nice, clean job that is super sturdy.

31/12/2025

A video showing how dead-on the intonation was on the ‘62 Hofner after I’d done carving the replacement bridge. I guarantee the factory one wouldn’t have been plotted as well as this.

I start with barre chords up at the 12th fret and it still chimes perfectly.

24/12/2025

Well, after A LOT of work, I got this unplayable pile of ruined and missing parts back to being something like nice again. This 1962 Colorama had EVERYTHING! From pickup rewinds to a new backplate (the only one I could find in the country!) and everything in between.

I carved the new bridge entirely from scratch from mahogany and ebony which meant intonation was dead on all the way up the neck.

The guitar was a surprise for an elderly gentleman whose young grandson got it from the loft, it’s home for 45 years, and had it refurbed ready for Christmas Day. Talk about a thoughtful gift!

08/12/2025

Think this is what all the cool-kid Instagram guitar worker types call ‘fretporn.’ I call it a long and tedious way to give yourself repetitive strain injuries in your hands. 🙂

Address

Barnsley

Website

http://www.barnsleyguitarrepairs.co.uk/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Barnsley Guitars - Repairs and Setups posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Shop in Barnsley?