Valentine Instruments & Repairs

Valentine Instruments & Repairs Luthier based in Southampton, UK. Obscure instruments and everyday setups.

3 for 3 I'm on a roll - fixed up that Mackie PA. Hardest part was clearing out the old solder! I really need to upgrade ...
11/12/2025

3 for 3 I'm on a roll - fixed up that Mackie PA. Hardest part was clearing out the old solder! I really need to upgrade my setup from the little soldering iron I found whilst cleaning out student halls between terms when I was at Uni... I need a rework station and variable temp iron!

Fingers crossed that's all that was wrong and nothing else pops in the future 🤞🏻



I started this design over a year ago and got the usual ADHD hazard of getting 90% there (testing materials, testing des...
07/12/2025

I started this design over a year ago and got the usual ADHD hazard of getting 90% there (testing materials, testing designs, having stuff break so I knew how to make it better) and then it just fell to the bottom of the list. But I finally finished the design (I hope)

Basically we have some annoying cymbal stands at Pure where they take an internally threaded cymbal sleeve, but if you put a normal sleeve on it goes too far down and you have to stack one billion flelts, the cymbal isn't protected and just flops around like a fish when playing

I wanted fat bottomed bases of different sizes for the different types of stand, but I didn't want to waste all that material because no matter what the sleeve is a consumable when a kit is being played all day every day in every way. So the stem had to be replaceable.

This way, I'm using a cheaper plastic for the base and for the stem a special type of TPU that is very stiff and has low friction & excellent layer adhesion.

Will see how they hold up over a few months and potentially start selling these as well!



Seem to be doing more electronics repairs these days - here's a Mackie Thump 12 PA from Follow the clues... Discolorati...
02/12/2025

Seem to be doing more electronics repairs these days - here's a Mackie Thump 12 PA from

Follow the clues... Discoloration on this (I assume) heat reflector or barrier on the big capacitors... Soot on the PCB... Aha... A little green disc boi is all exploded and burnt. This is an NTC which has variable resistance based on temperature. The hotter it is the less it resists current... As I'm understanding it, It's like a security guard stopping rabid fans overwhelming the barrier at a gig, but they get less stern as they heat up. But this one has exploded and the gig has been cancelled...

The main fuse on the board is intact which is a good sign things shut down before anything else fried. And the part will be less than £2... So fingers crossed for this PA 🤞🏻(I did not study electronics repair! Do not open up anything that says "WARNING RISK OF SHOCK" unless you know what the risk is. I am not an expert - just someone who can't see things thrown away without trying to fix them)


She lives! My friend came in with a poorly Line 6 Helix whose brains were no longer speaking to the footswitches, pedal...
19/11/2025

She lives! My friend came in with a poorly Line 6 Helix whose brains were no longer speaking to the footswitches, pedal or in/out.

After he did some software troubleshooting he brought it in to me and I whipped it open - thankfully this was a super easy fix. Some of the silicone holding a daughter board to the main board had come unstuck, and the board connector pins had come loose. The daughter board then has a ribbon cable to the PCB with the switches. All it needed was some hot glue to replace the silicone, after re-seating the connection. I was surprised that the daughter board didn't have any standoffs other than two plastic posts and the silicone to keep it in place! Kinda crazy!

Happy to have been able to help. Years of taking broken things apart are finally paying off🤙🏻🤙🏻



Another one for - my first time messing with a 7 string actually, and as I predicted, too wide for my little fingers to...
19/11/2025

Another one for - my first time messing with a 7 string actually, and as I predicted, too wide for my little fingers to play comfortably (especially as I've got an injured hand right now!l but just because I can't play an instrument doesn't mean I can't give it some tlc and a setup.

Massive action reduction on this - needed a shim and all the trimmings. If a bridge is dusty enough I'll take it all apart and really blow out all the cobwebs, too.

Very excited to have my research on the arpeggione published as an article in the Viola Da Gamba Society newsletter! I r...
07/11/2025

Very excited to have my research on the arpeggione published as an article in the Viola Da Gamba Society newsletter! I really enjoyed the unabashed deep dive I got to do for this project, and I finally understood why people get into research. Hunting down sources, pictures and details felt like I was a detective - especially when I managed to find pictures of an arpeggione I hadn't seen before via Trip Advisor review pics of one of the museums!

Thanks goes out again to for allowing me to visit the original Mitteis Arpeggione in their collection. That was an amazing experience, and I hope one day I can visit with my replica!

Had to take a little break from the work for a while, but I'm getting back into it now. Here's a beautiful instrument, a...
03/11/2025

Had to take a little break from the work for a while, but I'm getting back into it now.

Here's a beautiful instrument, a sounding bowl, or lyre bowl - in for some touch up to the ferrules that hold one of the strings. Very pleased it found it's way to me, I'd never heard of them before but it's a beautifully made instrument and the metal tubing to hold the strings / protect the wood is something I'd used in the arpeggione tailpiece. I put some sounds up on my story but I'll have to record this properly whilst it's here too... And of course I'm loving the coloured pegs.

The dish shape gives really remarkable projection, and then also directionality, so by tilting and rocking the bowl as the notes ring out, you can modulate the sound very naturally. They're used for sound baths and music therapy applications.

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