Price £100 (£135 on the rare occasion fret levelling is required or requested). Price includes Tusq fixed nut and D’Addario phosphor bronze strings. More expensive strings (such as Elixir etc can be ordered at a premium).
Note: the action on all new and new-ish acoustic guitars can be hugely improved without the need for fret leveling through careful adjustment of neck relief and the 1st and last fret actions (via nut and saddle). Where a customer wants a lower-than-normal acoustic guitar action (i.e. in the same range as an electric guitar) this can usually be achieved but requires fret leveling in the same way that an electric guitar does.
Over time, most budget- and mid-priced guitars suffer from various kinds of structural deformation due to string loading. This deformation is often first noticed as large increases in the playing action imposed by the hundreds of pounds of constant string loading over the years. When this occurs, it can be arrested and in some cases reversed using a ‘Bridge Doctor’ device. Eventually however, the deformation can be so severe that no amount of nut and saddle adjustment will work – at which time only a ‘neck reset’ (a complete re-work of the neck/body joint) will do. This is a complex and expensive procedure and only makes economic sense for very high value instruments or guitars with a great deal of sentimental value. I am not equipped or qualified to do neck resets so if your instrument is in this category I can recommend a specialist luthier who can do this work.
Because of the limits to what is possible with acoustic guitars outlined above, it is very important to ascertain the age and basic condition of the guitar at a distance to make sure that there is scope for me to improve the playing action for you – and save you the courier postage if I can’t.
If improvements are possible via the nut and saddle the work I normally do includes:
• Assessment of guitar action & measurement of relief, 1st and last fret actions
• Set correct neck relief, fit Tusq nut and set 1st fret action; set ideal last fret action via saddle reductions
• Overall cleaning and checking of all components
• Oiling fingerboard
• Fitting new strings, stretching out
I also offer neck resets for Taylor bolt-on necked acoustic guitars that use individual shims or shim pairs. When I receive your guitar I take measurements of the action, remove the neck to record the current shim numbers and send this and other details to Taylor in the Netherlands who will send me a set of shims to make the required neck adjustment. The shims tend to take up to a week to arrive; but once they do the set up can then be completed the next day.
