This Levin acoustic arrived in a very sorry state – right handed – it had been strung as a ‘lefty’ for 40 years – frets worn out, fingerboard lifting, machineheads useless, bridge split, a ‘repair’ done on the body with a piece of plywood (30 odd years old) to name but a few. This guitar needed some serious TLC.

This Peter Cook bass had been stored for over a year in a metal transport container in the searing heat and temperature extremes of Saudi Arabia. Having been left strung to full tension not surprisingly the neck was severely twisted and was more like a bow and arrow than an expensive pro custom bass!

This one quite badly dammaged in transit - not a pleasant or easy job by any means but successfully completed none the less. Full description to follow.

Not too many of these around these days – quite a challenging instrument to service due not least to the unique key design. Also, as the body is made of acrylic it is very prone to damage and wear of the body lugs that hold the key stacks in place.

Something that is generally rcommended on instruments over three years old is a full strip down service. This allows full access so that all parts of the instrument can be properly cleaned and overhauled. You will notice the rust build up on many of the springs on this instrument - not uncommon and one of the many reasons that regular professional servicing is recommended. As one customer noted - \" I can say that a proper overhaul has definitely been worth every penny. I\'ve just been having a practice and, although I thought it was OK before, it is so much better now.

One could wonder why both manufacturers and repairers recommend servicing every 12 to 18 months – until you strip down the instrument to reveal the heavy build up on pads – rusted springs and the rest. This customer was astounded at how much easier to play this sax was and how much better it sounded after its service!

This is something we do regularly at the workshop and have been doing for almost 20 years - never taken lightly though - a good re fret can improve an instrument immeasurably, conversley poorly done re frets can be expensive to rectify - we take the utmost care over pre re fret preparation of the fingerboard and fret slots to ensure the best possible job. There are a number of fret heights, widths and profiles available all having differing effects on tone,  sustain and \'feel\' of the instrument.

This Sitar is fitted with a Tumba (extra gourd). Not found on all Sitars the joint between this and the neck is an area of weakness on the instrument. It only takes a slight knock to rip the fixing screws out and for the fragile hollow neck to shatter and splinter

No matter how many of these I do I always feel privelidged to work on vintage instruments and to get the opportunity to restore a beautiful instrument such as this is a total pleasure. Not that they don\'t come without their issues and headaches, for sure they do. I was astounded how playable this sax was prior to restoration given that, amongst all the many other issues, that some of the pads were almost completely rotted away.

Not something we see too much of and a good interesting job to do. Not as difficult to play on as you may think either. It feels a little strange at first, fingers having no contact with the fingerboard what so ever.