Retailers in London & Installation

[f.sardis]

Hi all,

I am wondering if there are shops in London that sell BKP and will do the installation as well. I live in central London (marble arch/oxford street) and obviously I would prefer something near my area. The guitar is a new custom ESP so I am pretty sensitive about leaving it in a shop that is not reputable and getting it back scratched or damaged. I don't mind buying the pickpus directly from the site and giving them to a shop for installation. The problem is, I got no idea what pots and what capacitors I need and that is why I prefer the simplicity of letting a shop deal with it. (plus i got two left hands loaded with butter fingers)

Do you have something to recommend me? Also, in regards to calibrated sets, they are cheaper than buying two separate pups albeit for 10 quid only but does it work like that for a calibrated set of different models of pups?

Cheers

[Matt77]

Jonathon at Feline Guitars in Croydon can do all that for you. It may be a little  further afield but should be worth the trip.

[Jonny]

Jonathon at Feline Guitars in Croydon can do all that for you. It may be a little  further afield but should be worth the trip.

Aye, go to Feline. I'm going on Wednesday - hopefully.

EDIT: If you are, you'd have to take this route (or this is what I would take)

Oxford Circus (Bakerloo Line) Waterloo, SW Trains to Clapham Junc., Train to East Croydon, Train to south Croydon.

I only added that to show that I have at least some knowledge of how to get around here :P

[gwEm]

Jonathon at Feline Guitars in Croydon can do all that for you. It may be a little  further afield but should be worth the trip.

Aye, go to Feline. I'm going on Wednesday - hopefully.

EDIT: If you are, you'd have to take this route (or this is what I would take)

Oxford Circus (Bakerloo Line) Waterloo, SW Trains to Clapham Junc., Train to East Croydon, Train to south Croydon.

I only added that to show that I have at least some knowledge of how to get around here :P

thats a bit of a mission isn't it? i personally just take the thameslink direct to Croydon from Kings Cross or London Bridge.

[AndyR]

Jonathon at Feline Guitars in Croydon can do all that for you. It may be a little  further afield but should be worth the trip.

Aye, go to Feline. I'm going on Wednesday - hopefully.

EDIT: If you are, you'd have to take this route (or this is what I would take)

Oxford Circus (Bakerloo Line) Waterloo, SW Trains to Clapham Junc., Train to East Croydon, Train to south Croydon.

I only added that to show that I have at least some knowledge of how to get around here :P

thats a bit of a mission isn't it? i personally just take the thameslink direct to Croydon from Kings Cross or London Bridge.

Yeah, and I'd walk from East Croydon :lol:

But Jonny's instructions would work

[Will]

Feline is definately the man to do it.
Harlington Thameslink for me ;)

[FELINEGUITARS]

Thanks for the thumbs up guys.
We do keep lots of BKPs in stock but stock does change on a daily basis - so feel free to give me a call and discuss the pickup choices that you would like - gives us a head-start if we need to get anything in that we might be out of stock of.

The route I take when going home from west end is:
From Oxford Circus - victoria line to Victoria (2 stops) or just get a bus from Marble Arch to Victoria station

Victoria station to East Croydon - about 17 minutes
About 10 minute walk from East Croydon - or 3 stops on bus (119,466,312) from stop on bridge opposite station entrance

[Jonny]

I'm in the Barnes/Putney area so I just take the train from there to Clapham. But I just used the same route as that's the only one (I think) available to me :lol:

[f.sardis]

Haha, I was thinking Feline mylsef. Even checked googlemaps to find out where it is. I saw it is near Park Ln and i thought its 10 min walk from me, then i realised there is a Park Ln in Croydon  :lol:

Sounds like a bit of a mission to get there I gotta admit.  The major issue is that I only got saturday free and i will have to cary that big leather case in the trains and they are usually packed.

I am looking at loading the guitar with a nailbomb in the bridge and a cold sweat in the neck. She is currently loaded with EMG and although I love them, I think it is time for a change and I want to simplify the maintenance seeing how i chose not to have battery boxes and i have to open up the cavity to replace the batteries and that slowly damages the threads in the wood until eventually the screws will fall off.

Additional work would be a setup and possibly replacement of the pickup ring screws that i have damaged from swapping the pickups too many times.

[FELINEGUITARS]

The traveling isn't difficult at all - I do it a couple of times a week for gigs and shopping (damn you Apple Store).

Fast Trains go from platforms 14-19 at Victoria (and only stop at Clapham Junction before reaching East Croydon).

We are open all day on Sat from 10.30 till 6pm

What colour pickups do you want?

[f.sardis]

Just bog standard black ones without covers, hopefully a calibrated set not just any two random put together.
I am open to suggestions for covers but I am kinda reluctant since I am currently funding yet another custom which should be with me around christmas and I am also hoping to score a violet horus so every penny matters.

[Jonny]

Just bog standard black ones without covers, hopefully a calibrated set not just any two random put together.
I am open to suggestions for covers but I am kinda reluctant since I am currently funding yet another custom which should be with me around christmas and I am also hoping to score a violet horus so every penny matters.

How did you get your ESP custom? And how much was it?

[f.sardis]

I got it from overseas because i could not find a dealer here that had a clue.

It cost quite alot, i dont remeber exact figure but it was just above 4K. New one is around that price, a bit higher infact because ESP pushed the prices up.

I just ran some figures here and it seems that two pickups without cover plus 4 pots plus 2 of those Vit Q capacitors (i know where to look now if the doctor recommends it), is gonna run me £221. That is quite painful I gotta admit and it does not even include installation and wiring and possibly new knobs if the existing don't fit on the CTS shafts. Is there some sort of package deal to make it easier on my wallet?

[FELINEGUITARS]

I got it from overseas because i could not find a dealer here that had a clue.

It cost quite alot, i dont remeber exact figure but it was just above 4K. New one is around that price, a bit higher infact because ESP pushed the prices up.

I just ran some figures here and it seems that two pickups without cover plus 4 pots plus 2 of those Vit Q capacitors (i know where to look now if the doctor recommends it), is gonna run me £221. That is quite painful I gotta admit and it does not even include installation and wiring and possibly new knobs if the existing don't fit on the CTS shafts. Is there some sort of package deal to make it easier on my wallet?

You are pretty much spot on as far as cost of parts goes.
Will be pretty much the same whoever you get to quote for it as quality bits cost money.
We are very reasonable as far as labour charges go - better than West End (as they have to cover huge rents etc) and we are still relatively close travel wise.
We will however do a great job of both the installation and any setup work that you have us do , and we have a policy of timing every job and charging the hourly rate if it's any cheaper than the set menu prices for the work.

To be fair you have spent £4000 (as you posted) on this guitar and are looking to upgrade it - and the modifications that you are seeking will certainly be good value for an already tasty guitar.

[f.sardis]

Sounds like a fair policy.

What is the estimated time duration for the complete job, ie you can do it on the spot while I wait or does it take a few days? Just asking because I would love to sit down and watch you do the wiring. Always loved fiddling with lots of wires  :lol:


What is your standard/average charge for such work and what is your hourly rate?