New pickups coming - need someone to fit them!!

[WillRTR]

Got a Painkiller (b) and a Cold Sweat (n) currently being made, by Tim's recommendation =]
But I've only just remembered that the only place I go to get my guitar set up always ends up with my guitar being poorly intonated and in the wrong tuning (despite me specifying a tuning each time), and when I last went there for a repair on my old main guitar (before I went on tour -  with Trivium ffs!) the problem never actually got fixed despite me bothering to make the hour long journey to his workshop just to try and get it actually done before I left for the tour!

So, to finally cut to the chase - anyone know of any good guitar workshops in London (north preferably, but I'm easy as long as its near a tube station =P) that I can go to get my brand new pickups fitted, as well as getting a GOOD set-up?

Thanks for reading, and thanks for any advice I hope someone gives me!

Will RTR

[Afghan Dave]

Welcome to the board and the twisted world of Bareknuckle  :P

Where in North London?

If you are near this train line

http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/Main.php?sEvent=NetworkMap

Do what I  do and get down to East Croydon and see Jon @ Feline

http://www.felineguitars.com/index.html

Enjoy!

[WillRTR]

I'd actually love to go to him, seriously, but I'm hideously poor atm and fear that going to him may end up in me having literally nothing to my name - which won't help once I get to his and have nothing to pay him with!

I'll definitely look into it though, how much does a set up cost with Mr Jon Feline? and how much do you think he'd charge for a pickup change?

(any other suggestions for guitar places are still welcome - try and help save a tramp a few quid!)

[WillRTR]

Oh, how rude of me - thanks for the welcome to the forums!  :D I do actually have another account with a similar name, I just forgot the password for it :P haha

[AndyR]

Welcome :D

I'd recommend Feline as well. Drop him a PM or give him a bell - he doesn't bite :lol:

From some recent scary stories on here (and some experience of my own years ago), if I can't do it myself, I'd always go with a decent tech with a good reputation now, even if he seems more expensive. In the long run it's safer, possibly cheaper(!), and once I've paid and forgotten the pain, I'm always happier!

But if money's tight, I'd also recommend getting a soldering iron and learning to change pickups yourself. Sorting the intonation's even easier. If I can do it, I reckon anyone can :lol:

[WillRTR]

Amen to all of that brother! I trust a pro tech more than myself or an amateur, and I should learn how to do it myself, especially as I am the son of a builder/carpenter/electrician =P
I would give it a go (with some sort of electronics guide to tell me wtf is what I can't imagine it being that difficult) but I don't wanna $%&# up the neck by leaving the strings off of the guitar for too long, and then I'm too scared about intonating everything all $%&#ed up and then end up spending more money fixing it all than I would've spent just getting it set up!!

[AndyR]

Apart from actually using the iron (without burning yourself or the guitar), the main thing is don't rush, don't force anything, and make sure you made a note of where everything came from (take pictures of the wiring before you start).

Oh yeah, and use the right size screw drivers if you can! :lol: (the number of screw heads I buggered in my younger days- the pickup surrounds might have gone on ok 15-20 years ago, but I was f@cked a year ago when I was trying to replace the pickups with BKPs!!).

Don't worry about the neck so much - as far as I'm concerned, a neck can take being sat around without strings. It'll take a day or so to settle again if it's a long time. The luthiers on here might have a bit more wisdom in this department, but I used to be worried about this years ago myself - but I've never had a problem.

[WillRTR]

Now thats just interesting, about the neck not screwing up too bad after a pickup changing session, especially because I think I actually know a guy who took a guitar maintenence course in the US taught by a guy who, apparently, used to tech for guys like Steve Vai - and can apparently change a guitar's strings within an hour before a show and have the strings sorted (even on an FR bridge) so that they don't go out of tune during the show.
Random plug, I know, but I mention him because he could probably help me out if I did screw up the neck in the process of changing pickups, assuming that I don't just save up the money and go with Jon Feline (especially after he gave me a pretty damn good quote for the job I requested).
Thanks for the advice bro, I'm definitely loving being signed up to the BKP forums after months of just scrolling through them!!!

[FELINEGUITARS]

Welcome to the forum Will - or rather welcome back (as you said you'd been here before)

Yes - I've done a lot of work for many of the guys on here and am always friendly and happy to help out.

We're based in Croydon - best train station is east Croydon and we are well served by trains from either London Bridge, Victoria or connections via Clapham Junction.

We take card payments as wel as cash - and we keep loads of BKPs in stock too