CJS Guitars

25/09/2025

Guild 335 style model.

Deluxe Setup ✅
Output Jack reinstalled ✅

The Peppa Pig sticker is the key to good tone 💪🏻

22/09/2025

This Tanglewood came in with a super high action and pretty nasty neck.

Ideally it would need a neck reset and a refret, but it was more work then the guitar is worth. We bought some time by sanding down both the bridge saddle and bridge to lower the bridge action (this is a last resort measure), levelling the frets as best as possible to get this guitar to be actually playable.

And it certainly now more than playable!

17/09/2025

Can action be too low? 🤔

12/09/2025

You may not have heard from us in a while. We’ve had a lot of set back with enforced workshop renovations. But we’ve been busy!

06/09/2025

This is a really interesting article about the sheer amount of fake strings that are floating around.

If you see a pack of Ernie balls on eBay for like £2.50, you can guarantee they’re going to be fake and of low quality.

Not to say real Ernie Balls are going to be much better, but that’s another story…

Our guitar strings store has been supplying musicians since '97. We are guitar players and strings fanatics, and we're here to help you discover your favourite set from the widest range of acoustic, electric, and bass guitar strings anywhere in the UK.

01/09/2025

A super cool 1975 Jazz Bass that came in for a service recently.

With vintage instruments, our approach to servicing is a bit different to modern instruments.

The bridge screws had completely seized so our job was to get them moving first so that we could set the action correctly. The frets were very well worn and would ideally need replacing, but that can massively change the feeling of the bass.

So the name of the game is lubricating gears and screws, cleaning nut slots, cleaning electronics and just keeping it working!

Fantastic piece of history from an often maligned era of Fender.

28/08/2025

This Japanese Lap Steel came in with the Japanese Rickenbacker copy that we posted a few weeks ago.

It was a real treat getting it clean and restrung again properly.

25/08/2025

A Walden 12-string acoustic that we gave a quick restring this weekend.

23/08/2025

A really great Shergold Provocateur, came in with some weird nut issues. The D and G strings kept popping out of the nut slot. Initially we thought the slots weren’t deep enough, but it turned out to be a combination of how the nut was fitted along with string break angle.

Even though you don’t technically need to, we always advise wrapping strings around the post in the same way as non-locking tuners.

We refitted the nut, restrung it, polished the frets, conditioned the board, gave it a good setup, and honestly it plays fantastic. Despite having plenty of high fret spots, we were still able to get it playing very cleanly at a good action.

Honestly one of the nicest guitars under £500 that we’ve played!

What’s your go to budget guitar?

19/08/2025

A Baum Nidhogg model bass that came from the factory in a little less than perfect quality.

There was a lot of frets lifted and the ones that weren’t, were not level. But now it’s a beast.

Frets reseated ✅
Frets levelled, crowned and polished ✅
Nut refitted ✅
Restrung and setup in Drop C ✅

11/08/2025

A really cool piece of history that came in less than great condition.

This is a Fender P Bass lyte from the 90’s. Made in Japan with a woodfibre body thats super… light!

Tone isn’t typical of a P Bass and it has a Jazz bass style neck profile. Its a bit of a Frankenstein and considering how the frets looked when it came in, it looked like a bit of a monster.

This one had some frets reseated, all the frets lightly levelled, then crown and polished. A full clean and Deluxe setup with new strings and new control k***s.

Also a weird quirk, the pickups are wired out of phase with eachother from the factory, meaning the middle position sounds thin and very 80’s. How weird!

08/08/2025

Japanese Copy of a Rickenbacker from the 60’s. This one needed a lot of love (and still needs a refret), but it’s so cool. Check out the almost bigsby!

Wiring taken apart, deep cleaned and put back together ✅
Output Jack replaced ✅
Frets, and Fretboard, cleaned and conditioned ✅
3 tuner bushing replaced, all tuners cleaned and oiled ✅
Body and Hardware deep cleaned ✅
Deluxe Setup in Eb Standard with 10-46 D’Addarios ✅