Bass Techs in London

[Undertone]

Would folks recommend some highly competent and tasteful bass techs in London please?  If they're really special then I can deal with their being a little outside London.

Mainly for set-ups, fret-dress, side LED repair etc., also the odd part replacement, on '63-'64 Precisions & Jazzes and an Alembic Europa 5.

 

I ignorantly went to a couple in Denmark St. when I arrived in the UK 14yrs ago and was very disappointed. Same with another prominent one in Camden who weren't bad but were so busy they didn't devote appropriate time/effort to the task.  PM is fine if there's any sensitivity around naming folks in this forum.

 

Thanks

[Paolo85]

I cannot help but I can say I had experiences similar to yours last year and I got into my head that next time I'll go outside London

[Reggaebass]

I do my own basic setups but if I needed anything more I’d probably contact our @gary mac

[Oomo]

Only one I've used in London is https://guitarhospital.co.uk/about.php

 

He did a preamp replacement for me which involved some extra cavity routing, did a great job (but he was fairly busy with work, so had to wait a few weeks).

 

He was super nice and easy to chat to though, and does all the work himself.

[chris_b]

I wouldn't touch Denmark Street with a barge pole.

 

So far I have only had good experiences with the Bass Gallery.

 

There's Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience in Hampton Wick.

[TKenrick]

I've had similarly disappointing experiences at the Bass Gallery, and at Charlie Chandler's too (pickups wired in the wrong way round and the bass came back covered in sweaty finger marks after the teen behind the counter told me that it 'played really nicely'...).

 

I use Andrew at Richmond Guitar Workshop; he's done cavity shielding, pickup and preamp installs and setups on various basses and the work has always been top notch (he used to work at Charlie Chandler's in Kew before it closed).

[Oomo]

31 minutes ago, TKenrick said:

I've had similarly disappointing experiences at the Bass Gallery, and at Charlie Chandler's too (pickups wired in the wrong way round and the bass came back covered in sweaty finger marks after the teen behind the counter told me that it 'played really nicely'...).

I've had pretty good luck with both of those places (though only used the Bass Gallery once for a setup, nothing too taxing).

 

But had the opposite experience to you with Charlie Chandler (almost literally...) - brought a bass in for something (it was a poorly put together 2nd hand one of some sort), he realised that the pickups were wired out of phase, and re-wired it for me. Sounded so much better after that fix, never noticed what was missing before.

 

I guess a problem with anywhere that employs more than one person is that you never know who's going to be doing the actual work (e.g. the "master" who started the business, or some employees that are either still learning, or have variable work quality).

 

I've definitely had more luck with one-person operations.

[Undertone]

Thanks so much all. Super useful and I'll pursue.

Regards

[louisthebass]

1 hour ago, TKenrick said:

I've had similarly disappointing experiences at the Bass Gallery, and at Charlie Chandler's too (pickups wired in the wrong way round and the bass came back covered in sweaty finger marks after the teen behind the counter told me that it 'played really nicely'...).

 

I use Andrew at Richmond Guitar Workshop; he's done cavity shielding, pickup and preamp installs and setups on various basses and the work has always been top notch (he used to work at Charlie Chandler's in Kew before it closed).

+1 For Richmond Guitar Workshop - they installed an East J-Tone in my Overwater Jazz in 2019 and did a great job. 

[toneknob]

Jake from Wickham Audio did a great setup on my JMJ Mustang. He was based in Wunjo, but has his own place here: https://www.wickhamaudio.co.uk/

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Jimi at Planet Guitar in Orpington. I've known him for years and wouldn't use anyone else.

It helps that he's probably the nicest chap you're ever likely to meet.

 

https://www.planetguitar.org.uk/

[steve-bbb]

If youre ever down the m20/maidstone area i can thoroughly recommend 81guitarworks.co.uk 

Edited February 27, 2023 by steve-bbb

[gary mac]

On 27/02/2023 at 11:26, Reggaebass said:

I do my own basic setups but if I needed anything more I’d probably contact our @gary mac

Thanks @Reggaebass    

 

Happy to chat via pm @Undertone