James' Home of Tone
Thanks for visiting my store and website, hope you enjoy browsing!
Ethos
James’ Home of Tone, a family run business based in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
Founded, curated and run by James Gascoigne with the moral support of wife Emma, and powered by the smiles of our two kids, Miles & Ralph. The 'Home of Tone' is a humble collection of guitars, parts & accessories that have been individually selected to be represented here for their quality, design and the brand in question's shared passion for the guitar.
I certainly don't consider the Home of Tone as re-writing the book on guitar store approach, but instead see this venture as writing my own book about what I love about the guitar; the instrument that has provided inspiration in numerous facets of my life from an early age.
All I hope is that you find the Home of Tone a place share your passion for guitars with me. The stores name is a bit of fun ultimately, but the intention is from the heart and since the humble beginnings in 2015 it seems there are so many of you that can relate to the approach. With an incredibly humbling 13k+ followers across the various social media platforms, having served over 10,000 customers so far & over 2500 of my 'Signature Series' guitar wiring harnesses made, the support has been overwhelming and for that, the least I can say is Thank You and I look forward to chatting with you!
Customer Service
I am very aware that without customer trust and support, a business is nothing. I give everything I can to ensure the browsing, buying and aftercare service provided by me is the best it can be. I am very grateful to see review platforms, such as the industry standard, Trustpilot, reflecting that with the feedback left on there for the Home of Tone by over a thousand customers so far. If you're new to the Home of Tone, and are looking for reassurance before placing an order, feel free to contact me to chat or read through the reviews left by prior customers over on Trustpilot. I hope it helps showcase an area I am immensly proud of and continually aiming to maintain and improve with my customers, past and present.
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The Home of Tone newsletter is a place where I share new product launches, product development, tech tips and perhaps most importantly for you, any newsletter subscriber exclusive info! So to be a part of that, please enter your e-mail address below. Your data and information is always stored safely via Mailchimp, you won't be spam'd daily with e-mails from me by any means, I usually aim to stick to 1 per week maximum! I really appreciate your support, social media has become increasingly difficult to reach my existing followers so I'm hoping my newsletter list will continue to grow and give me the chance to interact with you all more effectively.
Home of Tone Blog
How-to guide - Installing a new pre-wired harness and pickup swap on a Bronco Bass
In this article I'm going to feature how to install one of my Signature Series Bronco Bass wiring looms and a new pickup. I offer this kit in a few different forms, from just a harness (pre-wired volume and tone pots, tone cap and jack socket) to that harness alongside a McNelly Broncomaster pickup, to both of those bits all pre-soldered together for a complete drop in. Now, this article will ultimately discuss each style of kit but the photos might not tie in perfectly to the kit you have. Regardless of that though, the methods are much of the same and will have some relevance in their guidence through the process.
For Sale - 1994 40th Anniversary Fender USA Standard Stratocaster
This is a 1994 Fender USA Strat now for sale, specs wise they're typically of US Strats of this period, with modern style tuners, 2 point bridge, TBX tone control etc, but this specific model is the 40th Anniversary release and features a neat emblem on the headstock and an engraved 4 bolt neck plate to differentiate it from a regular standard. Amazing condition, original red label case and all case candy too!
Introducing Tesi Switch to the Home of Tone! Quality kill switches specifically designed for guitars
Tesi Switch guitar kill switches now in stock at James' Home of Tone! A great selection of the brilliant Tesi Switch kill switch range carried in stock, with more planned in the future. Quality kill switches all designed with guitars in mind, from the incredibly useful 8mm, 10mm and 12mm diameter mounting point buttons, to latching for mute or coil switch uses, to big fun arcade buttons and LED kill switches. These are great bits of kit and I'm proud to bring them a little more easily available to players in the UK
From the Home of Tone bench
An offset for the ages - MIJ J Mascis Jazzmaster
This was such a pleasure of a customer project to be part of. Friend and long time supporter of the Home of Tone, had this particularly well looked after, and to be honest, mint condition, MIJ (Made in Japan) J Mascis signature model Jazzmaster. As lovely as it's factory specs and stylings was, the owner fancied making it a little bit more 'his own' so to speak, with some choice, and very easily reversable mods and kindly asked me to help carry out said mods. But with the guitar here I thought I'd document some of the existing specs and unique features too, in case the closer look at the factory fresh guitar helped anyone out there with research or restoration perhaps.
An awesome Ferrari Yellow Super Strat for Ryan!
This was a wicked project to be part of. A great Home of Tone supporter, Ryan, mentioned he had a project in mind quite some time ago, making use of an old Mighty Mite maple neck he had for years, along with a HH super strat body he picked up for a good deal from Guitar Build. After some discussion over time, specs were decided on and parts were compiled, body was painted and it was time for me to get stuck into assembly for him.
I won't go into lots of detail of each step of the assembly, as I've covered a lot of the same kinds of things a number of times on the blog via other partscaster builds. But I'll share the photos nonetheless.
Very much an EVH inspired build, featuring some wicked parts, some of which I was lucky enough to supply as well as install, such as numerous Gotoh hardware items, the Vega-Trem bridge, Tesi Switch kill switch button and all of the wiring.
I won't go into lots of detail of each step of the assembly, as I've covered a lot of the same kinds of things a number of times on the blog via other partscaster builds. But I'll share the photos nonetheless.
Very much an EVH inspired build, featuring some wicked parts, some of which I was lucky enough to supply as well as install, such as numerous Gotoh hardware items, the Vega-Trem bridge, Tesi Switch kill switch button and all of the wiring.
Full 'Burst' style re-wire for an incredible 80/81 Tokai LS120
Can't tell you how much I enjoyed this one. I've had a lot of Les Paul Standards in my hands over the years, right through the price ranges from factory standards, historics, traditionals, 80s, 90s to Custom Shop and Murphy Lab, (although 50s ones have alluded me so far I must say) but this incredible Tokai LS120 from 1980/81 is honestly the best and most fun to play I've come across
