Guitar Services

Customer notice - 
I am now fully booked until Mid-May and won’t be able to fit in further work until after then. Bookings can be only made for Mid-May onwards.
Many thanks!


If there's one thing I absolutely love about guitars, it's getting one playing, feeling and sounding as good as it deserves to be. 

If you're local to me (Stourbridge, West Midlands) I offer a selection of in house services on guitars such as Set-Ups, minor servicing work, pickup swaps, fret dresses, hardware replacement/retrofit, new top nuts & wiring/harness installs if you like my Signature Series harness range but don't fancy reaching for the soldering iron yourself just yet for example. If you aren't local or If you need some more substantial repair work, I also have listed some techs I know and trust for this below to hopefully help!
Want to see the latest guitars that have passed through! Check out my new work-bench blog HERE

Appointments for drop-off / collection can be made by contacting myself at james@homeoftone.co.uk
Appointment times are available 9-5 Mon, Tues, Weds, Fri and I can accomodate for Saturday AM also. I'm afraid evenings are now no longer viable for myself. Both my young family and I appreciate your kind understanding about this going forward.



Full Home of Tone set-up - £65 inc VAT plus strings
My full set-up includes neck relief, action and intonation adjustment to suit you and get the best out of the guitar. Full fret inspection, polish + fret board cleaned and oiled. Full clean and polish, including removal of any hardware in particular that is fatigued for a complete clean and re-fit. Pickup height adjustment to either manufacturer recommendations or to get a good balance between the set. Plus a general once over to make sure everything is as it should be, eg electronics check.
I will level out the neck and check for imperfections in the existing fretwork, but if any do require work I will further quote on that. If any additional work is required upon inspection, I will update and quote accordingly. Top nut slot clean & correction.
Although there are some aspects of a setup that proper care and attention are key, details like string action/height can very much be personal tastes and each players idea of a low, medium and high action can be personal and subjective. So I'll chat with you to get an understanding of how you play and how you like your action, and do my best to get the very best out of it to achieve that for you. But I do provide a 1 month 'warranty' so to speak on my setup work, so if after a couple of weeks of play for example you are finding the action a little too low, then pop it back in and I'll revise it to better suit you. Always happy to help with that. 
Want to book in? feel free to complete the contact form on this page if you prefer too. 

Fret level, crown and polish (includes set-up) - £110 inc VAT

New nut made from bone or GraphTech material, from scratch - prices starting at £65 inc VAT

Pickup Swap - Depending on instrument and task, prices start from £25 inc VAT plus pickups 

Electronics Install - Labour for removal of old wiring, and fitting of one of our own harnesses or fresh install, prices from £30 inc VAT plus parts

Basic hour rate 'bench' fee - £30 inc VAT per hour

Basic intonation adjustment only - £30 inc VAT
This might be useful if you're happy overall with the setup of your guitar, action etc, but are struggling with it's intonation. For this I'll double check the neck relief (as excessive neck relief, forward bow for example can have a negative effect on accurate intonation) and then correct the bridge saddles for accurate intonation.

Basic string action/radius adjustment only - £30 inc VAT
This might be useful if you don't want a full setup, but would like the action(string height) improved. More often than not, particularly on instruments with individual string saddles, the saddle radius is not set correctly to suit the fretboard radius. So when adjusting the action, I will also address the radius for improved consistent action across the strings.


In house wired '50s style' harness made and fitted into an 80s Tokai, with Jupiter bumblebee caps

I have over 20 years experience of playing and toying with guitars meaning your guitar will be in very safe (and very caring!) hands. I am also fully insured.

If you're interested in a Home of Tone set up, then drop by the contact box or e-mail me at james@homeoftone.co.uk and get in touch. I look forward to hearing from you!


Custom wiring and additional cavity routing done for a modded PJ bass

Endorsements and reviews - 
Luke Evans - 
“James has worked his way through my collection and has squeezed every ounce of playability out of each one. From straightforward clean down and setup, to a 7 string multiscale project which included a complete new harness, pickups, fret dress and a seriously head banging couple of days to get the intonation bang on.
Can’t recommend him enough, very helpful and an experienced craftsman”

Ashley Oakes - 
" James it plays absolutely wonderfully! Thank you. The set up you provided also made a huge difference in comparison to how it arrived to you. Also, never played with these strings and they're brilliant (Elixir Optiweb). Feels like a new guitar"

Andy Baker - 
"Thanks for all your help with it. Plays better now, and the new wiring harness really has brought out the best from the pickup. I'm loving it at the mo!"



JD - 
"James' set up of my guitar has made it an absolute pleasure to play. Excellent communications throughout, good value and a quick turnaround. I won't be going anywhere else for set-ups."

Phil Oakley - 
"James has fitted his V loom, done some tweaking, helped fit some Seth Lover pickups and made sure it all works perfectly and is future proofed from my ham fisted wiring attempts . Amazing experience , very unexpected and most refreshing . I am a customer for life and cannot recommend Home of Tone enough ."

Marc Cartwright - 
"Hey James. Wowsers!!! the jazzmaster is amazing....