Setup, restringing and maintaining your guitar
From my passion for guitars grew my curiosity to know the instruments through and through. I wanted to know why one guitar sounds better than another, what the different options and components are and how they can make a guitar better.
That’s how I ended up with James Collins of Guitar Tech Courses (GTC) in Heathfield, UK. Having trained himself at the Galloup School of Lutherie in Michigan, USA, James founded his company “12th Fret Guitar Repair” in 2008 for professional guitar setup, maintenance and repair. Since 2010, “12th Fret Guitar Repair” has been an authorized Gibson Repair Centre in the UK.
A set system of 2 x 6 steps is followed to set up, restring and maintain your guitar. The neck, string height/action and frets are all checked, measured and optimally adjusted. The electronics are cleaned and the pickups are adjusted to the correct height so that the volume and the tone color are produced through the amplifier in the correct ratio. The body, neck and frets of your guitar will get a good cleaning with the right material, so your guitar will look great again.
Base price for setup, restringing and maintenance is €75 (VAT 21% included). In this process, the strings are supplied by the customer. Any additional operations, such as filing frets, replacing the existing nut with a bone nut, are discussed first.
Your specific playing style is always considered for a personalized setup.
For more information, please use the entry form on this page or contact us by phone.

References
- Jonas Defrancq from Ghent: “Everything was very clear, I found it very informative. Thank you for the interesting workshop. – January 2025
- Erik Lauwerijs from Stabroek: “The PRS guitar cannot be compared to the guitar before the tuning and maintenance, thank you for that. – January 2025
- Heino Labeeuw uit Wevelgem, gitarist bij Tummelkröd: “Iedereen die mij een beetje kent weet dat ik een passie (of eerder obsessie) heb voor gitaren. I could already tinker with it quite well myself but I have now also taken a professional guitar tuning workshop with Dirk Verschueren of Guitar Saloon. Very informative experience on how to adjust a guitar substantiated and with measurement methods so that it always stands correctly. Because a guitar which is well set up, plays much better! In the 12-step course, you will learn all sides of the instrument in a cozy space. Definitely highly recommended! – November 2024
- Kane Adams from Gelrode, guitarist with Desmond Dandies: “The guitar plays fine now, the action is very good, I am very happy with the tuning.” – October 2024