Mark David Phillips

Hello all,
Yes having a batch of guitars built in China is something I have often thought seriously about... and to sell them aimed at learners with necks set up with the fastest super-light action might be thought certainly subversive, and perhaps even downright weird by the status quo of guitar retail.
But I have no starting point or contact in China... any ideas anyone?

On Wigan: I thought the gist of the book, 'The road to Wigan Pier' was that Wigan is not on the coast and has no Pier!

Thanks,
Mark......................

Hello Luke,
I agree with that... and indeed setting up a guitar is not rocket science; first you need to have a pretty good idea what a nice guitar sounds and feels like, then you need a little box of quite special tools and bits and bobs; mostly though you just need to get your head down and do it.
It hurts my heart to think how many enthusiastic learners get sold lovely shiny shop guitars that even experienced hands would struggle to get much of a tune out of... then after flailing their fingers to the bone for a month they accept that maybe they just haven't got what it takes... and take up chess!
Mark................

Hi again,
And all interesting stuff to give thought to.
On pots it is simple to me: you have a pot that at best crackles, and often that cuts out when moved; if you do nothing you still have a pot that crackles etc: if you oil and work it in it goes quiet and works smoothly... is that really such a bad thing?
In a £45 service, soldering in new pots is not going to happen, your job is to make his guitar play and sound nice by improving and making the best of what there is already there.
If someone pays £125 for a nice old Les Paul copy and leaves it with you to make it play nice for him... his return the next day to a £150 bill will have him in tears!

That Squier XII in my profile photo was the one referred to I think, and was the first seven string I ever converted to a six... which is why I look so pleased with myself. I cannot remember where I used M6 nuts (though I used a trapeze tail so could be on that?), but it is possible as the strat type bridge is a pain to convert and subsequently I avoided them as much as I could.
I sold that Squier strat locally, then bought it back in a trade for a Shine semi acoustic, and sold it to a guy in Australia who uses it in an Ozy rock band, he says he loves it.

Someone had misgivings about my bridge conversions on some Guild De Armonds I made a year or so back? Those have standard Gibson tunomatic bridges, and are the simplest conversion of all, and have been 100% secure and successful.
As Gwyn pointed out in a previous posting; there are no seven string width six string bridges made... you have to convert a seven string bridge, it is the only way; and they work fine... maybe you have looked at the photos and thought, oops, that looks dodgy? But I have done loads of those now and they work like a charm!

I am no luthier at all... I really couldn't be arsed to mess around with gluing bits of wood together; I love guitars and making them work right... a master bodger who is never happier than with getting some doggy old Encore strat and making it play as well or even better than a Fender.
Cheers guys,
Mark D Phillips.......

Hello everyone,
I didn't know about 'Basschat' but it is a really good site I reckon.
For my sins I have to confess that I am that criminal who has been reported on this site for buying basses, improving them, then selling them for what the market wants to pay for them!

In fact, just reading through the various responses to my crimes I would like to say how reasonable and kind 90% of the people on here have been, in face of my sins!

Can I just say that I honestly do my best to make guitars good to play and sold for an affordable price... I have been doing it full time for a few years now, but I am getting better all the time, and wandering into music shops and picking up their guitars, I have never yet found even top Fenders or Gibsons where I thought... oops! this is so much better to play than my guitars are; in fact the reverse.

When I set up one of my guitars, I polish the fretboard and wire-wool tarnished fret-wires, I put on new strings, I file the nut grooves to bring the strings right low above the first fret-wire, I settle any high fret-wires along the neck, set the truss rod to shape the neck, adjust the bridge height, balance the pickups for even volume across the strings and between pickups, I oil crackly pots and sticky tuners and hone out corroded jack sockets that give intermittent signal.

On a customer's guitar I charge £45 including new strings for this set up work... on my ebay sold guitars it is just what I do before I list them for sale.

I try to be 100% transparent about the guitar on both virtues and faults... on faults because with postage hassle, the last thing I want is someone sending the guitar back saying it plays like a cricket bat, please fix again and return to me!
So I try to make them as perfect to play as it is possible for that particular guitar to be.

It is my sole employment, and with two small kids to feed it matters a lot to me that I can improve and grow my still fledgling venture, so any advice, and all criticisms are very welcome and useful.
Thanks guys,
Mark D Phillips.......