Guitar Repairs and Servicing

The majority of our guitar repairs, setups and servicing at Westmount Music are carried out by the legendary Stuart Monks. Stu’s track record in guitar repairs is second to none. He first began repairing guitars professionally in 1973 for the band Be-Pop Deluxe working for guitarist Bill Nelson. Stuart’s work gained him a reputation for excellence and an increasing number of bands he toured with as a guitar technician include Paul Weller, Bryan Adams, Eurythmics, John Entwistle (The Who), Marillion, Adam Ant and Spandau Ballet. He was also called to work at Live Aid and the Guitar Legends in Seville where Nuno Bettencourt, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Albert Collins and B.B.King all played.

Stuart branched into luthiery building guitars for Dave Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Joe Walsh (Eagles), Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) amongst others in Roger Giffin’s Workshop. He worked for Wal custom-making bass guitars from 1989 to 2004 where he was asked to build basses for Paul McCartney, Geddy Lee (Rush), Michael Peter Balzary "Flea" (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) and Justin Chancellor (Tool). More recently, Stu has worked as the guitar specialist for singer/ songwriter Adele and her band.

Aside from carrying out guitar setups and repairs on behalf of Westmount Music, Stuart is also currently working with many of the West End musicals including Legally Blonde, Dirty Dancing, Jersey Boys, Thriller Live and has been the guitar specialist and consultant for 8 years in the hit show We Will Rock You, produced by Ben Elton and Brian May.

Stu’ regulary visits our shop in Marlow Bottom and performs most set-ups in house. All of the guitars we sell are professionally set up and include a 1 year set-up warranty so we will carry out any necessary adjustments free of charge during this period.

Stu, pictured above with his beloved Giffin

Set-up, Repair and Servicing Tariff

Most basic restringing services are usually carried out in store by our staff (trained by Stuart) and are priced as followed:

Guitar Restring - (includes fret polish, general clean and polish, fingerboard feeding / oiling, intonation check)

Acoustic Guitar - £10 + choice of strings (starting from £4.99)

Classical Guitar - £10 + choice of strings (starting from £4.99)

Electric / Bass Guitar - £10  + choice of strings (starting from £4.99)

All general set-ups and repairs below will be carried out by Stuart (excludes strings and additional replacement parts - if required)

Quotes for other work including amplifier repairs available upon request:

General Set-Up  - £45 - (Includes fret polish, general clean and polish, fingerboard feeding/ oiling, action set (nut, neck and bridge/ saddle adjustments), intonation and full electrics check (where applicable) 

Full Set-Up  - £90 - (As above, plus full fret dress [Stoned and levelled])

Top Nut Replacement - From £20 - (Bespoke made from bone)

Saddle Replacement - From £20 - (Acoustic & Classical guitars - Bespoke made from bone)

Pick-up Rewire/ Fitting - From £20- (Electric Guitars & Basses)

Pick-up Rewire/ Fitting with End Pin  - From £40 - (Acoustics / Classicals)

Headstock Break - From £40 -

Partial Refret - £125 - (First seven frets)

Full Refret - £225 - (including choice of fretwire)

Please Contact Us for any enquiries regarding our guitar repair and set up service.