Crowley Custom Guitars

Set Up

Includes light dress of frets, clean and lubricate fingerboard, Tighten and Adjust Tuning Machines, Restring instrument with proper winds to Ensure Stable Tuning, Strings Stretch and Tuned to Desired Tuning, Check and adjust nut slots, Adjust truss rod, set action, pickup height, Set Adjustable Bridge Saddles to Fingerboard Radius, Set Intonation, Tighten All Electronics (Pots, Jack, Switches, etc.) Cleaning and Polish of Finished Surfaces.

Upgrades - Pots, Switches and Wiring:

Cheap wires, jacks, pots, non-existent shielding and poor soldering connections cause a lot of problems: static noise, shorts (no sound), and week or no tone/sound. Less expensive guitars are more prone to encounter these kinds of problems, but they are not alone. Dust, corrosion, humidity, hard use, and heat deteriorate the components. We use the best parts when we perform electronic servicing on a guitar. (Prices Do Not Include Parts)

Custom Wiring

We offer a great variety of custom wiring such as coil-taps; kill switch, series/parallel, phase switch, tele mod strats (bridge and neck pickup ON) and more. We can wire your guitar any way you want!

Pickups

Pickup installation: Pickups are the voice of your guitar, as is the speaker in your amplifier.  Upgrading or swapping pickups will improve your tone, sustain and overall sound.  Pickups are very unique to a player's style.  One type does not fit all.  We are on an interminable tone quest.  We'll provide you with all of our knowledge about the subject. We can order a vast selection of pickups out of our extensive catalogues, or you can just bring your own and we'll install them for you. (Prices Do Not Include Parts)

Nuts

An incredible amount of brand new factory instruments, even the most expensive ones, come with a plastic nut. Nuts are an important factor in the overall tone and sound of your instrument. Sometimes an annoying buzz might be caused by a low nut that is allowing the string to vibrate against the frets. The slots in a nut might be too high causing bad (sharp) intonation on the first 4 frets and offsetting any possibility of having good action and playability throughout the rest of the fingerboard.

Fret-level

When a basic setup won't cure fret buzz it's necessary to perform a fret-level. Fret-levels are common in guitars that are exposed to climate changes. These changes can make the frets pop up or move around creating hi or low spots and can change the linearity of the neck altogether. A fret-level brings the high spots down so that all frets are "level" with each other. Note that we often need to reseat frets if they have risen due to changes in the fingerboard moisture content. A fret-level includes recrowing and polishing of all frets.  We use a technique that simulates string tension while we perform the level. This allows for an extremely accurate level. We can usually get your action lower than it was from the factory.  A fret-level can make a huge difference in the feel and playability of a guitar.

Refret

Frets come in many sizes. Some folks don't like the frets that come with a brand new guitar and prefer to get them refretted right away. Some folks are after a different fret shape or size in order to accommodate their playing style.  A larger taller fret may be better suited for someone who plays lead guitar and bends strings often, as a larger fret will last longer and a taller fret can make string bending easier.  A skinnier lower fret can be just the ticket for a rhythm guitarist who plays mostly chords, as there is less wear and tear from this style of playing and a lower fret can minimize intonation problems.

Refretting a guitar is a great opportunity to get rid of many of your guitar's action and playability issues. Abnormal buzzes and dead spots caused by very low or loose frets can be eliminated. High action resulting from old warped necks can also be repaired here.  You need not wait until your frets are almost non-existent to replace them.  A refret can make you love your guitar again and want to play it more.

At Crowley Custom Guitars we are very proud of the fretwork we do. We use many methods for refretting: Hammering, pressing, the glue in method - all depending on the instrument and circumstance. All refrets include: Leveling, redressing, crowning, cleaning, and polishing of all frets. Refrets usually require that a new nut (and saddle if acoustic) be fitted to the instrument, as the tops of the new frets are typically higher than the old ones.