CJS Guitars

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CJS Guitars

Professional Guitar maintenance and repair based in Abercarn, South Wales. www.cjsguitars.com Professional Guitar Repair and Set-up based in South Wales

05/02/2026

These two came in as a pair. A Japanese Gretsch Duo Jet and an American Fender Jazzmaster.

The Gretsch needed its master volume replaced, a light skim of the frets and a setup. The Jazzmaster also needed a light level of the frets, some nut slots filling and a setup.

28/01/2026

Despite being very artificial, this thing was killer!

This is is a Martin X-Series featuring laminated top, back and sides, a black birch laminate neck and a richlite fretboard and bridge.

Like most acoustics, the factory setup left a lot to be desired, but a really cool and unique acoustic.

27/01/2026

Burny were Japanese made Gibson replicas that started being produced in the mid-70’s. They’ve been used by everyone from the S*x Pistols to Green Day. This one itself is thought to be an early 80’s model.

This one came in after our customer had struggled with a harness install, as well as some humbucker colour code issues. So we put that all correct and set it up.

100% comparable quality to a Gibson for a fraction of the cost, real gems.

23/01/2026

As a way of saying Thank You to our regular customers, we are enormously excited to announce that from today, anyone that brings in an instrument for a Setup, Fret Dress, or Refret will receive a 25% off voucher for their next setup of that instrument!

These vouchers will be valid for 7 months from the date of completion and will be usable for either a Regular or Deluxe Setup of the same instrument.

And the best part? The next time you come in, you’ll get another one. So you can look after your instruments properly and keep saving money. 💪🏻

20/01/2026

Epiphone Les Paul Tribute came in with a faulty bridge pickup from the factory and some high frets that were causing some issues on the top end.

Initially we thought there may have been a dead coil, but after getting into it we found that the live from the lead coil wasn’t connected properly, so we needed to rewire all of the connections, put it back together and then wax pot it. (No that isn’t an egg in the Wax!)

Followed up with a partial level and a setup.

17/01/2026

Good morning everyone, it’s Chris. I hope you guys are having a great weekend!

We’ve had an unfortunate incident where two people have travelled to see us, but with no prior correspondence, and unfortunately due to my schedule and family priorities I haven’t been able to see them.

Just a reminder that if you’d like to come and see us, we need to have some contact in advance to arrange a time that is mutually beneficial.

We run a very busy workshop that always has a lot on the go, so we’ve usually got a very busy (and subsequently very messy) workbench. Most of the time. Our lead times fluctuate throughout the year, but quite often we have a waiting list that can be 6-8 weeks in advance (At the moment it’s more like 2 weeks)

In addition to this, the business is run from my home address. I have a 7 month old daughter and at any moment she can need my attention.

We appreciate all the people who we meet and work with. However to avoid disappointment and awkward situations like we’ve had today, please just get in touch with us first. Either by phone or through the website.

We’ll always be happy to see you when we can 🙂

Chris 🖤

15/01/2026

These Squier J Mascis signatures are real gems when they’ve had some work done!

The factory setup and fretwork leaves a bit to be desired, but you’d still get the same problems on an Indonesian and even Mexican Fender. They also have a tunomatic bridge that is 12” despite the fretboard being a 9.5”, which takes a bit of work!

This one had a Fret Dress with some added fallaway and a good setup. Now this genuinely plays as good as any American Fender, for a fraction of the cost.

They just need a bit of elbow grease 💪🏻.

12/01/2026

Early 2000’s Squier Bullet Strat that came in for a Deluxe Setup.

Despite a bit of fret wear, this is probably the best Bullet Strat we’ve had in ever. Very playable and immeasurably higher quality than the modern lowest tier Squiers.

07/01/2026

What a Stunner 😍

An absolutely gorgeous, brand new Gibson Custom Shop Gold Top Les Paul.

This one was adjusted by the retailer quite poorly before being sent out so we needed to give it a good setup, but now this thing plays beautifully.

These come loaded with Gibson’s Custombuckers which are amazing PAF style pickups. Great hardware and a flawless attention to detail.

From top to bottom a fantastic guitar.

05/01/2026

A slightly modified Gibson Les Paul Tribute. Fitted with a Vibramate mounted Bigsby and Leviathan in the bridge. We installed the New Bridge pickup and gave it a Deluxe Setup.

These guitars are some of our most underrated and under appreciated gems. They’re very no frills but have the super comfortable Slim Taper 60’s style neck which are our personal favourite neck carve.

Very affordable and fantastic bang for your buck!

01/01/2026

First one of the year was one of the last from last year.

This Epiphone Casino had some extensive fret wear and could have ideally done with a refret. It was outside the budget, however we did some fret reseating, fret levelling, sorted out the intermittent pickup, gave all of the electronics a clean and gave it its first proper setup!

These are really underrated guitars!

31/12/2025

And that’s a wrap on 2025. Our 8th year of operation and our 2nd year as a full time entity.

This year we’ve had the privilege to work on over 250 guitars and basses, met a bunch of new people, and worked a lot of long hours.

Not to be like one of those local bands that say that they have “Big things coming soon!”, but we’ve got some really exciting things happening behind the scenes.

2026 will see us introduce something that we’re really excited about. And we hope you will be too!

As always it’s been an absolute pleasure, and we can’t wait to see you all next year. Until then we’ll be in our workshop, probably working on a guitar!

Chris 🖤

Address

Newport

Telephone

+447538112270

Website

http://www.cjsguitars.com/

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