Guitar Shop Dundee: Luthier Setups, Restrings & Bench Repairs
By David Aitken · Master Luthier & Founder · 33E Ballindean Road, Dundee, Scotland
A private artisan workbench delivering high-precision bench setups, fret levelling, hand-carved bone nuts, and restrings—with 100% transparent pricing and complimentary doorstep collection across Dundee.
One-on-One Craftsman
Direct accountability with David Aitken
Micron Precision
Feeler gauges & ±0.01 cent strobe pitch
100% Plant-Based Care
Zero petrochemicals or silicone polishes
100% Doorstep Collection
Personal evening pickup & return included
Local Authority & Craftsmanship
Why an Artisan Workshop Beats Traditional High-Street Retail
If you play guitar in Dundee, you've almost certainly felt the absence.
Ever since Kenny's Music permanently closed its doors on Castle Street, finding a reliable, transparent place to get a guitar serviced, restrung, or properly set up in Dundee has become a genuine headache. For years, players across Tayside had a default high-street counter where they could drop off an instrument with fret buzz or dead strings. When that disappeared, it left a massive vacuum.
Most musicians in Dundee were left with three frustrating options:
- Drive through to Edinburgh, Aberdeen, or Glasgow and lose half a day travelling.
- Entrust their prized guitar to a generalist retail shop where instruments sit in gig bags for weeks waiting for an outsourced contractor.
- Live with buzzing frets, stiff action, and painful barre chords, assuming that's “just how the guitar plays.”
I founded The Complete Guitar to offer a much better, honest alternative: a dedicated, private luthier workshop right here in Dundee, focused on precision bench setups, fret levelling, hand-carved bone nuts, and restringing—with 100% transparent pricing and 100% complimentary doorstep collection.
One-on-One Craftsman Accountability
The person you talk to about your guitar - Me - is the craftsman who actually inspects, measures, and calibrates your instrument at the workbench.
Micron-Level Precision
We don't “eyeball” action. Every adjustment is measured using automotive feeler gauges (0.010" neck relief tolerance), digital callipers, precision machinist straightedges, and strobe-grade chromatic pitch tracking down to ±0.01 cents via LuthierScan Pro.
Zero Petrochemicals or Silicones
Every instrument is decontaminated using our plant-based Clarity Wash and fed with cold-pressed Resonance Balm (Golden Jojoba, Sweet Almond, and Coconut lipids). We never use cheap mineral oils or synthetic silicone polishes that degrade vintage nitrocellulose or dry out open-pore rosewood.
Radical Transparency
You know the exact price before you hand over your instrument. No surprise diagnostic charges. No upselling. No retail markups.
Operating Schedule & Zero Flat Visits
Workshop Schedule & How Our 100% Doorstep Collection Model Works
I balance workbench craftsmanship alongside a professional full-time career. That means all workshop services, bench calibrations, and luthier work are performed strictly during evenings and weekends.
Our private workshop is based on Ballindean Road in Douglas, East Dundee. To protect home privacy and maintain an uninterrupted, distraction-free environment for micron-level benchwork, we do not accept customer drop-offs or visitors at the flat. There are no retail walk-ins and no home visits.
Instead, we operate an effortless 100% Doorstep Collection & Return model designed entirely around your convenience:
Book Online
Get in touch via our website or email (david@thecompleteguitar.com). Let us know your instrument type, string gauge, tuning, and what issues you're experiencing.
Evening Collection
We arrange a convenient evening collection slot. David personally collects your cased guitar directly from your front doorstep in Dundee, Broughty Ferry, or Monifieth.
Bench Calibration
Your guitar is brought to our Douglas workbench, where all measurements, adjustments, botanical timber feeds, and strobe intonations are executed under optimal workshop conditions.
Doorstep Return
Once bench testing is complete, your guitar is delivered safely back to your door—thoroughly cleaned, intonated, calibrated, and gig-ready.
A Note on Turnaround Time
Because all work is completed by hand during evening and weekend bench sessions, we take the time required to let wood settle after truss rod adjustments and string tension changes. We never rush glue, oil curing, or neck relief. Typical turnaround is arranged in advance based on the scope of benchwork, ensuring your instrument receives unhurried, master-grade attention. We do not offer rushed 24-hour retail turnarounds.
100% Fixed & Transparent
Complete Dundee Workshop Service Menu & Fixed Pricing
Every guitar is unique, but professional maintenance shouldn't be a financial guessing game. Below is our workshop service catalogue:
1. The Complete Restring
Ideal for: Routine string replacement, dull acoustic tone, sticky fretboards, or prepping for a gig or studio session.
- Removal of old strings and mechanical audit of machine heads, bridge saddles, and strap buttons.
- Full finish wipe-down using plant-based, silicone-free Clarity Wash to lift sweat and grime.
- Deep fretboard cleanse and hydration pass with Resonance Balm (pure botanical lipids).
- Fret buffing to remove light oxidation and ensure smooth, scratch-free string bends.
- Precision string installation (Ernie Ball, D'Addario, or your preferred gauge), proper post-locking, systematic stretching, and strobe-grade pitch calibration.
- Nut slot lubrication to eliminate tuning pings.
2. The Complete Setup
Ideal for: Guitars that feel stiff, choke out during solo bends, buzz on specific frets, or suffer from poor intonation across the neck.
- Full T.R.A.I.N. sequence: Tune, Relief, Action, Intonation, and Noodle/Play-testing.
- Precision truss rod relief adjustment to establish exact forward bow (0.010"–0.012" at 8th fret).
- Bridge saddle radius matching and individual action height calibration (1.5mm treble / 2.0mm bass at 12th fret).
- Nut slot depth inspection and clearance calibration for effortless first-fret barre chords.
- Strobe-grade saddle intonation calibration down to ±0.01 cents.
- Electronic contact check, pickup height adjustment for optimal magnetic string pull, full botanical cleanse, and fret polish.
3. The Complete Fret Service
Ideal for: Guitars with isolated fret buzz, uneven fret wear, string divots under cowboy chord positions (frets 1–3), or choked-out high notes past the 12th fret.
- Complete precision fret scan using machinist straightedges and 3-fret rocker to map every high or low spot.
- Neck trued.
- Precision levelling beam pass to mill all fret crowns to a perfectly uniform, coplanar reference plane.
- Traditional hand crowning using specialised diamond files to restore a narrow, centred contact line on every fret wire.
- Multi-stage micro-mesh sanding from 400 through 8,000 grit, finished with jeweller's rouge for a mirror shine.
- Includes a full Complete Setup (£95 value) upon reassembly.
4. The Complete Nut Service
Ideal for: Guitars with cracked factory plastic nuts, persistent tuning instability, string pinging during tuning, or muffled open string tone.
- Careful extraction of factory plastic or worn synthetic nut without damaging surrounding fingerboard wood or headstock veneer.
- Hand-shaping of a bone blank, or Tusq nut squared to fit your guitar's specific nut slot pocket.
- Profiling of top arc to match your fingerboard's exact radius (7.25", 9.5", 12", or 16").
- Precision slot cutting using gauged luthier files matched to your string diameters, dialling in 0.35mm first-fret clearance.
- High-grit burnishing and polishing for frictionless string travel and maximum acoustic resonance transfer.
Clear Craft Specialisation
Honest Workshop Scope Boundaries: What We Do (And What We Don't)
Part of maintaining elite craftsmanship is knowing your strengths and protecting your workshop focus. We specialise in precision mechanical playability, fret optimisation, and non-invasive servicing.
| Benchwork We Gladly Perform | Structural Work We Do Not Undertake |
|---|---|
| ✅ High-precision setups (Electric, Acoustic, Bass) | ❌ Full neck re-frets (we level & crown existing wire) |
| ✅ Fret levelling, crowning, and mirror polishing | ❌ Spray booth nitro or polyurethane body refinishing |
| ✅ Custom hand-carved bone & TUSQ nuts | ❌ Structural neck break splints or headstock snaps |
| ✅ Electronic contact cleaning, pot flush & pickup swaps | ❌ Acoustic neck resets or soundboard brace repairs |
| ✅ Professional restrings & botanical tonewood hydration | ❌ Heavy structural carpentry or woodworking |
If your guitar has plenty of fret wire left but buzzes, plays stiffly, or won't stay in tune, our bench is specifically equipped to make it play better than the day it left the factory.
Tayside, Angus & Fife Coverage
Service Areas Across Dundee, Angus, and Fife
While our workshop is based in Douglas East Dundee, we serve musicians across the entire regional music scene:
Dundee City
City Centre, West End, Stobswell, Lochee, Broughty Ferry, Downfield, Fintry, and Douglas.
Angus
Monifieth, Carnoustie, Arbroath, Forfar, and Kirriemuir.
North Fife & Tayside
Newport-on-Tay, Tayport, Leuchars, St Andrews, and Perth.
Common Enquiries
Frequently Asked Questions
Where in Dundee are you located?
Our workshop is located on Ballindean Road in Douglas, East Dundee. To maintain home privacy and ensure dedicated, distraction-free bench time, we do not host customer visits or drop-offs at the flat. All instrument servicing is handled through our complimentary local doorstep collection and return service.
Where can I get a guitar repaired or set up in Dundee since Kenny's Music closed?
The Complete Guitar provides expert workshop services including The Complete Setup (£95), The Complete Restring (£35), The Complete Fret Service (£115), and The Complete Nut Service (£50) across Dundee with complimentary local doorstep collection and return. Workbench calibrations are performed at our Douglas workshop.
Do I need an appointment or can I drop off my guitar?
To protect privacy and maintain uninterrupted focus on precision benchwork, we do not host customer visits or drop-offs at the flat. All instrument servicing is handled via our complimentary doorstep collection and return service across Dundee, Broughty Ferry, and Monifieth.
How do I book a doorstep collection?
You can book directly by emailing David at david@thecompleteguitar.com or by submitting a service request on our website. Simply let us know what instrument you have and what issues you're experiencing, and we'll arrange an evening collection window that fits your schedule.
Do I need to supply my own strings?
You are welcome to provide your own preferred brand and gauge of strings. Alternatively, we stock premium sets from Ernie Ball (Super Slinky, Regular Slinky, Power Slinky) and D'Addario (Phosphor Bronze for acoustic, EXL for electric) at standard retail cost.
Can you fix string buzz without replacing frets?
Yes. In over 90% of instruments that arrive with fret buzz, the guitar does not require an expensive refret. A precision truss rod calibration, saddle height adjustment, or a focused The Complete Fret Service (£115) completely resolves buzzing while preserving your original fret wire.
How does your doorstep collection work?
If you live in Dundee, Broughty Ferry, or Monifieth, we arrange a convenient evening slot to collect your cased instrument directly from your front door. There is no need to haul your instrument through city-centre traffic, navigate parking restrictions, or worry about meter countdowns. Once bench calibration is complete, we deliver your guitar safely back to your home—fully tested, calibrated, and gig-ready.
About the Maker & Workshop
Written and formulated by David Aitken. Every care formula and calibration protocol is developed through hands-on bench experience at The Complete Guitar workshop in Dundee, Scotland, dedicated to making every instrument play 1% better every day.
Evening & Weekend Sessions · 100% Free Dundee Doorstep Collection · Transparent Fixed Pricing
Transform How Your Guitar Plays
A great guitar setup is not a luxury—it is the foundation of musical progress. Book online or email david@thecompleteguitar.com to arrange your complimentary doorstep collection across Dundee.