Denmark Street, London's historic guitar quarter, still houses specialists such as Stairway to Kevin and The Vintage Instrument Workshop, but the wider capital holds a dozen listed workshops. Published full-setup prices sit around £70 to £80 at Richy's Guitar Workshop and Richmond Guitar Workshop, while veterans like Tim Marten have serviced touring clients for over 30 years.
London guitar shops that do setups
Every listing below was checked against the shop's own website or a current public source. Call ahead for exact pricing and turnaround.
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L.A. Guitars
North Finchley · 7 Britannia Road · London N12 9RUEstablished in 1974, L.A. Guitars is a North Finchley luthier workshop that has offered guitar repairs, setups, and handcrafted instruments for more than 40 years.
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Stairway to Kevin
Denmark Street, Soho · 5 Denmark Street, 2nd Floor · London WC2H 8LPBased on Denmark Street in Central London, Stairway to Kevin has repaired thousands of instruments over more than 20 years, charging an £85-per-hour-plus-VAT labor rate with a £30 inspection fee credited toward any booked work.
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Tim Marten Guitar Repairs
Charing Cross Road, West End · 125 Charing Cross Road · London WC2H 0EWLocated on Charing Cross Road, Tim Marten has offered guitar repairs and setups for over 30 years, with past clients including Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, and Roger Waters.
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The Vintage Instrument Workshop
Denmark Street, Covent Garden · 6 Denmark Street · London WC2H 8LXBased on Denmark Street in Covent Garden, this workshop has offered guitar repairs and restorations for almost a decade, working on vintage, new, and intermediate instruments.
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Richy's Guitar Workshop
Bow, East London · Unit 209, Riverbank House, 455 Wick Lane · London E3 2TBRun by luthier Richy Jones from an appointment-only Bow workshop, this East London business publishes full setups at £70-£80 and refrets at £200, and holds a 5.0-star rating from 88 Google reviews.
Setup £70-£80 -
East London Guitar Repair
Highams Park · Forster Close · London IG8 9GXOperated by Sam Walker, who has over twenty five years of instrument-building and repair experience, this Highams Park workshop offers setups from £75 and refrets ranging from £125 to £450 depending on complexity.
Setup £75+ (setup) -
Richmond Guitar Workshop
Richmond upon Thames · 24 Ormond Road · Richmond TW10 6THBased in Richmond, this workshop completes all setup, fret dressing, and refret work in-house, publishing a Pro Set Up price of £70-£80 and full refrets starting at £350.
Setup £70-£80 (Pro Set Up & Full Service) -
Feline Guitars
Croydon · 9 Coombe Road · Croydon CR0 1BDOperating from Croydon for over three decades, Feline Guitars describes refret work as its speciality and also offers custom guitar building, electronics work, and free guitar health checks.
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Flame Guitars
Sutton · 10 St James Road · Sutton SM1 2TPBased in Sutton, Flame Guitars specializes in fretwork and refrets, charging £200 for an unbound refret and £40-£80 for fret leveling, drawing on 30 years of luthier experience.
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Guitar Hospital
Rotherhithe · Suite 3, Calder Court, Pageant Steps, 253 Rotherhithe Street · London SE16 5FXOperating workshops in Rotherhithe and Whitstable, Guitar Hospital publishes setup prices from £60 for non-tremolo guitars up to £80 for Floyd Rose or locking-tremolo instruments, plus the cost of strings, and backs all work with a one-year guarantee.
Setup £60-£80 (plus cost of strings) -
Medley Guitars
Tulse Hill · 102 Leigham Vale · London SW2 3JHLuthier Oscar Medley, trained at Merton College with a cabinet-making background, charges £80 for standard setups (£90 for Floyd Rose-equipped electrics) and £250-£275 for full refrets at this Tulse Hill workshop.
Setup £80 (£90 for Floyd Rose) -
Guitar Repairs London
Battersea · Below Drumshack, 58 Lavender Hill · London SW11 5RQOperating from below Drumshack rehearsal studios in Battersea, this workshop publishes a £70 full setup price (£89 for locking-tremolo or Floyd Rose guitars) and offers free appraisals to players of all levels.
Setup £70 (£89 for locking trems/Floyd Rose)
Know a great London shop we missed, or spotted an outdated detail? Tell us and we will fix it.
What a guitar setup costs in London
UK benchmarks, checked July 2026. A full setup with fret level and dress runs £100-£130, a restring alone £15-£25 plus strings.
| Provider | Standard setup | Turnaround | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent shop or luthier | £48-£110 | 2-3 days, often 1-2 weeks waitlist | Basic setup around £48, full setup with fret dress £100-£130. Strings extra. |
| guitarguitar (chain) | Quote in store | Not published | No published prices; service booked as a 30-minute in-store appointment. |
| Andertons (Guildford) | £70/hour | 7-10 working days | Labour rate after assessment. Plek full service from £170. |
| DIY with proper tools | One-time tool cost | About an evening | Tools pay for themselves after 1-2 setups and last for decades. |
Or set it up yourself in an evening
A pro setup in London costs £48-£110 and most players need two per year. With precision tools you do the same three adjustments (neck relief, action, intonation) on your own bench, whenever your guitar needs it. FRTLZR precision tools pay for themselves after the first setup.
FRTLZR® Checkcard String Action GaugeMeasure and dial in your string action
Precision Feeler Gauges SetCheck neck relief at the truss rod stage
FRTLZR® Radius GaugeMatch saddle heights to your fretboard radius
FRTLZR® Fret Polishing Kit PREMIUMBring dull frets back to a mirror shine
Guitar setup in London: common questions
How much does a guitar setup cost in London?
Published full-setup prices in London cluster around £70 to £80, with Richy's Guitar Workshop and Richmond Guitar Workshop both listing £70-£80, Medley Guitars charging £80 (£90 for Floyd Rose), and Guitar Hospital ranging £60 to £80 plus strings. Across the UK, independents charge about £48 for a basic setup and £100-130 for a full setup with fret dress; guitarguitar quotes in store, Andertons charges £70 per hour with Plek from £170, and a restring alone runs £15-25 plus strings.
Which London shop is best for fretwork or a refret?
Feline Guitars in Croydon describes refretting as its speciality, and Flame Guitars in Sutton focuses on fretwork, charging £200 for an unbound refret and £40-£80 for fret levelling. For central work, Tim Marten and Richy's Guitar Workshop both handle refrets, with Richy's listing refrets at £200 and East London Guitar Repair quoting £125 to £450 depending on complexity.
How long does a guitar setup take in London?
A straightforward setup usually takes two to three days of actual workshop time, though busy London luthiers often run one to two week waiting lists. Appointment-only workshops such as Richy's Guitar Workshop and East London Guitar Repair schedule work in advance, and fretwork or a refret typically adds a further one to two weeks.
Do I need an appointment for a guitar setup?
Many London workshops run by appointment only, including Richy's Guitar Workshop and East London Guitar Repair, so it is best to book ahead. Stairway to Kevin on Denmark Street charges a £30 inspection fee that is credited toward any booked work. Retail counters can often handle restrings or quick adjustments as a walk-in.
Can I do a guitar setup myself instead?
You can handle a basic setup at home. The core tools are a string action gauge, a set of feeler gauges and a radius gauge, since neck relief, action and intonation are all measurable and repeatable once you know the target figures. Fret levelling and refretting, offered by London specialists like Flame Guitars, are best left to a professional because mistakes are hard to reverse.
