About

NEWS – I am now offering electric guitar lessons https://guitarsetup.co.uk/guitar-lessons/

My love of music and of musical instruments started when I was quite young. As an eight year old I started classical violin training and I continued with this until, as a twelve year old, I switched to classical guitar (with encouragement from a school mate…thanks Dave!) in which I finally achieved a grade eight. Along side this I was teaching myself electric guitar and to this day I love to play and practice both.

I have formed and played in many bands, none of which you will have heard of, but I still enjoy performing with other musicians.

In the late 1980’s I designed a recording studio for a local independent label called Village Records. I spent some time here as both a manager and engineer for bands such as Bradford, The Volunteers and Johnny Dangerously.

At around the same time, I became a guitar teacher and at one point I had as many as 35 students on my books. I also gave lessons in local schools.

I have a long experience of work within the music retail trade having spent time at two of Bolton’s (and the North west’s) largest retailers. Whilst a student, I worked in the guitar department at Harker and Howarth and I was the manager of the guitar department at HW Audio for 13 years.

I have always done guitar setups for myself and, whilst teaching, for my pupils. In addition I have done lots of repair work for musicians and local shops. During my time at HW Audio, a major part of my work was repairs, setups and modifications to customers’ guitars. In fact, I often did fret work and setup work on brand new and expensive guitars such as Gibson and Fender. This attention to detail and customer satisfaction was a major contributor to the return custom achieved by HW.

You can read testimonials from some of my long standing customers by clicking here.

These are a few of my favorite things…

Through this web site, I am making my services available direct to the public. If your guitar isn’t playing as you would like it to, or if you wish have some modifications made, please contact me to discuss your exact requirements. I am based in Bolton, near Manchester, in the Northwest of England.

Best Regards,

Phil Hartley