First Trip To Feline Guitars

DavusPG

I know I'm late to the party, and for many of you I'm preaching to the converted here, but just wanted to give a shout out to Feline Guitars.

Less than 24 hours after a recent gig where my failing eyesight, combined with a poorly lit stage and a fretboard with no dots resulted in more than a few missed notes, I read Jonathan's 25th Anniversary NGD post and saw it had Luminlay side dots. Hoping these glow in the dark dots could avoid another night of fumbling around in the dark, I decided it was time to give Feline a whirl.

I'd been meaning to make the relatively short trip to Croydon for the best part of 10 years after a guy I was working with raved about his custom built Feline, combined with the many glowing reports about Feline on here.

So, I took my Suhr Modern to the Feline workshop, where it immediately received a free heath check. In addition to the Luminlay side dots, we agreed on properly blocking the bridge (in a pinch I'd used coins, but wanted it done properly), to fix or replace a scratchy volume pot, and to give the frets some attention so the guitar plays as well as it possibly can set up to my preferred action and string gauge.

Considering it's a quality guitar and my current favourite, I was expecting any improvements to be marginal, but I was wrong. Jonathan had spoken about how important it is to him to give customers guitars which play so well that they spend more time doing exactly that - and that's been my experience. I collected it earlier today and have just surfaced from 4 hours playing. It's a bit of a cliche, but it really is like a different guitar. Over the years I've had many disappointing experiences paying for setups where it played no better, if not worse than when I took it in, but not today. The difference in playability is worth every penny and the Luminlay side dots work a treat.

I've already resigned myself to the fact that this will almost certainly culminate with a custom build, but not before a few more of my collection have been through the Feline workshop. My EJ Strat is now in for a replacement HSS loaded pickguard and setup to the same specs as the Suhr.

I'm not usually one for posts like this, and I know Feline certainly don't need plugging on here, but credit where credit's due and I'm one very happy customer. So huge thanks to Jonathan and Tom and I look forward to many more visits to Croydon.

sweepy

Take Cat treats next time you go

Kittyfrisk

Fantastic result. I'm too far away geographically to partake in the Feline experience, but all the comments speak of a true quality service. Long may it continue   
Not sure about cat treats, but I reckon the sustainable wood based litter tray requirement is well covered 

DavidRees

the Feline experience is always cooler than a lot of very cool things ...

skullfunkerry

They did a fantastic job on my Performance. Bit of a bitch of a journey for me, but well worth it and I'll definitely be going again. Really nice guys too, both Jon & Tom couldn't have been friendlier or more helpful.

At some point, I really really want this:

https://reverb.com/item/17029986-feline-k-explorer-black-purple

But it's a long way off at the moment. I've kind of resigned myself to the knowledge that someone else will probably buy it before I can afford it...

Arktik83

Jonathan and his colleague (his name escapes me at the moment, apologies!) really are a great pair of guys and their guitars are superb!  Visited a couple of times when I lived near London and they always had time for a chat and were always very welcoming. 

When the majority of my experiences in guitar shops have been arsey sales staff or staff that just flat out ignored me it was always a pleasant experience at Feline.  Good to hear that you had the same experience!

Lestratcaster

I've been there several times as they've done lots of work on my guitars and they are superb at what they do. The only place I'll ever take any of my guitars, even though I live a good hour away.

Extremely knowledgeable, friendly and always look after the best interests of the guitar. Will never use a guitar shop tech ever again.

sweepy

I do all my own refrets but the next one will be at Feline’s, really immaculate work 

axisus

Superb place! Been there quite a few times. Sadly it's a bit too far for me - requires half a day of leave. The guitars are amazing!

Moominpapa

Made my first pilgrimage there a few weeks ago. Jonathan fettled my headless (ooh err missus!) and made it play better. Nice guy, great service, cool place: deserves all the praise it gets on here.

Brize

I've always been underwhelmed by setups and fret dresses before I found Feline. Those guys really do know how to get the best out of a guitar.

Brize

My favourite part of the Feline experience is petting Tigger and taking advantage of the complimentary Molton Brown handwash.

aroyalnit

I used to take my guitars to Jon when he worked out of the basement of the shop in Surbiton and always got fantastic advice and service back then.  Glad to hear he's still fighting the good fight, I now live near Aberdeen so not too convenient to drop by

rlw

I wish they would open in branch in Yorkshire so that I didn’t have to fuck about with the dodgy geezers up here.

Brize

rlw said:

I wish they would open in branch in Yorkshire so that I didn’t have to fuck about with the dodgy geezers up here.

I believe the Cotswolds workshop is foremost in the expansion plans.

skullfunkerry

Brize said:

My favourite part of the Feline experience is petting Tigger and taking advantage of the complimentary Molton Brown handwash.

I never met Tigger... now I need to go again!

FelineGuitars

Thank you guys - always a pleasure to see you and help get the best out of your guitars

Brize said:

My favourite part of the Feline experience is petting Tigger and taking advantage of the complimentary Molton Brown handwash.

You know we only put the Molton Brown out for you Brian

skullfunkerry said:

Brize said:

My favourite part of the Feline experience is petting Tigger and taking advantage of the complimentary Molton Brown handwash.

I never met Tigger... now I need to go again!

Brize

FelineGuitars said:

You know we only put the Molton Brown out for you Brian

Obviously one of the perks of your VIP programme.

McToot

rlw said:

I wish they would open in branch in Yorkshire so that I didn’t have to fuck about with the dodgy geezers up here.

Appen it'd be called T'Feline. Oh aye. 

Voxman

From January I'm going down to 4 days per week to get a better lifestyle balance leading up to retirement and one of my day off plans is to visit Feline.  I'm not yet in a position to order a hand made guitar, but first step would be to try some first and I might take one of my guitars for a health check too.  

McToot

Voxman said:

From January I'm going down to 4 days per week to get a better lifestyle balance leading up to retirement and one of my day off plans is to visit Feline.  I'm not yet in a position to order a hand made guitar, but first step would be to try some first and I might take one of my guitars for a health check too.  

Make sure you don't take Mondays off from January onwards. Jon is closed on Monday 

Also, if driving, make sure you take plenty of change for the parking meter. Many a time I have thought 30 minutes will be enough only to get caught in a time-warp of gear chat and Scorpions/UFO/NWOBHM reminiscences...

For me, coming up from Sussex, I like to think of it as a half day out. Much more rewarding than a trip to Right-on-Brighton.