Cameron J. Mobbs Luthier

I have held off writing a review for a few weeks, as I wanted to let my initial reaction pass and spend more time with Cameron's work so I can offer a more considered opinion. As background I have over 35 years experience and passion for guitars. I had acquired a guitar which had some very obvious damage from a poorly executed nut replacement, including tearing and splintering of the headstock veneer, superglue smears on the side/back of the neck near the nut, circular string-end gouges into the finish on the headstock from sloppy string trimming and tuning, damage to the bridge from poorly fitted saddle and clumsily removed bridge pins, with some hidden interior bridge plate damage too. Both the saddle and nut were leaning over due to string tension and poor fitting (although given both were fitted badly the leans sort of compensated for each other so the intonation actually wasn't too bad!). The radius of the saddle did not match the fingerboard radius. Finally, and most importantly, the tone and sustain simply did not sound quite right. It played and sounded OK, but having played several others from the same builder it was obviously not performing to it's best. It was really that last point that made me contact Cameron and arrange for him to take a look at it. He gave it a good inspection and played it a while, then offered a number of suggestions and options. He also suggested he could improve the appearance of the cosmetic work too, with a range of options offered. 3 weeks later, and with regular updates received in between, I returned and can only say I was amazed at what he managed to do. The quality of the repairs inside and out, refinishing, and set up is simply beyond words. Even the superglue smears were all removed. Of course the first things I noticed were the amazing cosmetic repairs, but the tone, sustain and playability were all immediately significantly improved. It is of course impossible to quantify, but to give some idea I felt tone and sustain was improved at least 10%-15%, especially in the lower strings, likely arising from a properly fitted and installed saddle. Cameron is a craftsman and artist of the highest order. Enthusiastic, talented, experienced, and literally a magician with the repairs he made to my guitar. Now several weeks later my enthusiasm remains as on the first day, and I have no hesitation to recommend him for any acoustic guitar repair and setup, simple or very complex. I am equally sure on the basis of this experience that his hand built guitars must be incredible, and something I will think about going forward. I cannot identify a single aspect of the end-to-end experience that could be improved, and the quality of craftsmanship is simply incredible (and at reasonable prices!). An exceptional talent. Strongly recommended.
Sep 12th, 2021

Positive: Professionalism, Quality, Value
Oct 21st, 2020

Highly recommend!!
Oct 8th, 2020