James' Home of Tone
Thanks for visiting my store and website, hope you enjoy browsing!
Ethos
James’ Home of Tone, a family run business based in Stourbridge, West Midlands.
Founded, curated and run by James Gascoigne with the moral support of wife Emma, and powered by the smiles of our two kids, Miles & Ralph. The 'Home of Tone' is a humble collection of guitars, parts & accessories that have been individually selected to be represented here for their quality, design and the brand in question's shared passion for the guitar.
I certainly don't consider the Home of Tone as re-writing the book on guitar store approach, but instead see this venture as writing my own book about what I love about the guitar; the instrument that has provided inspiration in numerous facets of my life from an early age.
All I hope is that you find the Home of Tone a place share your passion for guitars with me. The stores name is a bit of fun ultimately, but the intention is from the heart and since the humble beginnings in 2015 it seems there are so many of you that can relate to the approach. Having served over 9000 customers so far & over 2500 of my 'Signature Series' guitar wiring harnesses made, the support has been overwhelming and for that, the least I can say is Thank You and I look forward to chatting with you!
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The Home of Tone newsletter is a place where I share new product launches, product development, tech tips and perhaps most importantly for you, any newsletter subscriber exclusive sales/offers! So to be a part of that, please enter your e-mail address below! Your data and information is always stored safely via Mailchimp, you won't be spam'd daily with e-mails, I usually aim to stick to 1 per week maximum! I really appreciate your support, social media has become increasingly difficult to reach my existing followers so I'm hoping my newsletter list will continue to grow and give me the chance to interact with you all more effectively.
Home of Tone Blog
Introducing Etwood Guitar Straps to the Home of Tone!
I have been following Adam and his work creating Etwood Guitar Straps for a while, and admired the strive for creating something unique, whilst ensuring quality was top of the agenda too. We connected and kept in touch, and very glad to say I am now proudly stocking his work here at the Home of Tone!
The Signature Series / Ground Bug deal!
'Ground Bug' deal!
Looking forward to installing your new pre-wired harness/wiring, but a little worried about making the ground connections to the pot casings? First time soldering and hear the horror stories of frying pots, or just simply want to neaten up your installs?
Then the awesome 'Ground Bug' will help with any of these concerns, beginner or pro modders alike. The Ground Bug is a pot washer that fits between the pot casing and the pickguard/body and has a number of lugs (much like with the main signal connections on the pot for example) to which you can very easily solder your ground wire connections too.
Looking forward to installing your new pre-wired harness/wiring, but a little worried about making the ground connections to the pot casings? First time soldering and hear the horror stories of frying pots, or just simply want to neaten up your installs?
Then the awesome 'Ground Bug' will help with any of these concerns, beginner or pro modders alike. The Ground Bug is a pot washer that fits between the pot casing and the pickguard/body and has a number of lugs (much like with the main signal connections on the pot for example) to which you can very easily solder your ground wire connections too.
How-to guide - Shielding a '72 Telecaster Custom
In this article I'm going to feature how to correctly apply copper foil shield a Telecaster Custom (but the same methods/rules apply for shielding any guitar so I hope this helps you even if you aren't doing this to a Tele Custom!). I hope to briefly also touch on some of the finer details too so that hopefully you're not just copying how to do it, but instead learning about the parts and how they're working too. Always good to have some understanding of how your instrument works I think! I will be following this article up with a part 2, which will be showing you how to make a wiring loom for this model too, so sit tight for that article to be published very soon.
From the Home of Tone bench
Thurston Moore Jazzmaster in for some TLC
I have had my head down working through the guitars that have come through the doors so have somewhat neglected the 'Home of Tone bench' blog of late, but I figured this was a special one so had to share it.
Chris got in touch to inquire about getting this awesome offset looked at as wasn't in the happiest of states. The wiring in particular was problematic, having been replaced prior elsewhere it came back sounding very muddy. After a bit of chat, he opted to send it my way for a closer look and a full setup.
Chris got in touch to inquire about getting this awesome offset looked at as wasn't in the happiest of states. The wiring in particular was problematic, having been replaced prior elsewhere it came back sounding very muddy. After a bit of chat, he opted to send it my way for a closer look and a full setup.
Nick's custom Telecaster Deluxe!
This was the first job on the bench after a brief summer break with the family last month, Nick’s lovely Telecaster Deluxe. It came in for a setup, rewire, installation of new pickguard and to smooth the back of the neck. Nick asked me to rewire it for two reasons, resolve some niggling faults but also make it more suitable for his playing preferences. After going over some options we decided to move the toggle switch out of the way of the strumming area down to the pots instead. He complained of accidentally knocking the toggle switch in it's standard position, and wanted to take that hassle out of his gigging! He plays long sets in bands as well as his own solo wedding work so his guitars need to be reliable. So in moving the toggle out of the way and down to the main pots area, we needed to change to a master tone whilst still keeping the two volume pots. This way you can still do the cool Tele Deluxe kill switch effect by rolling one off etc.
A unique mod to an already versatile PJ bass
This was an interesting project to be part of. Repeat customer, Will, had added this Fender Player Plus MIM PJ bass 2nd hand to his collection and had started to make it his own, flatwounds, thumb-rest etc, but had found an area he wanted to improve upon.
