About / Introduction to AxeKool
Hello,
My name is Andrew, and thank you for visiting my website. I am the owner of AxeKool and here is a little bit about my background as a musician and a Guitar Tech / Luthier.
I was born in the late 1960’s into a family who loved music with my grandfather repairing old wireless radio sets most of his life. My father was a pioneer of quadraphonic sound and also collected vinyl records and loved the drums and listening to music very load! He built large amplifiers purely for his own entertainment, of which there are many funny stories.
My early childhood memories are me sitting in our living room in Balham, South West London where my Dad had speakers and wiring everywhere across the floor while he was playing with quadraphonic sound and effects making the sound dance from one speaker to another. He was obsessed by sound and music and was always in his workshop at the bottom of the garden with a soldering iron in his hand working on some project or fixing a neighbours record player.
I started getting involved in music as a musician over 26 years ago and purchased a bass guitar, learned a bit and joined a classic rock covers band. I played pretty awfully, but we got paid in beer and had lot of fun. A couple of years later I purchased an electric and acoustic guitar and started doing vocal work and I fell in love with the whole musician thing. I am an acoustic player at heart, but would say my live band talent was being a vocalist and I have worked as a frontman in a few bands including, Rock, Blues and Tribute bands. I am fully retired from the stage now!
With a mechanical, electrical, engineering and IT/graphic design background, repairing and working on guitars became a nice side line, as I found guitars to be creative, but still technical and intricate enough to be interesting to work on. I started repairing guitars when I first became a musician all those years ago. I did repairs via word and mouth and when I recently moved to Gloucestershire I decided to make it a business and give it a name “AxeKool” and a website! I also put together a dedicated guitar workshop which is well equipped for just about anything coming through the door.
I am a perfectionist at heart and have an eye for detail and take a great pride in my guitar work, which is more like a hobby. I keep my prices low and enjoy the projects that turn up in the workshop. My favourite part of the guitar work is electrical, no surprise, as it reminds me of my late Father and Grandfather. I have many regular customers and a few professional musicians from local bands on the books and also a few clients with large guitar collections.
My Own Personal Guitars, Gear & Rig
Although I do own a Epiphone Les Paul Pro with every upgrade you can imagine, I am an acoustic player at heart. I own a Martin HD-28 pictured above in the photo, which was taken at the Chateau Denmark in Denmark Street, London where I purchased it new from Dawson’s Guitar Shop. I fitted a LR Baggs M80 3D Active Sound hole Pickup to the Martin and then this runs to a L.R. Baggs DI Venue, and then plugs into a Marshall Acoustic AS50D Soloist Amp. I use a Shure Beta 58A Microphone which plugs directly into the same amp. Its a fantastic and very effective setup and suits my purposes.
I also own…
- Taylor Academy 12e-N Grand Concert Classical.
- Epiphone EJ-300S VS Acoustic 2004 / Korean, fitted with a L.R. Baggs Anthem Pickup System. This guitar is used for teaching, practice and playing at family functions etc.
Vintage Tools & Upcycling
Although I have modern tools, I am very keen on vintage tools and equipment that were made by hand in a time when precision mattered. They are far better quality then today’s cheap production monkey metal rubbish. Buying a vintage quality brand tool and cleaning, fixing and sharpening it will be far better quality than most off the shelf modern tools. Upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming, useless, or unwanted products into new materials or products perceived to be of better quality, this is of great environmental value.
Wood Library & Recycling
I have a small wood library. A large percentage of these woods have come from broken vintage furniture and items from charity shops which are then recycled into useful wood to be used on projects. This is again great for the environmental and supports charities too. If you have a vintage guitar body made from 50 year old Mahogany, would it not be better to repair it with Mahogany from the same period than modern quick grown plantation Mahogany?
All companies where possible should take on the responsibility of environmental issues and Recycle and Upcycle.
March 2025 Update.
Alongside the Workshop, I have been building wiring harnesses for sometime now and as you will see from the website recent menu changes that this is the direction I want to go. I have now rolled out a large range of Wiring Harnesses and Wiring Kits and added our very own AxeKool 3D Printed (biodegradable) Wiring Templates. The range will continue to grow for the next few years. More info to follow shortly.
Thanks for reading
Andrew
AxeKool supports a local charity called Heidi’s Heroes by turning old unwanted guitars into donations Read More
AxeKool is very proud to Recycle and Up-Cycle tools, equipment and products to help with the environment. Read More
AxeKool is completely independent and is not affiliated with any other companies, artists or bands.
“I was cutting them up and modifying the pickups, bridges, controls and just about everything else.
All the things that I wanted just gave them a lot of grey hair up there at Gibson” – Les Paul.