Crossfield Stringed Instruments Reviews 

Leo was absolutely great fantastic information & done a fantastic job 👏

Not knowing much about guitar styles and construction, I recently inherited a Tanglewood that I found difficult to play. Leo showed me that the essential framework was well constructed, with good design elements, but the action was too high and the bridge was becoming detached along with some other details needing attention. After working on it, he returned it to me sounding beautiful, clear and bold with my ability to coax a tune from it transformed. I now have a reminder of its previous owner that I can work with, not just look at, and I can imagine playing alongside them when I'm practising.
It's the second guitar Leo has worked his craftsman's magic on for me and I would recommend him to anyone.
Thanks, Leo!

I picked up a Taylor 322 12 fret which had been badly strung and had a very high action, among other things caused by a saddle that was too high. I dropped it in to Leo for a set up and what a difference he has made! The guitar action is now low and it plays smooth and fast. Leo is incredibly knowledgeable, personable and gifted in his work, a pleasure to deal with. I highly recommend Leo for any Luthier related works and will be using Leo again in the future for any works that need to be carried out on other guitars. Thanks for your help Leo, you've made this guitar sing!

I took my guitar to leo about a month ago, after a depressing period of having snapped my E string, strings buzzing and the action of my guitar being insufferably high. He was capable of resuscitating my guitar from these flaws and more, the acoustics are incredible and it’s a much more comfortable play. i now feel more confident and driven to write my music and perform thanks to his services.
i couldn’t recommend him more :)

If you’re not a guitar player, don’t bother reading any further.
However, if you have a broken guitar that you value, then read on:
About 20 years ago I bought a broken 1958 Gibson LG0 on EBAY from the USA, had to pay import duty and VAT. I knew it had been ‘sat on’ and it arrived with the neck intact but the body was split and cracked on the front and back and the belly was lifting. It was unplayable.
I took the LG0 to the late Terry Warrington, of local Peterborough Folk Club fame. Terry was a carpenter by trade and a talented amateur instrument builder - guitar maker, hurdy gurdy maker, ukelele maker – I’m sure you get the picture. Anyway, Terry fixed the LG0 and thereafter she was extensively and heavily used for live playing and recording; the LG0 was used on ‘Arthur Blake’, from my CD ‘Folk Blues Begotten’ from 2024.
The LG0 guitar is a collector’s item these days but it was never bought as an investment, only for the sheer joy of playing a pure mahogany, ladder-braced, small body instrument that produced exactly the same acoustic dynamics of finger-style guitar playing, popularised by Blind Blake and Robert Johnson in the 1930’s. I will never sell it.
In the year of writing this, my LG0 failed to hold tuning, buzzed and rattled and had to be retired from use as it had become unplayable. Taking the guitar to Leo Crossfield, he explained that the guitar was saveable; the LG0 could be returned to concert condition if it was dismantled, extensively repaired and rebuilt. It would take weeks to complete.
I collected the repaired LG0 yesterday. She is in concert condition and sings as she did when leaving the Kalamazoo factory, almost 60 years ago - probably even better, given the 2026 maturity of the originally aged mahogany.
Leo had to cut off the top of the guitar and its tortoiseshell binding, remove the fingerboard, re-set the neck, remove the bridge, repair the splits, condition and flatten the top, repair the back which had split in two parts, repair and/or replace the ladder bracing, replace the bridge bracing, re-fret the neck and reassemble the guitar and set it up to Gibson concert specification.
Throughout the re-build, Leo sent photographs and videos of the key segments of the repair and reconstruction. I didn’t ask him to do that but it does display Leo’s ‘over and above’ approach to craftsmanship.
I can recommend Leo Crossfield to you without reservation

Vince Dean
Stamford
7th August 2026

Made my guitar feel completely new and improved, and gave lots of helpful advice on how to adjust parts to what’s comfortable. Would happily reccomend!

Outstanding work by Leo on 3 guitars. All complete set ups with a couple of repairs. One he turned round very quickly to help my son, the others followed soon after. They literally play and feel like different, far better instruments with low actions and no fret buzz whatsoever. It’s like owning new higher level guitars. Repairs completed without fuss and he made an effort to source a specific part for us. His attention to detail is remarkable - he really looked at every aspect of each guitar and got the very best end result. Moreover he is very good at explaining the necessary steps and was generous in sharing his knowledge with us. All in all we are delighted and highly recommend his work :)

I decided to learn a new instrument for a challenge in my retirement. I chose the mandolin due to the small size being easy to store and handle. I decided on a solid body electric mandolin for use with headphones so as to not annoy my semi-detached neighbours in the early hours. To keep initial costs low I purchased second-hand. Unfortunately my opted 'starter' instrument had a very poor setup : awfully high action, truss rod mal-adjusted, many 'rocking' frets (all over the place), a fretboard hump in the higher frets, a zero fret as fat as a railway track, a warped scratchplate. I deemed it almost unplayable in its purchased state. The bottom line was that it needed someone who knew what they were doing to sort it all out. Leo Crossfield, my local luthier, took it under his wing and turned my mandolin into an amazing instrument to play. It is now better than I could ever have expected. Everything is perfect, string heights and action, fretboard and frets perfectly levelled and re-crowned, zero fret corrected, bridge lowered, intonation excellent, scratchplate secured, electrics repaired. I would have had to pay a considerable price for a new instrument as playable as this is now. I doubt I will ever need to upgrade from this mandolin now as Leo has made it 'sing'. The icing on the cake is that Leo is a seasoned player and he has inspired me to 'master' this instrument that is now truly fit for purpose. Have Leo setup your instruments. I can whole-heartedly recommend his services.

Great service! Great communication!
Beautiful final product !
Highly recommend!

After Leo sorted my Emberger style mandolin and when I picked the instrument up upon completion I took along my 1987 Demeglio mandolin to Leo to sort as it was in dire need of some TLC. It was and never had been in tune at the twelfth fret, when finding the harmonics, but Leo sorted that out by adjusting the bridge accordingly until it was in tune there. He also painstakingly found suitable fret wire so that he could make new frets and fit them to the instrument. I mentioned to him that the frets had been turned by another Luthier and he showed me the old fret wire and said there was no evidence that the frets had been turned. So a word of warning take care who you trust!! He fitted my new strings for me which I sent to him. Also a piece of the decorative wire had come off and he sorted that for me too. He also replaced the felt where is was needed. Now my Demeglio is happy and smiling after receiving much needed TLC from Leo. He is, in my opinion, an amazing person and works hard and efficiently to give your instrument the much needed care to bring it up to a 100% both in appearance and playability. 😊

I feel that I must have been the worst person in the world to be a student guitar player. A seventy year old hippy, with a memory like a sieve, with years of bad habits embedded in my muscle memory. Furthermore, I could not read music and knew nothing about music theory! I could work out that G was the fifth in the C scale but couldn’t work the alphabet backwards! I have received tons of patience and been drip fed music that I love and can actually play! Thank you Leo!

I’ve known Leo for a couple of years now, having first had lessons with him on the 5 string banjo, and now he is teaching me to play the mandolin.
Whilst learning the banjo, I upgraded my Deering banjo, to a lovely GoldStar banjo. It needed a little bit of tlc, (some frets needed replacing for a start), and there was only one person I was going to trust.
Needless to say, Leo did a great job.
I’ve come to regard Leo as a good friend and trust his expert advice on all things banjo and mandolin related.
I have already recommended his work to others…His expertise and attention to detail is second to none.
Steven Duffy

A relative recently died and left my two grandsons his vintage Fender Stratocasters. Whilst one was in a fairly good condition the other was in a pretty poor state having been left in a damp case in an even damper property. I took them both to Leo and over a couple of weeks he did an incredible job of restoring them to their former glory. His knowledge and attention to detail is second to none, and he sent me photos of every step of the restoration. If you want someone who cares about stringed instruments and does an exceptional job of restoring and repairing them, then Leo is your man.

Flawless repair such a wonderful craftsman

I have a handmade electric guitar designed and handcrafted by Leo. 12 years on, the guitar still plays beautifully and the finish has certainly stood the test of time. The guitar looks as outstanding today as it did when I collected it up 12 years ago . This is a testament to the quality of workmanship and care and dedication to his craft.

I brought my fender Stratocaster, that was in a very sorry state, all the laminate had come off ,into Leo. Leo fully restored it paying close attention to every detail. He is an absolute genius. The guitar is now fully restored and absolutely beautiful beyond my wildest expectations it’s just perfection. I wouldn’t trust anybody else now with any of my guitars.

Leo made me the most marvellous acoustic guitar. It looks and sounds beautiful. Such a wonderful experience from start to finish. Highly recommended.