well after a long journey in the back of at least 3 vans the Terz guitar eventually made it up to Lanarkshire so I can show it off for all to see here. As you might expect from such a small bodied guitar it responds very well to a light touch- no heavy strummers please. Its great for gentle fingerpicking whilst on the sofa watching TV its new owner assures me! I have another Terz in the pipeline for early next year.

...And so on to the next one. I've been working with guitarist Paul Brett to resurrect an idea for a harp guitar from the late 19th century. What makes it different from usual harp guitars (if there is such a thing!) is that the extra bass strings are played with the thumb of the left hand. Paul was keen to take inspiration from the original design and use environmentally sound materials so we settled on oak for the back and sides as per the original, Sitka spruce from a naturally fallen tree, sycamore for the neck and neck dowel, bog oak fingerboard, bridge and head veneer and English walnut binding. The body is based on my 12 fret Cilgerran model. Hopefully it'll be finished by the end of the week so I'll put up a couple of completed pics.

A little update to the Terz guitar; it's coming along very well, only the frets and logo to go on before lacquering (and a LOT of sanding). To avoid tearing the grain when routing the binding ledges I give the edges of the body a coat of shellac, it also stops glue sticking to the bits of wood where you don't want it.

binding and purfling ledges routed out

Using masking tape to hold purfling in place while the glue dries

Koa binding with a very thin strip of maple to stand it out from the mahogany sides

Ziricote headstock veneer, koa binding with maple and dyed maple purflings, tuners will be Waverleys, fancy!

Last week was very much 'new guitar week' both for me and for my first 'student' Richard who has been coming to my workshop a couple of times a week since the autumn to build himself a guitar. Whilst his aim at the beginning was to build himself a guitar which first and foremost had good tone with looks coming a distant second, he pretty quickly succumbed to pretty woods and shiny bits of shell. He's ended up with a guitar that looks great and sounds great too, the sound will continue to improve over the coming days, weeks and months as the wood loosens up and things settle down. The soundboard is European spruce. Back sides and neck are Claro Walnut. Binding and end fillet are Very figured Koa, fingerboard and front headstock veneer are ebony while the back veneer and bridge are burr oak and Indian Rosewood respectively. Rosette is abalone, the finish is Nitro cellulose over french polish.

Well done Richard and thanks for the canoe!





My new guitar is the first of a new body shape for me, my usual long scale length and a neck that joins the body at the 14th fret. Continuing the theme of naming my guitars after places I have fond memories of from summer holidays camping in West Wales this is the Rhossili model and will be on my website just as soon as I take some flashy photos of it. This particular guitar has a sitka spruce top, Indian rosewood back and sides, Koa binding ( that I managed to use before Richard nabbed the rest of it) reclaimed Mahogany neck Rosewood bridge and ebony fingerboard and headstock veneer. Its a bit of a departure for me as I usually build guitars suited for fingerpicking and this is a bit more of an all rounder, the harder sitka spruce usually favours plectrum playing but we'll see as the sound opens up.

http://www.richardmeyrickguitars.co.uk/rhossili.html