Back to the blog!

Because it has been so damn long since I posted anything here I thought I would just show a few of the guitars I have built in the last year. I'll start with the most recent

Its a small jumbo with a 13th fret neck joint, Bearclaw Sitka spruce soundboard, koa back and sides, arm bevel, koa pices of trim in the headstock and bridge. It's got the lot!

Next are a pair of very different brothers. One is another small Jumbo (I'll give the shape a name soon) and an Oxwich Parlour, both have spruce tops and rosewood back and sides with ebony bridges and neck and walnut binding but the Oxwich has a European spruce top whereas the Jumbo has an Adirondack top. The Oxwich has indian Rosewood back and sides and the jumbo has Honduran rosewood

Oxwich first;

And the Jumbo

That's it for now!

An incredible 6 months

As you my or may not know it's been an incredible six months for my family and myself.
My wife gave birth to our beautiful son Oscar in February a whole 2 months earlier than planned and from then on it has been a whirlwind.
Unfortunately Oscar was born with a complex heart condition which required open heart surgery to correct, but all did not go to plan and we sadly lost him in July.
We have been on a roller coaster ride since Oscars birth as he spent his entire life in different hospitals but we are determined to turn our tragedy into something positive to help other families like ours.

So we have now embarked on a series of fundraising campaigns the first of which is a coffee morning to be held here in my workshop with all money raised going to Oscar's Adventures charities.

In addition to this first event we are also planning an acoustic open mic night later on in the year and a children's story book. Watch this space for more updates on these events.

To find our more about the charities we are supporting and donate in memory of Oscar you can find everything you need to know by clicking here or visiting our facebook page.

I hope to see you on the 13th  to enjoy a relaxed cuppa and delicious bite to eat in aid of some amazing charities that are extremely close to my heart.

New workshop!

Well, after four and a half years in my workshop I have completely outgrown it, I have been climbing over guitar cases and piles of wood  to get to anything or do any work.

I have just moved into a much larger workshop in Abergavenny, about 7 miles from my old workshop. Once I have everything in order, it will be a nicer experience for me to work in and for others to visit, some nice pictures will follow when I get some more benches up and get everything in order.

The new address is;

Lower ground floor,
The old Workhouse
Abergavenny
Monmouthshire
NP7 7RL

a resonator and small jumbo guitar

A couple of new ones...

First up is the return of the Terz guitar, in a 14 fret resonator form. It'll be all sycamore; back, sides, top, neck and binding. The cone is hand spun by Beard Guitars in the US of A and is the smallest one they make. Cramming everything into such a small body is an interesting challenge but great fun!

Next is a custom guitar shape; a small jumbo in... mostly cocobolo. The soundboard is Sitka spruce and the neck is laminated lacewood, back sides, fingerboard, bridge, headstock veneers (front and back) and laminations are cocobolo. To buck the trend the bindings are ebony.

The neck is joining the body at the 13th fret, there will be a sound port, only 16 frets... should be a nice one!

Calling Colin...

Bit of an unusual post here...

If Colin Owen is reading this, your P bass body is finished but the phone number you gave me is missing a digit so I can't get in touch to let you know!

Give me a ring when you see this... if you see it, or if anyone knows Colin please let him know!

Rich

Well done Bob

A big congratulations to Bob who, after more years than he cares to remember, has been coming to my workshop to build his own guitar and here are the fruits of his labour. Sitka soundboard, reclaimed mahogany back, sides and neck, ebony bridge, fingerboard, headstock veneer and binding.

The mahogany was originally a cupboard door from an old chest that was being thrown out. Turns out is was  a beautiful piece of 'hog that Bob had resawn at a local joinery (who have a bigger and better bandsaw than me) and voila... Pretty good no?

Ok, so I haven't updated this blog in a while but the two guitars are finished and another is well on it's way...

Here's the first;

A 12 fret Cilgerran in Carpathian spruce and Cocobolo rosewood... and 6.5 metres of abalone purfling!! Its tone is opening up nicely. It already has the clarity and resonance you'd expect from rosewood and spruce  with great balance of tones... and it's sparkly.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that bling!

On to to the Oxwich. This one is already winging it's way across Europe to it's new home in Austria. The combination of Cedar and Walnut makes for a beautiful picker which has more volume than you'd expect from such a wee beastie.

There's something about 12 fret guitars that I absolutely love. Maybe its the balance, the body length, the bridge placement, but it just works really well... In my opinion anyway.

On to the next.

Another Oxwich, this time in Sitka pruce and Walnut. Built using native woods where possible, the guitar is Celtic themed, so I am using my knotwork rosette and coupling it with a very ornate set of purfling from Petros guitars. The neck is sycamore, fingerboard is bog oak, binding is oak and the headstock veneer is a bookmatched piece of Burl Yew from a local churchyard.

This guitar will also have some Welsh script etched with a laser cutter onto the soundboard thanks to Steph at http://www.stephaniedaviesdesigns.co.uk/ who does great work and also makes my knotwork rosettes and wooden logos