Construction
Choice, Materials, Design, Craftsmanship
Those looking to commission a custom built instrument have never been faced with more choice. When I began my apprenticeship in 1988 the market seemed far less cluttered. Nowerdays, magazines are full of similar looking luthiers’ adverts. Owning an individually hand crafted guitar made
of the finest materials is no longer difficult. The difficulty is to decide which one.
In the end there is no better way to make your choice than to try an instrument out, to listen to the sound you make from it, to judge how it plays. Will this instrument change or compliment how you play? Will you play more? Most importantly, how does it make you feel when you play it? When you are considering spending several thousand pounds on an instrument it must inspire you.
An instrument should appeal visually – a well considered mature shape, pleasantly proportioned. Decoration should be plain and simple but purposeful, it should speak rather than shout. There are few things more pleasing to the eye than good Spruce, Ebony, Rosewood, Mahogany or Maple. I’m not one for ornamentation for the sake of it. The purfling and binding I choose are to compliment these wonderful timbers, not to detract from them. Fine materials deserve
no less.
The design of an instrument is inseperable from how it sounds. By building hundreds of instruments I have come to understand the role that the different parts have to play in producing sound. One of the skills of being a luthier is to make quick, instinctive decisions about each component – the selection, the sizing and the finishing of every piece
of timber.
My designs are my own. I was lucky t be taught by such a great maker and could not have wished for a better starting point. One of the most important things I was taught was the importance of experimentation with construction and design. My instruments sound full and powerful, and are designed and crafted to be comfortable to play.
There are many different timbers being used in guitar construction today, I am familiar with most. Some do not appeal. The materials I have selected are the ones I believe give the best results for instruments of my design. I have excellent stocks of European Spruce for soundboards. For back and sides, Indian Rosewood, fine figured English Sycamore, reclaimed Cuban Mahogany and Old Growth Brazillian Rosewood. Cuban Mahogany, Indian Rosewood, and Sonokelling Rosewood for necks. Ebony for my bridges and fingerboards. I have small stocks of other timbers, which I will be experimenting with.
After thoughtful design, and excellent materials we come to craftsmanship. Making superior instruments takes time, even for a skilled worker. It takes several years of building full time for a crafstman to be in control of his hands, and therefore in control of the timber. Just as it takes a musician many years of practice to be able to get his hands to do what his head is thinking or what his heart is feeling, the same goes for making objects from wood.
I think machines are marvelous and play a vital role in saving me much donkey work, and they can be very accurate and play a crucial role in cutting precise joints like my special neck/body joint. But they create a lot of dust and noise, and sometimes can cause more problems than they solve.
Now that I’m working on my own I spend most of my time with hand tools at the bench, building the best work I have ever done and that I am capable of. By hand.