main sponsor

Custom guitars, part two

In the second article of our series on handmade guitars we find out how a luthier builds the right guitar for each client, and how prehistoric wood can play a part...

Thursday, 4. August 2011 - by Russ Thorne

: Guitar disassembled and ready for spraying (Image courtesy of Bailey Guitars)

Like the guitars they make, luthiers all have different stories. Take Ben Crowe of Crimson Guitars (www.crimsonguitars.com), who got into building guitars because he was bored “dealing with hide bound violinists. All they want is an exact copy of something originally built over 400 years ago!”

Mark Bailey of Bailey Guitars (www.baileyguitars.co.uk) took a different route, beginning with an epiphany that came after several unhappy attempts at employment after he left school. “I took a step back and asked myself ‘what do I want to do to with my life?’. At that age I had two things I loved doing: playing guitar and making things.” Putting two and two together led, after some effort, to an apprenticeship with Patrick Eggle guitars and finally his own business – where he's “in charge of making sawdust.”

Meet your maker

The person building your guitar is important, as they'll bring their individual sound and style to the process, according to Peter Barton (www.peterbartonguitars.co.uk). He began building as a hobby, then studied the art at West Dean College. How does he go about creating a guitar? “I like the customer to come to see me if at all possible. If not, then I like to know whether they have played one of my guitars, what guitars they play at present, and what kind of music they like.”

Both Ben and Mark also begin a new build by talking to their clients in depth about their needs. “If they're not sure I tell them to do a little research to help decide what features they like,” says Mark. “Try as many guitars as possible, read magazines, use the internet, find out what your favourite player uses.”

All three agree that the materials are crucial, but this needn't be a limiting factor. The wood might be FSC certified, sourced locally or bought from India (as some of Peter's is), but it can actually come from some surprising places. Mark has made instruments out of a 20 year-old lump of mahogany from a former Post Office counter (“it was covered in ink stamps”), and even works with prehistoric materials: “Just recently I've been handed a piece of 40,000 year old bog wood, which is to become the soundboard of a custom acoustic.”

: Bailey Sweet P - Combine that with master quality tonewoods and meticulous attention to detail (Image courtesy of Bailey Guitars)

Putting it all together

When wood has been sourced – whether from environmentally friendly timber stocks or dug up from peat bogs – the build can begin. In theory it can take a matter of days (or even hours, for showcase builds at guitar shows), but most of the time it's many months before an instrument is ready. And even then it comes down to the final moments, says Ben.

“In my experience, the most important thing to get right is the final finish. The last five percent of the job is the bit that everyone sees first, a person can get used to a neck that is slightly different than their first guitar or a different weight etc., but find a flaw in the finish and you're screwed!”

Your guitar, your way

Custom guitars are certainly luxury items that clients spend a lot of money on, so they're picky about their requirements; which has led to some unusual builds for the luthiers. Ben recalls creating a custom bass for Goldfrapp's Charlie Jones, which was crafted from a specially cast acrylic with glitter suspended in it.

“The challenging part was the month it took to carve all our ergonomic features by hand,” he says, “it's an incredibly hard material. And acrylic smells of strawberries when you start heating it up with power tools, I don't know why!”

Pride of place in Mark's collection goes to the Baritone custom acoustic he made for guitarist extraordinaire Preston Reed, although his biggest challenge was customising Martin Taylor’s archtop, which had been signed by Chet Atkins. “He just said 'go wild, experiment, chop bits off if you want!' I was a little more reserved than that but I'm pleased with the results, particularly the Celtic Knot work, which was a new experience for me.”

Ultimately all this work comes back to the client, who will be paying for and living with the instrument. What do the guitar makers strive for? Peter sums it all up with his three rules: “Clients need to love the look of it, the feel of it and most importantly the sound of it!”

It almost sounds easy. Now, where's that lump of the trojan horse I had in the attic? It'll look great with strings on...

Custom Guitars (Part One)

Loading ...