Custom Guitars: Rosettes
I've been thinking about rosettes quite a lot recently. The rosette is the decorative circle around the soundhole. They come in many guises. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Martin Guitar Soundhole Rosette"][/caption] This is a Martin rosette. It's an example of what you may find on many guitars, with a ...
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July 19, 2009
Broken Headstocks, Snapped Guitar Necks and My Solution
A lot of thought goes into the feel of a neck. Its profile, width and depth are always an important consideration when buying a guitar. What is considered less frequently, however, is how the neck was constructed. As a guitar repairman, I glue a lot of headstocks back onto guitar necks. ...
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May 28, 2009
Wenge: the “new Brazilian Rosewood”?
There is an ongoing search for the "new Brazilian" - and there are some great-looking woods out there that have tonal qualities on a par with Brazilian. African Blackwood is probably the most talked about at the moment. It is a dalbergia, and therefore a "true" rosewood. It grows in ...
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May 11, 2009
Custom Guitar: Brazilian Rosewood
I am currently making a 00 acoustic guitar out of Brazilian Rosewood. The wood was cut a long time ago and looks quite dull; but with a finish on, its rich chocolate browns are accentuated. I love the look of this sapwood, as I really like contrasts. Brazilian tends to ...
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April 30, 2009
Building A Custom Guitar: Two Acoustic Guitar Tops
I've got a couple of new acoustic guitars on the go. This is the top. I've just glued the x-brace into it. I carve the braces by hand once they're glued in. I can't shape them first, as I make them tall and thin, coming to an almost-point, so I wouldn't ...
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April 21, 2009
Jim Fleeting Guitars in the Guardian
A very nice piece was written about me in Saturday's Guardian. It's a feature about people with "dream jobs". Before I began making custom guitars I used to work in a grey office fixing computers; I had my Eureka! moment halfway up a mountain in the Basque Country. (You can ...
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February 10, 2009
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