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Guitars

My journey building guitars began in the woodwork shop at school where I constructed a Telecaster shaped guitar. It was really bad, ending up on a bonfire and, later on in life, I thought I might be able to do better. At the age of 40, I tried again and I still have that guitar.  My wife's gift on my 60th birthday was a week long course at Crimson guitars. On my return, I setup a workshop in my garage and bought some wood. These are some of my efforts.

Black Limba Tele,  Limba body, Mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, P90's, a PRS style cutaway, belly and forearm cuts.

Because I'd built a tele at school, it just had to have that shape. But I wanted a glued in neck, angled back headstock and cutaways like a Strat and Gibson. I also wanted different pickups. This time, P90's. Finish is hand rubbed shellac

HH Tele built at Crimson Guitars, Mahogany body & neck, flame maple top, ziricote fretboard, humbuckers, a PRS style cutaway, belly cut.

Telecaster number 2 built on my training course at Crimson just as they opened after the Covid lockdown. Like a kid in a sweet shop. Learned so much and still can't believe this guitar was completed in 6 days flat. If you're tempted to learn luthiery, this is a magic place to start

Brian May Telecaster, Mahogany body & neck, ziricote fretboard, Tri-Sonics, a PRS style cutaway, belly cut, forearm contour & trem

Wondered what a solid Tele with Tri-sonics and Brian May switching might sound like but I didn't want a scratchplate. Nor did I want to see the pickup height adjustment screws so I had to work out a method to adjust them from the back. Interesting project and it's got some of the BM vibe but is limited by the solid body. Volume and tone pot positions are reversed on this one. It's been modified many times and I can't say it's finished yet. Next modification is to convert it to a hollow body by routing it out from the rear.

Stainless Steel Shovels, 3 string shovel slide guitar

Spotted a nice shovel in the local garden centre and thought 'Why not?' They're stainless steel so take some cutting but I used a dremel to remove the opening for the pickup leaving the cutout in one piece. This is then moulded for use as the bridge. Sounds warmer than I expected. Showed it to another guitarist and, before long, they were showing up on the local stages. Usually brings a smile to the audience's faces - especially if they've had a pint or two

And some restorations, unplayable, unloved and much the worse for wear, it's rewarding to get them singing again