Commission Builds

Fancy a handmade instrument? I can build you an instrument to your specifications. If you are interested, best to get in touch to discuss ideas etc. Prices will vary greatly depending on the project, materials etc.

what I could build for you:

Acoustic guitar, banjo, ukulele, flat-top mandolin, bouzouki, mandola.

If you have any obscure or out there ideas for instruments, get in touch, I love a challenge!

Below are a few examples of instruments I have built:

Dreadnought Acoustic

Materials:

Sapele neck, back and sides.

Spruce top

Rosewood fretboard, bridge, headplate and scratch plate.

Maple binding

Maple fretboard inlays and decorative headstock inlay

Bone nut and saddle

Bone bridge pins with mother-of-pearl inlay dots.

finish: Soft satin hard Wax oil.

Hardware:

Golden age restoration relic brass tuners

Two way adjustable truss-rod, adjustment through sound hole.

Jumbo 3mm fret wire

rosewood strap end pin.

Parlour Acoustic

Materials:

Sapele neck, back and sides.

Spruce top

Rosewood fretboard, bridge, and headplate.

Walnut binding

Maple decorative headstock inlay

Bone nut and saddle

Rosewood bridge pins with mother-of-pearl inlay dots.

finish: Soft satin hard Wax oil.

Hardware:

Golden age restoration tuners

steel bar re-enforced neck, non adjustable.

Romantic style classical guitar

This small bodied romantic style guitar, was inspired by the classical guitars of the romantic period, with is bridge inspired by the work of 19th century luthier Louis Panormo, it's friction peg headstock, and ladder-braced soundboard, which was a common method of re-enforcing a guitar's soundboard at the time.

Materials:

Maple neck, back and sides.

Cedar top

Ebony fretboard, bridge, and headplate.

Ebony binding

Maple decorative headstock inlay

Bone nut and saddle

Ebony bridge pins with mother-of-pearl inlay dots.

finish: Soft satin hard Wax oil.

Hill heart style boxwood friction pegs, with black collar and pin.

Fretless banjo

I can't take full credit for making this, I made this from half finished parts that I acquired from various places, hence it's nickname 'Frankenbanjo'.

I used a nice chunky block construction maple rim, paired with a walnut neck, which I acquired as a half finished neck. It had had it's fret slots cut, but no frets. So I decided to fill in the slots with veneer, bind the edges, rout a frailing scoop, make a compensated bridge and call it a fretless, making it perfect for that proper old-time sound.

Minstrel-style tack-head fretless banjo

This banjo was inspired by banjos of the American Civil War, with it's fretless fingerboard, big deep 12.5" pot, boucher style friction peg headstock and 27.5" scale length for a deeper sound and lower tunings.

Materials:

Beech neck, Ash block construction pot.

tacked on bleached vellum head.

Ebony friction pegs

Rosewood fingerboard and headplate.

Maple fretboard inlays

Bone nut

finish: Spirit stained and finished with shellac varnish.