Going Bespoke: End Game

We have now reached journey's end in the tale of the making of my new Fylde Falstaff acoustic guitar - it's now home with me and settling in to its new surroundings nicely.
Last Tuesday (ie the 27th Jan) I went up to Penrith to collect the guitar and Roger treated me to a look around his workshop while I was there. Having been a guitar journalist for 17 years or so (and a guitarist for around twice as long) I have a great interest in how guitars are made and I must say the look around was fascinating - from the bare wood to the finished product in segmented stages. Great stuff - and I'm hugely indebted to Roger Bucknall for taking the time out to show me around.
Here's a pic of me with Roger in Penrith - grinning broadly having just had the Falstaff placed in my hands...





Now that I'm home, I'm looking forward to sitting down and spending some time with the new instrument - at present, work commitments have stacked up a bit and virtually all my time is taken up with writing; but heck, the weekend will soon be here and I'm aiming at grabbing some 'quality time' for me and the Falstaff. Here's a pic of her in my living room...





As I say, I haven't had too much time to sit and play so far, but initial noodlings have revealed a good, bright, well-balanced tone which is both sweet and profound. The harmonics are crystal clear and the sustain goes on forever. In short, I'm happy.
Before too long, I'm going to be in the studio again and I'll make sure that there's an MP3 of what the Falstaff sounds like available on the iTalk Guitar site so you can hear how sweetly she sings!

Going Bespoke: The Finishing Line

The photostory of the master craftsmen at Fylde guitars making my new Falstaff acoustic is now complete with these three final pictures - although I will be posting a couple after I pick it up, no doubt!
This first picture shows the guitar awaiting its first set of strings...



Once the strings have been put on, there is a bit of final adjustment to be carried out down at the nut...



Now, the guitar is ready for its first tune up. Obviously I've yet to hear it myself, but Roger Bucknall emailed me to say that it 'sounds lovely'.



So there you have it - the making of a Fylde Falstaff acoustic guitar from the day the wood was chosen right up to the time when it's all strung up and ready to come out to play.

Going Bespoke: The Final Straight!

Construction of my new Fylde Falstaff acoustic guitar is nearing completion and it's now time for the neck to be fitted. But first, some finishing touches: here, the body is receiving its final sanding.



Next, the body is buffed to a shine...



The neck, too, receives some final attention - after the sanding it received in the last crop of pictures, it's now being fine tuned with wire wool.



Now the really critical stuff begins... First of all, Roger removes the lacquer from the body in the places where the bridge and fingerboard will be glued in place.



I must say, I really love this next picture - a sort of guitar-orientated still life!



Now Roger makes the final adjustments to the heel of the neck before it's fitted.



After fitting, the fingerboard and bridge are both clamped in order to let the glue dry thoroughly.



And lastly, the frets are added.



You can see from the picture above that I'm not having any fretboard markers fitted. To many, this represents 'flying blind' but I think it makes the guitar look nicely understated. Classical guitars don't have markers on the fingerboard and I have always liked that look. It might take a bit of getting used to, but I've always got the dots along the side to keep me in the right place.
I'll be picking the guitar up next week - there might be one more batch of pictures to come before then, but they'll certainly be some afterwards!

A Game Of Two Halves...

Over the past few weeks, we've been spying on the manufacture of my new Fylde Falstaff acoustic guitar. When we left it last, the body was enjoying multiple coats of lacquer - a lengthy process because obviously it has to be allowed to dry after each coat and I understand that there is some sanding involved in between, too.
Well, I'm pleased to report that the body has now received its full complement of lacquer and is nearly through the final 'resting' period where the last coat has to dry out thoroughly before the next process can begin. So here it is - one half of my new Falstaff, all dressed up and shiny, awaiting the time when it will be introduced to the neck...



Talking about the neck, the last time we checked in, it was being shaped by Roger. Now, the final sanding process is being applied before it receives a coat or two of satin lacquer. This has the effect of giving the neck a slightly 'worn in' feel from the start - a high gloss finish on the back of a guitar neck might look great (although, let's face it, who gets to see it?) but there is a noticeable 'drag factor' on the hand. Guitarists (a funny bunch at the best of times) generally agree that a neck which has seen some action usually feels a little more user-friendly.



I'm told that these two halves are going to meet very soon - the neck will be attached to the body and the bridge put in place. Then the frets, pick-up and final trimmings will be sorted out and... Well, then I'll be driving up to Penrith to pick it up quicker than you can imagine!

Going Bespoke: The Neck

When we left my new Fylde guitar before the holidays, the neck was really just a Honduras Mahogany club sandwich - a single piece of wood, sliced into three and glued together with some black dyed boxwood inserts, awaiting the insertion of its truss rod...





Seeing as the instrument's body is currently at the beauty salon, enjoying multiple coats of lacquer, work has been focused on transforming the neck into a much more familiar shape. Firstly, it is 'rough shaped' (notice, incidentally, that the truss rod has now been inserted and the fingerboard is in place).





Here's one we made earlier... This is what the neck assembly looks like now that it has been rough shaped. It's now ready for fine-tuning and this is something that Roger Bucknall does the traditional way - by hand, employing craft, experience and, he tells me, a lot of love!




First, the heel is cut to shape...




As is the headstock...




Then the neck itself comes under the knife - a drawknife, to be precise. In a world where most guitar necks are shaped by machine - using CAD technology in some instances - it's great to see this level of craftmanship going into an instrument. Having played virtually the whole Fylde range, I can tell you that their necks are some of the most comfortable and natural feeling I've ever experienced. Just the right width with a very subtle 'V' that sits nicely in the gap between the left hand thumb and forefinger...




So there you have it - pretty soon the fingerboard will be fretted and the neck attached to the body, the bridge will be put into place and the final fittings will be added. There's probably no need to tell you that I literally can't wait to make some music with this new instrument!