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Home Introduction to Intarsia Finished Intarsia Pieces Intarsia Techniques Guitars and Guitar making |
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The maker. I am a guitar and lute maker living in Dorset on the South coast of England. I began making classical guitars in my spare time in 1978 and made my first lute in 1980. After restoring a renaissance guitar for an early music enthusiast I became interested in making reproduction 4 and 5 course guitars. Since turning professional in 1995 I have continued to make classical guitars and lutes to commission, at the same time increasing my range to include acoustic and semi-acoustic electric jazz and blues guitars. I currently produce a strictly limited quantity of high quality instruments each year. My construction techniques follow traditional methods with minimum power tool assistance. I am able to offer a range of finishes for my instruments from traditional hand rubbed finishes to modern hard wearing oiled finishes. |
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Early Instruments The guitar which attained great popularity in England and France during the period 1550-1650 was the 4-course or renaissance guitar. A relatively small guitar with 4 pairs of strings, it featured very light construction which produced a delightfully bright treble ranging guitar ideal for accompaniment and solo performances alike. A wide range of original tablature is now available for this instrument, enabling the early guitarist to enhance his repertoire using material virtually unknown and unheard by todays' audiences. The demand for greater volume and increased bass range led to the development of the 5-course guitar around 1600. The guitar was typically slightly larger and more heavily constructed, which produced additional bass response. Tuning was closer to modern guitars. A vast range of music was written for the guitar over the next two hundred years and much of this is now available again in tablature form. The lute was the most important of the fretted instruments throughout the middle ages until its decline in the 18th century. Its' decline may be attibuted to many factors, not least the difficulty in playing what had become a complex and ever changing instrument, but the renaissance lute was extremely popular and the music associated with it is truly delightful and only heard to its' best when played on the lute. Each of my early instruments is constructed using traditional techniques with hand carved roses where appropriate. Maple is generally used for body and ribs. Fingerboards can be either rosewood or ebony according to taste. Gut strings are available for complete authenticity. |
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Modern Instruments The development of the acoustic guitar has culminated in the modern classical guitar mainly due to the efforts of the famous guitar maker Antonio do Torres midway through the last century. His system of strutting and bracing has produced a guitar having projection, tone and volume which is difficult to better more than a century later. The classical guitars I make are Torres small-bodied models with either rosewood or maple back and sides. The famous maker C F Martin revolutionized the art of guitar making by adding steel strings and increased bracing to the guitar. My guitars use a modified scalloped strutting system and I can offer flat-top guitars in a variety of sizes from very small bodied folk-blues guitars up to 000 size as required. I can also fit active or passive equalization for those requiring increased volume from their instruments. The fitting of the electro-magnetic pickup to the hollow bodied Spanish guitar led ultimately to the development of the modern solid-bodied electric guitar. The semi-acoustic arch-top guitar presents a special challenge to the luthier as the guitar must now function as both an electric and an acoustic guitar. Both the single and double cutaway 'f-hole' guitars remain firm favourites with jazz and blues players and I am pleased to offer these guitars with a wide range of pickups and switching effects. All of my guitars are supplied with a lifetime guarantee to the original owner and complete with a Hiscox professional hard case. |