Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew?
Back in 2021, I decided to build my first guitar. BEST MOVE EVER.
Life is busy…..have you noticed?
Between running a business and family life it can often be hard to find time for ourselves. Having played guitar for over 30 years I decided to have a scratch around on you tube to see how they are
made. WOW, there was so much information that I was instantly hooked.
I felt like a kid again, dreaming about what it could look like, what it might sound like and how cool I would look playing it. (Insert rock “devils horns” hand gesture here!)
As the ol’ saying goes “how do you eat a whale?….just one bite at a time”. Which is just like building a successful business. If you knew the enormity of it, all the pitfalls and the frustration involved, you probably wouldn’t make a start. But the best thing you can do is to just start, just take the first step….just one.
So I bought the plans, just to have a look. Now being the Guns n’ Roses tragic that I am, the only option was Slash’s guitar of choice, a Gibson Les Paul. It is the sound of iconic Rock.
From the detailed and “to-scale” plans, I built the MDF templates to ensure I could get the right shapes and dimensions, then I started buying the timbers required. To make a legitimate instrument, the type of timber used is critical as it effects the quality of the sound and gives certain guitars their signature tones. So, I used the exact timbers that Gibson use in the factory, flying timber out from America.
Mahogany for the body and neck, Rosewood for the fret board and a classic piece of Flame Maple for the front of the body…. this is where the magic is.
Join me for the journey and see how this baby comes together in my series… over the coming months.
