Quality

I only use the highest quality hardware and pickups on my guitars, from such brands as:

Schaller
Hipshot
Gotoh
Floyd Rose
Sperzel
Grover
Bareknuckle
Seymour Duncan
EMG
Dimarzio

And likewise, I only use high grade quality tonewoods.

There has been plenty of discussion on the subject of tonewood, and whether it actually exists. I am a firm believer in tonewood, and hand select all my timbers looking for highest quality of grain, figure, stiffness, colour and tap tone. It is undeniable that different timbers affect the overall sound and timbre of the instrument, BUT; and this is the crucial point; high quality tonewoods and hardware do not guarantee a high quality end product. Robert Benedetto best describes my attidtude to luthiery thusly:

“If master grade tonewood is not available, use what IS available. It is the maker, not the grade of wood, who will determine the end result.”

When I first read this, it gave me the confidence to look elsewhere than traditional maples, rosewoods and mahoganies in search of alternative tonewood. The UK has some excellent examples of indigenous hardwoods suitable for guitar making, and where other companies push woods as an “alternative” or “substitute” for something, I embrace each timber for its own unique properties.

With my workshop located in the South Downs National Park, I have the opportunity to work closely with local tree surgeons and sawmills. I know that the timbers I select are sustainably sourced and ecologically treated. I love working with the traditonal mahoganies, maples, ebonies, rosewoods and exotitc hardwoods, but The Myth that the UK has no good timber for luthiery is just simply, not true.