Advice on UK Luthiers?

[Attica!]

I'm looking to start designing a guitar to be made in the next year and wanted to ask if there are any Luthiers on here willing to take on another project?

I was originally looking after an exact/ver similar shape which I've seen another luthier make. Unfortunately he's based in Poland which makes it difficult - not impossible, just difficult.

I'm not a hard person to work with, and I'll usually let the luthier get on with his job rather that pester him 24/7. I only want a luthier in the UK as I want to be able to go in on the neck carving day, and hopefully get across what I'm looking for, as to emailing. It just makes life a lot easier.

Anyways, if you know someone, or anybody on here makes guitar, please get in touch.

Cheers, Mike

[Attica!]

I know Feline's a builder, I'm just unsure as to whether he does customs that are really customized, or just his own models and hybrids. I'll post him a message, but if anyone knows of any others, feel free to say.

[Philly Q]

I know Feline's a builder, I'm just unsure as to whether he does customs that are really customized, or just his own models and hybrids. I'll post him a message, but if anyone knows of any others, feel free to say.

He does really customised customs, fear not!  I'm sure he'll also have some useful suggestions to improve/refine your ideas.  Drop him a line.  :D

Other guitar builders who are (or have been) active on this forum: Wez Venables, Paul Richardson (PR Guitars), Bob Johnson (Legra Guitars).  I don't know how willing they'd all be to "copy" the Ran(?) design, but there'd be no harm in asking.

[Attica!]

I know Feline's a builder, I'm just unsure as to whether he does customs that are really customized, or just his own models and hybrids. I'll post him a message, but if anyone knows of any others, feel free to say.

He does really customised customs, fear not!  I'm sure he'll also have some useful suggestions to improve/refine your ideas.  Drop him a line.  :D

Other guitar builders who are (or have been) active on this forum: Wez Venables, Paul Richardson (PR Guitars), Bob Johnson (Legra Guitars).  I don't know how willing they'd all be to "copy" the Ran(?) design, but there'd be no harm in asking.

How on earth you know it was a Ran design? :S

And I've messaged him now. Ran do some very sexy designs, I didn't find out about them until a couple days ago when I was looking through threads, then came across a Ran one earlier. Shame they're in Poland mind :/

[Philly Q]

How on earth you know it was a Ran design? :S

Thought I'd seen you mention it in another thread somewhere, but I wasn't sure!  :lol:

[Attica!]

Yeah I commented on the Ran thread about 30mins ago, suprised you saw it :D

[Telerocker]

The guitars I saw untill now from Feline look amazing. I like the enhanced upperneck acces on the Lion. His comments here show he knows what he's talking about. I'm not familiar with other UK-luthiers.

[Philly Q]

I was at Jonathan's (Feline's) workshop a couple of weeks ago. 

I can assure you his guitars feel just as good as they look, the fretting and finishing is top-notch and there are are lots of very fine guitars currently in progress!  :D

Plus he's a very nice man and I'm sure he'd be very open to discussions about your ideas.



(Not trying to do a sales pitch here - "other custom guitar builders are available" :lol: .  It's just that Feline was the topic under discussion.  I must say Wez is excellent to deal with too, I haven't dealt with anyone else.  :) )

[Attica!]

Well I've messaged Feline :)

Meanwhile, regarding custom guitars, how would I go ahead figuring out exactly what I need for neck widths/depths/etc... Would it just be a point of going to lots of guitar shops and trying out as many guitars as possible, and then using their dimensions? Or would I attend the cutting of the neck so it fits my hand?

Also can you recommend any guitars that have either a 42mm or 43mm nut, as I don't know which one to pick out of the 2 as of yet.

One last thing. I'm a Les Paul player (I do have other guitars, but i also have very small hands), so I've been using 24.75". I don't want to really let the frets at the bottom of the fretboard to become any further apart if I'm honest, and it's perfect for me in the upper registers - A little more space wouldn't go amiss though, just to not cramp my hand as much. So I wondered, do you think a 25" 24 fret scale would be ideal, as to jumping up to 25.5"?

[roland_rat]

I have had a few guitars from Johnathan at Feline guitars.  My understanding of the process is this. You try has many guitars as you can and provide the model of the one that suits. Or say you have one guitar that you just love the neck of and you want one very similar, you take that down for Johnathan to get the measurements off.  Johnathan will give some suggestions. Then once you commit to having the guitar made Johnathan usually just gets on with it.  Before the instrument goes to be painted there is usually an opportunity for the guitar to be tryed out and small modifications made to say the neck of the guitar. My dealing with Johnathan have been excellent that said I have heard only good things about the other Luther's that post on this site.

[FELINEGUITARS]

You may find that a 42mm width fingerboard allows for more comfort without getting too cramped .
Most ESPs seem to be 42mm at the nut - going up to about 57mm at the 24th fret

Choosing either 24.75 or 25" will help if you have small-ish hands but isn't a good idea if you are intent on tuning much below D or D with a drop C where you really need a minimum of 25.5" scale to keep enough string tension without getting into using bass strings

As far as whet we do :

We are trying to encourage players to use designs we offer as our range,variations thereof or at least stuff we have done before as it keeps the production efficient. (we have made a lot of different stuff in the past and will have kept our templates

We are happy to make some designs outside of that range, but you should expect them to potentially cost more as we will have to make new templates for a one-off piece, and all the extra figuring stuff out is time consuming too.

However the Ran Cruiser isn't too unlike a Jackson soloist in concept , and we have made those before in both flat top and arched variations.

Prices will be in the £2000+ range  though....

[Philly Q]

Meanwhile, regarding custom guitars, how would I go ahead figuring out exactly what I need for neck widths/depths/etc... Would it just be a point of going to lots of guitar shops and trying out as many guitars as possible, and then using their dimensions? Or would I attend the cutting of the neck so it fits my hand?

Also can you recommend any guitars that have either a 42mm or 43mm nut, as I don't know which one to pick out of the 2 as of yet.

One last thing. I'm a Les Paul player (I do have other guitars, but i also have very small hands), so I've been using 24.75". I don't want to really let the frets at the bottom of the fretboard to become any further apart if I'm honest, and it's perfect for me in the upper registers - A little more space wouldn't go amiss though, just to not cramp my hand as much. So I wondered, do you think a 25" 24 fret scale would be ideal, as to jumping up to 25.5"?

Tough to answer, really.

If you're not already familiar with a variety of different neck shapes, I wouldn't advise rushing to try a load of guitars in a short space of time and then immediately investing 2 grand in a custom guitar.  Better to go with a neck based on a guitar you already know well, I'd say.... or spend a few months on the research process before ordering the new guitar.

Some people find things like nut width and scale length absolutely crucial, personally I'm much more interested in the actual shape of the neck, scale length doesn't bother me one way or the other.  For a 25" scale, try some PRS guitars - that's what they use on most models.

[FELINEGUITARS]

I have had a few guitars from Johnathan at Feline guitars.  My understanding of the process is this. You try has many guitars as you can and provide the model of the one that suits. Or say you have one guitar that you just love the neck of and you want one very similar, you take that down for Johnathan to get the measurements off.  Johnathan will give some suggestions. Then once you commit to having the guitar made Johnathan usually just gets on with it.  Before the instrument goes to be painted there is usually an opportunity for the guitar to be tryed out and small modifications made to say the neck of the guitar. My dealing with Johnathan have been excellent that said I have heard only good things about the other Luther's that post on this site.

Gareth is right on a number of counts...

Knowing what you want or need really helps us and helps avoid disappointment through miscommunication.
Get out and play lots o guitars if you are unsure and make mental notes of what you liked and didn't like.

Gareth has had a few guitars that were already built (but being left handed finding good guitars can be challenging at the best of times) so he got to play them and decide that he liked them

Often a player has a guitar that they like a lot but still could be better in some ways - maybe it's 50-75% of what they want from a guitar.
We can measure and copy certain aspects of the neck and get close to a similar feel if that is something the player likes.

We do tend to like to get on with it to a greater extent and there will be key times to check out the progress before we move onto the next step.

We usually invite the player to try it out for real before it goes to be painted, as it is a last chance to make any smaller tweaks and changes.

[Attica!]

Regarding the Ran Cruiser, I just love the cutaway designs. I've more or less searched for every double cutaway design, and that is the nicest I've seen. I'm not a fan of the Soloist if I'm honest. I find the Cutaways are too curved at the heel, whereas the ran design is less round. I also find it sleeker. I just hate having guitars that look like famous mass produced brands (except a Les Paul :P), that's the one reason why I've shyed away from Warmoth. I guess I've just fallen in love with the exact cruiser shape.

Regarding looking through guitars to comapare dimensions, are there any good shops in the centre of London? Somewhere that sells higher brands.

[Attica!]

Yh I have a few ideas in mind in what I'd like for neck dimensions, I just want to research for a few months first incase I find something better. It's mainly fretboard radius' I want to check out