Metal Bodies made in UK! Drewmen Guitars

rpr

Not on here much, but this came up on my YouTube thing this morning and I thought some peeps may be interested.
Drewmen guitars are making aluminium bodies in the UK. they have a couple of shapes- a LP and a rather awesome looking Thinline slash hole Tele.
 Not cheap- about a grand for the body only,no necks that I see either. Seem to be up for custom shapes and OEM work as well.
As an alternative to E.G.C with import costs etc might be worthwhile considering.

Website here- http://drewman.co.uk/     

A couple of videos-some bloke called Steve Hacket playing one. Also Crimson Guitars unboxing, if you have the patience to wait thru the waffling. 

      

             






  
        

paulnb57

Like the idea, but not the price

axisus

Personally I find the thought of a metal body unpleasant. Wood is lovely stuff.

paulnb57

axisus said:

Personally I find the thought of a metal body unpleasant. Wood is lovely stuff.

Yes, wood is a lovely warm natural material, but I do have desire for one of these, it will never happen at £990 plus post.......a chap can dream......

GSPBASSES

They look more like its been machined from a casting not from a block of solid aluminium. That's not distracting from what they are. I think quite interesting. That's certainly is an expensive way of buying a body. Although I would have to say most the metal guitars that come before this have not sounded that good, quite a few of them did actually sound very tinny (that's not meant to be a pun). But I suppose somebody who has the money to spare it will be something to add to a collection that will be very different from anything else.

paulnb57

That cast look is likely to be a result of using a very sophisticated CNC, Where can I sell a kidney...not one of mine obviously....I'd have to cull a complete stranger!.....perhaps not, I wouldn't be allowed the guitar in Gaol...

mgaw

dont fancy them much myself and by heck that chap from Crimson guitars drones on a bit

GSPBASSES

Sorry I didn’t explain myself very well, I do realise the finish you see is machined. What I meant was, a casting his made then it then goes on to a CNC workstation where all the roughness is taken off, then machined to the correct thickness and then the finish patterns are machined into the surface.

Many years ago I did have a very boring job, I used to run a CNC workstation, where I machine rough castings from the foundry into the outer casings of very large water pumps. It could well be, they machine from a solid block but the cost would be phenomenal, I would guess 90 percent would turn into swarf, even the biggest CNC workstation would take a very long time to remove all that material.

Interestingly, the outer cases of the water pump were first made from a solid block of some kind of resin. It will then be machined to the final shape, this would then be sent to the foundry, who initially made moulds from sand or whatever it is they use in foundries. 

If they had a very large 3-D printer, now the shape in a CAD system they could print them, don’t know what they would sound like, pretty rough I expect. You never know with a lot species of wood becoming difficult to get it could be the future 3-D printed guitars (one hopes not).

paulnb57

Get your drift now Grahame @GSPBASSES, Having worked in mechanical engineering I appreciate that if machined from solid there would be massive waste, probably 50% if not more...it would make sense to cast then machine from an enconomy of material point of view, perhaps that why the body is £990.......
I hear you about quality guitar building woods becoming more scarce in the future......I guess different materials will be found....
Rosewood among others are now subject to increasing restrictions and it would seem that now the tropical hardwoods can't be sold they are just burnt in some area to create farmland. A ridiculous situation like fishing quotas where dead fish are thron back as they are too small.....

paulnb57

I am still utterly smitten though and trying to find enough shit to sell to buy one!

paulnb57

Just read the blurb on the website - they are milled from solid....

Sarge

£990? that's a steel.... 

coat... I'll get it. 

rapscallion

It's a shame they haven't attacked necks. Aftermarket aluminium necks would be a hell of a business with the right know how (ECG used to but are now too busy to produce just bolt on necks)

rpr

Demo of the metal Tele with rosewood neck, some clips of manufacturing process in vid.
    

PVO_Dave

Spotted on instagram they are now in the process of making aluminium necks  

https://instagram.com/p/BbbWr11FYBp/

https://instagram.com/p/BbYDlSQFreE/

FatPete

They had an unfretted one at the Kempton Park show. Heavy.

tampaxboo

axisus said:

Personally I find the thought of a metal body unpleasant. Wood is lovely stuff.

i agree. wood is warm and soft and comforting as a material. it works with human bodies.
if it had to be metal then solid not hollow, and maybe copper or a 'warmer' metal. aluminium has very industrial associations for me. cold, sterile, harsh.

i'd quite like a solid-body glass guitar though. maybe with a glass neck too.
maybe like murano glass made out of compressed and blended colours, blacks and deep purples and scarlets.
and it could have a little light/heat source in, so the rich colours could glow gently in the dark.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/12/cf/c4/12cfc4e96a9869fda8dfae9d33e65949--art-deco-table-lamps-art-deco-design.jpg

Modulus_Amps

I played one through one of my amps at the London show in 2016, sustain for days and days, quite bright though, but that is easily tamed . If I could afford one I would have bought it there and then, played lovely too