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https://www.brookguitars.com/category/latest-news/
I know a few members think highly of them, but this was the first time I've come across the range of stuff they do. Nice jobs they are too!
Anyway, a good way down the newsletter is a picture of a certain Aussie gentleman who's just ordered a Lyn from them.....
Your cover's blown Tannin!
Great stuff!!
Rob Armstrong started making guitars in Coventry in 1970. He works alone: each instrument is unique, and handmade using basic tools. He now aims to complete about 15 commissions a year – leaving time for development and consultancy for Loughborough University. Rob has made guitars for George Harrison, Bert Jansch, Gordon Giltrap, Fairport Convention, and the Albion Band. In 1989, many of these musicians made a tribute CD entitled Master Craftsman. He has produced some unorthodox instruments including long scale guitars, baby guitars, and double necks even a steel-string acoustic made from polystyrene packaging. In July 2010 his workshop was destroyed by fire (and Armstrong himself was injured), but by November that year he was back in business. Armstrong designed the Gordon Giltrap Signature model acoustic - which was mass produced and distrbuted by JHS.
Simon emailed me tonight. It's done. They are just going to let it settle with the strings on it for a few days, and send it off to Lee at Project Music, who in turn will send it to me here in southern Tasmania.
(Pictures should be clickable for enlargement if you open them in a new tab.)
European Spruce top, Bog Oak bridge, fretboard, and headstock veneer.
Back, sides, and neck: European Walnut and European Yew.
All English woods except for the European Spruce top.
That looks lovely. Great specs as well.
How long to ship to Taz then before you get your hands on it?
@BigLicks67 thanks. Yes, I love the look of that back and neck. Like a couple of my other guitars, it's the same as me: better looking from the back. (Well, it must be true - I mean people say "Oh not you again you ugly bastard" when they see my face walking towards them, and "He looks a lot better from this side" when I walk away. Tell me I'm wrong.)
The binding is either European Maple or Sycamore - I must remember to ask Simon which, I don't think I could tell them apart myself.
@Soupman - Brook will ship it to Project Music sometime next week. Then they will pack it, do the export paperwork, send me an invoice, wait till I can transfer the money over. So all of that might take 10 days, give or take. Then something like -
Exeter to London (by road) less than 1 day
London to Melbourne (by air) less than 2 days
Melbourne to Devonport (by truck, then overnight roll-on, roll-off ferry) 1 day
Devonport to Hobart (by road) less than one day.
Hobart to my house (by road) less than one hour.
Or the flight ex London might go to Sydney, which means an extra day trucking it from there to Melbourne.
So call it 7 days absolute best case, a month if the customs people cause difficulties or the freight people let it sit in a warehouse in London waiting for a cheap flight. My guess is that Lee at Project Music will ship with a good company and it will all go smoothly. Lee strikes me as a very efficient chap.
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(Right click and open in new tab for higher res.)
@tomjax um ... that's a good question. The three piece thing came out of discussion with Simon and Andy. I had asked about a yew neck which they didn't think was a good idea (I'm not sure if that was because of it perhaps being an unsuitable timber or whether they just didn't have a bit of the right size and shape, or possibly both reasons). They thought a laminated neck would work and someone (Simon?) suddenly said "Three-piece back". That was something which hadn't occurred to me but they liked it and the more I though about it the more I liked it too. So that's what we did.
Meanwhile, I have barely touched a guitar in the last month. Not because I'm saving myself up for the Brook (by the time it gets here I'll be well and truly rusty and won't do it justice!) but simply because I'm immersed in another (non-musical) project and my head is in another place until I get that finished. (Or, more likely, until I get stuck on some part of it and put it aside for another year or two, pretending I'll get back to it Real Soon Now. I think I started it in 2017.)
Mine only had to travel 127 miles and was just a day or so in transit so nothing compared to the journey yours is undergoing.