Recent Work

In 2019 I was approached by Ian Dow about the possibility of making a copy of a guitar made for Albert King in the early 70’s by Dan Erlewine. The distinctive feature of this guitar is that it has Albert King’s name inlaid in the fretboard and “Lucy” inlaid in the headstock. In the end, […]

I recently uploaded a video onto my YouTube channel which shows the repair of a Les Paul with a completely snapped off headstock. If you would like to watch that video click on this LINK. Since that video was uploaded I have had a number of requests to carry out a Les Paul neck repair. […]

When I first started working on guitars more than thirty years ago, stainless steel fretwire (SS) was not available. Whilst nickel frets are still fitted on the vast majority of production guitars, a number of manufacturers, including Ibanez and Suhr, are fitting stainless steel frets to some, if not all, of their guitars. As stainless […]

Flame Guitars Newsletter-December 2020 Each December I put together a calendar that will hang in my workshop for the following year. As I decide which photos to include in the calendar, it gives me a chance to reflect on the year, the guitars I have built or worked on, the people I have met and the videos […]

Unfortunately I am asked to carry out a repair of a broken Gibson Les Paul neck all too frequently. Maybe nine out of ten neck repairs I carry out are on Les Paul’s. Why do they break? The angle of the headstock to the fretboard and the fact that the neck is carved out of […]

I am working pretty much as usual at the moment. The main difference is that I am not receiving customers in my workshop. I have put together a documents which explains my appointment process and how you can get a guitar to me. If you send me an email I am happy to send this […]

Flame Guitars Newsletter-Late April 2020 As I write this newsletter the early evening sun is casting beautiful shadows across my garden. The weather we have been experiencing recently has been wonderful (April showers it has not been) It is also remarkably quiet compared with the normal traffic noise I normally hear where I live. And yet this […]

Flame Guitars Newsletter-April 2020 I really do hope that you are well and coping during these difficult times.  Unprecedented is certainly an overused word at the moment but how else do we describe the times we are living through. For some life has slowed down and provided an opportunity to reflect on how we spend our […]

1965 Fender Jazzmaster: Refret or leave it as it is? I was asked by a customer to refret a 1965 Fender Jazzmaster. Now, every week I see guitars that have worn and indented frets. And so I discuss with the owner whether the frets can be levelled, re-crowned and dressed, or whether it is best […]

Building a headless guitar Last year I was approached by a customer, Ian, about the possibility of building a headless guitar for him. Ian had been looking around for a headless guitar and found that, as a left-handed player, the options were limited. And so he approached me. This was my first chance to build […]