How much does an ergonomic electric guitar cost?

“How much does an ergonomic electric guitar cost?” Well lately, that has been one of my FAQs. As my ergo guitars (or any other solid body) are 100% custom built and the client can have virtually any practical combination of hardware and woods, it’s a really difficult question to give a definitive answer to.

As a guide, an ergonomic 6-string built to a similar spec as the one here would cost 1400 GBP.  That’s with Kent Armstrong pick-ups and Gotoh hardware. Please note that this price would not include a case or shipping.

Less exotic wood, two pick-ups instead of three etc.  would reduce the price and equally more expensive pick-ups such as  DiMarzio would increase it.

To some, 1400 quid might sound like a lot for an electric guitar, but remember it will take me around 60 to 75 hours to build it exclusively for you, there will be at least £300 worth of hardware and as for the wood, it’s not cheap, this stuff doesn’t grow on trees!

If you have an idea for the specification that you would desire, let me know and I shall be able to give a much firmer price. If you want any more information about my ergo guitars or any other of my instruments, please do not hesitate contact me via my website.

Country Life

Up until a few years ago, when we moved to the Fens, Amanda and I had grown up and always lived in London. I’ve often joked that I didn’t see a cow until I was 21 and that’s not too far from the truth! Anyway, I keep meaning to post some photos of our “new” area, so that those who have known us forever can see where we now live. However, we recently discovered a delightful blog, “The Two Terriers”   written, and illustrated with excellent photos, by a couple who live in the next village; and I think they can give a much better  insight into Fenland life than I can, so I’ve added a link to their blog. They also have links to some other interesting Fenland sites, businesses etc. Take a look if you’ve got a few minutes to spare; delightful!

Links.....

I’ve just updated the side bar of the blog page. I’ve started a new section called Nava Users, Past, Present and Future! The idea is to put up links to those musicians (and their bands) who own or have owned one of my instruments and also to those who are on my waiting list. If I’ve left your website out, please forgive me! It’s simply that I didn’t know you had one: drop me a quick email and I’ll be delighted to add you to the list!

There's also a section of links of “general interest” which includes friends and acquaintances. And lastly a list of links to various suppliers that I have used and trust.

Meanwhile back in the workshop…..I’ve had John’s Standard strung up this week and playing “in the white.” I do enjoy making some of the smaller components and here you can see the bridge and tailpiece cover; the cocobolo and thuya burl really complement each other nicely.

A guitar, a mandolin, an octave and a tenor!

As you can see, I’m still French polishing Nadim’s guitar. I’m often asked about how long/how many coats/sessions etc. it takes to French polish an instrument, but to be honest there is no fixed amount, you keep going until you know it’s done! And, as you can see, we’re nearly there!

All the construction of John’s mandolin is complete (no more sanding!) and next week should see it strung up "in-the-white." Below are some choice photos of the mandolin.

And here’s the work, so far, on Adrian’s octave and tenor. As you can see, I was trying to get a bit arty with the B&W photo;)

So, where are we up to?

So, where are we up to? Nadim’s guitar is going through the French polishing process and it’s starting to look very pretty!

With the constructional work on Nadim’s completed, I’m back to working on John’s mandolin- the neck has gone on this week. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that John’s Standard isn’t quite standard as it has an “optional extra” in the way of a herringbone rosette.

I’ve also just completed the external mould for Adrian’s octave mandolin and you can see its shape/size in comparison to my mandolin mould. We decided that his tenor mandola would be built to the same shape as my standard mandolin. My mandolins are quite big, so using the same shape for the mandola seems a sensible thing to do. However, the body will be about 15mm deeper and the sound hole a bit larger which will lower the natural resonance of the body.

 In order to keep the two instruments matching, both sets of sides and the head overlays have come from the same set of guitar sides.

The sides have just been bent and will dry out, clamped in their respective moulds.

As far as the ornamentation is concerned Adrian wants clean lines, so both instruments are being built to a similar spec as the Standard mandolin, but with the upgrade of my handmade tail pieces. You can see the soundboards with their bound sound holes below.