The Great Guitar Build-off
Merry Ashford
I'm a part time luthier and part time dry stone waller. I've been playing guitar since I was 16 and have now reached the grand old age of 43. The first guitar I took apart and attempted to turn in to something playable was my older brothers Kay SG back in the early 90s and have tinkered with guitars ever since. I made my first scratch build in 2016/17 for my Dad's 70th and since then have built a further 7 guitars mainly to my own designs. When it comes to making guitars, I like to build guitars that I would want to own and play and tend towards classic 60s and 70s styling. For his build I am going for an off set design with a neck through which I've not attempted before. I will be using woods that are ready accessible and the total cost of wood will be under £100 with only the fretboard and some detail using wood sourced from specialist suppliers. If I have time I will include some bespoke inlay design for the first time just to add to the pressure and potential for disaster. I'm still to decide some of the final design detail including finish and colour but I will explore these as I go along as well as the final pickup configuration.
I'm super excited about the competition and looking forward to getting stuck in!
You can visit my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgY6Cs7ZRO-Jgb4FS_9Ezaw
You can see the video of my final build here: https://youtu.be/qe7AcUVrwyw