I’ve been thinking about the question of high-fret playability quite a lot for the last year or so. Ultimately, that led to me developing a whole new guitar model to solve the problem effectively. I think that is the best solution to the problem, but I’m aware that the new model doesn’t appeal to everyone, and many people would prefer to have a more traditional looking guitar with improved high-fret access. There is a fashion at the moment for elevated fingerboards, but that isn’t an option which I offer, because I feel that it gives, at best, a marginal improvement in high-fret access. In the past I’ve offered a simple cut-away option, but this week I’ve been experimenting with a scalloped cutaway (using my cheap plywood test guitar) and I’m liking the results… so a neater and nicer version of this will be an option on my guitars in future.
Woodstock 2016
I’ve been stocking up on FSC certified wood, and wood from other sustainable sources, since the beginning of the year, and I’m on track to be able to offer guitars made from 100% sustainably sourced wood by the end of 2017. See my sustainability and wood page for more details.
What’s on the workbench?
New website almost up and running
A year after deleting my old website, and I’m finally getting round to making this new one… bear with me while I figure out how to do that. With a bit of luck, I’ll be able to fill in all the blanks over the next couple of weeks.
In the meantime, you can still see some of my recent instruments on my Facebook page (you don’t need to be a Facebook member to see it):
https://www.facebook.com/martinwoodhouseluthier/
You can also see many videos of various people playing my guitars on my YouTube channel: