Busy month May.

My book statement arrived from the publisher at the beginning of the month and to my surprise I have finally paid off my royalty advance and they are now paying me, at least I will be able to buy some postage stamps with the income.


Middle of the month saw us off to Headcorn Aerodrome to watch the dynamic due Stephanie and Sandra go skydiving. Stephanie decided to surprise her sister as a late birthday present.








With a registration number such as this can you imagine what they get up to at the 5,250 foot altitude.



There were many interesting aeroplanes at headcorn while we were there. This one especially caught my attention. The pilot did a high speed flyby before landing and again after he took off to return to his base.


Other activities during the month were a visit to give a talk on guitar making to The Kent Woodworkers Club, thanks to the invitation of Colin Searl and Harry Miller. I sold several copies of my book Step by Step Guitar Making.
Talking of my book last year I was approached by Harry Lederman and Alan Tutt of the Eastbourne Camera club who wanted to make a video of me making a guitar. The completed video as entered in The IAC British International Amateur Film & Video Competition 2009. It won the 5 star award and The Boosey & Hawkes Music Prize (Royalty free CD's). The film was shown on Saturday the 25th of April 2009 at the British Amateur Film Festival. I hope to have copies, for sale, later this month.
The end of the month saw me at The Chippenham Folk Festival again. Lovely weather, great crowds of visitors to the stand and yet again a guitar sale off the stand. The guitar in question was one of my earliest made, Number 2, a classical.

The above video clip was of an impromptu dance session by a passing French dance troupe. Fantastic atmosphere at Chippenham, pity Sidmut can't get their act together like Chippenham, go on Bob, give them a call and tell them how it's done.

Well Friday arrived and so did Bob for his guitar. This guitar made for Bob Axford is called"The Duchess".

When a new owner picks up their new guitar for the first time it can be quite nerve racking for me and a real buzz for the new owner. I get to relax when I see the smile on the new owners face and hear the voice of the guitar for the first time.

For those of you contemplating ordering a new guitar the price for a basic 6 string acoustic in "AA" Indian rosewood with a "AA" spruce top is currently £1,800.00 and this includes a Hiscox case.

Terry Lees playing a brand new Willis OM guitar. The piece he is playing is Mrs McCloud's Reel.
Terry Lees has been playing the guitar since 1960. He has played major concerts supporting Fairport Convention, Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, Martin Carthy, Labi Siffrie, Lonnie Donegan and others as well as making television and radio appearances in his own right.
Terry is a well known performer on the folk circuit and has had many TV and radio performances as well as prominent festival shows and concerts. He also gives demonstrations and workshops.
In 1975 he came second to world class guitarist Adrian Legg in an international fingerpicking competition. In 1998 Terry was runner up in the ‘National Guitarist of the Year’ competition at Wembley Arena having been a finalist for two years running, finally becoming Guitarist of the Year in 2000.
Terry runs guitar workshops at folk festivals throughout the country. He plays any style but his heart is in Celtic and British traditional music. Terry can be contacted through his website, http://www.terrylees.com/.

I was at Spring Harvest at Skegness for three weeks at the beginning of the month and am now back home. While at SH I was realy moved by the painting that was created in the Big Top on week one. It was painted by Oliver Pengilley.

Friday is a special day, Bob Axford is coming to the workshop to collect his brand new OM guitar, we met at the Sidmouth folk week last year.
Bob chose Brazilian Rosewood for the back and sides. and European Spruce for the top. The fretboard is ebony on a mahogany neck.

It realy is a small world, while I was talking with Gordon Giltrap at The Acoustic Guitar Show last September, Bob showed up with a huge grin on his face all ready to order his guitar and it turns out that they know each other from years back.

I am curently completing three new guitars to add to my show stock. They are, an OM cutaway in Brazilian rosewood, Lefthanded OM in Walnut and a CM in Indian Rosewood. In addition I will have the following guitars available to play and purchase at reduced prices, Classical in Rosewood, 000 in Indian rosewood, OM cutaway in Brazilian rosewood fitted with a Headway Snake3 pickup and a Parlour guitar in Cocobolo, shown above. All these guitars are priced under the regular custom price, email me for curent price and availablity of guitars. I am curently out of stock on mandolins but should have one at Towersey at the end of August.

Ok folks we are back in business, thanks Vron.

2008 in review final instalment.

This is how to transport people, double deck, air conditioned trains. When I left California in 1987 I had probably only used this train service twice in twenty years of living in the bay area. Now when I visit my parents in Hollister I catch one of the last trains of the day and head down to Gilroy. From Gilroy it is a comfortable and efficient ride on the bus to Hollister.The return is just as exciting, bus at five in the morning to Gilroy, train ticket from the machine, coffee and cinnamon ring from the cafe, then its sit back and relax while the train takes the strain. I took this video when I was out visiting dad in hospital. He has since made a miraculous recovery, honestly, prayer realy does work. Get connected, get saved.
In September I went to Cheltenham to the Acoustic Guitar Show and had a wonderful time. I took a commision for an "OM" in Brazilian Rosewood. After Cheltenham it was back to the workshop and complete the guitars that I had started and get ready for the new year.

Beware of Scotsmen bearing pies, the picture on the right is of my brother arriving at my parents house in Hollister for Thanksgiving last year.

Nancy and I flew out at the beginning of the week for the meal. I delivered Nancy's dad's guitar and then we drove down to Hollister, no train this time, but that didn't stop me from having a doughnut or two or three, ah who's counting. We managed to get over to Santa Cruz to see my other sister Nanette and her husband Tom and the boys. Then it was back to Hollister and Thanksgiving meal.

A Tale of Two Guitars.

James Follett on the left and Gerry Page on the right playing a pair of Willis "OM"s at an audio/video recording sesion in November 2008. Note that the audio on this clip is purely acoustic, the only mike used is on the Canon s45 used for the recording. James's guitar is a Brazilian Rosewood model while Jerry's is an European Walnut model. The piece of music they are playing was writen by Jerry and is track number 15 on their new album called "The Quirk". To see and hear more of Follett and Page go to; www.myspace.com/follettnpage.

They launched their new album on the 7th of March at the "Counting House" in Eastbourne, copies of their album available through their website above.

Saturday in the Workshop 2

This is the tool that I use to shoot a perfect flat, straight and square edge to both the soundboard and the back plates of the instrument that I am making.

The base is made from a piece of 25mm birch plywood. On the front edge I have screwed an Axminster Bevelled Straight Edge part number 100416.

Behind this I fixed a piece of 60mm X 18mm hardwood as a slide for the Makita trimmer to slide on. I rub a plain wax candle on the slide before I use the tool.
The bookmatched back or soundboard timbers are held in place by an 18mm x 75mm birch ply clamping bar.

The screw down adjusters are made from 8mm studding with plastic knobs, once again from Axminster Power Tools, super glued on the end. I found a couple of coil springs to go under the clamping bar which hold it up while positioning the plates.

I find as I get used to using this superb tool I can joint a seam, even oily cocobolo, in one pass in minutes instead of the hours of frustration it used to take when doing it by hand with a plane.

I use the Makita for most triming and routing jobs in the workshop. The cutter I usefor this operation is 6mm diameter solid carbide downcutter bit, also available from Axminster Power Tools. More on the Makita trimer next week.

In the Workshop Feb 2009

I thought you might like to see my new way of slotting fretboards. First the table saw cross slide is made from two strips of oak that have been prepared to slides snugly in the cross slide slots on the table saw. I then fixed a strip of 9mm birch plywood to the oak cross slides. Next a vertical strip of 9mm birch plywood was attached and the whole assembly was fitted with a strip of mahogany to strengthen the assembly. I chose birch plywood for two reasons. First it is very stable when kept dry and secondly it was free.

On the face of the cross slide I fitted an off cut of bone top nut, Corrian would have worked as well but is not as good as bone for wear. The width of the top nut just happened to fit into the comb slots. The position of the bone slot locating bar is not critical, just place it somewhere near to the centre.

I use double sided tape to fix the slotting comb to the fretboard, a strip two inches long at each end is all that is required.

I scribed a centre line down the middle and underneath of the slotting comb and fill the scribe line with bright yellow highlight pen for visibility. This line must be parallel to the comb edge. next I draw a centre line down the middle of the glue face of the fretboard and attach the two short lengths of double sided tape to the fretboard. lastly I lay the slotting comb over the fretboard making sure that its line is directly over the line on the fretboard.
Lastly I set the height of the saw blade and cut the slots on the fretboard.

This photo shows a 650mm scale comb sitting on a completed fretboard.
The comb was cut on a CNC table router and the slots are cut to a 0.0001mm tolerance, no more guessing which part of the line to cut on with the saw. Production combs are made from Lexan.
The fret positioning formula that i use compensates for string stretch as caused by the height of the strings over the fretboard.
I can provide these slotting combs, in metric scales, for most scale lengths. Email me at sales@willisguitars.co.uk. for prices.

2008 in review. Continued 2.

Sidmouth folk week did have its brighter moments.
Amongst the many excellent guitar players that tried out my guitars was the inimitable Grant Baynham. He is playing one of my "OM" cutaway models. This guitar is still for sale. The body is made from highly figured Brazilian Rosewood with an European Spruce top and is fitted with a Headway Snake 3 under saddle pickup.
I will be back at Sidmouth again this year, hope the organisers have sorted out the floor plan
I finished at Sidmouth then drove overnight to my next show at Michelham Priory. This is my local show for The Sussex Guild, of which I am a member. The show takes place in the grounds of Michelham priory and runs for four days starting on the Thursday.
I wont be at Michelham this year as I am taking a years sabbatical from the guild to concentrate on both making guitars and working on completing my first novel. Notice the Mandola, I sold two in 2008, more on the way.

At the end of the month it was off again to Towersey, which in my opinion is one of the best folk festivals going. Here I am just home from a hard day on the stand, newspaper in hand and a cider in the glass.
The reason I am able to look so relaxed is because of all the hard work done by my lovely wife, Nancy, keeping me fed. This photo was taken outside her shed at her allotment. This is where she grows lots of very tasty vegetables.
Towersey was a very good show, work wise. I sold my last Mandola and took in three guitars for major work. Please note, if you have a guitar that requires work I can post it back to you if it has a hard shell case. I use the Post Office and always ship guitars First Class, insured. The average cost of shipping, depending on insured value, is about £30.00.

The last show of the year, at the magnificent Town Hall at Cheltenham. This was for the second annual Acoustic Guitar Festival. This show is truly a magnificent occasion, especially since I took a commission for an OM in Brazilian Rosewood. Delivery on this guitar has been set for the end of February 2009.
Notice how few guitars I had left for sale, it truly was a good year.

2008 in review. Continued 1.

Mid April I went to Farnham malting to show my guitars. This event was one of the shows put on by The Sussex Guild,by its members. It was a very nice venue for a show. I have been a member of the Guild for several years. This year 2009, I am taking a year's sabbatical to concentrate on developing the business of making and selling guitars. Due to this I will not be taking part in any Guild shows during 2009.

The beginning of may I spent time in the workshop working on repairs one of which was this upright double Bass. As the photo shows the heel had split and made the instrument very difficult to play. I will display some photo's of the repair later. The repair consisted of removing the neck and making a new section to replace the split section and re-applying lacquer to match the existing lacquer, all this in my tiny workshop.

All this work went on while I was building an OM cutaway in figured English walnut for my father in law who lives in California and being videoed by Harry and Alan, prize winning members of a local amateur video club. When the publishing embargo has ended I will be uploading the video of the guitar being made, to You Tube.

The weekend of the 24th of May I went to the Chippenham Folk Festival. It was wet and wonderful again. I sold a Baritone guitar, the one featuring Terry Lees on the Recent Works Page.

The end of the month saw me going off to California to spend time with my family and especially my dad who'd just been in hospital, it was lovely to see him recuperate after his surgery.This is us together the previous February at San Juan Baptista, California. Dad will be 89 this year.

During the following weeks I worked on the bass and Tom's Mandolla and prepared for the next show which was the Sidmouth Folk Week at the end of July.

This was my second year at Sidmouth and it turned out to be an adventure, just like the previous year. 2007 we had to put up with the farmyard smells and in 2008 we had 1/3 of the marquee given over to the bar in the main auditorium. Needless to say the floor plan was of little use. It became a first one in got the space situation. Unfortunately three of the stands had to be accommodated out in small tents outside the main trading area.

Just prior to going to Sidmouth I had completed the Bass project and was able to re-unite the instrument with its owner. This is what it looked like after the repair was complete. It turned out that as I took it to bits for the repair I found that at least three previous repairs had been done to the heel.

Saturday in the workshop

When I am at shows or get into conversations with people about guitar making, one of the frequent questions asked is. Is your workshop always as tidy as shown in your book "Step by Step Guitar Making".

I always answer yes and no. Because my workshop is small, at 12 x 8 feet, I need to keep it tidy so I can work neatly. By the end of the day, especially after a very intense time of working it looks like this.

This picture was taken today at lunchtime. The guitar in the vice having its purfling and binding fitted is a 635mm cutaway OM in Brazilian Rosewood. It will be ready in time for the Cheltenhan Folk Festival on May 22nd to 25th.

Full details of all of my guitars, including prices and additional photographs, is available by email, sales@willisguitars.co.uk.

The guitar with the rubber banding is another OM being made for Bob Axford, it is due for delivery at the end of February. The two necks in the background are for a LEFT HANDED 000 in Indian Rosewood while the one below is for a 00, also in Indian Rosewood. Both of these guitars will be at Cheltenham, unless sold before. One of the sets of bent ribs above the necks is for a CM guitar in Indian Rosewood. The guitar back just showing behind the OM cutaway is for another one of my Parlour Guitars, this one is being made from extremely figured Cocobolo. This one may not be ready for the show but I do have one that is. New for me this year will be a Tenor guitar. It is going to have a scale length of 584mm and a 00 sized body made from highly figured Walnut.

2008 In review

2008 was a very busy year, two trips to California included. The beginning of the year saw me busy trying to catch up with the repairs jobs in the workshop and prepping the guitars that I would be taking to the shows.

My first show was at Cheltenham in February. Nice building and an excellent location for displaying guitars. My stand location was in the bar along with some of the other stands. To keep the costs down for the weekend I slept in my van, -5 degrees Centigrade, ice on the ceiling in the morning, still it was mackydees for breakfast. The music in the hall was great, the music in the bar was continuous. Of all the shows I do each year this was the strangest, probably to do with the fact that all of the punters come in to town for the music and as a result the music stands are treated as optional extras, to be seen on the way for a beer.

In March I delivered this parlour guitar to its new owner. The body is Brazilian rosewood and the top is cedar. It was my first lefty and I found it interesting trying to figure out how to play simple chords wile tuning it up,I now know what it must feel like for left handed players. I decided then that I will always have a lefty in the stable for those who find it difficult to find one. I will have a lefty at Chippenham, it is a 000 in figured walnut, 635mm scale, as soon as it id completed I will post a photo on the main web site.

At the beginning of the year a customer who had seen me at Michelham Priory called to order a Mandola, or as some people call them an Octave Mandolin. I had never made one before so I made this one for him to try out first. He brought a friend, who is blind, yes the genuine blind test, along to play it and give him an apprasal of the instrument and inturn my ability to make what he wanted. It passed the test and final specs for his instrument was decided.


Late March saw me doing my stint at Skeggy for Spring Harvest, have a look at their site, http://www.springharvest.org/ this year instead of the cold windy wet weather we got snow. It only lasted a couple of days then the weather returned to normal, cold wet and windy. More tomorrow.

Welcome to my new web site.

Welcome to my site and my blog. My name is Alex and I hand make fine guitars. Veronica, guitar website hero, has set up my new web site for me. For me it has been like leaving the stone age and arriving in the space age, thanks Veronica.

Folk festival tour dates for 2009

Check out the website for an update on which festivals I will be attending this year. Come and have a chat with me about my book, guitar making or anything else!

See dates in the news section here >