My dad had his 75th birthday a while ago and I wanted to give him something special. Since I couldn’t afford a classic wooden yacht, I picked the second choice on my list, a 00 sized handmade acoustic guitar. He’s been a keen guitar player as long as ...
Drifter Bass, Part I
But, what is a Drifter Bass? There comes a time when you get an idea and it just doesn't let go. It can start as something much smaller and what could seem insignificant, but after a while it has snow balled itself to house crushing dimension and keeps on ...
Double A (maple guitar)
The especial thing about this guitar is that it's 100% made of maple. The idea started to appeal to me more and more the longer I thought about it, the ideas emerged: a 20-inch fretboard radius with 24 stainless steel frets and 25,5-inch scale, two humbuc ...
Guitar Bridge
Today I want to talk a bit about one of those parts that really can make a difference to the sound and usability of your instrument, the bridge. When one thinks of upgrades for a guitar or bass often shop bought tuners, pickups or bridges come to m ...
The Karlsson, baritone guitar test
When I first started to plan this baritone guitar (that you can listen to at the end of this post ;) ) I tried to avoid it being a one trick pony, after all, a body made of mahogany with a 30” scale could mean it would sound like muffled rumble covered wi ...
Handmade Precision bass
Recently I finished a Precision bass. It was a pleasant project from the beginning but it is even more special when you get to make the pickup as well (but I prefer to get more into that and some custom pickup making in a later blog entry). ...
Lingon guitar
For the Lingon-project I wanted to try out some design solutions I normally wouldn’t choose for myself. I often begin a project thinking that I’m the one who is going to play it on recordings or in concerts, but this time I made up my own “dream client”. ...
Harakka Jaguar
I was sort of familiar with the Jaguar guitar, I had tried a few and in general, liked the offset design and the short (24") scale. But I wasn't aware of how the wiring should be done nor the problems the standard Jaguar bridge had. So off I went to make ...
Mustang Bass
I wanted to make a Mustang bass in black and yellow with a shorter scale (30,292 inches). I was quite lucky to get hold of a 1969 Mustang to be able to measure it from top to toe, and from there make the tweaked templates. making the templates with my ...
Jouhikko
This has to be one of the most mysterious instruments I've come across. A medieval instrument that nearly disappeared, only a few players existed a hundred years ago but luckily it has made a bit of a comeback in recent decades. Belonging to the family of ...