Well it's been a furiously busy few months at Guyton guitars and the blog has taken a real hit. Hopefully in the coming months we'll try and get that sorted. In the meantime, we have just updated the Guitar Store with a customers old Guyton that I've been entrusted to sell. Full details are on the 'Guitar' section of the store. Also, we have a new section of the store in the form of Downloads. Over time, we hope this to be home to audio and visual downloads as well as images etc. To open it up I'm proud to present the track 'Get Guyton'. As many of you will know, this is the track written, recorded and played by Martin Pitcher, and it features on the Guyton RS Transporter videos.
Over the next few months we have a few guitars that will be for sale in the Guitar Store . All being well, details and build pictures should feature in the blog soon.

​Oh, and the RS videos shouldn't be too much longer.... 

A few months ago, I got the nod from Pete Malandrone and Brian May to carry out some restoration work on the original Red Special, see my previous blog post here.
During the work, Will and I filmed the process. The first short video is now online, and just chronicles part of the wear and tear that the guitar has sustained since being restored by Greg Fryer 19 years ago.

Just a taster at the moment, but the full video is coming out in September. I hope you all enjoy it.

Published last Wednesday (10th August) is the latest issue of Japanese magazine, Young Guitar. Inside there is a feature on Brian May and his guitars. Earlier last month they contacted me and we conducted an email interview about my history in guitar building and the guitars that I've built for Brian.

http://youngguitar.jp/yg/yg-201609

Since releasing the RS Transporter last Friday, I've been amazed at the positive reaction to the guitar. This has been backed up by a steady stream of orders. It seems to have really captured peoples imagination, and rather than going for the traditional red as the prototype, customers are specifying finishes that a little more 'out there' with metal flake and pearlescent colours. Roughly a third of the production run of 25 guitars are now spoken for, so if anyone is planning to order one, it may be wise to contact us fairly quickly to avoid disappointment.
On the RS Transporter page, there is a link to it's own website... www.guytonrstransporter.com. Some people seemed to have missed this, it's well worth a visit.

Very excited to announce another Brian May related limited edition guitar....The RS Transporter.
This guitar was designed by customer and Guyton RS owner, Martin Pitcher. As soon as I saw it, I loved it and knew that one day it had to be built.
We are releasing it as a limited edition of 25 guitars. Amazingly 6 are already spoken for. BM has given us his blessing on the project, his first words were, "I Love it and I want one!"
For full details click on the 'guitars' tab above and select 'The RS Transporter' this will take you to the promo video. Clicking on the button will 'transport' (sorry!) you to our sister site www.guytonrstransporter.com.

Below is the Youtube version of the promo....make sure your headphones are on and the volume is UP!

Over the next couple of weeks we have a few modifications to make before production begins. We are having new stainless rollers of our own design made to fit the JCustom bridge, as well as a new tremolo arm and spring. 

The Youtube video was shot by myself and Martin Pitcher. Martin also took care of the editing and recorded the music track that is actually called 'Get Guyton'.

Below are a few behind the scenes pictures of the filming process.

It's been a while, but part 2 is now up! I've tried to cover most of the process, but due to time constraints and work pressures it wasn't always possible to spend the time to setup every stage. Make sure you watch it HD.

During April I was called to Brian's home in Surrey, to survey wear and tear of the original Red Special and how I planned to carry out the repairs. Once there, it was decided that the guitar as a whole should undergo a 'mini' restoration. The only real problem with this was the time frame of 3 weeks.
The work involved filling all the cracks in the body, then flatting down and re-polishing. Repairing damage to the end and edge, and touching in of the fingerboard. Also, at the last minute, replacing one of the pearl dots that had become paper thin, and was hanging by the skin of it's teeth.
Various parts, including the tremolo and bridge assembly were removed, serviced, cleaned and lubricated before refitting. The last job was renewal of the zero fret. The last time this was done was around 10 years ago, and it has played many tours since.
Some time ago, cracks in the body had begun to let in dirt and moisture and whilst on tour, emergency measures in the shape of duct tape were used. Once the guitar had been disassembled, I had to carefully score with a scalpel, every crack on the front, rear and edges of the body. This was done so the ultra thin viscosity Cyanoacrylate glue would run through the cracks using capillary action. Once sealed the glue could then be built up to the surface ready for flatting down and polishing. The back of the guitar was in by far the worst condition, and ate up hours of painstaking work. The edge of the body had also taken quite a bashing when Brian holds his guitar aloft and the end of the show. The strap mounted booster and radio pack basically used to knock into the body causing the damage.
The fingerboard had also taken a fair bit of abuse, with large grooves worn into the end of the fingerboard between the last fret and the neck pickup. I repaired this firstly with black stain to the bare oak, then built a 'dam' around the damage with tape and filling this with epoxy resin. Once this had hardened it was filed and sanded to profile and sprayed to match the rest of the fingerboard.
While the repairs in the neck and body were curing, we cleaned the parts with brushes, wire wool, oil and wet and dry paper. While I was putting the finishing touched to the fingerboard ready for reassembly, one of the dots makers showed signs of cracking, when touching this with the point of a scalpel it literally fell apart, and in parts was only the thickness of a sheet of paper. Emergency phone calls to Pete and Brian followed, and it was decided to replace the old dot, with a 1.5mm thick new one.
During this time, Will and I filmed and photographed the entire process. I'm currently ploughing through what seems like hours of footage to try and make a short documentary of the mini restoration.

With a MASSIVE sense of relief, the Red Special went back to Brian last week, and is currently in rehearsals for forthcoming Queen & Adam Lambert shows.

The video may be some time, but until then, here are a few photos...

Due to time and workload, I will be unable to answer any questions at the moment, but there may be a FAQ section added later, if there is demand.

Guyton RSR-18 is now up for sale through Guyton guitars. It was built 6 years ago and is the guitar that was featured in the Haynes book 'Build your own electric guitar' by Paul Balmer. It features heavily in the book alongside the genuine article. A copy of the book will also be included in the sale. There are also various pictures of Brian examining the guitar, these will be presented on a memory stick and supplied with the guitar. The leather-bound photo album has been signed by Brian and contains all documentation.
The pickups have been custom built by Adrian Turner using original 1960's Trisonic covers and magnets.
The guitar is in good overall condition. It has been played with a sixpence and shows the evidence on the pick guard and the end of the fingerboard. The guitar is in it's original white Calton case, again, signed by Brian. It will be given a full service and setup prior to sale. The scuffing to the pick guard and the fingerboard damage can be made new, but this has been left for the moment, as some people prefer the more authentic used look. Additional work and shipping will be price on application.

SOLD

We're nearly there with this one. Work has been so busy, that editing has had to take a back seat. But, it's nearly done, I just need to put final touches to sound then it'll be up!

​Part 3 is being filmed now!

I recently filmed the below clip for part 2 of the 'Badger' guitar build video. For those who are interested, I used Digislider's 2 axis camera slider to fire the camera and provide the panning. In total I took over 1200 photos that were then combined in Apple's excellent Final Cut Pro X. The full 'Part 2' video will be up soon...

Behind the scenes...

See the video below for an excerpt of the main guitar rundown...