I did a mock up of what it’s going to look like while I waited for all the hardware to turn up. Getting an idea in my head of how it’s all going to come together.
The original Wedgetail design is by Maton, an Australian guitar company based in Melbourne, who started making guitars back in 1946. I get a lot of commissions for guitars based on the Fender shapes, and they are all such classics. But it’s nice for a change to get someone with an eye for something slightly different. And building this guitar out of all Australian woods just makes sense. Of course, I put my own spin on these well-loved basic shapes, whether that’s bringing in a carved top, like will be the case for this one, or changing the depth or contour of the body, doing my own little flairs like f-holes and the headstock… The beauty of a custom made guitar is that the customer gets to have whatever they want in order to match to their own favourite features for playability; different scale lengths, wider or slimmer necks, different types of pickups in builds that they might not usually be found in, but make sense once it’s all together. There are no right or wrong answers, it’s all just a beautiful process of discovery, and creates some pretty unique guitars.
Though it can be a bit overwhelming at first for a customer to know all the details they want, especially without knowing what it’s like all put together. So that’s where I can help with some guidance as to what might work and what might not. But it’s a process that we work together on, and the end result is always pretty great.
All the bits and pieces are starting to arrive now. The wood is all Australian of course, as are the pickups, and some other bits and pieces, but the Bigsby has come in from the US.
Andy Taylor Custom Guitars 