Welcome to Second Life Guitars...
Second Life Guitars is one more link added to a whole chain of harebrained ideas I've had in recent years... I've started collecting old, dead guitars & I bring them back to life, at my leisure, with a bit of a twist, because it's quite a nice thing to do of an evening.
Each guitar I fix up enters my hands in a pretty unplayable state: whether it's got a warped neck or a busted bridge, I'll do my best to turn it into a gorgeous, characterful, very playable instrument.
Old guitars tend to have very pleasant tones & often look great because of their age: I like to take both of these factors into account. I do however, often shove a pickup in the soundhole or add a cutaway or something, just because I can. The not very good photo of the guitar you see at the top of the page is an example of this. It was completely busted up when I rescued it... from a bonfire heap (I'm not joking). It was half buried under grass cuttings & had been sat there for one very wet month. I dried it out, planed the neck, re-fretted it, replaced the machine heads, fixed the bridge, gave it a cutaway & wired in a P90 pickup. It's got a gorgeous tone, & no, it isn't for sale. It's my first fix-up, I love it & use it regularly. It's also backless... I had the idea of removing the back & turning it into an electric, after discovering that my all time favourite artist, the late great JJ Cale, did a similar thing to his $50 acoustic in the 60s or 70s (only he added a total of 5 pickups & other crazy stuff to his). I've always loved his sound & believe me, my chunk of rescued firewood, comes pretty close.
Bear with me, this is a new website. It's under construction & I intend for there to be more photos, pages & links in the near future, plus I need to rebuild some more guitars. When I've done so, I'll post some You Tube videos of these (second life) guitars in action. I'm planning to sell them, initially to make a bit of pocket money to help update my studio equipment.
I've played guitar for over 20 years (not constantly, for 20 years, I've had to work in-between playing) & have played in several bands & had the privilege of working with some excellent musicians over the years. I'm a bit of a recluse these days & haven't gigged in quite a while - although I co-write & record new music all the time. Give it a listen, you might like it.
Each guitar I fix up enters my hands in a pretty unplayable state: whether it's got a warped neck or a busted bridge, I'll do my best to turn it into a gorgeous, characterful, very playable instrument.
Old guitars tend to have very pleasant tones & often look great because of their age: I like to take both of these factors into account. I do however, often shove a pickup in the soundhole or add a cutaway or something, just because I can. The not very good photo of the guitar you see at the top of the page is an example of this. It was completely busted up when I rescued it... from a bonfire heap (I'm not joking). It was half buried under grass cuttings & had been sat there for one very wet month. I dried it out, planed the neck, re-fretted it, replaced the machine heads, fixed the bridge, gave it a cutaway & wired in a P90 pickup. It's got a gorgeous tone, & no, it isn't for sale. It's my first fix-up, I love it & use it regularly. It's also backless... I had the idea of removing the back & turning it into an electric, after discovering that my all time favourite artist, the late great JJ Cale, did a similar thing to his $50 acoustic in the 60s or 70s (only he added a total of 5 pickups & other crazy stuff to his). I've always loved his sound & believe me, my chunk of rescued firewood, comes pretty close.
Bear with me, this is a new website. It's under construction & I intend for there to be more photos, pages & links in the near future, plus I need to rebuild some more guitars. When I've done so, I'll post some You Tube videos of these (second life) guitars in action. I'm planning to sell them, initially to make a bit of pocket money to help update my studio equipment.
I've played guitar for over 20 years (not constantly, for 20 years, I've had to work in-between playing) & have played in several bands & had the privilege of working with some excellent musicians over the years. I'm a bit of a recluse these days & haven't gigged in quite a while - although I co-write & record new music all the time. Give it a listen, you might like it.