I started work on my annual charity raffle guitar today. It’s going to be an SSH black strat with a custom pickguard, featuring some of my own original artwork for a bit of a change. Given the impact of Cancer on me, my family and... Continue reading
After an eight month hiatus dealing with my house in France and helping to look after my terminally-ill father, Derelict (and Elle’s) Guitars is having a brief window of activity again – I have an order to get out in January, three Elle’s Guitars to... Continue reading
I built one of these already for EllesGuitars.org, but I figured it was replicable. Actually I have a third on the go that is an SSH strat with a tin ‘Nuka Cola’ sign as the pickguard. So if you loved Fallout the Amazon TV series,... Continue reading
Due to moving countries (again!), I’m busy assembling all my available old prototypes and ‘B’ stock so that I don’t have to move them around with me. I’ll post them all individually as they are completed, but at this moment the list looks like this…... Continue reading
Just a note to Derelict customers about the charity side-project I co-founded with my old schoolfriend Leigh Holmes-Hill, Elles Guitar’s, in memory of her daughter Elle. We provide upcycled and re-designed secondhand guitars to girls and young women aged 13-21 who otherwise wouldn’t have access... Continue reading
Provisional details on the four new builds for general sale that are on the bench for completion or assembly this week… DG2401: ‘Stingray’-style bass guitar. Banksy-inspired ‘Distressed Union Pride’ flag art and white pickguard with a matt finish. £349. DG2402: ‘Rickenbacker 4001’-style bass guitar. Candy... Continue reading
So I finally delivered ‘Amy’, the prototype of my ‘poster art’ epoxy guitars. It#s a lightweight pearwood Telecaster body with the (French) poster for the Amy Winehouse documentary beneath a 4mm layer of clear epoxy resin. Black & gold hardware with pink pickup surrounds, ivy... Continue reading
Just wanted to shout out one of my clients, Gary from Aberdeen, who has not only bought two handbuilt guitars from me this year, but most importantly, he also bought ‘Flutterbyes’ this summer. ‘Flutterbyes’ is a rustic woodburned handbuilt Telecaster I built as a charity... Continue reading
Whenever it’s quiet online, it generally means I’m up to my ears in guitars. Currently got a bit of a production line going – there are four Elle’s Guitars (all Teles) in the final throes of readiness, a Banksy-inspired Stingray Bass copy, the first of... Continue reading
So the rustic handbuilt Telecaster raffle for charity has ended. Despite us not quite reaching the target, there will be a semi-automatic draw anyway at 10am BST tomorrow (04/09/23) morning, and we’ll be giving the guitar away to one lucky winner. Everyone who entered will... Continue reading
And we’re a go for the 2nd Annual Derelict Guitars Raffle! Tickets are just £5 to win this gorgeous hand-built custom guitar. Please do support this as generously as you did last year – we raised over £500 for the Ukraine Disasters Emergency Committee last... Continue reading
The original NN9, the final guitar headed to Kenya for Elle’s Guitars, was to have been a case of ‘and here’s one I made earlier’. But it turns out that one has found a permanent home already, rather than just a brief period of fostering... Continue reading
Just in case you’re new to the Elle’s Guitars story – they are pre-loved guitars that have been given a new lease of life including a little bit of new unique, quirky character. These are then donated to associations, schools and music teachers or directly... Continue reading
Deez nuts – the nuts for the oddly-sized pots on this Les Paul finally arrived. Whilst every ‘Elle’s Guitar’ is designed to have a free spirit and be quirky and individual, I thought I’d best include another ‘grown up’. This Les Paul is the most... Continue reading
So just the one ‘Elle’s Guitar’ for Kenya again today. The backlog remains delayed by a wait for parts (10mm, not 3/8ths inch, dammit). NN7 is a standard Telecaster with a leopard pattern pickguard. This one was an almost brand new donor that had hardly... Continue reading
Day 6. Drowning in guitars. Please send help. Didn’t quite get my backlog sorted out today – had too many errands to run. But NN5 is ready, and it’s a bass, the only one I’ve done for Elle’s Guitars, and only the third I’ve ever... Continue reading
Bored yet? Day 4 of the 9 guitars in 9 days, and NN4 is this silver & black Esquire/Telecaster, with a bit of Kenya already inside bursting to get out. The single humbucker pickup is coil-tapped so that the standard switch selects between north, south... Continue reading
Nine guitars for the ‘Elle’s Guitars’ charitable initiative in nine days, day three. Thanks to a fault in the tremolo block, I nearly had to unveil them out of order and do #4 today. Fortunately, my repair job took me less time than expected. So... Continue reading
The second of the ‘Nairobi Nine’ for the Elle’s Guitars initiative, NN2 (or NNZ, if your woodburning skills are as mush as mine) is this white ‘SSH’ Stratocaster with pink pickguard. Originally a bag of non-functioning parts from the backroom of a Cash Converters that... Continue reading
It is nine days until I pop to France for a few days with some supplies (and then back for the high season from 2nd July – 4th September). So nine days, nine guitars, the ‘Nairobi Nine’ of Elle’s Guitars, all refits, kits or repaired... Continue reading
It’s been a bit quiet here of late. There’s been quite a lot of ‘hinterlife’ going down, but work has been plodding slowly on, just with nothing much to announce. That’s about to change. First up this week is DG001 “Fried Green Tomatoes At The... Continue reading
Life has thrown a few curveballs in the last couple of months, but I’ve also been pretty hard at work with everything on the bench. There’s ‘Amy’ v3.0, the epoxy-topped poster art Amy Winehouse Tele, which is finally being assembled, plus ‘The Navy Lark’, a... Continue reading
Been a while since I summarised what’s been going on at Derelict Central – largely because ‘Derelict Central’ moved from my old base in Warrington to Birkdale, Southport. Or about 85% of it has, at least. My planer and scroll saw are still in my... Continue reading
As you know, Smashie, Nicey here does a lot of work for charity, but doesn’t like to talk about it. The latest (which, admittedly, I am currently talking about) is the donation of a unqiue handbuilt red Telecaster (DG020 – Red Sonja) for my old... Continue reading
It’s been a year since I incorporated Derelict Guitars, and I started cutting my first body from a timber blank at the beginning of December 2021. Things have come quite a long way since then – it became a more important part of my portfolio... Continue reading
Ladles and jellyspoons, I give you ‘The French Collection’, a release of four hand-built originals and two refits that must go to make room, so do please support a local artisan if you can! I’m offski back to my old home in France for a... Continue reading
For someone who doesn’t like Strats, I do seem to be enjoying this range of relic’d SSH SuperStrats. This one is black sparkle over metallic blue, and it was to be the first of the Young Artist Programme, but the young fella in question has... Continue reading
Back when we were about 16, myself and some friends “formed a band”. We didn’t get very far, probably only jammed together about half a dozen times, and played just three (highly memorable) gigs. We were the Groovy Feedback Junkies, I was their drummer and... Continue reading
One of the small jobs I seem to do quite frequently is upgrading machine heads/tuners, normally for higher quality locking tuners which make re-stringing so much quicker and easier. I also make this upgrade myself to every refit I’ve ever done, plus I think some... Continue reading
The first two Bratocasters are out of the door – built to order for a customer’s twin boys. I like both colours, a metallic Lake Placid Blue and an iridescent pearl lilac. In fact, am loving the latter so much (although it was a bitch... Continue reading
Hi! If you’re looking at this post, it might be because you’ve just picked up one of Elle’s Guitars and are curious what it’s all about. Elle’s Guitars are pre-loved guitars that have been given a new lease of life including a little bit of... Continue reading
Some paint nightmares caused by the recent English heatwave mean that this week is suddenly mostly about waiting for repaint jobs to dry. So I figured I’d get cracking on with the Beachcomber. It’s my own design, in as far as any new guitar can... Continue reading
This is officially my new favourite build. The first of two matching 30″ scale children’s guitars, I call it the ‘Bratocaster’. The hardware is all fairly stock, and the body is around about a 60% scale of the basic Strat shape, in basswood. I imagine... Continue reading
Firstly, two are sold! The mustard Telecaster Thinline and the natural Jazz bass are both being ParcelForce’d as I type. One to Wales and the other to Northern Ireland. One of the ones that was going into the day 3 sale has also been bought... Continue reading
Thanks to a visit to the doctor/long-Covid clinic, the last batch in the summer sale will all be delayed by a few days, but will include these two, pictured on the bench last week – a cherry red (humbucker) Esquire and a cherry red Firebird. Continue reading
There are three more ready to go in my summer sale preview – all can be bought directly from here between the 11th and 18th of June at the featured sale price, and then will get listed on eBay and Reverb.com. ... Continue reading
With one eye on the Cost of Living Crisis™ it is time to start my summer sale! In total 9 guitars must go to make room for new projects – I’m listing three today, three tomorrow and three on Monday. Today’s haul includes a refitted... Continue reading
With one eye on the Cost of Living Crisis™ I think it might be time to have a summer sale, starting this weekend. Straight off the bat, there are two refits and an original that really need to go to make room for new projects,... Continue reading
So the first ‘Elle’s Guitar’ has left the workshop. The insane Frankencaster DR002, relic’d pink SSH strat copy with a Bigsby, has become the first (of hopefully many) “Elle’s Guitar” in conjunction with Mirror of Hope. Elle Holmes was 15 when she died by suicide... Continue reading
I don’t much like Stratocasters – they’re the magnolia shade of guitars, seemingly everywhere and preferred by people with no imagination. Obviously there are exceptions to this, but I’ve just always found the aesthetic less pleasing, and from a woodworking perspective, they’re more of a... Continue reading
Since I’m not actually a guitarist (I play passable bass, and slightly better drums, but six strings has always felt like one too many for the number of fingers), I sometimes feel like a stranger in a strange land in guitarland. Anyone who knows me... Continue reading
As a sideline, guitar building is pretty episodic. With only two or three on the go at any one time (dictated by space as much as anything), there tends to be quite a bit of downtime while paint or varnish dries, solder cools and cups... Continue reading
Now that I’m back in the UK for at least 3 months, my baby workshop needed a good re-org, especially with yet another influx of my old tools and bits & pieces from France. All feeling a lot tidier, and on the bench again now... Continue reading
Well I’m back from France, my hospitality duties for the year completed, and back to the workbench. I have two actual live orders to complete from scratch, and a couple more of the existing works-in-progress to complete, but I thought I would ease myself in... Continue reading
Well we did it! 95 tickets sold, equalling a total of £490 raised for the DEC Ukrainian Humanitarian Appeal. In fact, I’ve donated all of that plus the original £500 i sent, for a total of £990. Due to a systemic hardware fault (I’m in... Continue reading
So the raffle for the hand-built Telecaster named “A Hard Ukraine Not Gonna Fall” that was drawn today failed to reach the minimum requirement of 25 tickets sold. This is a major disappointment, since I have already donated £500 to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.... Continue reading
More assemblies than a high school in mourning today. Started to put together ‘The Twelve Labours of Honeybees’, a Telecaster Thinline semi-hollow in walnut, with a beech top stained in ‘honey oak’ with a high gloss finish. That’s a 3+3 humbucker in the neck, and... Continue reading
She’s coming together nicely – electronics are all soldered, and that Antiquity humbucker in the neck position is LOUD. I did, however, decide that the fancy engraved hardware didn’t really ‘go’, so we’re back to plain chrome. A yellow marble partial pickguard is also looking... Continue reading
“The Fuchsia Ain’t What It Used To Be” (DG006) is complete and set up. I’m just waiting for the glue to dry on its case (which is a bit smaller and more lightweight than my usual, robust coffins, but is, as ever, colour-coordinated). She’s a... Continue reading
Disappointingly slow start to the raffle for the Ukrainian DEC Appeal, some of the feedback being that the guitar was ‘a bit too basic’. So I’ve spent a couple of hours this morning re-spec’ing it, a bit of new routing and some rummaging in the... Continue reading
So over at Derelict Heights, in today’s edition of “What’s On Yer Bench, Mensch?” it’s all gone a bit Teletastic. Including first looks at “Méchant Monsieur Moutarde” and ” The Twelve Labours of Honeybees”. “The Fuchsia Ain’t What It Used To Be” is nearly finished,... Continue reading
I’m excited for this one. “A Hard Ukraine’s Not Gonna Fall” (DG009) is a solid ash Telecaster that I’ll be raffling next week, with all proceeds after shipping costs going to the Ukrainian Red Cross. Tickets will be £15 a pop, and if you... Continue reading