I often get asked how long it takes to paint a guitar body. The truth is that the actual paint application doesn't take very long at all, but preparing the wood (grain filling, loads of sanding, sealer coats, more sanding) can take a long time, but the results are always worth it. In this instance, the shell pink will also receive numerous coats of clear nitro which will be flattened with fine paper between coats and finally polished.

Lewis Harding and 'Nikki' the hardtail S-Type 'Nikki' is an alder bodied hardtail S-Type in aged Sherwood Green nitro. A 'C' sectioned maple neck with vintage radius rosewood fingerboard, clay dots and jumbo frets. Kluson hardware and our own 'Ozone' neck and middle pickups with a warm voiced, thick sounding 'S92' in the bridge position.

Lewis 'Chip' Harding demoes our 'Lana' T-Type Guitar that features our new 'Stubby-T' Bridge pickup for Tele plus a 'stealth' P90-style pickup in the neck position. The ’Stubby-T’ uses shorter than average poles and a unique wind that give it a squat appearance, but tonally it adds some serious girth and grit to a Tele bridge position. I wanted to offer the presence and beef associated with our wonderful (and very popular) T90 pickup but voiced slightly differently and that would be a drop in fit to the majority of Tele-style guitars. Due to the tonal characteristics of bobbin shape, coil wind and magnetic field, we created an entirely new pickup - one with similar power but a more subtle voice. It also allows very neat retrofitting to vintage guitars that typically have shallower routing/cavities than modern mass produced instruments. We’re proud to say that British songwriter and former ‘Longpigs’ and ‘Pulp’ guitarist Richard Hawley uses one of these pickups in his 1969 Telecaster that he opened each night with on his latest tour. The guitar is recent acquisition, and formerly belonged to folk legend Martin Carthy, and was once used by Bob Dylan. It’s a cracking guitar, but it lacked a little oomph on the bridge pickup in common with many Tele’s from that era. We’ve been rewinding various pickups for Richard over the years via his excellent tech Gordon White (of Single Coil Guitar Repairs in Leeds) and he suggested trying one of our new models in the guitar to spice it up a bit. It was a huge success and Richard kindly had this to say about the improved tone: “It now sounds like a Tele should.' We’ll take that. Grey bottom flatwork with white string wrap. DC: approx. 13.3ks used by Richard Hawley

Our new grey-bottomed Strat pickup set demonstrated by Lewis Harding playing our 'Tallulah' S-Type guitar. As part of our 'Vintage Timeless' series, they are authentic replicas of Strat pickups from '64 in both looks and open, bell-like tones. We've used bevelled Imperial magnets, grey-bottom flatwork and heavy formvar coil wire to recreate these wonderful vintage tones.

For those of you that followed this build, I decided to collate all of the images into one video for you to enjoy.

A few years ago I was approached by Guitar & Bass Magazine UK to consider building a tribute to Brian May’s famous homemade guitar. With a short lead time due to the planned issue publication and a tiny budget for materials, we decided to see if we could build something in the spirit of the original using similar components in record time! The guitar turned out surprisingly well given the constraints but I was so pushed for time that I neglected to share the process here or on our website – so here it is. . I also should add that I later dug the guitar out again to fix some courier inflicted damage and decided to fix a few issues that had bugged me at the time. It now has the correct white slider switches and also a set of Burns Tri-sonic Pickups that the original budget couldn’t indulge. Enjoy!

Looking for a great late '60s Tele Bridge Pickup tone, but can't decide if you need our authentic Standard version or the pimped Special? This video should be all you need to help make a decision... Our Chief Demonstrator Alex Ward is the man in the demo chair...

For those of you that loved our '68 Special Tele bridge pickup, but are looking for a less beefy and more authentic tone, we also offer this '68 Standard version. The basic construction is the same as the Special but we've used a more authentic coil wind to produce a brighter and edgier tone perfect for those looking to recreate that classic mid to late '60s Tele tone. Our Chief Demonstrator Alex Ward takes you through the details...

The latest addition to our new 'Vintage Timeless' pickup series, these new Eternal ‘Vintage Timeless 52’s’ are an homage to one of the earliest Tele pickups. We use Imperial magnets, Plain Enamel coil wind and a flush magnets to capture the punchy tone and aesthetic of the real thing. These come either aged or un-aged with black or white string wrap. Our Chief Demonstrator Alex Ward talks you through the details and demos how they sound.