Custom Guitars UK
Custom Guitars: Rosettes
by Jim · 3 Comments
I’ve been thinking about rosettes quite a lot recently. The rosette is the decorative circle around the soundhole. They come in many guises.
This is a Martin rosette. It’s an example of what you may find on many guitars, with a few rings surrounding the soundhole.
Spanish guitar rosettes tend to be more elaborate, [...]
How To Grow Your Own Guitars
by Jim · Leave a Comment
I was at a trade show a couple of years ago; there was a stand there run by Madinter, a Spanish luthier supplies company. It specialises in Spanish guitars
Broken Headstocks, Snapped Guitar Necks and My Solution
by Jim · Leave a Comment
As a guitar repairman I glue a lot of headstocks back onto guitar necks. Often the guitar has been dropped or has fallen and the headstock has snapped.
Wenge: the "new Brazilian Rosewood"?
by Jim · Leave a Comment
A few months ago I was talking to Ervin Somogyi. We were discussing woods and geeking out. Following a tip off, he had produced a guitar body out of Wenge
Custom Guitar: Brazilian Rosewood
by Jim · Leave a Comment
I am making a 00 acoustic guitar from Brazilian Rosewood. The wood was cut a long time ago; with a finish on, its rich chocolate browns are accentuated.
Building A Custom Guitar: Two Acoustic Guitar Tops
by Jim · Leave a Comment
I’ve got a couple of new acoustic guitars on the go.
This is the top. I’ve just glued the x-brace into it. I carve the braces by hand once they’re glued in. I can’t shape them first, as I make them tall and thin, coming to an almost-point, so I wouldn’t have a surface to clamp.
So [...]
Jim Fleeting Guitars: Bolivian Rosewood OM
The top is Sitka spruce; the back is Bolivian rosewood; the ebony bridge and fingerboard are both bound with high-flame koa. That’s koa on the headstock, too.
Basschat Yorkshire Bass Bash
by Jim · Leave a Comment
The Basschat Yorkshire Bass Bash, which took place in Harrogate at the weekend, saw the area’s bassists and basses get together. It was organised via the popular Basschat.co.uk web forum, and I was invited along to give a talk.
For a bass nerd like me, it was great to be in an enclosed space with so [...]
Jim Fleeting Guitars in the Guardian
by Jim · Leave a Comment
A very nice piece was written about me in Saturday’s Guardian. It’s a feature about people with “dream jobs”. Before I began making custom guitars I used to
Koa is my favourite wood
Koa is beautiful. It is full of rich colours, and the figure that can be found in it is as good as I’ve seen in any wood.
I built this bass in 2005. The koa top has a subtle flame and a rich, brown colour.
Koa (acacia koa) is a hardwood native to Hawai’i, and [...]
Hello. My name is Jim Fleeting. At my workshop in Ripon, North Yorkshire, I create custom guitars and basses for customers around the UK and Europe. The Guardian describes me as one of the UK’s leading luthiers, which is nice of them. I built the UK’s first nine string bass and popped up in Guitarist and Guitar & Bass magazine, after winning an award from the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. I also head Jim Fleeting Guitars’ thriving repair shop.