SORTED - Best UK Electric Guitar Maker?

Castro

I am planning on commissioning a bespoke Thinline Telecaster build to celebrate my impending retirement.

Who do you consider to be the best electric guitar/Telecaster builder in the UK right now? I have a very good idea of what I want and I'm looking for supreme craftmanship plus a totally flawless build - I am insanely picky.

Thank you Fretboarders

andy1839

Patrick James Eggle.

I'm certain he'll do you a thinline Oz.

I've got two of his and they are both flawless.

Whitecat

Josh Parkin - https://www.joshparkinguitars.co.uk

He only just relocated to the UK at the end of last year, has spent most of his luthiery career in Japan... their loss is our gain. His work is very, very good.

He's got a Tele up on Reverb at the moment so you can see the kind of work he does, but obviously you can go full custom.

Castro

Thanks @Whitecat ;

Castro

Thanks @andy1839 he's on my shortlist.

joleefret1

damien probett

Castro

Thanks @joleefret1 ;

fretfinder

@IvisonGuitars !

Castro

Thank you @fretfinder ;

TTony

Castro said:

Who do you consider to be the best electric guitar/Telecaster builder in the UK right now? 

Trouble with a Q like that is that most people are going to recommend the person who built their bespoke guitar.  Obviously, they think that their builder is the best (unless they had a particularly bad experience of course!).

There are a lot of custom builders out there and on here too.

Look at their websites or facebook pages or whatever and look at the style of their builds.  There will be many out there building thinline Teles, but not in the style that you want.  

Narrow it down and then talk to them.  Will they build a properly bespoke, or do they build their variant (and only their variant).  Do they "get" what you want, are you confident that they get your pickiness too?  

Feline make some beautiful guitars, though mainly LP styles, they've done Teles too.
AndyJr1515 (here) would make you something stunning as a true one-off.
Crimson Guitars do a few "interesting" variants - and offer you the option to build it yourself (and really make it your hand made).

There are dozens and dozens more, but any of the above would get my money if I was looking for something like that now.

And a word of warning; some small builders have, in the past, taken the money and .... (disappeared).  Not that they necessarily set out to do that, but life can have a tendency to disrupt the small building business, so be careful where you spend.

Moe_Zambeek

Damiam Probett would be my suggestion, if his Meteor model appeals.

ChuckManual

Just buy this;

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/116793/thorn-so-cal-custom-series-guitar/p1

You'll never find a nicer thinline - and it'll have the added bonus of saving me from the existential crisis of forever having to look at the sale ad, while never quite having the money to purchase it.

crunchman

TTony said:

Castro said:

Who do you consider to be the best electric guitar/Telecaster builder in the UK right now? 

Trouble with a Q like that is that most people are going to recommend the person who built their bespoke guitar.  Obviously, they think that their builder is the best (unless they had a particularly bad experience of course!).

There are a lot of custom builders out there and on here too.

Look at their websites or facebook pages or whatever and look at the style of their builds.  There will be many out there building thinline Teles, but not in the style that you want.  

Narrow it down and then talk to them.  Will they build a properly bespoke, or do they build their variant (and only their variant).  Do they "get" what you want, are you confident that they get your pickiness too?  

Feline make some beautiful guitars, though mainly LP styles, they've done Teles too.
AndyJr1515 (here) would make you something stunning as a true one-off.
Crimson Guitars do a few "interesting" variants - and offer you the option to build it yourself (and really make it your hand made).

There are dozens and dozens more, but any of the above would get my money if I was looking for something like that now.

And a word of warning; some small builders have, in the past, taken the money and .... (disappeared).  Not that they necessarily set out to do that, but life can have a tendency to disrupt the small building business, so be careful where you spend.

Good advice.

If you do got the Crimson route, I'd recommend trying to book a bit of extra time with them for a Thinline.  I did a Crimson course recently, but it's huge amount to get done in 6 days.  I ended up taking it home and wiring it at home.

There was another guy on my course who had booked himself in for the Monday and Tuesday of the following week, which was not a bad idea.  You can do a basic build in 6 days, but if you want to do a Thinline, it's extra work chambering it and doing the F hole.  If you want any nice inlays they will take time as well.

If you do go the Crimson option, you won't be able to get a nice gloss nitro finish if that's important to you (at least not if you want to take it home with you at the end of the week).  It's either their flash coat process, or an oil finish if you want to take it home when you finish.

Having said that, I'd recommend the experience.  I really enjoyed it.

barnstorm

Can’t speak to the build quality vs Probett or Feline, but even as something of a Tele-phobe I’m intrigued by Wirebird’s thinlines. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts if you go as far as to visit the workshop (London) and play one, because the clips online are all of the ‘modern’ models being used to play the sort of music I really don’t enjoy.

FelineGuitars

barnstorm said:

Can’t speak to the build quality vs Probett or Feline, but even as something of a Tele-phobe I’m intrigued by Wirebird’s thinlines. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts if you go as far as to visit the workshop (London) and play one, because the clips online are all of the ‘modern’ models being used to play the sort of music I really don’t enjoy.

Sam is a fantastic luthier, who used to work for me about 15 years ago . His guitars will be excellent, and not in any way limited to the tech metal circles that have adopted his guitars along with Blackmachines etc

blobb

Rob Williams also worth talking to.

MtB

Pete Lewis

https://www.lewisguitarworks.com/thinline-t-style

barnstorm

FelineGuitars said:

barnstorm said:

Can’t speak to the build quality vs Probett or Feline, but even as something of a Tele-phobe I’m intrigued by Wirebird’s thinlines. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts if you go as far as to visit the workshop (London) and play one, because the clips online are all of the ‘modern’ models being used to play the sort of music I really don’t enjoy.

Sam is a fantastic luthier, who used to work for me about 15 years ago . His guitars will be excellent, and not in any way limited to the tech metal circles that have adopted his guitars along with Blackmachines etc

Well there's a nice endorsement for you. Definitely worth considering, then.

ennspek

No such thing as "best" really. Personally I would go to Mr Eggle but that's no slight on others.

Megii

Waghorn well worth considering - I confess I've not owned one (yet) but they look to do insanely nice stuff.

http://waghornguitars.com/
https://www.facebook.com/waghornguitars/

clarkefan

Megii said:

Waghorn well worth considering - I confess I've not owned one (yet) but they look to do insanely nice stuff.

http://waghornguitars.com/
https://www.facebook.com/waghornguitars/

He really is worth considering, but you might have to wait a very long time, he's a very busy builder.