Show us your Bravewood

bgmartinsbridge

Got to say, I personally think these are about as close to a real pre-cbs guitar you can get - as a relic and to play. 

Here are my two - any more out there?

The Esquire is the second relic he made. 

WezV

@PhilKing has a few

stevie_the_spy

I've got three strats and a bass from John at bravewood, amazing guitars. I'll post some pics later

PhilKing

I'll take some pics later.  I've got 4 strats (57, 57 hardtail, 64 and 66), and 2 basses (62 Jazz and 57 Precision).  Plus John made me a replacement body for a 1960 Strat that had lost the original body.

Strangefan

I have to say tho the relicing looks pretty dire.... Just my opinion however 

mburekenge

guitars4you

I've had a few used examples in stock over the years - I recall one Strat that was excellent in so many ways - Yet I recall a Tele that was at best mediocre at least IMO

Can't recall now, does he build from the ground up - Or buy the woodwork in from a 3rd party and build/assemble from there

stevie_the_spy

stevie_the_spy

https://youtu.be/C9zByrO18v0



a couple of videos of the two bravewoods.

PhilKing

He builds completely from the ground up.  Having been to his workshop several times, I've seen the process.  He is a one man operation.  For me, he has copied my original 57 neck with some tweaks that I wanted and then built me 2 guitars to use out that work perfectly.  The aging is something that you can specify and he is great at checking, but can go a bit overboard on the chipping sometimes.

I was worried that my first one from him would not be something that he wanted to build, since it was a 64 strat with a humbucker in the bridge, so a non standard ask.  However, I did have several original parts, including a 1960 scratchplate that was cut for a humbucker (from my original strat that I put back to 3 single coils).  He made a superb fiesta red strat, with a veneer board neck and totally the right feel.

My 62 Jazz is in burgundy mist and pretty much matches my original 63.  He is very meticulous with the way he fades the finishes and also how he ages other parts.

I'll put some pictures of mine up later.

DrCornelius

Bloody hell Stevie that sounded lush . If you ever want to sell the red one please give me a shout as it looks just like an old refin 62 that I couldn’t afford to keep.

stevie_the_spy

DrCornelius said:

Bloody hell Stevie that sounded lush . If you ever want to sell the red one please give me a shout as it looks just like an old refin 62 that I couldn’t afford to keep.

thanks for that, its a lovely guitar. I have a white one too and a 54 precision bass that he made me, all of them are excellent guitars.

Schnozz

I had a '55 Precision and they're great guitars, but the relic'ing...Yeah.

It genuinely broke my heart to see the picture of when he finished it prior to aging. It was beautiful.

They're £1500 if you want one built from scratch.

guitars4you

PhilKing said:

He builds completely from the ground up.  Having been to his workshop several times, I've seen the process.  He is a one man operation.  For me, he has copied my original 57 neck with some tweaks that I wanted and then built me 2 guitars to use out that work perfectly.  The aging is something that you can specify and he is great at checking, but can go a bit overboard on the chipping sometimes.

Cheers Phil for the reply - That was my impression of a complete build from ground up 

fretfinder

bgmartinsbridge said:

Got to say, I personally think these are about as close to a real pre-cbs guitar you can get - as a relic and to play. 

Here are my two - any more out there?

The Esquire is the second relic he made. 

Ah nice. That’s the Esquire you’ve got for sale on Facebook at the moment isn’t it? 

bgmartinsbridge

Don't think he makes them to order anymore. Believe he got messed around too much and now makes about 5-6 a year to the spec and colour he fancies on that day and charges something like 1650, first come first served. 

The only way to get one now is keep an eye on his website and try to get in first. Albeit I think he gives the odd person a heads up.

Worth checking out his site as it has loads of examples of his work - some stunners on there. 

guitarmangler

Still love mine. It’ll need a re fret soon, I’ve had it probably 17 years? Mine is an early-ish model and has an allparts neck.

bgmartinsbridge

@fretfinder - no deleted it. Too many plonkers on Facebook who keep asking the weight :-) 

stevie_the_spy

bgmartinsbridge said:

@fretfinder - no deleted it. Too many plonkers on Facebook who keep asking the weight :-) 

what is the weight? :-) :-):-)

TeleMaster

bgmartinsbridge said:

Don't think he makes them to order anymore. Believe he got messed around too much and now makes about 5-6 a year to the spec and colour he fancies on that day and charges something like 1650, first come first served. 

The only way to get one now is keep an eye on his website and try to get in first. Albeit I think he gives the odd person a heads up.

Worth checking out his site as it has loads of examples of his work - some stunners on there. 

There's a used one on ebay for £2500!

bgmartinsbridge

@steve_the_spy
Bring your amp over and we can weigh the esquire at the same time ;-)