News

October 2025

Let’s start this month with songwriter Robb Johnson and his Blackwater,

He met up with Boff from Chumbawamba at the Hartlepool Folk Festival. He seems impressed with Robb’s new guitar!

We’ve just completed this Taw for Mike from Lytham St Annes,

Mike asked for a deep cutaway and abalone diamond and dot fingerboard markers,

Jack inlaid this rose on the headstock from a design by Mike’s daughter Maddy.

This cedar and rosewood Torridge is for Kev from Andover who’ll be coming down to collect it shortly.

More photos here of the Pendragon gig with Nick and his Taw.

 Jack’s working on an owl inlay on a Lyn headstock for Andrea.

Terence Blacker bought this Newlyn from Coda, he wrote “This sweet, mellow, generous-spirited guitar has a wonderful tone which, I’m happy to say, also works amplified. It’s a delight to play and I’m a very happy picker”.

Check out Terence’s songs here, In particular search out Sad Old Bastards With Guitars!

We gave Dave’s Taw a thorough set up and a few weeks later he wrote “The incredible thing is that I normally use a Stratocaster when I play with the band, but the Taw is so lovely to play I did the entire gig on that instead”.

Andy fitted a K&K pickup on John Ramsay’s twelve string Tamar.

We had an early guitar of Andy Manson’s in for repair work and a set-up, still sounding great after all these years and coming up for its 50th birthday next year!

Those who follow the news will know that we occasionally post photos of our commute to the workshop, here are a couple taken early one fine Autumn morning.

More next month……

September 2025

First off this month was a rosewood Blackwater for Robb Johnson.

Here’s Robb playing his twenty year old Tamar, incidentally John, on bass, also has a Teign!

Two guitars went off to Mak’s Guitars, a walnut and Sitka Lyn and a rosewood and Sitka Lamorna. Mak’s moved from his old address in Rathbone Place to 4-11 Galen Place, WC1A 2JR.

Andy delivered a rosewood and Alpine spruce Torridge to Project last week

And we sent a rosewood and Sitka Taw up to Coda.

Andy and Anita went to see Pendragon at their weekender at the Northcott Theatre earlier in the month, here’s a photo of Nick playing his Brook during the acoustic set! The gig was part of their Warriors of Romance tour.

Jon Woode’s latest album Songs of Land and Sea is free to listen to and download here.

If you enjoy it consider giving a donation to the Air Ambulance here.

It’s my turn this month to make up a batch of linings with the jig Andy put together some years ago with the elements of my mother’s old treadle sewing machine. As you can see – we haven’t quite come to terms with the CNC era!

We had two Martins in for neck re-sets,

Here’s an Andy Manson Django Petite Bouche, in for a little TLC.

And finally – a vintage Martin Cole guitar, in for a fret dressing, set-up and to patch up the hole from an unwanted pickup pre-amp.

August 2025

Graham asked for a new model to his specifications to add to our range and here he is sitting on a clapper bridge over the river we’ve named the model after – The Webburn.

It’s slightly smaller than the Lyn, it has a cedar top,

English walnut back and sides

Graham also asked for a curved top, slotted headstock.

Jonathan will be down shortly to pick up his 015 Taw

It’s rosewood with a Sitka spruce top, abalone border and rosette, with a bound fingerboard, headstock and gold tuners.

Keith and Benjamin dropped in the other day with Keith’s cocobolo Taw, here are  a couple of photos of the guitar with Benjamin’s superb glass work! You can see more of his work here.

We fitted a pickup in Georgia’s Weaver.

Nigel Horn has a new instrumental album out featuring his Lyn – The Silver Thread. It’s inspired by the Cuckmere River as it winds its way down to the coast from Alfriston. You can find out more about it here.

Chris played a fundraiser for the Devon Air Ambulance the other day. Thanks to Lisa Foster for the photo.

Last but not least, many thanks to Pat in Las Vegas for his musical message wishing me a Happy Birthday!

July 2025

Guy came down from Andover for his new mahogany and Sitka spruce Torridge.

Danny and Jacob were down from Dursley for the latest guitars for Intersound

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Ian Anderson dropped in his two parlour models for some repair work and we’ve now returned them to him.

We’ve a rosewood Lamorna for Project

And a rosewood Torridge and Lyn for Coda.

Jon Woode’s new album is free to download on Bandcamp here and also available on Spotify.

David Jones sent us these two photos from the  ‘Oh What a Night!’ tour, the music of Frankie Valli. First photo is Redruth and then the auditorium shot is Portsmouth Guildhall.

We sawed this old stock mahogany into sets.

Mike’s badly damaged Tamar has been successfully repaired and will be back with him shortly.

Here’s that Gibson 160E we were working on – and the J45 left handed conversion.

This Yairi’s playing well after a neck re-set.

Andy’s making up a new nut for this Gibson Lucille B.B. King signature model

And I’ve just re-fretted this Fender Custom Shop Strat.

The back of this Yamaha was all but off, Andy repaired the damage and it’s back in good working order with no evidence of the damage.

June 2025

Guy will be coming down from Andover shortly to pick up his new cutaway Torridge, it has a Sitka spruce top

And figured mahogany back and sides.

Graham recently acquired this cutaway 2009 Taw from Music & Bean in Okehampton. He sent us this photo, appropriately taken above the Taw valley!

This is the latest guitar for Intersound – a cedar Lyn

With red gum back and sides.

Two guitars for Project here – a walnut and European spruce Torridge and a flamed ovangkol and Sitka spruce Lamorna.

John Gillespie came over from Cornwall for a set-up on his Sitka and yew Lamorna.

This figured mahogany Newlyn went off to Coda.

Phil Taylor’s latest album Late Nights & Forget Me Nots features his Lamorna on fourteen of the tracks.

Pete Berryman called in and played us some sublime guitar on the way back from a family gathering in Bampton where he took this photo of his Tamar!

Now for some repairs: We’re working on a rather messy neck break on Mike’s twenty year old Tamar.

Here’s Andy working on a neck reset on a vintage Yairi.

There are some lacquer repairs to do on this rather nice Gibson 160E – more commonly known as the John Lennon guitar!

And finally – I flattened and re-profiled the frets on this Yamaha for Dave from South Molton and Andy made up a new bone saddle.

May 2025

Rob came down from Essex to collect his new rosewood and Sitka spruce Tavy.

Mark Fry launched his new album Not On The Radar recently at Stone Nest in London with Daisy Rickman as support,

You can listen to and purchase the album here

These two went up to Project in Exeter,

A rosewood and Sitka Lamorna and an English cherry and European spruce Taw.

Ian Anderson bought the two small parlour guitars we made for him many years ago in for some attention.

This twenty year old Torridge required a neck re-set.

Pete managed to drop his Ibanez and shatter the neck, Andy pieced it back together and the break’s good as new now.

We’ve recently been lucky enough to find a new member of our small team. Ra started with us a couple of weeks ago and is already working his way around many of the different processes,

He’s a highly skilled sculptor who’s previously worked for many prestige institutions,

Here are selections from three thirty foot reliefs he completed for the Cunard liner Queen Mary.

April 2025

Danny and Jacob came down to pick up the latest Torridge for Intersound.

We recently managed to buy a decent quantity of very nice old stock Honduran mahogany, here’s Andy re-sawing into more usable sizes,

Storage is at a premium so these boards are going to have to stay on the stairs for a while.

Ken should be down before too long to pick up his new Abbey,

It’s nylon strung with English walnut back and sides and a Sitka top.

Steve Tilston’s latest album, is over half a century on from his first and on a par with his finest. “With the empathetic accompaniment of good friends and long-term musical collaborators, Steve looks both back and ahead as he traverses the musical spectrum from social and political comment to rustic reflection, from autobiography to eternal geographical history, across blues, traditional folk, poetry and even a hint of jazz.”

You can see Steve playing tracks from the album on his Calder and being interviewed here.

Bob, from Hitchin, sent us this photo of his Brook collection, from left to right: his Tamar, Otter, Torridge and Creedy.

Here’s Eliza playing her Lamorna at the White Horse in the Eden Valley.

Christian debuted his lefty nylon strung Weaver recently, He was invited to open for the sax quartet Alright Jack!

The little Ian Anderson model we made for Rich Madow many years ago still seems to be getting a lot of attention from his fellow dentists!

December 20th, 1941 – April 1st, 2025

We say goodbye to two of my favourite musicians – firstly the incomparable Michael Hurley, I met him many times when he was touring over here, some years ago we made a Bovey travel guitar for him and he used it on his album Ida Con Snock!

Wizz Jones

April 25th, 1939 – April 27th, 2025

I went to see Wizz at every opportunity. It was obvious why he was an influence on both a young Eric Clapton and Keith Richards, as well as his blues repertoire he wrote one of the finest contemporary folk songs I know of – Burma Star, search it out. He came over and played a set at one of our guitar weekends at Brook Guitars and we were always really pleased to be trusted to work on his beloved Epiphone Texan!

March 2025

We sent this figured mahogany and sunburst Engelmann spruce Otter off to Bob in Hitchin,

The Otter is our 12 fret, slope-shouldered dreadnought,

Bob asked for a headstock inlay similar to the one on the Tamar we made for him a couple of years ago.

On the subject of inlays – Ken asked Jack to inlay his popular two swallows design on the cherry Tavy we made for him back in 2016.

Clive came over from Bridport to pick up his new Weaver,

With a Sitka top

And English walnut back and sides.

Simon, who’s on the edge of Dartmoor a few miles west of us, picked up this rosewood and Sitka Lyn from Coda in Stevenage, he’s really happy with his purchase!

We completed this rosewood and Sitka Tavy for Rob in Essex,

All being well he’ll be down in the next couple of weeks to pick it up.

Danny from Intersound will also be down shortly to pick up Intersound’s latest Torridge –

European spruce top with rosewood back and sides,

And here’s the latest Torridge for Project Music, also in European spruce and rosewood.

We had to repair a small split in the ribs of this Tavy along with fitting a pick-guard and giving it a thorough set-up.

This twenty year old Lyn‘s cedar soundboard was damaged so we replaced it with a Sitka spruce one – as good as new now and with a new lease of life.

Finally, here’s the mould for a new addition to our range for a customer in Lustleigh, another parlour, provisionally called the Webburn after his local river.

Febuary 2025

Simon Moore completed his film of us in the Brook Workshop you can watch it on our YouTube channel here.

John from Southampton sent us this photo of himself with his new Tavy along with his Taw and his Carey.

We sent this rosewood Torridge off to Nadeem in Barnet, he got in touch to say “Thank you so much for the beautiful guitar that you have made for me. I cannot put into words how happy I am with it!” Thanks Nadeem!

I picked out some nice sets of interesting tonewoods to join and thickness earlier this month, from left to right: myrtle, yew, walnut, zebrano and ropalo lacewood. If anyone is interested in any of these for their next guitar let us know!

Thanks again to Jon Woode for participating in the film. Here’s a photo of his Tavy and his Lamorna in front of Laura’s painting for his latest album cover.

Plans for two new models on the go at the moment – another ‘0’ style, a little smaller than our Lyn model

And a fourteen fret Weaver for a customer in the U.S.

Andy fitted a pickup in Marcus’ Lamorna.

Amongst other repairs we setup this Martin which needed some attention.

Here are two stills from the film – A Tavy and a Taw

And a Clyst and a Lamorna.

Some sharp eyed customers noticed an old photo tucked behind a guitar in the December news,

Back when Andy had a lot more hair and I was somewhat slimmer, when we were working with Andy Manson in the mid 1990s, we made these copies of his Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones triple necks for a Japanese Led Zeppelin tribute band!

The snowdrops are late this year, here they are with our scaffolded workshop in the background while the roof is being waterproofed.

That’s all for this month!

January 2025

Tim picked up his third Brook, this time a Tavy, here’s the trio with Trigger proudly on guard!

Rosewood back and sides,

With a Sitka top, and koa rosette and binding.

Another trio here – Pat from Las Vegas sent us a current photo of his three.

John from Southampton ordered this Tavy to match the Carey we made for him a couple of years ago,

The Carey‘s on the left, the Tavy on the right. Both with rosewood back and sides and matching figured mahogany and herringbone rosettes.

Here are the latest two for Coda – a red-gum and European spruce Lamorna and a rosewood and Sitka Lyn

Here are the backs.

This twenty-four year old Tavy came in for a set-up

And this seventeen year old left-handed Tamar twelve string needed some remedial work to the bridge, it looks like the humidity was at fault here – the tuners were actually rusted around the edges.

Back playing properly again!

Just carried out a fret dress and set-up on this ’80s Les Paul.

It’s not often we have this many Brooks on the rack at one time,

A mixture of old and new with our Brooks amongst the collection of vintage instruments.

Simon Moore took the opportunity to come round and take some more shots for his short film of the workshop!

Lastly – another photo from the morning commute!

December 2024

Ken popped down from Delabole to pick up his new Taw, it’ll join his growing collection of Brooks – he already has a Teign, Tavy and a Blackwater!

Mark drove down from Hampshire to pick up his new Lamorna,

With a Sitka top, cutaway, a pyramid bridge

And English walnut back and sides.

We’ve had a couple of Rory Gallagher’s collection of guitars in for some fettling and a change of strings! He played this Washburn on his Jinx album tour dates and on the Defender album,

And another favourite of his, a Swedish Bjarton parlour, was featured on the first Taste album.

We’ve just sent these two guitars off to Coda – a figured mahogany Taw and a rosewood Tamar.

This twenty year old Teign suffered a neck break whilst it was being sent down to us for a pickup installation,

Here it is back together and has now been returned to the happy owner.

Jonathan brought his Maruszczyk bass along for us enlarge the cavity to fit this substantial Seymour Duncan pickup.

A shelf full of set-ups!

And a couple more – an Epiphone Les Paul and a PRS.

Andy replaced the robotic tuners on this Gibson Les Paul with a standard set of Gibson Deluxe tuners.

Our newly installed bridge was hit by a falling tree earlier on in the month, luckily it didn’t do too much damage and, as you can see, it’s clear again now.

Season’s Greetings to all our customers, visitors to our website and Facebook friends.

Have an enjoyable winter break and we’ll see you again next year!

November 2024

Ken, from North Cornwall, will be along early next month to pick up his latest Brook, this time a Taw.

Ken asked Jack to inlay a Kingfisher in the headstock.

And sycamore leaves position markers down the fingerboard

The back and sides are spalted sycamore from a tree that came down locally.

Steve picked up the little nylon strung Cherry we featured last month

And coincidentally we came across Jack Dee playing his bubinga Holly on Taskmaster recently, the Holly is the smallest of our six-strings, with a 435 mm scale.

Spot the difference – Apart from all the different items on the bench Dave’s 1998 Taw now has a new fingerboard and bridge.

TV’s part way through an extensive tour with his Taw, he’s just completed nine dates in Japan, then off to the Canary Islands before the UK leg!

Chris Fisher and friends playing at the Rose and Crown in Beckley, Chris has a couple of Brooks and has just bought this 2019 Lamorna which he says is “One of the best acoustics I have ever owned, and that list currently includes Fylde, Martin and Lowden!”

Nick Barrett brought his new Taw in for us to fit a LR Baggs Anthem pickup.

Nick’s normally to be seen with his prog rock band Pendragon, his Taw will be featured on their acoustic numbers and the acoustic set at Pendragon Weekend ’25!

Thomas is really pleased with his new Lamorna and sent us this photo of himself with the guitar in his basement home studio!

We’ve had a colourful commute in to work now the clocks have changed

And we’ve had a couple of days off due to the heavy snow – allowing time for a breezy walk on the moor.

Andy’s about to take this rosewood Taw to Project

And Su is about to pick up her new Weaver.

Richard James bought this cedar and walnut Clyst from Mak’s recently, he sent us down this photo along with the latest in his series of music books, this time about Rush.

We came across this double cutaway, leftie, twelve string Dart on eBay recently, this was probably the last of this model that we made just over fifteen years ago!

Well, apart from about ten setups, pickup fittings and general repairs, that’s it for the November news, see you next month!

October 2024

Dave picked up his new Clyst as a companion for his Torridge.

We made this Tamar for Jeff in Vermont,

It’s an 015 model with abalone purfling and fretboard inlays, bound fingerboard and head veneer,

Figured mahogany top, back and sides

and gold Schaller tuners. Jeff got in touch – “The Tamar arrived today. More than I expected…beautiful sound.”

We made this nylon strung Cherry for Steve in Dorset, it’s one of the smallest six-strings in our range with a 472 mm scale and tuned A to A. With a European spruce top

And English walnut back and sides.

To give you an idea of scale here’s a photo of it with Coda’s new baritone Tavy!

The rosewood Tavy has a 678 mm scale and is tuned C to C with a set of 14s.

A more standard rosewood Lamorna here that Andy’s just dropped off to Project Music in Exeter.

Tim came down from Worthing for a tweak of his nineteen-nineties Tavy and his nineteen-seventies Manson Kestrel.

Finally this month, amongst other repairs, this unusual Japanese Strat needed a set-up and a few adjustments to get it playing comfortably.

September 2024

The bridge has been reinstated. We named ourselves Brook after the brook at the bottom of our lane – the Troney runs into the Yeo that joins the River Taw exiting into the sea at Barnstaple!

This Lamorna‘s going out to Thomas in Austria,

It’s an 015 model with a European spruce top,

English walnut back and sides

A swallow inlay on the twelfth fret

And another on the headstock.

Dave asked for an all mahogany Clyst as a little sister/brother to the all mahogany Torridge we made for him ten years ago.

Here’s a close up of the top,

Dave also asked for a rosewood fingerboard, bridge and head veneer.

Andy’s recently took this Taw and Torridge up to Project Music, both have rosewood back and sides and European spruce tops.

This maple and Sitka Torridge is coming up for its twenty-fifth birthday, it’s still in immaculate condition. It was brought in by Martin, the original owner, for its first set-up!

If you recall the Lamorna that was going out to the States last month – Pam’s now got the guitar and got in touch to let us know “The choice of redwood and bocote with full ebony binding, purfling, back strip, rosette and rear headstock veneer, has proven to be an absolute visual success. Thanks again for building this custom Lamorna for me. It’s really very beautiful”.

Chris, the owner of one of the few mandolins we’ve made, spends a lot of time on the road so it’s not too surprising that it takes the occasional knock, this time it was a break in the headstock, all back together again now!

This 2009 Manson Bluebird came in after a run in with a guitar stand and a vacuum cleaner! It came off the worst with split ribs and a broken back brace. Back together again with no sign of the damage.

See you again next month!

August 2024

Marcus, who we featured in Babbling Brook issue 5, picked up his new Lamorna.

This Lamorna is going out to Pam in the States,

Here’s a close up of the redwood top.

The back is old stock Bocote,

We veneered the back of the headstock with ebony

And fitted gold Shertler tuners.

When we heard Elliot Smith’s Le Domino guitar sold recently for $35,000 it reminded us that a couple of years ago we made a Torridge inspired by the old Regal model,

For ours we made up bone inlays throughout rather than the transfers used on the 1930’s original!

Andy carried out a complex head repair on this badly damaged SG,

Here’s a series of photos of the work involved.

He also sprayed a butterscotch finish on this Tele.

This custom-made Ry Cooder inspired Strat was brought in and required some major adjustments to get it to play in tune and to line up the strings with the neck and pickups.

Jack’s been working on some delicate swallow inlays.

Anyone wanting to visit the workshop should be aware that the bridge is being replaced so if we have a lot of rain you may not be able to get through the ford,

Until the work’s completed give us a call before you visit.

July 2024

A couple of years ago our good friends artists Phil and Anna picked up sticks and left the U.K. to live in Cyprus. Since then they’ve been busy renovating their house in a small mountain village on the island and are now set up to continue with their painting and music, as well as offering courses in complementary therapies and the visual arts.

Danny came down to pick up the latest guitars for Intersound.

Ben came down from London to pick up his new Tavy,

it has a Sitka top, English walnut back and sides and we fitted a K&K Trinity system.

Andy dropped these two into Project Music –

A Torridge and a Lyn, both rosewood and European spruce.

By the time you read this these two should be up with Coda –

A rosewood and Sitka Newlyn and a maple and European spruce Blackwater.

We have a nylon strung short scale Cherry on the go for Steve in Dorset, we thought you might like to take a peek before it went together!

Last month Andy re-sawed the fine English walnut we showed you, I joined and thicknessed it along with a lacewood set, this vintage tight grained wenge and two sets of twenty five year old Palo Escrito, a species of rosewood.

In for repair: A Taylor with split ribs and a Santa Cruz with a severely bellying top,

A PRS with a chunk out of the headstock, here’s the before and after shot,

And yet another Gibson with a headstock break, this time an SG – it’s a tricky one that someone has previously had a go at repairing.

We also had this Rory Gallagher Strat in for a fret dress – better mask it up well to avoid marking it!

Quite a few guitars went out this month, before they disappeared to their new homes we took a photo of them on display.

More next month!

June 2024

Plenty to show you this month – Marcus came up from Brixham for his Newlyn,

It has a torrefied Adirondack top,

And old stock mahogany for the back, sides and neck.

Ivan sent us a photo last October of himself in a mask with his Torridge, when he donned a mask again while collecting his new Lamorna we asked what it was about. Here’s the inspiration!

The Lamorna has a Sitka top,

Maggie inlaid at the twelfth fret in mother of pearl, snowflake inlays up the fingerboard

And a nice wild grained set of Indian rosewood.

Barry picked up this second-hand Lyn recently, he wrote ” it’s absolutely amazing to play, listen to, and admire – especially the beautiful Madagascar rosewood back, a truly stunning guitar” Here’s his partner Sharon playing the Lyn, along with Lily getting in on the action!

Unusually – the second Marcus this month – Marcus Corbett, who we featured in the article East Meets West in the fifth issue of Babbling Brook. Marcus spends a lot of time in India and brought back the set of Indian rosewood we used on his new Lamorna.

It has a similar inlay to the Taw we made for him nearly twenty years ago.

Two guitars here for Intersound – a European spruce topped Taw and a cedar topped Lyn,

Rosewood back and sides on the Taw and red gum for the Lyn.

Christian sent us this message with a photo! ” It has been a few months now and a few thousand miles as I have taken the Weaver up and down the land in my truck. This guitar fits perfectly for staying in a truck all week. I am so pleased with what you have done to create a small left-handed nylon guitar. It looks, feels and sounds wonderful. Thank you for such a beautiful instrument.”

Here’s the current state of Jeff’s latest addition to his Brook collection over in Vermont – an 015 Tamar in figured mahogany.

Nice to see this twenty year old koa Tavy again, in for a set-up.

We’ve just got in this nice set of Lacewood for anyone who might be interested in home grown timber – other options of course would be cherry, sycamore or walnut.

And for those interested in reclaimed timber – Jools brought down this vintage table for us to re-saw into guitar sets.

Amongst the repairs this month – we repaired a few dings in this Les Paul,

And added position markers to the fingerboard of this Mayones.

As Jack’s been feeding the birds regularly on the windowsill it’s been attracting another furry friend!

May 2024

Colin came down from  Berkshire for his new Taw,

Here’s the guitar,

And a close up

With Jack’s otter inlay,

The back is spalted sycamore from a local village.

Talking of otters here’s David Jones’ koa Otter, our slope-shouldered dreadnought model, at The Courtyard Theatre, Hereford.

Will Riding sent us his excellent new CD Man Drawer, all played on his Torridge, we’ll be interested to see if the following album includes any songs played on his new Weaver! Will’s got a busy schedule gigging this year.

We’ve had quite a few repairs this month, firstly this early ’60’s ES330 for a refret.

This Hofner violin bass was brought in with a broken neck, check out a previous adaption to the case for the non-standard tuners.

While the bass was in we thought we’d get a Hofner family photograph and gathered our collection together along with a Levin and Harmony arch-top on the bottom row.

Yet another Les Paul headstock break,

And back together again!

Largely due to the number of repairs we’ve had in this month we haven’t got many new Brooks to show you so I took a few shots around the workshop to give an idea what’s going on. Jack’s working on a new batch, the backs, soundboards and sides are in the humidity controlled drying room along with the sides and struts.

Andy’s just made up the necks for this batch and part way through spraying a previous one,

I’ve been putting together, fretting and gluing the bridges on half a dozen guitars which will be ready for next month’s news.

April 2024

Danny came down from Gloucestershire to pick his Clyst 12string, it’s long scale, he’s tuned it all the way down to an A and is busy working out Blind Willie McTell songs!

He brought down Intersound customer Ross to see where his Little Silver was made!

Nick is planning to come down from Somerset to collect his new mahogany Torridge.

It has a Venetian cutaway and is made from old stock Honduran mahogany.

This Torridge is off to Tony in Australia.

Tony called in to the workshop last year while he was visiting England and ordered this guitar constructed of non-tropical woods. He asked for a longer scale but the bridge to remain in the normal position – this required the unusual twelve and a half fret body join.

With bog oak fingerboard, bridge and head veneer, a European spruce top, English walnut back and sides, a yew centre wedge and sycamore binding.

Christian ordered this left-handed, nylon strung Weaver

With a cedar top and English walnut back and sides.

Dave came down from Swindon for the rosewood Taw we featured in last month’s news.

A rosewood and Sitka spruce Lamorna for Coda

And a rosewood and European spruce Taw for Project.

Nearly twenty years ago, for a college project, Matt produced the short  film of our workshop you can see on our YouTube page. He’s still playing the Teign he bought back at the time – currently with the Celtic band Glasta. Here he is with his dog Ruby!

Since those early days Matt’s become an award winning documentary filmmaker based in Vancouver!

Banjo player extraordinaire Rob Murch called in to pickup the banjo we’d recently repaired and treated us to a couple of tunes. He’d just returned from a short Northern tour with Geoff Lakeman.

Tim picked up his early 1900s Fairbanks parlour we’d had in for repair.

This harp guitar had seen better days, we reattached various struts, re-glued the front and the back, restrung it and returned it to its happy owner.

Part of a new shipment of Indian rosewood tucked away for future use.

We returned the refinished Telecaster to Richard in Market Harborough.

As for the Martin binding issue –

These are positively the last two we have time to deal with.

Andy and I commute to the workshop from opposite directions, earlier in the month we both had the same idea of taking a photo of the snow over the moors as we were travelling in – here are our results.

Andy’s  cycling group dropped in one Saturday earlier in the month and Julia took this photo by the workshop door.

That’s all for this month!

March 2024

This highly customised Torridge was made for Tommy from Wigan,

He asked for a tinted front, purfling surrounding the fingerboard extension,A falling oak leaf inlay on the fingerboard.The headstock inlay was in memory of Tommy’s son, dragonflies were a favourite of his.Bog oak back and sides,The 5300 on the heel cap is the age of the bog oak through carbon dating!Looks like Tommy’s set out to discover if the smallest room has the biggest sound!This Taw‘s waiting to be collected by Dave from Swindon who’s coming down next month,Engelmann spruce top, belly bridge and a wider abalone rosette,
A fine set of rosewood back and sides, flamed maple bindingAnd gold Sta-Tite tuners.This Lyn cutaway is on its way to Paul in Bath –European spruce top with a belly bridge,Madagascar rosewood back and sides with koa binding.Now for some customers: Roel got in touch from Belgium to tell us he’s still very happy with his Tamar and sent us this photo of himself playing a concert in Ghent.Phil McKnight from Australia thanked us again for the Becka we made for him a couple of years ago and sent this photo from a show in Mudgee, a small wine growing and mining town in New South Wales. The Becka‘s a slightly larger version of Andy Manson’s Ian Anderson model named after Becka Brook on Dartmoor.Richard came down to the workshop for a set up of his Clyst and made the most of his time down here, spending a couple of days in East Prawle!And Paul sent us this photo of himself with his Holly and his Weaver.This Phil Davidson mandola had a personalised inlay on the headstock so Dave Smith, its new owner, asked if we could replace the head veneer and inlay it with his own personal choice – the Uffington Horse.Dave also brought a nice piece of English walnut down, we’re just trying to work out if we can get more than one guitar out of it, or whether it’s too risky.We completed this Sitka and rosewood Taw for Project and Andy delivered it to the shop.Andy has been asked to replicate this unusual sunburst on a TeleAnd, whilst we’re in the spray room, here’s a glimpse of the batch you’re likely to be seeing here strung up next month.

February 2024

It’s that time again – here’s the annual photo of the snowdrops in the orchard.

Michael with his new Lyn and his 2013 maple Tavy.

Here it is –

It has an Englemann top with English walnut purfling and custom rosette,

Along with English walnut neck, back and sides,

Michael asked Jack to replicate the initials from his signature in a loose brushwork style.

Will came down from Chester to pick up his new cedar and mahogany Weaver,

Will’s been gigging regularly at clubs and festivals with his Torridge.

This Lamorna went out to Pam in the States –

Redwood top, rosewood back and sides with abalone purfling and rosette.

Here’s an interesting one – Danny from Dursley asked us to make a parlour Clyst 12 string for him,

We used the two strings to a peg method we’ve used before to keep the bridge size nice and compact,

Golden Age tuners, the guitar has a longer 678 mm scale and is tuned down to Db to give it a lovely low Leadbelly pitch!

Rich Madow with his Ian Anderson model entertaining delegates attending a dentist convention in the Opryland Hotel, Nashville!

Whereas Tim and Stewart sold out the local village hall for a benefit gig in aid of Devon Air Ambulance!

Peter got in touch to compliment us on a second-hand 2005 ovangkol Torridge he’s just acquired.

Simon Moore has been around for a couple of days making a short film about us.

The broken guitar we showed you last month is back together and back in India with Marcus.

I noticed in the latest Mojo Beth Gibbons was recording her new album, good to see her Brook is in the studio with her!

Here’s an interesting contraguitar in for repair, there’s no label on it unfortunately, we’ve found similar guitars searching online but not the exact model, any information most welcome.

More news next month.

January 2024

Andy’s commute into work the other day required some of his off-road riding skills,

Lucky he chose to come on his motorbike that day!

Tim Carter’s delighted with his new Teign,

With a Venetian cutaway,

A Baggs pickup,

A buzzard inlay by Jack around the twelfth fret

And English walnut back and sides.

To complement the new guitar he brought along this stylish new strap handmade by Kath Eastham of Kirkstone Leathercrafts.

This Taw has just gone off to Project Music,

Check out the wild grain on the Indian rosewood back and sides!

Mick sent us these two photos with his new Torridge accompanying his older twelve string version of the same model.

Marcus had to cut his latest visit to India short when his Taw was severely damaged by baggage handlers when he arrived. We’ve a two week turnaround on this one as Marcus has already booked his return flight.

Chris’ mandolin also suffered a headstock break at the hands of an over-enthusiastic baggage handler on a return trip from Portugal recently, Andy didn’t take long to repair this one and get it strung up again.

Jon played his song By The Wind Sailor to the coastguards at the 130th anniversary memorial service for the crew of the Iota and all who helped with the rescue. Here he is before the event.

Here’s the Bovey we showed in the November News repaired and now back with its happy owner.

Another Martin has been brought in with the binding and purfling shrunk away at the waist, Andy’s heated and glued it all back in place and is in the process of repairing the finish.

Yet another headstock break!

Early stages in the production of the necks for the next batch of guitars – roughly cut out, planed and the head veneers glued and clamped.

See you again next month.

December 2023

Jon Woode picked up his cedar topped Lamorna

And dropped off a couple of copies of his latest CD – Into The Waves, recorded on his Tamar! You can check it out here

This Tavy just went off to Canterbury for Alister,

It has a European spruce top

With rosewood back and sides.

This Torridge will be going up to Mick in Chichester when we come back from our winter break,

Here’s a close up of the European spruce top with an abalone rosette,

And the flamed maple neck, back and sides.

Jack Hayter has just released a taster track ‘Lily From Church’ from his forthcoming album, you can listen to it here

We completed the neck reset on this 1929 koa Martin that belonged to Michael Chapman, also completed the repair work on Bendigo’s 1947 00-18 (behind).

A couple of other repairs this month included gluing the headstock back on this B.C.Rich

And a thorough set-up on this Tele.

It’s the end of another productive year at Brook Guitars so we’d like to wish Season’s Greetings to everyone,

We hope to see you all again in the New Year.

November 2023

October 2023

Mark Robinson came down to pick up this rather spectacular sinker redwood Tavy,

Mark asked Jack to inlay maple leaves along the fingerboard

Extending to the headstock.

Mike will be coming down shortly to pick up this Tavy to add to his Brook collection,

It  has a Celtic theme with rosette,

Fingerboard and headstock inlays.

We sent this Weaver up to Steve in Hertfordshire earlier in the month, he got in touch to tell us “It plays like a dream” and sent us this photo taken in his back garden the other day – it looks like his Weaver has a new admirer!

Prompted for a wacky photo Ivan obliged and we thoroughly approve! Ivan is so pleased with his new Torridge he’s planning on coming down to see us and ordering a custom Lamorna next.

We sent this Tasmanian blackwood Taw off to Neil in Norfolk

And this rosewood Lyn went off to Mak’s shop in London.

Walking past the latest batch of guitars Jack is putting together I thought this was worth a photo!

Matt wanted the neck on his Custom Shop Strat reshaped

And Richard wanted the same on his Ibanez.

Bendigo brought down a couple of nice Martins for us to work on – a 1947 00-18 for some minor work on the bridge and setting up. Also this 1927 0-18K for a neck reset. This was one of the late Michael Chapman’s collection that came up for sale recently.

He also gave us this Guild 12 string as a project if we could find the time to fit it in – anyone fancy ‘a project’?

The side of the bass we finished a few months ago has suffered rather a nasty trauma, Andy has got it back together, is refinishing it and we’re happy to say it’ll have no lasting damage.

Andy also refinished the top of this Gibson J-50 and made a new bone nut and saddle for it.

Nice photo here of Tilly and Mike with his nylon strung Lyn at the Tavistock Acoustic Cafe, Mike said he had lots of positive comments about how good the guitar sounded!

To round off the October News Richard and Deb sent us this photo of Richard’s Bovey in an appropriate Halloween setting!

More news next month!

September 2023

We’ve just completed this little Weaver for Stephen, from Hertfordshire,

It has a European spruce top, snowflake fingerboard inlays

And English walnut back and sides.

Jim came down from Somerset to pick up his new Blackwater, he already has a Taw and has promised a photo of it on the famous landmark, Glastonbury Tor!

Jeff, in Maine, U.S. has had a flurry of Brook buying and picked up this Sitka and red gum Tamar, a Cyprus and bubinga Blackwater – both from Coda Music, plus a bloodwood and Engelmann Tavy from a private sale in the US. They’ve taken pride of place amongst his fine collection!

Here’s the first and the most recent guitar we made for Richard, both Boveys – the first was almost twenty five years ago, Richard helpfully points out which is which with a tenner tucked into the strings of the latest tenor!

Danny came all the way down from Sheffield to try, then purchase the bubinga Lyn in the shop.

We sent this walnut Lamorna up to Mak’s shop in London

And Andy took this rosewood Torridge up to Project in Exeter.

We’ve set up and made saddles for three Collings’ this month, apart from that we’ve carried out repairs on these two mandolas,

Stripped and started to refinish this Gibson J50 which someone had attempted previously,

And also sorted out the frets and set up this rather nice 1960’s Wilson bass.

We’ve a couple of interesting guitars to show you next month so come back and see what we’re up to in October.

August 2023

First off this month we have a five string acoustic bass that we’ll be sending up to Joe in Buckinghamshire this week –

It’s a short scale model on a Taw body, black top with a koa patchwork rosette surrounded by silver rings

A maple laminated neck,

Crelicam ebony back and sides and fitted with a K&K bass pickup.

We’ve just completed this Blackwater for Jim from Glastonbury. He was planning to pick it up in October but isn’t sure if he can wait that long!

It has a European spruce top,

Spalted sycamore we sourced locally for the back and sides.

Jack inlaid the wagtail and wren,

We’ll zoom in a little more to show Jack’s use of pearl and wood.

Richard James ordered this little Bovey tenor guitar,

With its short scale it fits snugly into the baritone uke case,

It has a Sitka spruce top and English walnut back and sides.

Patrick just chose this little heel cap feature to personalise his new rosewood Taw.

Phil Taylor called in last month and we sorted out some mahogany scraps to make hangers for his guitar display, he’s made a fine job of them and here they are showing off his two Brooks – a Torridge and a Lamorna.

A photo of another display here, this time it all the way from Las Vegas, it’s our friend Pat’s guitar collection – the three on the left were made by us!

We completed the repairs on a couple of broken vintage Brooks this month – Firstly this rather nasty break on the heel of this 2012 Taw

And a courier casualty here – a broken headstock on this twenty one year old red gum Taw,

Good as new!

We also refinished the neck on this Strat

And set up these two Epiphone archtops.

That’s about all this month, look in again for the September news!

July 2023

David, a superb guitarist, ordered this custom Otter, our slope shouldered dreadnought.

He opted for plenty of abalone inlay

We used matching koa for the top, back and sides,

There’s a koa veneer on the back of the headstock and an abalone border on the face. Check out how David’s new guitar sounds on our YouTube channel.

Danny and Alex came down to pick up the latest two guitars for Intersound.

Bob picked up his new Tamar,

640 mm scale,

Belly bridge, European spruce top with walnut back and sides

And Jack adapted a robin, holly and laurel leaf headstock inlay from Bob’s original design.

Bob sent us this photo of the new guitar accompanied by his other two Brooks.

Nick from the band Pendragon brought over this badly damaged 000-18. Andy did a fine job putting the jigsaw puzzle back together before refinishing the side.

Here’s Jamie Meldau with his Taw playing with Cable Street at The Gold Hill Festival in Shaftesbury earlier in the month. No leopards were harmed in the making of the hat!

Ian Chatterton now has Michelle’s Torridge and appropriately sent us this photo taken by the river Torridge in Bideford.

Alan called in for a look around the workshop and for a quick tweak of his two Brooks.

An excellent photo of Julian in his wild garden in Milton Keynes wearing his Brook tee shirt.

It was great to hear Antony Chipperfield playing some of his songs on his Tavy a few weeks ago,

Antony owns and runs the excellent Rambler’s Rest on Exmoor – Britain’s highest coastal road tea room!

Megan and Brian from Red, Green and Blue picked up two repairs we’d just carried out on two of their guitars: a new bridge and sorting out the intonation on the Eastman, and mending the split side on the Blondel.

Tony popped in the other day accompanied by Pete, Tony had come over from Australia to visit and place an order for a Lyn.

Andy refinished this Eric Clapton Strat where the original lacquer was literally falling off.

With the second display of fine headwear  this month we have Tony proudly showing off his new Brook bucket hat!

June 2023

We’ve just had the solstice and a prolonged period of summer weather, here’s a photo of the hawthorn blossom at the entrance to our lane earlier in the month.

We had two of our serious Brook collectors down to pick up their latest guitars. First of all Tony from North West London for his Koa and Douglas fir Newlyn,

And John from Sidmouth for his walnut and cedar 12 fret Torridge. Between them they have forty of our instruments!

One of John’s earliest Brooks was this sunburst Torridge we made in 1996!

John from Southampton couldn’t make it down to pick up his new Carey unfortunately so we sent it off to him,

He’s now planning on coming down later in the year to have a look around the workshop and we’ll see if the guitar needs a tweak then.

Here’s the reality of a genuine guitar workshop, not the clinical, posed photo with chisel and wood-shavings you see on the ’boutique’ makers’ websites –  maybe we’re just bloody untidy! Anyhow, the main reason for this photo was to show Andy fitting a Baggs system to this J200.

You may remember this Little Silver we completed back in January – Jon was kind enough to get in touch the other day to say –

“I’ve been in possession of my wonderful Little Silver Terz for going on for three months now and I just wanted to say what a fantastic little instrument it is developing into. It is so much fun to play, it’s comfortable and easy and it just sings. I’m very pleased with the appearance too, it was a brave choice, I think, to go with the yellow, but it has been well admired by everyone who has seen and played it. If I could I would have my Creedy remade to the same design. If anyone else out there is thinking about a new guitar that sounds a little different to a standard tuned guitar, I would thoroughly recommend a Little Silver short scale,  and be brave with your design choices, my Little Silver is a totally unique, one of a kind instrument, how amazing is that. Thanks again, Jon”

Jon Woode got in touch to let us know he’d been featured on The Great American Folk Show based in Fargo and hosted by Tom Brosseau. Jon says “The second song I play is one of my latest, it’s called Hawker’s Request and it is played on my Brook Tamar“. You can listen to the program here. Jon also has a Lamorna on order.

Marcus, from Brixham, let us know he’d bought a Lyn we’d made last year for Intersound. He kindly sent us these two photos, one with his dog Indhi. He also mentioned he’s considering adding a larger Brook to the fold!

Thanks also to Dan from New Hampshire who has a much admired twenty year old cocobolo Tamar, here he is playing an open mic in a local bar!

We’re refinishing this Eric Clapton Strat in Olympic White after the original lacquer started peeling off.

We had a little repair work to do on this fairly new Andean charango – it gave us the opportunity to compare it to an old one we were given quite a few years ago. We’re pleased  to see the original style – using an armadillo shell, has fallen out of fashion!

Tim called in for a K&K to be fitted to his walnut baritone Blackwater and treated us to a couple of new songs he’d composed on the guitar – unplugged!

We’ve some interesting guitars almost ready to leave so look in again next month for the latest news from the workshop.

May 2023

You may remember this dismantleable Taw we made for T.V.

During the encore at one of his recent German gigs the strap came off and, as you can see, the guitar came apart in a way we’d not originally planned for – luckily Frank, a local craftsman, was in the audience, he offered to take it back to his workshop, glue it back together and return it to Tim at a following gig.

Frank did a fine job just leaving us to tidy up the lacquer and fit new strap locks when Tim got back home.

Here’s TV’s latest disc, a collaboration with Richard Strange: their original 1978 demos along with new versions of the old songs plus new material.

Thanks to Will Riding who sent down his new album earlier in the month. Concisely summed up by the excellently named iDreamofPiesPhotography – “Acoustic vignettes of life with its passions, desires and aspirations delivered with wry acerbic wit and wordplay at its foundations”

Richard, who’s fond of a pun, also brought down his solo CD titled ‘Stirring My Torridge‘ …. for obvious reasons!

Mike had a cherry Taw from us back in 2016, his second Brook is this reclaimed mahogany nylon strung Lyn.

Here’s the full length shot,

And a close up showing the koa rosette and purfling.

John, who ordered this twelve fret cedar Torridge, has a collection of twenty Brooks!

This, the latest, has a stunning English walnut back.

This email came through the other day offering to rejuvenate our building. Andy and I have got to the age where we’ve grown accustomed to our weathered look… and are happy with a workshop to match – what do you think?

Paul Downes brought in these four handmade instruments for us to fettle,

Here’s a close up of them. Check out Paul’s site for his latest gigs http://www.pauldownes.com

We’ve a rosewood and Sitka spruce Tavy that’ll be with Coda Music by the time you read this,

And a rosewood and Sitka spruce Lamorna which we’re taking up to Project Music.

As for repairs this month, amongst other things, we’ve glued the loose bridge back on this Santa Cruz, re-fretted a Collings, and also fitted a K&K and set-up an Eastman.

April 2023

We were offered Roger Williams’ stock of tonewoods as he’s now retiring, we bought the wood and he kindly dropped it in on his way to Cornwall for a Spring break.

Tony Kerry is a long term Brook supporter and has many of our guitars.This time Tony went for a classic looking Newlyn with a pyramid bridge,

A Douglas Fir top

And Koa back and sides.

About five years ago we made a slim-line Taw in cherry and walnut for Phil.

He recently came across another that we made for a customer in North Devon  in 2012. It features a couple of Charlie Christian style pickups, a cream paint job, a unique pick guard

And Steinberger gearless tuners.

A couple of years ago Richard bought a 2007 Torridge and just recently found a 2011 Tavy fan fret in Somerset to keep it company!

James Filkins has a Kickstarter campaign to help fund his third album Cranes In The Moonlight, the first single released features James’ Tamar, you can find out about it here.

We’ve just re-set the neck on this very nice Alister Atkin jumbo.

We’re going to have to glue up the headstock on this Torridge 015 which must have received a nasty blow!

A Gibson Keb Mo model was on the workbench in need of some attention.

Here’s a brief view of some guitars that are nearly ready to string up – in the spray room

And on the shelf by our fitting up benches, with a bit of luck you’ll see some of these completed next month!

March 2023

Gary came to pick up the two Brooks he’d ordered last year:

Firstly this 000 sized Newlyn with a moon spruce top

And Crelicam ebony back and sides.

Also a Tamar with an Adirondack top and English walnut back and sides.

Gary asked for the roundel design on the heel cap of each guitar as his dad loved the Who and the mod scene, and his grandad was in the RAF!

We’ve had Wizz Jones’ 1963 Epiphone Texan on the bench for some work on the frets and saddle. It’s been his working guitar since Ralph McTell saw it in a London music shop and persuaded Wizz to buy it!

Andy’s just delivered Project’s latest two guitars – A Taw and a Lamorna,

Both with rosewood back and sides.

This Tamar with a red gum back and sides will shortly be going off to Coda.

Vaughan kindly sent us this photo of himself with his new purchase – a Torridge we made last year. Vaughan wrote “I have owned many hand-made guitars over the years, but this is the best ever. Excellent craftsmanship and a tone to die for”.

We repaired the broken heel on this Franklin.

Lastly this month, here’s the Tele we customised for Matt – we reshaped the neck, gave it a sunburst finish, made up a tortoiseshell scratch-plate and put it back together.

More news next month!

February 2023

Tigger’s looking a little downcast and thinks Tim is paying far too much attention to his new baritone Blackwater!

Bob came down from Weymouth to pick up his new Carey nylon crossover Brook.

Here it is –

Cedar top, 650 mm scale with a pyramid bridge,

A rosewood back and squared off headstock.

Danny came down to pick up the latest Lyn for Intersound.

We fitted a pick-guard to Dave Rich’s Taw. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed Dave plays his standard strung guitar left handed…. extremely proficiently as well!

Misty morning on the way in to work the other week!

Jon’s very pleased with his short scale Little Silver and found and SKB300 case to fit the guitar. Useful information for existing and future Little Silver owners.

We had an inquiry about a Gibson L – 0 shaped Brook so we drew up a plan in preparation.

George, Andy’s  grandson, has taken an interest in the Bovey Andy built for his daughters twenty five years ago!

This is an odd one – You buy a reliced Tele, dink the neck and want the damage repaired???

Lastly – our annual ‘snowdrops in the orchard’ photo!

January 2023

We’re about to send this Terz style Little Silver off to Jon in York,

Originally Jon was going for a highly contrasting black/white look with the maple, Engelman and ebony but when it got to the spray room he decided he’d like to go for this lemon shade.

The guitar has a short 560 mm scale and is tuned G to G, three semitones above standard pitch,

The black tuners are Schertlers.

Tim collected his all koa Lamorna in 2021 and decided to add a baritone Blackwater to keep it company! Here’s a full length shot, it has a 680 mm scale and is tuned C to C.

A  close up of the European spruce top

With  English walnut back and sides. Tim couldn’t make it over in time for this post but he’ll get a photo to us for the February news.

Another Blackwater here for Coda, this one with an Alaskan cyprus top

And figured bubinga back and sides.

Good to see Justin Hawkins playing a Brook on a couple of the Christmas editions of his very popular YouTube channel Justin Hawkins Rides Again!

Musician John Forrester got in touch to tell us he’d bumped into a couple in a micro pub near Canterbury and after a while the conversation turned to their favorite guitar – which, in both cases I was pleased to hear, turned out to be Brooks!

Local musician Johnny Fuller brought in this very nice Collings archtop for a fret dress, set up and to fit a Fishman pickup.

Andy’s still working on re-fixing those Martin binding jobs.

He took these photos on his phone on the way to work the other day during the cold spell.

Here’s the latest batch of guitars in the spray shop awaiting their final coats.

Just a reminder that we still have a rosewood Lyn here at the workshop for sale.

See you next month!