After his apprenticeship, Alan worked as a carpenter/joiner for 20 years before combining his craftsman's skills with his passion for the guitar. Building his first guitar for sale in 1994, his painstaking attention to detail and his use of the finest quality materials, are augmented by his intuitive feel for the relationship between the construction and the sound of the guitar.
Alan’s original workshop and home (which he had to build before he could start building guitars) were set in the middle of a wood on the Surrey / Sussex border, about 6 miles south of Godalming, near Guildford (UK). Now relocated to Norfolk he's always ready with a warm welcome !
The range of steel string guitars being crafted in the workshop includes flat top guitars, archtop guitars and resonator guitars and most recently a 'state-of-the-art' hi-tech electric guitar originally commissioned by Big Jim Sullivan has been added to the range.
Alan’s guitars have been commissioned by Guitar Junction Worthing; Hanks; Andy’s and the London Resonator Centre in Denmark Street. They were also very favourably reviewed in an article about Big Jim Sullivan, in the July 2008 issue of Guitar Buyer Magazine.
Alan is always happy to spend time , discussing the specific requirements that you want from your guitar, and always has guitars in stock ready for you to try.
Alan can also be contacted via:
www.MySpace.com/alanarnoldguitars
Alan (centre) with some customers at a recent 'customer get-together'
outside the workshop
And here's the old Workshop in
Winter Wonderland 2009.
Guitar building continued...
well except for one day, when Alan built a wooden sledge ;-)
Acknowledgements - Photographs courtesy of my good friend John Collyer.
Note - All appropriate woods have the
necessary CITES approvals.