b'necks were very strong and stable but ratherI made two guitars for Stefan Grossman very early chunky, so when the company producing theon, with all the bracing, front and back, routed out aluminium closed down, I designed another sectionin complicated I-Beam cross sections in a double X that I thought would work better, and invested inpattern to get the stiffness to weight ratio as low as my own extrusion dies to have it specially made.possible. Stefans traditional friends in the US were That design served me well until about 1982 whennot impressed with my scientific take on guitar I decided that the market had changed, and that Imaking, and he didnt keep the guitars, but I know needed to provide slimmer, adjustable necks. It alsowhere they are. One of them is rumoured to have introduced me to custom extrusions, which I usedbeen used to write something called Thriller and for many projects and products over the years. is still in everyday use. The soundboard bracing evolved originally fromThat sort of theoretical approach to guitar making classical fan braces, with some of the sections madeis a lot more acceptable now, but Ive got a bit bored larger, and each time I made a guitar, I wouldwith it and come to wonder how relevant it is. More try and work out the way the stresses would beabout that later no doubt. distributed by the braces and shapes. I had someA big part of guitar making is in the finish. When experience in frozen stress analysis, and I wasmaking one or two instruments, I used French well trained in strengths concepts such as Youngspolish or spirit varnish and lots of hand rubbing, Modulus and Moments of Area so I didnt find itbut that wasnt good enough for a professional hard. I dont think anyone had applied much theoryinstrument. There was no one who could tell me to guitars before this time. I decided that I shouldhow to do it and it took a long time to work it out. be able to balance the bracing in such a way that ifI knew that the process would involve ever-finer any distortion did take place over time, it wouldntgrades of abrasive, and large amounts of friction. cause the action height to change, and when EddieI put a lambswool bonnet on an electric drill, Green started to spend time at the workshop, hesquirted T Cut car polish all over the guitar, and ran some of those ideas through the computers atstood for nearly a day with each guitar, working the British Aerospace for me.polisher over the surfaces. I remember the delight Tree HuggerThis picture was taken in the woods at our house. We planted about 700 native The way I like to work hardwoods, and even I havent been the cause of that many trees being cut down, I love this shot, it says so much about the way I like to work now, five completelyso the books balance. My daughter thinks different guitars being built alongside each other. The guitars are made with a hugeI look weird, and Richard Hawley thinks variety of timbers and detail specifications, usually for individuals that I have talked to atIm trying to steal a tree, but -its my oak length; or sometimes that I have specified myself to get the best possible result. We stilltree, and Ill hug if I want to. make a range of standard designs, and the two ways of working happily support each other.37'