Providence Hand Built Guitars

ORDERING
As all our instruments are built to order, lead times will vary based on the options you choose. Once we've discussed your build we will supply a rough timescale and will keep you updated throughout the process. We take a £600 deposit at time of ordering, with the balance payable on completion.

Occasionally we will have 'ready to go' instruments available for sale, keep an eye on this website and our social media pages for those!

PICKUPS
One of the biggest contributors to the sound of your guitar is the pickups - our preferred pickup brand is Monty’s, although there are a multitude of great pickup builders doing equally excellent work out there.

SOME OF OUR FAVOURITES
- Monty’s Retro Wind Jazzmasters
- Monty’s Retro Wind P90s
- Monty’s Retro Wind Firebirds
- Monty’s PAF Humbuckers

BODY MATERIALS
Choosing the right wood for your body and neck can heavily shape not only the tone, but also the feel and look of your instrument. There are plenty of lengthy guides online, such as this one.

SOME OF OUR FAVOURITES
- Roasted sugar pine
- Tulipwood / Poplar
- Mahogony
- Basswood
- Walnut

NECK
The neck is where most of your interaction with your instrument happens, and each of our necks is hand carved, shaped and sanded to your preference. We love to take the finish on the back of the neck down for a super smooth, fast playing guitar.

A good rough guide to material choices here

SOME OF OUR FAVOURITES
- Maple
- Walnut
- Mahogony

FINGERBOARD & FRETS
We often use ebony boards, and hold a stock of exotic ebony if you’d like a unique grain pattern on your board. Rosewood is also a great choice for a classic, softer feel. Fingerboard and fret ends will be rolled and rounded for a vintage, unhindered playing feel. Our preferred fretwire is Evo Gold, which falls somewhere between nickel and stainless steel in terms of hardness. We love the feel and look of it. Lots of info on fret materials here

BRIDGE
Choosing the right bridge is integral to your build. Whether you choose the unrivalled accuracy and tuning stability of a Mastery vibrato kit, the classic feel of a Bigsby or a more solid option like a tune-o-matic or wraparound bridge, the bridge plays a massive part in the character of your instrument.

A good general guide to bridge types here

SOME OF OUR FAVOURITES
- Mastery Vibrato kit
- Mastery bridge with hard tail
- Bigsby B5
- Vibrola trem
- Tune-o-matic
- Wraparound

FINISH
We prefer to finish our instruments in Nitrocellulose for many reasons - it allows the wood to breathe, it ages beautifully, and has a tactile classic feel. We can offer a thicker, more mirror-finish application, or thinner coats which age more amicably and restrict the wood less giving greater resonance. We also offer different levels of paint age checking and relicing of the whole instrument.