Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eastern

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

OK, guys, we're almost there. Make sure to start those questions coming in Tuesday at 9:00 Eastern.

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

So, is this going to be done here on the forum, or on another chat page?

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

It'll be right here in The Guitar Shop.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

:cool2::cool3:

:thanks: to Evan AND Peter!

 

[tone4days]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

submitting early 'cuz i got meetings this am - will read my answers after-the-fact

1) welcome and thanks for doing this Peter

2) can you talk a bit about the ramifications of having neck binding when it comes time for a refret? .. .does the neck get stripped of the binding then refretted then rebound? or something else? ...

3) what are your thoughts on stainless steel frets especially as far as how they sound in an electric solidbody guitar amplified ?

4) what tonal variances do you hear from (sub)species of woods found native in Oz to their cousins found native in the US?

5) how do you determine what neck carve you'll use on a given instrument? how do you get that carve translated from your thought to the piece of raw lumber?

6) whats the deal with the lovely model? who is she? how'd you get her to model your guitars? how can we see more of her?

 

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

I'll drop some in early too...

Peter, thanks very much for doing this. I'm quite interested in how you came up with your body design. Some builders stick to more lets say 'traditional' body styles, be it styles having a lot in common with Les Pauls, teles, strats etc. What was it that made you want to deviate away from those standards and how did you come about with the shape used for your Crossleys?

Of course i do not need to tell you that they are beautiful intruments

Many thanks

Jeff

 

[Peter Crossley]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

submitting early 'cuz i got meetings this am - will read my answers after-the-fact

1) welcome and thanks for doing this Peter

2) can you talk a bit about the ramifications of having neck binding when it comes time for a refret? .. .does the neck get stripped of the binding then refretted then rebound? or something else? ...

3) what are your thoughts on stainless steel frets especially as far as how they sound in an electric solidbody guitar amplified ?

4) what tonal variances do you hear from (sub)species of woods found native in Oz to their cousins found native in the US?

5) how do you determine what neck carve you'll use on a given instrument? how do you get that carve translated from your thought to the piece of raw lumber?

6) whats the deal with the lovely model? who is she? how'd you get her to model your guitars? how can we see more of her?

1) its a pleasure, although the answers may get a bit muddled around 4.30 am !!

2) Neck binding would remain on the neck when it comes time for a refret.
Now, if the guitar has the binding humped around the end of the fret, as some Gibsons do, then that has to go.. its scraped flat after the frets have been removed. The tang of the new fret is undercut so that it lays flat on top of the binding, and then finished by angling (filing) the fret end at 35 degress and rounding off.

3) I'll be honest here, I can not tell the difference in tone between stainless and nickel silver frets. I'm sure someone with absolutely perfect pitch may be able to hear the difference.. I cant.
The big bonus is wear.. stainless steel is a lot harder than nickel silver and therefore lasts longer.

4) We have a couple of good timbers, Blackwood and Myrtle (Tasmanian) Queensland Maple, Cooktown Ironwood, Red Cedar (Queensland/New Guinea)Silky Oak (known as lacewood in the US) and some quite interesting desert species.
The blackwood is good for tops, a tone not dissimilar to mahogany. Tasmanian Myrtle is similar to Maple, also for tops, Queesnland maple is a great all round timber bodies, necks and tops, very much like mahogany and a joy to work with. Light in weight and very resonant.
Cooktown Ironwood is a killer fretboard timber, it is very dense, sinks in water !!! not as brittle as ebony, and imparts a really nice mellowness to the guitar. not bright or sharp like ebony. Red Cedar is a good top timber for semi and full accoustics. This stuff is as resonant as hell, very good. I have used it for speaker cabinets 1 x 12 cabs loaded with Eminence Wizards. Killer cabs.
Also we have a very good accoustic timber her known as King William Pine, but seeing as how we are Australian its always known as King Billy Pine.
Silly Oak is good for decoration such as neck laminations etc.

5) Neck carves are done by measurement as a secondary check, but mainly done by feel. You get a feel for what constitutes a good neck, it takes a bit of practice becuase an unstrung neck feels very very different to a strung one. but preactice is what it is all about.
Meausrements are all in my head !! but that goeas for all the measurements on a guitar. Again practice.
Build ten to fifteen guitars and then throw them away !! hahaha, sad but true.

6) :naughty:

 

[Peter Crossley]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

I'll drop some in early too...

Peter, thanks very much for doing this. I'm quite interested in how you came up with your body design. Some builders stick to more lets say 'traditional' body styles, be it styles having a lot in common with Les Pauls, teles, strats etc. What was it that made you want to deviate away from those standards and how did you come about with the shape used for your Crossleys?

Of course i do not need to tell you that they are beautiful intruments

Many thanks

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

the first couple of guitars I built were indeed the "standard models" copies of LP's and strats.
I realised that building copies of other peoples work/designs is not really an artistic endeavour, so I played around with designs for a while, making prototypes and seeing if the reality met the expectation. Some points did, others did not. So I kept the good points, discarded the not so good, and kept designing.
The P series took about a year of design work. It has a lot of ergonomic design gone ito its making.
It will sit comfortably on your knee without sliding onto the floor, It will sit at exactly the right angle when worn on a strap. The neck to body join is a "magic" number that imparts a lot of strength to the join, but also has the added benefit of giving unprecedented access to the upper frets.
The H series only took a couple of months, as it really is an adapted P.
It is of course hollow, and only has a solid section under the bridge/string through area, and the neck pocket.
The inside of the guitar has a lot of uneven surfaces and staggerd sections to break up any standing waves, (feedback generators) and the sound holes are purposely small, and angled against each other to let the guitar breathe but not amplify, as an F hole does (another source of feedback)

The shape of the guitar was determined by several points, the lower horn to lock into your knee, the upper horn to project along the neck a certain distance to allow a strap to corectly position the guitar for playing, and the back contours to hug your body.
The shape comes from joining those points together.

 

[Guest]

Re: Guest Luthier Series - Peter Crossley (Crossley Guitars) Tuesday, Sept. 1 9-5 Eas

Having thought about building some instruments for more years than I care to admit I have to ask:

1 How did you do the jump? I mean, from thinking "I could probably build a guitar" to actually picking up the tools, gathering the materials and getting it done. Was it as simple as deciding or did you have any hoops to jump through, doubts, etc.

2 How did your first few instruments came out?

3 Were they copies of something else, you present design even if only related to it or something out of your head that you wouldn't dream of doing today.

4 What would you like to try? I know you build them the way you want but there has to be something you would love to have but for some reason can't do at this point (due to price, technological limitations, or simply haven't worked out yet in your head how it would be).