All words written by Tom, the latest owner of a TSG. For the guitar enthusiast, it is a good time to be alive. There are plenty of talented luthiers nowadays, and this healthy emulation drives them to keep pushing the envelope of guitar building. This will be my first custom built guitar, so the excitement is paramount after a wait of almost 2 years For the guitar enthusiast, it is a good time to…
All words written by Adrian, the latest owner of a TSG. I stumbled across Tom’s guitars at a Will McNicol workshop in Ripon. I have a professional level, small factory built instrument, but was taken aback by the tone, balance and projection of the Sands M I played that day. I was particularly impressed with the gorgeously rounded trebles. Tom is doing something very special in this area. It’s…
All words written by Will McNicol. Having the opportunity to work with Tom on another instrument was wonderful. We learnt a lot from my first, a Signature Model S named ' Jupiter ', and this new one - an M12 - aimed to provide a new sonic soundscape for me to explore. I'm very fortunate to be in the position of having played and recorded nearly every instrument that Tom has made, and as such have…
All words written by Evan, the latest owner of a Tom Sands Guitar. “A few weeks in, and I absolutely love this guitar. I’m going to keep it forever and play it every day. It’s inspired me to aspire to do 3 things: do more arranging, practice pieces to competency and record them, stop messing around and build a ukulele already with all this wood I’ve been collecting.” This is an extraordinarily…
Every year we try to produce something really special. A guitar that showcases the best that we can do using the finest materials we can get our hands on. This year we have knocked it out the park with a new guitar called Reina . Reina is an M12 - a size and design that has become our calling card and TSG’s signature sound. She has back and sides made from The Tree Mahogany , the legendary…
Salacia is one of our most visually harmonious instruments - the material choices on this guitar just work so well together. A Model S with an absolutely awesome set of coastal Redwood for the soundboard - it’s a beautiful example of the species. It has some lovely tight grain, it’s quarter sawn - with this unbelievable QR code style medullary figure, but what’s really special are the purple hues…
All words courtesy of Tom Smith, the latest owner of a custom TSG. “Beautiful instruments inspire you to pick them up and are hard to put down, which is key” For the guitar enthusiast, it is a good time to be alive. There are plenty of talented luthiers nowadays, and this healthy emulation drives them to keep pushing the envelope of guitar building. I have always been intrigued by the work of Mr.…
Merel is my mid century, half century guitar: My 50th build!) A Model M14 with Mastergrade European Spruce for the soundboard, which is one of my favourite top woods to use - you can’t really go wrong with this one, it has such amazing clarity. We used Mun Ebony - also called Moon Ebony - for the fingerboard and the bridge. We have some very interesting and very special English grown Claro Walnut…
Introducing Scarlett , a Model S 12 fret guitar. This guitar is a celebration of the finest quality materials that money can buy. We used two spectacular woods, with equally spectacular stories behind them. First up is the very famous and the very beautiful quilted mahogany from The Tree - this is the only mahogany tree ever to have been found that exhibits this insane quilting and beautiful…
Three years in the making, but worth the wait…introducing Clemmie . Clementine, or Clemmie for short, is our apples and oranges guitar . A Model M14 with an Adirondack Spruce soundboard, Wengue binding, bridge and crown cut fingerboard, English Bramley Apple back and sides, and the oranges are everywhere - in the perfling, the side dots, the inside of the sound hole, we have bright orange veneer…
All words by Hugh, the latest proud owner of a Tom Sands Guitar. “...this will become a design classic” As a designer myself I really appreciate the details and embellishments and in my opinion this will become a design classic. For me the silhouette is the most successful proportion wise in the S model. It is completely distinctive and could not be mistaken for anything but a Tom Sands guitar.…
Introducing Angelika . This is one of those guitars that when strung up for the first time you know you have a live one! It is loud. It is punchy. It is the best guitar I’ve ever made. We’re looking at a Model M 12 with European Spruce soundboard with that gorgeous medullary ray silking - one of the best pieces I’ve ever handled for its stiffness to weight ratio and aesthetic beauty. The back and…
We’ve sent a lot of beautiful guitars to their new homes this year, each with its own special story and unique to its owner…but sometimes a guitar will come together that really makes me gasp. My guitar of 2022 is Leilani, a Hawaiian name meaning "heavenly garland of flowers" or "royal child". A Model S guitar made with Master Grade Italian Spruce and a ridiculous set of Hawaiian Koa from the…
Araminta is our latest white label guitar from the workshop. White label guitars are our chance to experiment and push the boundaries of guitar-making, and this is no exception. Araminta is a Model M14 in beautiful Carter Redwood , bound with Honduran Rosewood , a Honduran Mahogany neck, handmade German Scheller machine heads and some outrageous London Plane from Kensington High Street. Kensington…
Would you believe me if I told you that wood that has been lying in a bog for over 5000 years can be turned into a stunning instrument? Introducing my oldest ever guitar, Noah. He’s a model M12, short scale guitar made from a set of old, Salvaged Redwood and ancient Fenland Black Oak, radio carbon-dated to be around 5,300 years old! We used a hand rubbed oil varnish and an opened grain finish,…
A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to be joined by Katie Spencer, one of our favourite singer songwriters here at Tom Sands Guitars. Katie treated us to a breath-taking rendition of her song “Sweet and Gentle” , taken from her 2nd album “The Edge of Land” released in May this year. Playing on Lola , an M12 Swiss Spruce Madagascar rosewood Tom Sands guitar, Katie really blew our minds. Tom…
All words written by Nico. Art has forever been essential to me because it is, parallel to the cultural reasons, through drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, playing… that my neuroatypical mind could express itself in a manner that neurotypical minds could understand it... building thus bridges between my Inner World and their Inner Worlds. Nature has ever been elemental to me because it is,…
All words courtesy of Jordan, the latest member of the TSG alumni. “The guitar is a tiny powerhouse” I have been a dreadnought player my whole life and in love with the deep, cavernous bass such guitars provide. But after turning 50, I decided for ergonomic reasons—and a touch of midlife crisis— that I wanted a smaller guitar. My friend Eric, my authority on all things lutherie, recommended I…
All words courtesy of Dan, the owner of Tom’s 17th custom build. I first met Tom at a talk from his mentor-to-be, Ervin Somogyi. It was just as he was sharpening his chisels to go out to America for his training. I remember being extremely excited that someone would be bringing back that knowledge and expertise to England, and thinking that I ought to give Tom a deposit then and there… I wish I…