Howard Smith - Acoustic Guitar Pictures

Acoustic Photos

Pictures of just a few of the many acoustic instruments that I have worked on - click on any picture for more detail.

	A client really wanted a baritone 8 String acoustic but at the time a Taylor was way too expensive for him. The solution we decided on was to take an Alvarez 6 String baritone and add two strings to it.
	Without extending the headstock, the only way to add two machine heads neatly was to use planetary banjo tuners and position them down the centre of the headstock. The positioning of these holes was crucial to getting the string angles correct.
	I extended the bridge with a new piece of rosewood and carefully drilled holes for the two extra strings.
	The back of the headstock with the new tuners. It was a little bit Heath Robinson but it worked and sounded great!
	This old Radiotone archtop was in quite a state when it came to me for repair.
	I replaced the broken binding on the neck and body, refretted it and made a new bone nut. A good example of an instrument full of character given a new lease of life.
	This mandolin needed a pickup but a Fishman was a bit too expensive for the customer.
	From rosewood, I made a new top section for the bridge, routed a slot for a saddle, fitted an Artec pickup and connected this to an end pin jack. I would usually run the pickup wire through a hole in the soundboard but in this case the customer preferred to have the wire running through the F-hole.
	Another broken headstock and this time in two pieces.
	The front of the headstock after the repair. You can just make out where the break was but it repaired well.
	Here's the back of the same headstock.
	A nice solid-top Yamaha Compass. It needed a good quality under-saddle pickup fitting.
	The customer went for a Fishman Prefix with mini-controls just under the soundhole. The battery for the system is located in a velcro-backed bag attached to the heel block