Gordon Smith guitars in Northamptonshire

View Gordon Smith Guitars in stock at Forsyth Music Shop here

One of the nice things about working with John and Linda at the original Gordon Smith workshop in Manchester was that, being just down the road, the opportunity to drop in for a cup of tea and a nosy about what guitars were currently on the bench was always available. When the chaps at Auden took over production of Gordon Smith last year they were quick to extend the same offer and we finally made it down to Northampton to check out the new facilities.

A quick look through the workshop door and we could immediately see that several of the extremely ingenious self designed jigs and machines that John built to facilitate the build process are still being used. Aside from these jigs the guitars are very much bench made instruments with band saws, thickness and spindle sanders, hand routers and pillar drills being used for most of the build stages. It's a little more labour intensive than letting a CNC machine do the work but it's a relief to see that the traditional hand building techniques are still at the heart of Gordon Smith.

Although the build process is much the same as in Manchester, many of the templates used for the Manchester built guitars had worn considerably over years of use, so one project that has already been completed has been to renew the old templates, ensuring that the guitars are closer to how John originally envisaged them in terms of outline. We were impressed with the level of consistency of the builds that were in various stages of completion as we progressed through the production line.

There were 30 or so guitars in various stages of production but very few finished instruments - the new team are working at full pelt fulfilling orders and every finished guitar ships within a few days of final assembly and QC. Just being finished when we were in the shop was a beautiful double cut Graduate in a black burst finish, which we were able to try out. Our immediate feeling picking it up was one of familiarity: this guitar felt and sounded exactly as we would expect a Manchester made Gordon Smith to perform. The neck profile we were expecting to be perfect as we'd already spied John's neck carving machine in the workshop, and we expected a good set up based on the quality of Auden guitars, Gordon Smith's sister brand that are set up by the same people. But they have also captured the Gordon Smith sound - in particular they have a snappier bass response than the Gibson models that inspired them. We were also very impressed by the fit and finish on these new instruments: clearly the workshop are making every effort to get these new instruments perfect in terms of quality control.

There's much more to tell: we also shot some video and spent some time working on our upcoming Morris Minor GS guitars that are nearing completion and needed some last minute spec adjustments and decision making. In the meantime though we'd like to share a quick photo guide to the new workshop:

1. A selection of timber air drying at the Gordon Smith workshop. Gordon Smith mainly carry Spanish Cedar, Mahogany, Spruce and Maple for the majority of models

2. Mahogany neck blanks ready to be shaped. Gordon Smith are now using one piece necks on their guitars. The stacked boards to the left are for an upcoming Auden project.

3. John Smith's old neck shaping jig, now in a nice (and health and safety approved!) new cabinet. The standard width Gordon Smith necks are rough cut on this machine and then hand finished

4. A pile of Gordon Smith bodies with back routes completed ready for sanding and edge rounding

5. A completed Gordon Smith GS body ready for the neck to be installed

6. Completed bodies and necks waiting for orders. In order to keep waiting times on new orders down Gordon Smith made these components in batches so that the first stages are already done and ready for pickup routes and assembly.

7. A pair of Grafs colour coated and drying. One of our favourite Gordon Smith models and currently getting a lot of orders - one of these is coming our way

8. Completed Graf necks with the new Gordon Smith logo ready for clear coating

9. Another of John Smith's inventions, the trusty Gordon Smith pickup winder doing its work

10. Pickup components. The new pickups still follow the original Gordon Smith design but there are some upgraded parts in there

11. Completed Gordon Smith Humbuckers ready for installation

12.Wiring looms are also pre assembled to save time when putting the guitars together. There are a few come looms to Gordon Smith models and they're all here

13. Installing the wiring loom on a Gordon Smith Graduate

14. And we're there! The completed Gordon Smith Graduate set up and ready to go

15. Yours truly road testing one of our new collaborative special edition guitars. We made a few minor changes, designed a pick guard and the finished guitars should be with us in a few weeks. There are more Forsyth / Gordon Smith projects in the pipeline so watch this space...