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If you’Re inTo high-end acoustics, you’ll probably know of Keith Robson who makes the ultra high-end Robson tuners in the UK, which are usually engraved by Greg Goodwillie. They’re the kind of guitar part you don’t know whether you should put on a guitar or mantelpiece and just admire. Superb craft.
A few years ago Keith mentioned that the intrepid duo (who formed Robson Tuners Ltd in 2014) were considering making even more limited electric guitars engraved by Greg. “The brief was to build some of the finest engraved guitars ever seen, each constructed of the highest possible quality,” says Keith. Well, ladies and gentlemen, let us introduce Edna-May and Nellie-May, a celebration of the luthier and the engraver.
Greg spent 13 years as a master engraver at James Purdey Shotguns. His idea to produce his own hand-engraved guitars initially came from having been in the same workshop as Danny O’Brien, engraver of
the original Tony Zemaitis guitars. “EdnaMay was built in the Purdey factory by Phil Butcher and James Bryan,” says Keith. “The engraving was done by Greg and two fellow master engravers Paul Chung and John Dowell in their break times.”
Edna-May is the solidbody model with two-piece mahogany body and neck, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard and nitrocellulose finish. It’s powered by a pair of Bare Knuckle P-90 pickups and, of course, features Robson handmade tuners. “With Nellie-May [which was made by Brit luthier legend, Dave King] we wanted to do something different still by producing a semi-hollow with ‘f’ holes, creating a beautiful touch to accentuate the engraving,” adds Keith. With a similar specification Nellie-May also features a Madagascan rosewood headstock veneer and Lust for Tone pickups.
Guitar as art? No question, these are absolutely breathtaking.