Lashing Guitars Mantra:

The Short of it.

Lashing Guitars is a (primarily) one man operation in Ontario, Canada. This is my semi retirement business with a simple motto:  I do not build because I have to. I build because I want to.  Years of study, tooling and practice have gone into Lashing Guitars. If you need a Celluloid (Nitrate) Pickguard, a Slab neck replicated, an Exact '59 LP Burst, a '61 Strat built from scratch to the highest detail ... this is what I do.

My Services In Detail:

Restorations.

Half of my time is dedicated to restoring vintage solid body electrics from the 50's and 60's. Most notably Pre CBS era Fender and Late 50's Gibson products. I do not take on repair or restoration work  involving guitars built after 1969. I only get involved in high level detail restorations and am choosey as to what I take in. Getting back to authentic, functional specification is highest priority. Only so many pieces can be done exceeding well in a calendar year. Life's a journey not a destination .... if its on my bench, its because I love it. When you love what you do, the best tends to happen.

Custom Builds

Guitars made to extreme detail, mostly the replicating of classics. You'd be surprised how many famous (valuable)  Tele's, Strats or Les Paul bursts have identical twins for touring purposes. After 50 years things do get worn out, los/stolen or may be to valuable to risk traveling thru certain regions. I do not do the typical "custom shop" work. My clone builds are meant for the professional who's guitars are part of their personality and image. All parts and materials must be correct and authentic. Sound, playability and vintage specification of "appraisal" quality are paramount. This involves custom fabrication of all elements. I also manufacture guitars of my own design from time to time including exotic eye candy just for the sake of going over the top.

Vintage Consultations

The manufacturing process is the only way to understand and indentify markings of a vintage guitar. Many and all things can be reproduced. Not many do it exceptionally well. This is what separates pros from the cons.  I travel throughout the year to examine collectable pieces. I do not do online appraisals or cheesy book signing parties claiming I can tell vintage status across a dimly lit room or grainy photographs. Many dealers claim this uncanny ability and its a sideshow. Like anything in life - until you stand in the fire you will not know its burn. I fix and recreate these things all the time. I know what it takes to recreate old machinery markings and process scars. There are many ways to almost get it right (almost translates to wrong) and these dead giveaways in material and manufacture are the only way to truly tell the real McCoy from Decoy. I do in hand appraisals only. Items can be shipped to me or me shipped to the items.

Material Purchase and sales

Always buying lumber and creating materials. Obsolete things like Celluloid Nitrate. machining metal parts, casting knobs, etc. NOS tolex, sheet goods, parts ..... I am interested in all. I buy, manufacture and sell. Fine old woods, parts, pieces .... etc.

Contact

Email is the best way to contact me as I can answers questions at my leisure, whatever the hour. I work all the time.  lashing@lashingguitars.com  One liner emails such as "how much for burst" will guarantee no response and an entry to the blocked senders list. 

Background:

Starting guitar at 13, I immediately took to dissecting my guitars and amps (often to dire results). Later, as a teenager, I had the good fortune to work in a vintage shop with 2 fantastic repairmen. I didn't realize it at the time, but that job provided an excellent knowledge base which I continued for many years, traveling, playing, selling and repairing.

Mid to late 90's I decided to settle down and learn a "real skill" with computers. The timing was right and I had a great success in the dot com boom. During this time my involvement with guitars was primarily as a broker. I discovered opportunity the movement towards big box stores provided. Ever increasing politics and buyer requirements allowed me to help little stores have big buying power. Trading stock amongst dealers was a nice sideline to the computer business and many shops got items they otherwise would not have been able to ... met quotas they otherwise may have missed. This process opened my eyes to just how generic 99% of guitar product really is. 1000's of brand name new (and lots of vintage) guitars have passed thru my hands and the corners cut often amaze. The imports had gotten consistently better as domestic producers struggled.  Quality has not only taken a backseat to quantity - its not even on the same bus! Consumers by and large move away from utility and concentrate on image and price. Thus that void is the most filled.

Upon retiring from the computer biz I decided to dedicate myself to building the guitars I'd always loved. I still had many connections and soon was making reproductions for those who didn't want to take their prized pieces out on the road. The distressed guitar craze fueled public interest to the point where I decided to offer a limited line of my work. Orders quickly became many and today I pick and choose projects. Its not the dot com paycheck by any stretch but its much more fun. I prefer my workbench to the keyboard. Thanks to the big companies who left the void for quality wide open.

My customers get the type of instrument that could have been expected from the Classic 50's innovators. The values of these now vintage guitars demonstrates the disconnect of yesterdays pride to today's numbers. While there is a great deal of hype regarding vintage guitars, the old days did offer a proud level of workmanship. Vintage prices are way out of reach for most and big name reissues utilize methods and materials totally unlike the originals. What a great opportunity for builders like myself and their educated customers.

Lashing guitars are made to the specs of yesteryear. Experts have been unable to tell my guitars from the vintage models they resemble. Every tool marking is true, every detail on the money. Adjusted for inflation my guitars today cost no more than the classics did the year they were originally made.

Price is something that people ask all the time. Each project is unique. All my hand made and unique projects will be into several thousand dollars.