Sankey Guitars " 'Elly "

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Reclaim; if you’re going to make a guitar out of wood, genuinely the most ecologically-sound way is to make it out of wood that has already served its purpose in another form. ‘elly takes this to heart- every bit of wood was diverted from being discarded- moreover, I made the choice to keep some of the visual and textural aspects, which makes it all the more unique.

It’s not just a question of benefiting the earth, there can be tonal benefits to using very old, and therefore very well-seasoned wood. The body of ‘elly is a single-piece slab of eastern white pine from a barn floor, possibly 100 years old. The neck is a piece of elm which served time as the structural frame of an upright piano. Made in Lindsay, Ontario by the Mason and Risch company over 100 years ago, it has absorbed a lot of musical mojo and seems determined to give it back. The fretboard is a piece from a large chunk of incredibly dense Santamaria wood (Calophyllum brasiliense) which washed ashore on a friends’ beach in Belize. I don’t know what it was used for, but being full of nails I know it was used for something.

Even the pickups are reclaimed: they were originally a used set of unknown-name (but good-quality) telecaster pickups from a bin at local guitar shop Spaceman Music. extGen Guitar Parts then went to work modifying, rewinding and regaussing them to create a bigger, bolder sound than I had ever dreamed possible. Not only that, but they are wired to a four-way switch which provides an extra setting: both pickups in series, for a truly huge lead boost tone.

The custom-made bridge and tuner system I designed in conjunction with Island Instruments. It uses the Hipshot headless system as a basis and makes it compatible with the round brass saddles that are such an integral part of the telecaster sound.