The Story of Harrison Guitars
Harrison Guitars is a one-person shop run by me, Douglas Harrison. To ensure quality and consistency, I do all the woodworking, finishing, and electronics in my workshop in Toronto, Canada.
I started playing guitar in 1972 and regularly perform around the Toronto area in a jazz duo, trio or quartet setting.
As professional guitar repairman since 1980 I have had the opportunity to study guitar construction in depth. I have also enjoyed a close working relationship with renowned luthiers G.W. Barry and David Wren.
Since the mid 1980’s I have built a variety of custom electric guitars and basses. In 1992 my love of archtop guitars led me to build a 16” archtop for myself, orders for similar guitars quickly followed and I have been busy building guitars since.
In recent years, in an effort to keep up with current guitar orders, I have taken time away from my restoration/repair work to focus on building.
My experience as a guitar repairman has given me an insight into which building methods are the most successful. Each aspect of the guitar has been carefully considered to achieve the best tone, stability and longevity.
All woods used are carefully selected from specialty wood sources. To ensure stability the woods are then left to air dry for a minimum of one year in the controlled shop environment.
The workshop is kept at a stable humidity of 45% year round. While this minimizes the wood shrinkage and expansion that can occur from seasonal changes, it is still wise to use a humidification device if the humidity drops below 45%.
Necks are made with quarter sawn wood. This method of orienting the grain results in a stiffer neck and also reduces seasonal movement. The neck also uses 2 or 3 piece lamination to enhance stability. Neck shape and width are optional to accommodate the player’s preferences.
Fretboards are made from carefully seasoned woods, generally ebony or rosewood, although I often have other exotic species available; for example, Macassar ebony, Pau Ferro, Brazilian rosewood or Cocobolo. Please inquire.
Construction of the back begins by jointing the rough cut wedges. Initial jointing is done on a power jointer, then the surface is carefully hand-planed using specialised jointer plane. This provides the optimal gluing surface for this critical joint.
The same procedure applies to the top blank. After jointing, the blanks are rough sawn to shape then the inside surface is planed flat.
The top and back are rough-shaped to the arched profile.
The refined outside arch is hand planed on the top and back.
The sides are clamped into the frame while the blocks and linings are glued in place.
Once the outside arch is complete the inner face is drilled to remove material and give a rough depth guide for carving.
The inner surface of the back is now complete and ready to be glued to the sides. Note the small wooden pins in the back, these align with holes in the neck and tail blocks and prevent movement during gluing.
The back is glued to the sides using a caul which distributes the clamp pressure evenly around the back perimeter.
This view shows details of the side construction such as; kerfed linings, cross-grain reinforcements, multi-port side vent, and the curved wedge (upper left) that will become a Laskin style arm rest.
The top is now braced and the braces require final profiling.
The completed top is now glued to the sides.
The box is now routed on top and back to fit the binding and purfling. The dovetail mortise shown was cut in the neck-block before the top and back are attached.
The binding channel is cut for the Laskin style armrest.
The completed binding on the armrest section. This guitar features a Paua-shell purfling around the top, neck and peghead. The Paua is fitted between two black/white/black purfling strips with maple binding at the outer perimeter.
An uncarved neck on the router table. The binding and purfling channels have just been cut using the custom cutter visible under the neck.
Binding the peghead begins with a thin black/white/black purfling strip. The completed peghead will have a Paua-shell strip sandwiched between the purfling strips with an ivoroid binding on the perimeter.
The finished neck is wet-sanded and polished before attaching to the guitar body
The finished instrument!