Roeboy Ampersand Guitar One SM
So in 2019 I found an old arch top guitar hanging BY A HOOK in an old junk shop. The back and face split in several places, the back coming off and the sides misshapen. That hook through the headstock and deep pits in the ebony fretboard should have told me to walk away. But the inlay in the fretboard was unique, and I’m a fan of English history… so the name, while unfamiliar as a brand name made me wonder… $35 later and it came home with me. The neck was the width of a baseball bat’s business end, and mysteries clattering came from its inner depths.
I hung it on my office wall and promised I would have a go at gluing it back together. I did a bit of research and discovered this guitar was a 1930s Cromwell. It was a “house guitar” made for merchant shops by Gibson. Cheaper and less refined then their more expensive Gibson brethren, house guitars filled out stock and made for attainable starter guitars.
They often shared designs and materials, but had less time spent on them in refining those materials.
Anyway, then I took Nick Lenski’s luthier class, and figured maybe I could do more than simply glue the guitar together again. Showing it to Nick and fellow Luthier Steve Sauve got some great ideas and inspired me to open the Cromwell up and see about a rebuild…
But then I really got a wild hair and decided to rebuild it into something more than a luthier practice project….
I have built several amps and electrics over the years. Always slapping or branding the name “Roeboy!” on the final product as my signature. But what if I started making an effort to rework unplayable and destroyed instruments into new and wonderful instruments? Thus was born the “&” project. The ampersand signifying a combining of things new and old to reuse, repurpose, and most importantly make music with.
So here is the guitar from before to now… it’s been a fun challenge!
More Ampersands are in my future for sure.