The Redtail Guitar Story
I’m a self-taught guitar maker with 20+ years experience on top of a lifetime of woodworking knowledge. Guitar making started out for me when I received a request from my son to build him a special guitar of his own design. I owned a cabinet making business at the time, so we went there and laid out a guitar shape. We band sawed it out, hot glued kite string on it and called it a day. That was 1989. Since then, I’ve custom built over a dozen Redtail guitars and basses for my son, daughter and others.
I love the shape of Gibson guitars, so most of my projects are built with a similar style in mind. However, stepping outside the box and experimenting with new approached have proved to be my main inspiration, from my first hand drawn guitar, “Brownie”, to a Charlie Hunter inspired 8-string guitar/bass or a semi hollow 1275 double neck guitar.I try something new with every build.As of 2015 I've completed 20 custom guitars and basses.
I’ve also built and tinkered on tube amps for some time. I say, “if it don’t GLOW, it don’t go.” Old school analog circuits just have more dynamics, in my opinion, and this led me to build my first real amp, a Marshall JTM-45 kit from Metro Amp. Branching off from there, I’ve built numerous Fuzz pedals for my son and a Marshall 18 watt clone from a modified Hammond AO-35 organ chassis. The people at 18watt.com and Metroamp.com forums should take the credit for reintroducing tube amp building skills to thousands of guys like me.
Redtail Guitars is a true labor of love and I get just as much enjoyment out of making them as I do seeing them in the hands of my son Andy (from ProGuitarShop) and others. On the side, I operated my own ebay store (closed 2015) for 15 years, offering hard to find vintage guitar parts and tone capacitors. Please use this site as a resource for guitar making and amp builds by checking out the links. You can also contact me about my techniques and current projects.
Enjoy,
Greg Martin
Redtail Guitars
I love the shape of Gibson guitars, so most of my projects are built with a similar style in mind. However, stepping outside the box and experimenting with new approached have proved to be my main inspiration, from my first hand drawn guitar, “Brownie”, to a Charlie Hunter inspired 8-string guitar/bass or a semi hollow 1275 double neck guitar.I try something new with every build.As of 2015 I've completed 20 custom guitars and basses.
I’ve also built and tinkered on tube amps for some time. I say, “if it don’t GLOW, it don’t go.” Old school analog circuits just have more dynamics, in my opinion, and this led me to build my first real amp, a Marshall JTM-45 kit from Metro Amp. Branching off from there, I’ve built numerous Fuzz pedals for my son and a Marshall 18 watt clone from a modified Hammond AO-35 organ chassis. The people at 18watt.com and Metroamp.com forums should take the credit for reintroducing tube amp building skills to thousands of guys like me.
Redtail Guitars is a true labor of love and I get just as much enjoyment out of making them as I do seeing them in the hands of my son Andy (from ProGuitarShop) and others. On the side, I operated my own ebay store (closed 2015) for 15 years, offering hard to find vintage guitar parts and tone capacitors. Please use this site as a resource for guitar making and amp builds by checking out the links. You can also contact me about my techniques and current projects.
Enjoy,
Greg Martin
Redtail Guitars
