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Faversham man Nick Rogers on what inspired him to start making his own guitars

By: Thomas Reeves treeves@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 13:34, 27 March 2020

Updated: 15:28, 27 March 2020

A Faversham man says a passion for music was one of the reasons why he decided to start making guitars.

Nick Rogers, 50, has made 11 in total since he first took up the hobby about three years ago.

Nick Rogers who lives in Faversham

"Originally I was a toolmaker, making injection mould tools and I did that for 23 years," said Mr Rogers.

"When you are a toolmaker, everything has to be absolutely precise. I was working to one thousandth of a millimetre.

"So everything in my life had to be exactly right.

mpu1

"With that mind, and the fact when you get a bit older you get a bit more money behind you, and I’m very fond of playing the guitar, I was looking at buying quite a decent guitar.

"That got me thinking because you can pay something like a couple of hundred pounds for a guitar or you can pay £15,000 for a guitar.

"The engineering bit in my brain was saying ‘What makes a £15,000 guitar so good?'

"It’s only made of wood and metal, isn’t it?

"So I started looking into it and what the differences are in them."

Mr Rogers did that by buying a kit guitar from Australia.

mpu2

The Churchill Way resident, who runs Rogers Home Improvements, said: "That does exactly what it says on the tin.

"The body is already made, the neck is already made and you have to sort of put it together, do all the finishing bits and level all the fretwork on it. It’s quite a bit of work.

"So I bought this kit and it was a couple of hundred quid. It turned up and I started using it, just as a sort of learning curve.

"As it was, this kit was a bit pants really… Nothing was fitted properly!

"Anything that should have been a nice bushfit was loose, nothing was flat and it ended up driving me up the wall.

"I did so much work to make it into what I would say was a decent sort of guitar. I just thought to myself ‘Well, I reckon I could do better than this kit’.

"That planted the seed.

"I did so much work to make it into what I would say was a decent sort of guitar. I just thought to myself ‘Well, I reckon I could do better than this kit’. That planted the seed."

"I think that was about three years ago.

"Since then, I have been learning and I have made about 11 guitars now. I haven’t sold any but I haven’t really tried, to be honest.

"Me being me, I never think that they are good enough.

"But the last one I made, I think I’m going to sell because I’m really, really pleased with the last one."

Mr Rogers admits he has always been into his music.

He said: "I have always played guitar. I think I was 14 when I first started playing, not seriously though.

"I played in a band for a couple of years but I just enjoy the manufacturing side of it. I still do play, I play every day.

"But I just enjoy making them. There are different finishes, different techniques, [there is] hollow guitars and solid guitars.

"It’s very, very evolved.

"I didn’t realise when I started [how evolved the process behind making guitars has become] and I now have spent thousands of pounds on it but it is my hobby."

Now faced with a 12-week isolation period due to the medication he takes, Mr Rogers hopes to use the time to work on making more guitars.

"Right at the beginning of this, when it all kicked off in England, I did order a load of wood," he said.

"Because of the medication I’m on, I’m one of the ‘chosen ones’ to stay in for 12 weeks, so I thought I’d get some in.

"So I have loads of wood, I have got lots of ideas and I hope to have some sort of website so I can offer advice to people because there are lots of people on social media that like doing the same sort of thing.

"I’m on some groups on Facebook and I’m offering advice to people just starting out making their guitars.

"It’s just sort of snowballing now."

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