WHAT’S BEING SAID ABOUT LONGFELLOW GUITARS

Made Magazine, 2010

‘It used to be that guitar aficionados could identify a particular musician instantly, but these days amplification and effects can make guitars sound like anything you want them to.

Back in the 1920s, guitarists had difficulty being heard above trumpets, saxophones and drums during live performances. The guitar had to become louder, which was achieved by putting thin aluminium cones inside their hollow bodies so that they resonate during playing. These Instruments are known as Resonators and have an iconic sound of their own.

Peter Longfellow, a UK metalworker and a fan of resonators, recognised that guitars, like cars, are the ultimate boy’s toy. An expert in the properties of metalwork and instructor to postgraduate artists and designers at the Royal College of Art in London, UK, he decided to exploit the full potential of aluminium and felt there was room for something different - a guitar with a special look, feel and tone.

Aluminium is soft and light, has a natural resonance and can sustain a note. The material shields andy electrical interference and is comfortable to handle, stable and does not discolour or perish over time.

Wooden guitar bodies and necks tend to absorb and dampen a lot of the resonance, so limit sustain both of which musicians like having the advantage and control of. Longfellow started copying traditional Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster and Gretsch/Gibson type designs but went to to develop concepts more sympathetic with the metal itself.

All aluminium guitars are available machined out of solid billets of metal, but Longfellow has found that casting the necks and bolting them to aircraft-grade sheet, welded onto hollow bodies, makes ‘the whole thing ring’.

He says, ‘There is a bit of a myth about aluminium welding, that it is difficult or not a valid production process and should be avoided. This is not the case - old fashioned oxytocin's/acetylene aluminium/lithium welding is tricky and an acquired skill but the TIG method [using a tungsten electrode in a shield of inert gas] makes it easy. The metal expands very little when heated and distorts hardly at all, it’s like icing a cake’.

The guitar bodies strengthened with their own infrastructure, then finished with a durable, hardening matt lacquer.

Longfellow concludes, ‘Resonator guitars these are not - but resonate, sustain and look good they do’.

In the town of Hanwell, located in the West London borough of Ealing where he grew up, metalworker/artist/luthier Pete Longfellow creates one-of-a-kind aluminum guitars out of his small workshop that’s a scant 200 yards from Jim Marshall’s (yes, that Jim Marshall) first shop. It’s the same borough where the Rolling Stones came together at the famed Ealing Club—one of the main hubs of British R&B—and where it was common and “no big deal” for the teen-aged Longfellow to sit with the likes of Keith Moon and Peter Townshend at local pubs. “Music was all around, and I watched it and bought it and have done it ever since,” says Longfellow.

Longfellow got his career started with a mechanical engineering apprenticeship as a toolmaker. He then went on to run a metalworking shop helping and instructing postgraduate, art and design students at the Royal College of Art in London, where he still is today. It’s in his home workshop where he works on guitars and other commissions. In fact, he first started building aluminum guitars simply because he wanted to have an instrument to play in his workshop when things were quiet, one that he could play without having to worry if it got “knocked.” And because Longfellow was already a fan of resonator guitars and their use of aluminum for the cones, it made perfect sense for him to “have a go at an all ‘ally’ guitar.”

Longfellow, who learned about guitar building from Jon Free of Black Guitars and legendary tech Stuart Monks, knew that past attempts at aluminum guitars had a reputation for easily going out of tune. But through his experience in working, welding, and sandcasting aluminum, Longfellow didn’t really feel that aluminum should have this affect, since he was aware that the metal has little chance of expansion or distorting, and that it shrinks less than one percent when going from molten to cold. “I knew of aluminum’s qualities of resonance, so I thought I’d better get at it,” he says.

Though his first attempt by using a cutdown aluminum pipe with a plate welded to it for a neck didn’t quite work out, Longfellow was encouraged by its looks. After some initial trial and error using cast aluminum for the necks of his first few instruments, he found that even with relieving the weight somewhat by machining the necks with CNC, he still couldn’t get the guitars to balance the way players are used to. Since then, he’s been mostly using wood for his necks.

Longfellow says that he doesn’t make two guitars the same and that his favorite is “always the last one I made.” He admits that it can sometimes be difficult trying to think of shapes beyond those from Fender, Gibson, and Gretsch, but that he does try to make his shapes more sympathetic to the material itself. “I am influenced by the great shape of the Gretsch lap steel,” says Longfellow. Be it something fashioned from one of the classics, a way out there design, or one of his new amp casings, Longfellow has found a way to craft a wide assortment of instruments from this highly resonant material.

The luthier prefers to make his own bridges and fittings as much as possible. Even though Longfellow doesn’t believe aluminum guitar makers will make an impact in the mainstream industry, he feels he has something uniquely different to offer. “My guitars have a good, strong sound with nice sustain. My customers like that and their look,” he notes.

Full article here

Ilja Krumins of Gamechanger Audio inerview, Perfect Circuit, 2020

‘In terms of Guitars, I am a life-long fan of Fender (and Gretsch). I think that they sound and play fuckin great and I'll take a 600$ Mexican Tele over some Boutique monstrosity any day of the week. 

There is ONE exception though—I recently started researching aluminum instruments, and kind of have fallen in love with them...I've tried out multiple brands, but so far hands-down the best work is by a British “luthier” named Pete Longfellow; the brand is called Longfellow.

He makes incredibly beautiful aluminum guitars, and I love his approach - his main focus is on building a Beautiful Hand-welded Aluminum body. Then he'll take a decent neck, some Fender pickups and a set of decent hardware and simply put it all together.

I will be honest with you—I haven't been this happy with any guitar in my life. I have no idea if it sounds better or worse than anything else, but it's just such a joy to play it, it has an original sound, look and feel and, most importantly—it inspires! It isn't even that expensive (under 1.5k), but I still kinda feel spoiled to have it…’

Full interview here