My name is Peter Westerberg, working as a luthier based in Stockholm, Sweden. I have been building guitars for 30 years and seven years as a professional. As I’m also doing repairs I put out just half a dozen guitars a year, mostly traditional bolt necks, but I opt for focus more on building.
"Flying Wrenches” was a very unconventional custom order....
The adjustable wrench is a Swedish invention (patented 1892) and the Swedish company Bahco was the first company to manufacture it. In the recent years Bahco have sponsored the Sweden Rock festival and they asked me if I could build a guitar in shape of a wrench for promotion. I made some sketches and eventually came up with this design and the Bahco folks told me to go ahead and build it. A friend helped me to transform my design into a CAD. However, only the body was CNC machined and the neck was made traditionally.
I choose alder for the body since it would be easier to route all the details and avoid labourious job with grain filler. The neck is made of laminated maple – the first choice for a Flying V type guitar would be mahogny but I wouldn’t risk someone breaking the neck. Initially, I was thinking about a Floyd Rose but I abandoned the idea since it would make the guitar even more complex to build.
Since it was a most unconventional design I had to find new methods and make several jigs. There were 7 or 8 dummies made in the CNC machine but still a good body blank was ruined. I spent approximatelly 100 hours correcting flaws and then filling, sanding and finishing the body. A friend of mine applied the decoration film (to emulate the steel finish surfaces) just some hours before it was delivered.
It sounds and plays very well - a real tool for shredding.
Body: American alder
Neck: American maple (laminated)
Fretboard: Ebony
Scale length: 24,75”
Bridge: HipShot Fixed Bridge
Tuners: Gotoh SG381-05
Pickups: Lundgren M6
Finish: Matte black polyester
Check out:
www.peterwesterberg.se/index.php/blogg-content
www.facebook.com/westerbergguitars
Instagram: westerbergguitars
Swedish pickup maker Lundgren: www.lundgren.se
