Ray has been making, repairing and setting up guitars from a converted outbuilding on the edge of town for the best part of three decades. We sat down with a pot of tea, a half-finished spruce top clamped to the bench, and a list of questions sent in by local players.

Tonewoods: What Actually Changes the Sound

Ask most players what they want and they will name a wood before they name a sound. Ray is gently sceptical about that.

"People come in asking for rosewood back and sides and a Sitka spruce top because that is what they read about, and that is a perfectly good place to start. But the species is only part of the story. How thick I leave the back, how I scallop the braces, how deep the body is, how heavy the bridge is, all of that changes the voice far more than swapping one rosewood for another."

His practical guide for anyone commissioning or buying:

• Spruce tops start crisp and open up over a year or two of playing. Sitka is the reliable workhorse; European spruce tends to be a touch sweeter and more responsive to a light touch.
• Cedar tops sound warm and mature from day one, which suits fingerstyle players and anyone who does not fancy waiting for the guitar to grow into itself.
• Mahogany backs give a dry, punchy midrange that sits beautifully in a mix. Helpful if you play in a band with another guitarist.
• Rosewood and its relatives add low-end depth and a shimmer up top, but can get muddy under heavy strumming if the top is braced too stiffly.
• Walnut and sapele are excellent, affordable alternatives that deserve far more attention than they get.

"My advice is always the same: play the guitar, not the specification sheet."

Setup: The Difference Between Playable and Painful

A great deal of Ray's work is not building at all. It is setup, and he reckons nine out of ten guitars leaving his bench play better than they did when they arrived.

"A guitar that fights you will make you play worse, and you will blame your hands. It is almost never your hands."

The sequence he works through:

• Neck relief first. A quarter turn at a time on the truss rod, then let it settle before measuring again. Cranking it hard is how you strip a thread.
• Nut slots next. If the slots are too high, open chords near the headstock feel like a workout and tuning drifts when you fret.
• Saddle height after that. As a rough target, around 2.4mm on the bass side and 1.8mm on the treble at the twelfth fret suits most acoustic players, and slightly lower for electrics.
• Intonation and fretwork last. A quick fret polish can transform a guitar that has been sitting unplayed for years.

He also suggests setting up for how you actually play. "If you gig with a capo on the fourth fret all night, I will set the guitar up for that, not for open position."

Bespoke Builds: Who Commissions Them and Why

Bespoke work is a small part of the business, but it is the part Ray talks about with the most enthusiasm. Commissions usually come from three sorts of player: the fingerstyle guitarist chasing a particular response, the gigging singer-songwriter who wants one instrument that does everything, and the player who simply has not found a factory guitar that fits their hands.

What can be tailored:

• Neck profile and width, from a slim 43mm nut up to a chunky 48mm for players who use altered tunings.
• Scale length, which affects both string tension and the reach of your fretting hand.
• Body depth and cutaway, balancing acoustic volume against comfort on a long stand.
• String spacing at the bridge, often overlooked and often the reason a guitar feels wrong.

"A build takes four to six months," he says. "I ask for a deposit, then I send photographs at every stage. The player gets to sit with it before the finish goes on. That conversation is half the value."

Looking After It Once It Leaves the Bench

Ray's aftercare advice is refreshingly blunt.

• Keep humidity between 45 and 55 per cent if you can. A cheap hygrometer costs less than a set of tuners and will save you a cracked top.
• Never leave a guitar in a hot car. Not for twenty minutes, not in the shade.
• Change strings before they go dead, not after. Dull strings make players think their guitar has lost its tone.
• Bring it in for a check-up once a year, even if nothing feels wrong. Small movements are cheaper to correct early.

He adds that a hard case is worth the money for anyone gigging regularly, and that a guitar stand in a sunny window is one of the more common causes of damage he sees.

The Local Live Scene, and Why It Matters

Ray tries to get out to as many local gigs as he can, partly for the pleasure of it and partly because it keeps him honest about what players need.

"Folk clubs, acoustic nights, open mics in the back room of a pub — that is where most of my customers actually play. It is a good reminder that a guitar has to work at low volume in a small room with a noisy fridge in the corner. That is a different job from sounding impressive in a shop."

He encourages players to support the venues and the makers on their doorstep. "Every instrument I build stays in the region. I get to hear it played a year later. You cannot put a price on that."