Welcome to Hrafn Guitars!
Pronunciation: /r̥ɑvn/ (rah-vn) /gi-tahrs/
I make boutique guitars and basses inspired by Norse mythology.
When I’m not making guitars, I also make guitar picks, EDC items and various woodworking projects.
Heavyweight bachis
For a recent bachi commission, I was asked to make the bachi as heavy as possible whilst maintaining the form factor I produced for smaller hands.
1930s fuel can cap coins
These coins are made from a selection of 1930s brass caps from vintage English fuel cans.
Friðþjófr/Fritjof – Thief of Peace
Friðþjófr or Fritjof means “Thief of Peace” in Old Norse. This shape is optimised for high-speed licks, but works just as well chugging chords. A full bevel runs down both main edges for pick scrapes, and the back edges are unbevelled for improved grip.
This shape is the primary pick design I make and sell. You can usually find them on my Etsy.
Mikill bass picks
Mikill is old Norse for “great” or “large” in size. I designed this pick style when transitioning from playing the guitar to playing the bass, and found traditional bass picks didn’t suit me.
You can usually find them on my Etsy.
Bachis 2.0
Following the success of the first run of bachis, I received a commission for a bachi for smaller hands.
At the time, I had a sheet of delrin in stock intended for pick making, however realising this made it ideal for blades, I set about designing a construction style to suit the thickness of the stock (4 mm).
I decided to replicate the Nagauta shape I’d used previously as, to me, that provides the most comfortable grip.
#plywoodstrat – The Napier Railton Tribute Guitar
This is a post I’ve been looking forward to writing for a very long time.
For those who’ve not been following this story, this is my first guitar, a Westfield Strat copy, complete with a plywood body nailed together in some places.
For reference, initially I named this project “plywoodstrat” and gave it a matching hashtag for Instagram; however, I later settled on the Napier Railton theme, hence the double title.
Continue reading “#plywoodstrat – The Napier Railton Tribute Guitar”
Worry Stones
I’ve made a number of soap bar style worry stones from various materials.
Available here.
Bachis – First run
During 2020, I decided to make my first bachi, a type of plectrum used for playing the Shamisen, a Japanese stringed instrument similar in some ways to a western banjo, with a distinct quintessential Japanese timbre.
Fluid Art Cort SB-2
Some time ago, I bought an old Cort/Mach I headless bass. After going through a few design ideas, I decided to fix it up, modify it to suit my playing style and give it a special paint job.