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Ashby & Crewe GuitarsA&C1981Ashby & CreweGUITARS, CARROW

A family guitar workshop on Mill Street, Carrow, since 1981

Walt Ashby and Ray Crewe built guitar No. 1 in 1981. Walt's daughter June is binding No. 416.

Flat-top acoustics and carved archtops, made by three people at one bench, eleven a year. Every guitar we are building right now is on this page, with its woods and the stage it has reached, so you can see where yours would sit.

See the bench queueReserve a 2027 slot
Flat-top from
$6,800
Archtop from
$11,500
Deposit
$1,500
Current wait
14 months
A finished cutaway flat-top with a spruce top and a dark rosette, in low workshop light
No. 416, for OdileOM cutaway, Adirondack and cocoboloBinding, stage 4 of 6

  • 1981

    Walt Ashby and Ray Crewe glue up guitar No. 1 in a rented garage on Weir Lane.

  • 412

    Guitars finished since, every one numbered and signed on the inside of the back.

  • 11

    Guitars a year. Three people at the bench, and we have never taken a twelfth.

  • 14 mo

    From deposit to the day you open the case, for anyone reserving this month.

Nine guitars are on the bench this week. Here is every one of them.

Buyers used to email to ask how their guitar was getting on. Now June moves each one along this board on Fridays. First names only, with each buyer's permission. Filter by stage to see what the shop is doing right now.

Nine guitars, oldest order first. Updated every Friday afternoon when the shop sweeps up.

  • No. 413

    Due October 2026

    For Daniel, Flat-top, OM

    Top
    Adirondack spruce
    Back, sides
    East Indian rosewood
    At the bench
    June

    Setup6 of 6

    Strung up on Monday. June is lowering the saddle a hair for his light touch.

  • No. 414

    Due November 2026

    For Margaret, Archtop, 17 inch

    Top
    Carved European spruce
    Back, sides
    Flamed maple
    At the bench
    Tomás

    Finish curing5 of 6

    Third week hanging in the finish room. Sunburst came out darker than the sample, as she asked.

  • No. 415

    Due November 2026

    For Kenji, Flat-top, 00

    Top
    Sitka spruce
    Back, sides
    Honduran mahogany
    At the bench
    Hannah

    Finish curing5 of 6

    Last coat of lacquer went on Thursday. Buffing in early October.

  • No. 416

    Due December 2026

    For Odile, Flat-top, OM cutaway

    Top
    Adirondack spruce
    Back, sides
    Cocobolo
    At the bench
    June

    Binding4 of 6

    Maple binding with a herringbone purfling line, glued and taped overnight.

  • No. 417

    Due January 2027

    For Luis, Flat-top, dreadnought

    Top
    Sitka spruce
    Back, sides
    East Indian rosewood
    At the bench
    Hannah

    Body closed3 of 6

    Back glued in the go-bar deck on Tuesday. Kerfing trimmed, ready for binding.

  • No. 418

    Due February 2027

    For Anne, Archtop, 16 inch

    Top
    Carved European spruce
    Back, sides
    Big-leaf maple
    At the bench
    Tomás

    Bracing2 of 6

    Top carved to graduation. Two tone bars fitted, still being tapped down.

  • No. 419

    Due March 2027

    For Sam, Flat-top, OM

    Top
    Western red cedar
    Back, sides
    Claro walnut
    At the bench
    June

    Bracing2 of 6

    X-brace glued. Scalloping by hand for a fingerstyle player who wants it warm.

  • No. 420

    Due April 2027

    For Colette, Flat-top, 00

    Top
    Adirondack spruce
    Back, sides
    Figured koa
    At the bench
    Hannah

    Wood chosen1 of 6

    She chose the koa set on a video call from Lyon. Resting on the rack until November.

  • No. 421

    Due May 2027

    For Ben, Flat-top, dreadnought

    Top
    Adirondack spruce
    Back, sides
    Mahogany, 1960s salvage
    At the bench
    June

    Wood chosen1 of 6

    Mahogany from a church pew Walt bought in 1994. Ben drove up to pick it himself.

2 slots left for 2027, then the list opens for 2028

We finish eleven guitars a year and close the shop in August. A $1,500 deposit holds a delivery month. It is refundable in full until your wood is chosen, and after that it has become your guitar's top and back.

Reserve November or December
  • JanNo. 417
  • FebNo. 418
  • MarNo. 419
  • AprNo. 420
  • MayNo. 421
  • JunDeposit in
  • JulDeposit in
  • AugShop shut
  • SepDeposit in
  • OctDeposit in
  • NovOpen
  • DecOpen

Two guitars, and the price is on the page before you ask

We make two models and change the wood, the body size and the neck for each player. The starting price covers everything listed. Anything above it is quoted when you choose your wood, never later.

A flat-top guitar showing its spruce top, rosette and rosewood bridge

The flat-top

From $6,800

Most of the 412 have been flat-tops. OM, 00 or dreadnought body, hand-scalloped X bracing voiced by tapping, a one-piece mahogany neck and a nitro finish thin enough to let the top move.

  • Sitka or Adirondack spruce top, or Western red cedar
  • Mahogany, walnut or East Indian rosewood back and sides
  • Your choice of neck carve, nut width and scale length
  • Hardshell case, a year of free setups

Cutaway, figured koa or cocobolo and herringbone purfling are priced when you choose the wood.

A blonde archtop with an f-hole, a floating pickup and a tailpiece

The archtop

From $11,500

Tomás carves both plates from solid wood with finger planes, 16 or 17 inch lower bout, parallel tone bars and a floating pickup that never touches the top. Two or three a year, no more.

  • Carved European spruce top, graduated by hand
  • Carved flamed or big-leaf maple back
  • Ebony bridge, tailpiece and pickguard, fitted to you
  • Hardshell case, a year of free setups

Sunburst or blonde. Tomás will send you a finish sample on scrap maple before he sprays.

Six stages, and the four times we will ask you to decide something

These are the same six stages you see on the bench queue. A flat-top spends about ten weeks on the bench, an archtop closer to sixteen. The rest of the fourteen months is the queue ahead of you.

Hands marking out a guitar top at the bench

  1. 1Wood chosen

    You pick the top and back from the rack, in the shop or on a video call. We write your name and number on the sets and let them rest for a month.

    You choose the woods and the body size.

  2. 2Bracing

    The braces are carved, glued and shaved down while we tap the top and listen. We record the tap tone and send it to you.

    You choose the neck carve and nut width.

  3. 3Body closed

    The back goes on in the go-bar deck and the box becomes a guitar. The label with your number and our signatures is inside before it closes.

    Nothing to decide. We send photos.

  4. 4Binding

    Channels routed by hand-held router and finished with a scraper, then the bindings and purfling lines are glued and taped.

    Half the balance is due now.

  5. 5Finish curing

    Nitrocellulose lacquer, sprayed thin in the finish room, then left for three weeks to harden before it is wet-sanded and buffed.

    You confirm the finish colour on a sample.

  6. 6Setup

    Frets levelled, nut and saddle cut, strung and played in for a week. We set it up for the strings and action you actually use.

    You tell us your strings, and collect or we ship.

Two friends in a garage on Weir Lane, then a harness maker's shop on Mill Street

Walt Ashby was a cabinetmaker and Ray Crewe repaired pianos. In 1981 they rented a single garage on Weir Lane and built one guitar between them to see if they could. It took eight months. Ray still plays No. 1 at home, and he still complains about the neck.

In 1988 they moved into the old harness maker's shop at 14 Mill Street, where the north windows give the steady light you need for finishing. We have been there since. Ray retired in 2016. Walt handed the bench to June in 2019 and has come in every Thursday since.

The method has barely changed: solid wood, hide glue where it matters, bracing voiced by ear, nitro finish, and a label inside every back signed by whoever built it.

June Ashby at the bench, working a part held in the vise
A newly strung flat-top hanging in the workshop to settle before setup
Walt Ashby fretting a neck at the window bench

  • June Ashby

    Owner, flat-tops and voicing

    Walt’s daughter. Swept the shop floor from the age of 14, built her first guitar, No. 187, in 2003, and has run the bench since 2019.

  • Tomás Ibarra

    Archtops and neck carving

    Came for a summer in 2012 from a violin shop and stayed. Carves every archtop plate we make, and most of the necks.

  • Hannah Coyle

    Finishing and setup

    Runs the finish room and does every final setup. If your guitar plays easily, that was Hannah.

  • Walt Ashby

    Co-founder, Thursdays

    Retired in 2019 and comes in every Thursday anyway, to fret necks and tell customers about No. 1.

Sample letters

Our owners sign their letters with a guitar number

“No. 212 has been on every gig I have played since 2005. Two neck resets in twenty years, both done by Walt while I waited, and it sounds bigger now than the day I collected it.”
MarkOwner of No. 212, dreadnought
“June sent me the tap tone of my top as an audio file while it was still in the bracing stage. I have never felt so involved in something I was paying someone else to make.”
EstherOwner of No. 398, OM
“I waited sixteen months for my archtop and checked the bench queue most Fridays. When it moved to finish curing I told my whole trio. Tomás carved a better instrument than I knew to ask for.”
CurtisOwner of No. 404, archtop

Sample reviews written for this concept site. A real site would show letters from real owners.

The Mill Street workshop, shelves of timber and moulds, with Walt at the bench under the window

Come and play whatever is in setup on a Saturday morning

The shop is open to visitors on Saturdays from 10 until 1, by appointment, so there is always a finished guitar or two to play and a rack of tops to tap. Ring ahead and June will pull out the wood sets that suit the way you play.

  • 14 Mill Street, CarrowParking in the yard behind the shop
  • Saturdays 10am to 1pm, by appointmentClosed through August
  • Collect it here, or we ship it insuredIn its hardshell case, double boxed, anywhere in the US
Book a visit, (555) 014-1981

Reserve November or December 2027, the last two open months

Nothing is charged here. June reads every request and calls you within two working days to talk through the model, the woods and the way you play. If it is a fit, she sends the $1,500 deposit invoice and your guitar gets its number.

Deposit, holds your month
$1,500
Half the balance
At binding
The rest
At setup
Deposit refundable
Until wood is chosen

No payment is taken on this page.