I’ve made a point of donating a "suitable” guitar to the wonderful Ullapool Guitar Festival most years, and managed to make one specially for this years event.

I had in my mind to make something that would be "different" to the guitars that are usually on show at Ullapool, partly because I sometimes feel that everybody who attends the festival must have bought at least one guitar there over the last few years, and I would need to tempt them a little.

I do love making these unique guitars, I tend to have an individual in my mind as I work on them, and this time, it was a whole audience including the ladies!

That thought took me away from the normal spruce and rosewood style, and I just happened to have enough Alaskan yellow cedar for one guitar top, and enough Spanish Cedar for the neck. I was tempted to use Cypress for the back and sides, which would have been exceptionally light and therefore a bit too "brash" sounding, so I allowed myself to keep the colour scheme by using the heavier and stiffer Australian Lacewood.

The Ariel does not usually have fingerboard inlays, but I recently had a small batch of celtic designs made by an outside supplier to see how they worked out, and because this guitar was going to Scotland, I thought a Celtic motif would be suitable. The bindings and head veneer are Purpleheart.

Probably the most "aromatic" guitar I’ve ever made, it sold almost straight away, which I think gave the festival organiser, Richard Lindsay, a bit of a boost to keep up the good work. It was so nice, and I don’t have the wood to make another, but I know where to get it!