Martin and I usually have a guitar project on the go, sometimes for one of his musical friends, or this time for himself.

It's a bringing together of several ideas that we've tested out over the last eight years or so.

Dreadnought guitars can be rather uncomfortable and parlour guitars don't cover the tonal range he needs. Most of Martin's guitars, and he has A LOT, fall rather in between. The shape of the Falstaff suits Martins playing very well, as you can see in the Chris Packham video where he is using one of his Orleans models. Having a shallow body is an important feature, Martin needs a sound that is clear and defined, without the coat of dark paint over each note that can come from a deeper body.

You might not notice straight away, but the neck join on this new guitar is at the 13th fret, rather than the more usual 12th or 14th. This is an idea we tried on the guitar we made for Louis Campbell. There are very good reasons for choosing either 12 or 14, so it made complete sense, to us anyway, to have this one at 13. Time will tell.

Martin's choice of timber was African Blackwood, and Adirondack Spruce. It's a well proven combination and I have a lot of Blackwood, so we processed several sets to choose the blackest, densest material. The Spruce came from a specialist supplier in America who helped me choose the best material without worrying about it winning every beauty contest.

The bracing is also Adirondack Spruce and positioned rather "looser" than in most Fyldes, and I've shaped it high, hollowed out on the sides to reduce the mass. Paul took over on this when the pesky phone rang or when I needed a little lie down.

Despite having very wide necks on nearly all his custom guitars, this one is different. Martin has acquired a Vintage TJ Thompson Martin and discovered that he loves the old neck shape on that guitar, so he left it with me over a weekend while I took measurements and made templates.

We made the neck from an ancient Honduras Mahogany Snooker table leg. The laminations are Mahogany, with Ebony and red lines. Being an unusual shape, Alex and I had to be very careful not to spoil the little differences while it passes back and forth between us

Of course, we used Snakewood for the bindings and head veneer, nothing beats Snakewood for pure luxury.

Then one more difference. We finished this guitar with Nitrocellulose lacquer. My decision, I didn't ask Martin. It's been the standard for American guitars for a hundred years or more but isn't used much in the UK because our climate doesn’t suit it. So far I’m very pleased and it feels lovely. Time will tell.

Its rather lovely.