Fanfret 12-string for Troy Donockley

It’s always fun to have more or less free rein to make what we think will fit the brief.

We know Troy so well. He has ordered quite a few rather unusual instruments from us and he is always really enthusiastic about anything we make for him. This one was built to replace another fan fret 12 string that originally belonged to Gordon Giltrap. Gordon now has that guitar back and Troy needed a suitable replacement.

This time it’s an Oberon – Indian Rosewood and Sitka Spruce for strength, with a scale length of 629 mm on the treble and 648 on the bass.

The neck is laminated with Maple and Ebony and has carbon fibre inserts.

On a fan fret, there is always one fret that is actually square to the fingerboard edge. It’s usually around the fifth fret, and it defines how easily the guitar will suit the player. On this guitar, the “fan” isn’t extreme, so the square fret is more or less at the 12th fret, and the bridge and nut are both at reasonable angles.

We will be watching out to see if Troy manages to use this guitar with Nightwish. Orchestral Metal, should fit in very nicely.